rob Lyttle

Blesséd are the deHavilland builders...😇

Some slight progress... The windows have to go in from the inside and before I can do anything else. Pained and resigned sigh 😕 I gave up on using Kristel Kleer, I lost too many windows falling inside. So back on poly cement and a cocktail stick. They're in and fairly flush with the fuselage but there's a bit of mess to clean.up. I've parted the rudder to refit with a bit of deflection later, and I made the loop Antennas high on the fin from brass wire. Always more resilient than the plastic option. And some wire door handles too Glazing bars fitted in the cockpit side windows, and I've cobbled together 6 seats. Floats have some paint on, quite a way to go with those though. I'm well pleased with the strength of the floats assembly. Well, I can get on with fitting some seating and the cockpit now, and get the fuselage joined up. Woohoo

I had the pleasure of doing a few weeks of supply teaching in the primary school in Flushing, Cornwall many years ago. Flushing is a little village across the estuary from Falmouth. Because of the geography it's a long drive but there's a little ferry boat service across the water which is a much quicker option. Several of the pupils came to school by the ferry and at the Day's end, as well as queues for the buses, there was a queue for the ferryboat kids 😀 Anyway, many years later, I had the little boat from the Revell Bounty kit going spare, and I turned it into a Flushing ferryboat complete with a few commuters. I managed to make quite a rip current in the water due to the glue melting some of the foam base but I went with it 😎 A lot of fun with basically nothing...

I'm taking that to mean "1924" production model??👍

Couple of things ... This on a trailer And this came up on a fbook feed. Any ideas what this is?? For some reason "Renault" comes to my mind

I get what you're saying, Noel. I'd certainly hope this is the case. Maybe I used the wrong wording.... I'd expect the phraseology to be standardised. I'm thinking more the diction, the pronouncing, the clarity. Dwellers in the UK will be familiar with the Shipping Forecast broadcast regularly on the radio. Compare that style of delivery with the chatty nonsense given out on the general weather Forecast. It's chalk and cheese. Somebody with a laconic style and a Texas drawl, chewing gum just isn't going to cut it....

As a non-flyer I got to say the whole setup looks like an adhoc shambles, an accident waiting to happen. I recall that Gatwick was closed entirely for 24hrs and more because there was a drone somewhere in the vicinity apparently. So what on earth is the rationale for the traffic system at Washington ⁉️ It still astonishes me how indistinct the radio coms is, ridiculously low-grade. Similar to cheap toy walky talky. And the slangy, vague style of speech used is woeful. Even Hollywood actors speak better. I hope the entire control and command system is under review because it looks to me like a chaotic lashup, and lucky they have got away with it until now

I think you're right ✅️ This plane looks like the latest version with modern screen displays, and flat top amphibian floats and wheels. I'm looking for an earlier type think, and there's plenty of reference material online. Thanks for the information and pictures though. The sit of the fuselage on floats is tricky What you say is right but then the floats are also tail down and nose up in the water. So I'm kind of working by instinct and eyeball here. I won't know the final appearance until later

Wow, that's a great looking result ✔️. Real hands-on modelling skills 👏 I'd like to see more 😀

Hi @Jur I'm not going nuts on the interior of this but have you got a decent picture of the kind of passenger's seat on board? And was it just 2 rows?. I've seen pictures of 3 rows-- 2 starboard and single to port. And was there 3 seats against the rear bulkhead? I've been making preparations, with the doorway cut out and internal floor built in each fuselage half. The trick is to not have to internals messing with the fit of the fuselage but not too gappy. Things look a bit improvised there as I had to fit a tapering strip to one side to fill the gap, but looking in through the front of the fuselage things seem fairly OK. Good enough for me Dry fitting the fuselage to the floats seemed to produce an excessive nose-down stance, using the kit's ready-made holes for the front legs. I wasn't happy with the look. I filled the holes and I've made new attachment points lower on the fuselage sides. Because they're lower on the curved sides I've had to give them extra thickness to come out to meet the legs. I punched 2 discs of 1mm plastic at 2.5mm diameter and drilled centre holes to receive the leg fittings. Not sure how tidy this will look when assembled but it looks like I'm getting a more satisfactory sit of the plane on the floats. There's a glazing bar missing in the cockpit side windows that I'm trying to sort. If all goes to plan I'll leave the main windows open and just glaze the little quarter lights. Also enhancing the ribs on the pilot door and the hinges, stuff like that. And I soldered up a couple of wire Ts to fit as tethering points. There's a proper nautical term for these fittings that I've forgotten 🤭 Several are required for various positions around the floats

