Scratchbuilt Rohrbach Roland, Iberia, 1/72nd scale

(This is the completed model. For more acknowledgments, historical data, some related matters and for the step-by-step construction article please go here in this same blog.
http://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2016/04/rohrbach-roland-172nd-scale.html
There you can see the full interior with radio station, bathroom and the cockpit before they became barely visible.

My thanks to Mika Jernfors for the making of this decal set. My gratitude to Günther Ott and the members of the ADL site.  My kind acknowledgment for the help received from Sönke Schulz and the indefatigable Ornithopters.

All potential mistakes are mine.

Undeterred and undaunted by the building of the Zeppelin Staaken, (designed by Rohrbach), I followed suite with another Rohrbach design, the Roland. These machines came from Lufthansa stock to integrate a partnership in Spain that gave birth to Iberia, one of the oldest-running airlines of the world. Iberia had the majority of its stock in Spanish hands, even if the several Rolands that eventually came to be part of its fleet came from Lufthansa.

M-CACA saw the light of day during the inaugural flights of the recently-born Iberia in 1927 together with a sister machine, M-CBBB. Not what one would consider an auspicious name for a debut. A week later, the malodorous registration was hastily changed to M-CAAC.

Iberia Rolands differed from each other in a number of details: type of propellers; position, type and quantity of wind-driven generators; type an position of radiators; some aspects of their decoration; type of exhausts; windshield, and so forth. Some had changes during their life too. Dismiss as a reference the grossly inaccurate life-size mockup seen in old photos (mostly in color) and erected at some point to commemorate some Iberia milestone.

This was another extremely long endeavor, more so even than the recently-finished Blackburn Kangaroo. It was started on April 22nd 2016, more than 16 months ago, although many other models were started and finished in the interim.

The model was given a full cockpit and cabin, including a restroom with toilet, sink, tap, mirror, toilet roll and even a flower vase. Luggage compartment was also included. The radio position (first seat on the right) was given the corresponding instruments. Little of this can be seen, save in the photos I took during the building.

The original overall colors of the German machines were kept, but a few photos show a Spanish flag underneath the wing tips on some machines. These are not to be confused with the carried-over German traditional black bands present on the German planes of the time.

Most photos of this inaugural flight that circulate show M-CBBB, the other plane that flew on the day of the inauguration of the airline, where government "notables" and the king were present. As explained above, the plane shown in those photos had other props (metal Reid), different radiator positions and other peculiarities.

Dismiss the magazine article that contain photos of a wicker chair interior, that's not a Rohrbach Roland, and shows how easily mistakes can be made.

Fortunately for our research there are a few photos of M-CACA that point to its characteristics.

Another slippery subject is which Lufhansa registrations became Iberia machines. On this matter I found contradictions among sources, and checking photos of the machines in their German registrations showed that they did not necessarily were the same machine used by Iberia, since details differed.

To make things worse, as said above, these machines were altered during their lives and before transfer and after arrival.

In any case, the details of M-CACA (irresistible registration, isn't it?*) were sorted out and the model built.

*Yes, yes, I am like a five-year-old. Can't you see that I still play with little airplanes? it's so fun!  ;-)

P/S: Now, if this would be a presidential plane, an Air Force One of sorts...what president would it belong to?
Exactly!

One engine was left uncovered to show the detail: