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Another attractive civil release by Avis, again combining nice detail, good engineering, affordable price and appealing subject in short-run form. The box has alternate parts and even offers the perks of beaching wheels, a fuselage resting scaffold and a bench, all with multiple parts. How's that for a little kit? The Short Brothers S.1 Cockle (first named Stellite) was a one-off endeavor commissioned privately. First flying in 1924 it shows another effort by Short to master the intricacies of metal airplane building (seen also in the S.4 Satellite), having an aluminium hull and frame. The very small twin engine arrangement reminded of a scratch I did time ago, the Gnosspelius Gull, and what do you know, Mr. Gnosspelius was indeed attached to this project as I found out doing some research for this build. The prototype had some difficulty trying to separate itself from the water, and being marginally powered -to put it mildly- it was no surprise, but finally achieved flight by making some changes to the airframe. The original tail was later replaced by a larger and differently shaped one, and it ended up being used for some trials and experiments (The kit has both tails for you to chose from). Instructions tell you to paint the hull bottom and wing floats black, which is not unusual, but at least one clear photo shows the plane with no color whatsoever on those areas, having the hue of the rest of the plane, aluminium. A very unreliable small card drawing with the wrong registration found on the net shows those areas on red. The choice is yours. With all the recent Avis releases I am (flying) in heaven. It is not often that I get on a roll regarding manufacturers products, but after completing the Satellite, working now on the final stages of the Bristol Racer, and getting this one, I just had to start it. It calls you. Again, even as a short run offering effort is made to keep things clean, sprue gates small, and detail satisfying: Two horizontal and two vertical tails are offered: The detail is convincing: Even the minuscule Blackburne Tomtit engines are rather convincing for this scale: Decals for the two versions and the usual Avis film windshields: I will go back to the Bristol Racer for a little while, but I'll be back, as it was once famously said.

The chubby silhouette of the Bristol Racer at first sight doesn't look like a wonderful choice for a streamlined speed machine. Nevertheless it was thought that by encapsulating the whole engine some gain was to be had. Surface area vastly increased, though, and produced an aerodynamic shadow that spoiled the efficiency of wings and tail. In any case, that strange choice has given us one of the most distinct shapes of early aviation, besides being irresistibly cute, and having you wanting to pinch its cheek. So much in love I was with this thing that I ventured years ago to build a not particularly good vacuformed kit of it, posted here at BM. Some years later I even got a special set made by Arctic Decals to go with the kit (that provided no decals whatsoever, and had many other shortcomings. But hey, it was, after all a Bristol Racer, and who would kit it anyway? Well, Avis just did!!! But first, here is the old beast made with the vac kit After the nice experience with Avis' Short Satellite, I just had to retrieve the box from the vault and start it. One of these has already been built and posted here at BM by @Unkempt, who did a wonderful job. So, let's see where this goes. The box, known already by many here: Contents: Detail: The biggest parts are removed and cleaned up a bit: Some parts will need your attention. I had to remove material from the inner rim on the part on the right, to let the relief on the part of the left get inside. Also the locating key has to be sanded a bit to allow the parts to be joined: A small issue on this kit is the position of the fore legs of the L.G. I joined the parts just with a blob of Plasticine from behind to show what's going on here. As you can see there is no recess for the fore legs, as it should be, because it intersects the ventilation canals. What is wrong here is hard to tell: are those canals too long or too aft? is the LG position -or other parts- out of wack?: As you can see the master maker started to carve the recess for the legs, but encountered the issue and did not proceed further: But, if you align (fill) the two lower canals to match the external ones, you may create just enough room for the recess to be carved and so comfortably accommodate the LG legs:

Congratulations to Avis for their recent releases of charming civil planes, a welcome and refreshing change from what is usually seen in the hobby scene. The model took less than a week to be built, working a bit every day. For details please refer to the building post: This is a very nice little kit that will only require a few details to be added to shine. The Short Satellite was one of the many efforts by aviation companies to obtain a reliable, affordable, safe, reasonably performing light plane for the civil market, being aimed to individuals or Aero Clubs. The graceful, well-though lines look modern compared to contemporaries, and so does its "metal can" fuselage construction, whilst the rest was the usual wood and fabric.