This, fellow Helleristes, is the first kit produced by this revered brand. The Sud Caravelle airliner in 1.100 scale, Issued contemporary with the aircraft itself to celebrate the launch of France's pride and joy on the world of civil aviation. 1957 if memory serves. Mine is done as the 2nd prototype (the 1st airframe had several differences) F-BHHI with the Sud Aviation logo on the tail. This one is a reissued kit, a faithful reproduction of the original including decals, box art, instructions and all the tricky bits 😀

Here's my Talbot Lago T26 racer, The figures aren't Heller of course. They're heavily beefed up crew from the big Revell Spad biplane listed as 1.28 scale

Just saw this in the gallery. What a beauty 😍 You ride these rather than climbing into it. Many happy hours spent on a T20, usually followed by a flock of seagulls

I'm building without fear with this because I have a spare set of floats left from my previous wheeled version, so can take risky options 😜 So I took the plunge... I've also taped the fuselage sides together and fitted the.... sponsons?.. to the sides. That's parts 10 and 11 which are different to those that are used for the wheeled version. That enables me to check the general layout and in particular to get the angle of the main attachment legs as they glue to the floats. I don't know if this is a good idea or not. We'll see. The floats need checking for alignment to each other in every dimension. Parallel front to back, spreader bars all square. Also Parallel in side view, ... and it's worth putting a straightedge across the flat tops to make sure they're both upright and the flat surfaces are level, If there is any discrepancy in this respect the wire structure is your friend, as it's happy to bend a little and hold the new shape. I think everything is good so I'm leaving it for now 👍

Work proceeds on the 2nd float. Thorough abrasion of the top by rubbing on 240 grit wet until there's a flat surface about 6mm wide. Then a strip of skinny styrene 7mm wide gets stretched sprue along the edges, and there's a cutout for the main support. Then the strip is flipped over and glued on top of the float. Two more strips about 2.5mm wide glue on, and then the front edges get those add-on strips to both faces, like a length of angle iron. While I was abrading on the 240 sheet, I also rubbed away the keel in front of the step to let the float sit upright on the board. It's clear in my mind that the rear strut assembly is the main structural part of the whole thing and the kit part is not man enough for the job. I've been experimenting with the soldering iron on brass wire to see if I can fabricate a unit that looks better and, more importantly, works better at holding the floats and ultimately joining to the fuselage. This is the kit part... So far I've managed this... One of the wires is left extra long on both ends to actually insert right into the floats. The front struts part is still the kit part, enhanced with an extra length of sprue added to the front of the crossbar, again with extra length to insert into holes in the float. Good physical joints are an advantage when it comes to assembly, and brass wire is definitely more businesslike for holding everything together in place. The only rigging I can see is a couple of diagonals running up to the top of the central upright where it meets the fuselage. That little blade should bend down either side of the upright and look like the attachment "shackles" for the diagonal rigging. That's about all I've got right now 😎

I'm looking forward to the balsa wood sliding sash windows, with weights...🤩

Always a vulnerable feature with a Floatplane, it seems. I had reasonable success redoing the legs and rigging on my Norseman in brass wire, wrapped with skinny styrene to get an aerofoil type of section. I can see these ones are quite slim and may need some structural assistance. Probably won't be going overboard with the interior.... maybe a bit 😜

I think I have another nomination for this GB. I came across this on the shelves at Hobbycraft just a few days ago while I was getting some 0.6mm wire, sitting amongst all the spitfires and tanks. I had to rescue it....🤭 I've already got one (behind) and I've built one on wheels. These are Revell boxings straight from the old Matchbox mould. It's a lovely kit of a great aircraft. And I really fancy trying my hand on the Floatplane version. There are some other float jobs already under way in the group which is good to see. But I wanted to make sure I could do something with the kit floats to bring them into line with what I'm seeing online with all the Canadian and Maldives planes in pictures and videos. So I've been hacking away at one of the floats and I think we're on 👍 To the rear is the standard kit float with rounded top. Foreground is what I have so far. As usual 90% of the photos are from the same "bystander" viewpoint but occasionally you find a great picture. Let me put a link to this one... https://flic.kr/p/2qJ4yVw Someone else's photo obviously but click to see what I'm working from. Roof detail as well!! There's plenty of variation with the walkway area of these but you gotta pick one and stick with it. So I'm happy that I can make something of the kit floats and I think I'm up for another Twin Otter, and another Floatplane project 😎

Can't believe I'm a silver medalist ⁉️😇 I've just been finishing off my Mercedes SSKL race car by Matchbox .The famous no 87 winner of the Mille Miglia road race. I managed a few mods but avoided trying the impossible . I found a replica model in 1/8th scale which retails for £19000....🤭 and I've taken that as my colour reference, on the assumption that such a treasure would be very thoroughly researched. I may upgrade the photos with better gallery shots later but can't miss the opportunity to take second place on the finishing line 😍 Yeah, couple of little touch ups needed, but I'll take the silver medal thanks 😊 And here it is with the old Pyro SSK Sportwagen Mercedes. Two sisters 💓.... This is a GREAT group build. This gallery is going to be EPIC . Aha, here's a link to the WIP

Well, I've basically finished! There I was happily tinkering with this and that, and suddenly...the box was empty 🤭 Lemme see, I'd better recap... Front mudguards went on OK, helped a bit by the extra skinny styrene that curves up into the guards. It's all pretty flimsy in the process, with only 2 small points of contact. But given plenty of time, the front frame holds the mudguards and the mudguards hold the frame, and you pick it up carefully 😉 Dashboard went in. I'd forseen difficulty installing this at the late stage and I'd built a box under the bodywork where it can support the dashboard in the right place in line with the moulded lugs. So I had a nice robust surface to glue to while working upside-down. Steering wheel on ali tube slides into a bigger tube that goes down through the footwell to the box on the engine. So then it was the front bar carrying the spotlight and what I assume is a tube for the starting handle. It was my intention to do this bar with silvered wire and I stuck with the plan. The lamp got drilled to take wire and then that was looped around the bar-- this is all done in the hand before mounting to the chassis. Then the wire was looped again around a piece of Ali tube underneath as the starting handle support. When I got everything orientated and looking straight, the crossbar was mounted through one hole in the chassis, then slid back so the other end went through the other side of the chassis, moved about until the lamp was central and upright, and the CA applied to the joints. Then the surplus wire protruding outside the chassis can be snipped off flush. A couple of race number decals, which behaved perfectly after all these years 😀, and suddenly it was done ✔️ The mudguards were brush painted on the sprues so there's a bit of touching up where the plastic gates were. Spotlight is blanked off and needs painting to match the other lamp cover. I have a spare petrol tank mounted on the running board, no jacks so far. Pfff.... another total fail with the kristal Kleer glue. Back on the styrene glue applied with a cocktail stick. Here we are, two peas in a pod.... So, couple of trivial tidies and she's done ✔️ Dunno WHAT'S happening, I've got one ready for the gallery and it's still January⁉️ 😇😜💃 Thanks for the company along the way and I'll try to decide what's next up. Could be a DHC Twin Otter on floats, another gem from MATCHBOX...💖🤩

A great plane, and back in its natural habitat. I had a bit of trouble attaching the floats, mostly of my own doing 😅. If you're going to rig, make preparation well beforehand, attaching points etc. I recall that on these planes the legs attach to the floats right along the inboard edge, but the kit has them mounted on the centre line. So you might want to modify that. My ancient decals worked fine, by way of reassurance 👍

I got the front wheels on. I found that my large diameter ali tube is a nice sliding fit on the front stub axles so I sleeved the wheel holes with short pieces. There must have been some CA residue in one of the sleeves which has stuck one wheel solid 🤔 Oh well... The exhaust system went on with slightly less hassle than expected. I've remade the exhaust pipe in ali tube from where it zigzags inboard of the chassis. Then I started fussing with the parts that fit on the running board. I'm going to move the box back a bit and include a spare fuel tank that is made from bits of scrap. The "3 bottle thing in red plastic seems to be representing a set of hydraulic bottle jacks from what I can make out. They'd be required for wheel changes for sure. I might be able to improve these. Headlights and frame are on, Skinny plastic strips are added with extra protruding top and bottom. This is to make the frames look more like the cast pieces, to help with the joints onto the chassis, and at the top ends to help with the fixing to the mudguards. We'll see how that works out.... It was a disappointment to discover that the transparency sprue was missing a headlamp lens 😕! Doubly so because the one that I have is a superb fit into its lamp.!! Literally just clicked into place and no need for glue. I could struggle to get it out for glue but apart from the potential for damage, why bother and then make a mess with glue?. But I've noticed that some replicas have removable covers over the lamps, presumably for daytime periods of the race. I've made a cover on the lamp with no lens. So what about the good one?? It'd be a shame to cover over "my best headlamp lens ever". All just too confusing.... Preparation of a few other parts is ongoing. The windscreens are in the framework with kristal Kleer. I've found that doing these in advance and leaving untouched for at least 24hrs reduces the chance of it all falling apart in your hands. 😬

This has been bugging me, and the fit of the bonnet seemed to be getting worse, whether in reality or in my mind. Other than ripping the radiator out for access to the back of it, there was one option that would have a chance of introducing some structure to the situation. I took a shot and this is it, A hole on top of the radiator just where the filler cap goes, and a 0.6mm wire cranked at 90° so that it hooks up through the hole. There's no way to then fit the other end of the wire into a hole in the firewall to represent what's on the real car. But setting "just like the real thing" aside for the moment, the wire can be glued along the engine and the radiator pushed back into the required position while the ca sets. Couple of seconds later and she's solid as a rock 😋 Bonnet slides into its space lovely 😍 Then the filler cap gets drilled so that it slides onto the wire upstand and glued in place. Then the surplus wire is snipped off and the top of the filler cap dressed off. It's kinda in the right place as the top radiator hose -ish. Except my effort would foul the cooling fan. A better effort could have produced a more satisfactory shape. But the outcome is what I wanted, no more vague radiator placement. The front axle is in place and any thoughts of getting some steering deflection on the front wheels was abandoned. Not going there this time 😇

Is that like when you just managed to get through the MOT test for another year, after £100 worth of welding around the subframe....??🤭

It's always difficult to interpret black and white photos for colour references, but I found a replica model in 1/8th scale that retails for £19000 ...... that's not a typo 🤭 You'd imagine that such an item would be thoroughly researched 😎 So I'm opting for maroon mudguards and wheel rims and checking out a few details https://www.amalgamcollection.com/products/mercedes-benz-sskl-1931-mille-miglia This is the spare wheels assembly using some of that ali tube and the retainer which slides in the top of the tube, There's just one spoke disc fitted in each tyre to reduce the quantity of spoke plastic in the stack. One mudguard is attached, The radiator is fixed and I'm still conjuring with the fit of the bonnet. The old Pyro Mercedes has 2 stay bars that run from the firewall right to the back of the radiator. I'm thinking I should have fabricated the same for this one. The fit of the bonnet really relies on the radiator being in precisely the right position. I don't think I can retro-fit such things. There is a radiator hose yet to attach to the engine block but I don't expect a lot of structural support from that. Onwards and upwards....😋