I am elated by the release by Avis of a plethora of charming and good-looking civil planes in 1/72, a welcome break from the usual gloom and doom, with less common and sometimes colorful types, and all this at affordable prices with a reasonable level of detail. I am acquiring their releases to support their choices, eager as I am for not really common civil kits, having been many times forced to resort to conversions of existing kits, or scratch-building, to satisfy my preferences for graceful, well-meant, significant and why not many times cute and adorable little flying things. All the late Avis releases are short run, meaning that you have to put a little of yourself there, you know, that thing, modeling. The Short Satellite belongs to the Light Plane category, the same league for which I scratched the De Havilland D.H.53, Gnosspelious Gull and the Parnall Pixie posted here some time ago: A good reference for these types is The Lympne Trials, by Ord-Hume. I have had a file on Satellite for many years. In comparing the kit to my files I found it to be quite spot on, even having in the sprues the two engines (Cherub and Scorpion) that the plane had (The plane attended the Lympne light plane competition in 1924 and 1925 with a Cherub, and the 1926 one with a Scorpion). The kit provides a closing part for the aft cockpit for the version with the registration (as depicted in box art), but it also flew with that registration with the aft post uncovered. Parts are provided of course for both positions. There is a very small omission on the decal sheet: the scheme with the number 8 should have also two number 8 under each wing, with a white outline: http://www.shu-aero.com/AeroPhotos_Shu_Aero/Aircraft_N/Short/Short_Satelite_S_4_G_EBJU_01_large.jpg Besides what it is provided in the decal sheet, the plane sported an additional scheme with the number 15 -and still with the registrations-, plus the logo of the 7 feathers Aero Club on the nose. The fuselage of the Satellite was made entirely of metal, hence its aspect of cobbled-together tin cans. Contents, including a printed film for the small windshields: Nice instructions you don't have to look at with a microscope: The expected level of detail for this kind of kit:

Well, work on the second Anson started, and this time the goal is to reproduce a machine used by the London School of Flying, G-AMDA. The previous experience with the recently posted Anson should be of help, and an opportunity to improve a thing or two that I missed on that one. G-AMDA also flew in other guises (Derby Aviation), equally attractive, but the elegant two-tone blue scheme of this one definitely appealed to me. This airframe needs a few things modified: new clear nose, cowls, landing gear, the addition of a football antenna loop fairing, and other minor details. An old release: With documentation! I acquired a set of Eduard masks and a Flightpath photoetched set. You can see that I have made already the new cowls and gotten new engines:

Here I would like to show you this classic airliner before the wide bodies were available. The kit is from Nitto and has also been on the market under the Doyusha label (afaik). The kit's decals were quite ok, but I did not like the liveries (KLM and JAL). So Draw decals came to the rescue with this colourful livery. The specialists among the audience may have noticed, that Aeromexico did not use the -61, but the -63 with slightly different engines. But I hope nobody else will notice... The Cockpit glazing was not usable. So I had to use filler and had to sand it. The decals from Draw were also useful here. I hope you like this sleek airliner. Any comment is welcome. cheers, Norbert

Here is finally the completed model of the Avro Anson in all its civil glory. My thanks again to the kit donor, Ebil Genius and Modeling Nemesis Sönke Schulz from Marzipanland, Volkania. The WiP article is here: This was a long and somewhat winding road, but in the process I learned a large number of things about the kit and the original planes, that I will promptly forget as I face a second Anson build, ready to recur on old mistakes and make new ones. Thanks also to Arctic Decals for the set I commissioned that allowed me to finish the model in such definitely not really subtle scheme 😉 There is a special joy in redeeming old dogs with new tricks, and you hone in the process those Shaolin skills. I think this would have made Master Sandpaper proud...

Carl Jung regaled us (among many other things) with the concept of "significant coincidences", which he enveloped on the idea of "synchronicity". Little I knew, when I bought an affordable and vintage kit of the Percival Proctor to convert it -as I frequently do- into a civil machine, that the livery I would end up choosing (among a large number of candidates) will have a connection with my country or origin that I wasn't aware of. As I was building the kit and gathering data on the chosen registration, G-AHWW, I came across a website (The Aviation Forum) that provided information about its pilot, Arthur Bradshaw, and stated that he had worked, about 1947, as a pilot for the Argentinean airline FAMA (Flota Aérea Mercante Argentina, loosely translated: Argentinean Merchant Air Fleet). In 1950 Bradshaw returned to his natal New Zealand -from England- in the plane with his family. For the long flight he added an extra underbelly fuel tank. The "merchant" New Zealand flag was used on the rudder, which had a red background (Bradshaw, as I just wrote, was a merchant pilot, and was ferrying this plane to start a commercial endeavor). In the few images I could found, I can't see a reg. on the right wing (which is the case for some of those I studied, -and built), and can barely see an almost invisible trace of them under the left wing, in a non-contrasting color, so I went (just a provisional guess) for silver outlines regs. on alu paint/dope background. The building of this vintage kit was simple and straightforward, and I indulged in just a couple of additions, to keep the effort and time invested in line with the quality of the molds. My thanks once more go to Arctic Decals from whom I commissioned and purchased the decals used. At the time of this post Dora Wings issues, -among many other nice civil subjects- a Mark I and Mark III of this plane in 1/72, which of course are contemporary molds that offer a superior quality and detail. But I like the old dogs once in a while, gives you this warm feeling of having rescued a kit, as it was famously said: "Take a sad song and make it better". 😊 (The WiP is here:

Nowadays it is common practice for Airlines to paint one of their Aircraft in a so called "Retro Look" to commemorate former successful times. In 1952 the Scandinavian Airlines System, short SAS, went another way. They painted one of their Aircraft, in this case a DC-3, in a future livery, . But when the new paint Job was shown to the bosses, they were not amused. They did not like it at all and ordered to repaint the Douglas immediately! As Michael J. Fox said in "Back to the Future, part 1": You guys are not ready for that, but your kids are gonna love it! So this Aircraft never flew in this beautiful livery, what a pity!

And when I thought I had posted most of the models I deeemed would be useful here, I realized I left this one out. So here it is, a build from 7 years ago, with its original text. What does one do when in England? yes, one buys an old Airfix kit. How old? look at the photos, 1957 vintage! a mold 62 years old to this date. Airfix -and successive re-incarnations- squeezed the twopence out of that mold! What I want to do with it? Convert it to a civil machine, of course! likely some variation of the Bristol Tourer/Coupe. History: At some point after the war it was realized that transporting people was much, much nicer than bombing then. This very painfully-obtained knowledge was not, however, kept in mind for a long time. The Bristol Tourer/Coupe was a direct derivative of the Bristol F2B. In that regard, many countries, like Japan, France and Germany were doing the same: hastily converting war leftovers for the incipient civil market, many times with the procedure of producing a “hunch” to protect the weary passengers against the elements. I may refer you to two of my models: -Hawa F.3: -Hansa Brandenburg W.29 J-BCAL: You could model a civil machine without modifying a single part of the Bristol Airfix kit, though. There were a couple of Canadian machines (G-CYBC / DP and at least one Spanish that flew the plane as it is represented in the kit (minus armament, of course). Beware, since some of the other civil versions had different engines, cowls, radiators, rudder, passengers’ compartment covers, supplementary fuel tanks on the top wing, and minor details. Look at your photos, not at drawings: photos. I did some preliminary chopping, cleaning, filing, filling and sanding as per images. All the stitching was eliminated at this point, later to be replaced by other devices. You can see in the building photos that some areas have been removed and the section corresponding to the passenger cabin altered to represent the increase in fuselage width that was incorporated in the real plane in order to accommodate the side-by-side seating arrangement. Not all Coupes/Tourers had this increase in width; again, check your photos. Some formers were cut, and the usual interior paraphernalia prepared for the cockpit and passenger cabin. Some external elements (augment rudder, different nose, hunch, top wing tanks, etc.) had to be scratched too. As you can see in the images the major work was concentrated in two areas: the passenger cabin elements and the nose. The former is a complex area that need careful observation of the photos and accurate execution. Of special note is the transition from the former back of the pilot (which has a sort or triangular shape at the top) to the first passenger cabin former, which is quadrangular with round corners at the top, and leans forward. The second area of effort as said was the nose. A wood master was prepared in order to vacuform the cowling. Engine, radiator and ancillary parts (like the oil tank) were scratched. The engine alone insumed about fifty individual parts. Again, attention needs to be paid to the sections’ transition, from firewall to radiator. At the firewall the top is rounded and the bottom straight, and that reverses at the radiator’s cross section. Home-made decals were prepared: a bundle of “stitches’ strips” and black regs on white decal paper stock. More details related to the upper wing, control surfaces, ancillary parts, etc. were made; paint ensued with a home-made custom color of all sub-assemblies. A bit of work, complicated by the difficulty in handling the model for the final steps with all those wires and external details. The woman in the photos is my friend Soenke's sekretarien. He sent her from Germany, previously shrinking her with one of his multiple evil rays. Her name is Fraulein Preiser. She is nice, but constantly complains about having to wear the same dress over and over again.

I am ever looking for conversion projects in order to redeem boring and drab doom machines into colorful, joyful, useful and uplifting models. Many times the suitable kit happens to be a very old and outdated one. Perfect examples of those endeavors are -among many I posted here- the two Westland Everest planes: That, coincidentally, were re-issued by the same company that boxed the Proctor: Air Lines. This for what I can tell was originally a Frog mold, and it also more recently came out as a NOVO boxing (which already gives you the clue that you are communicating with the spirits of the departed kits...). On the pro side: you can get them for an affordable price, they are abundant as most modelers moved on the better and newer releases (and for good reasons), and if you botch one you just trash it mercilessly and forget about it, no stress ruining a good kit here. So, I got this old and humble kit and started to look for nice civil liveries, of which I found a lot. But soon I discovered that many of my potential subjects actually belonged to other variants of the type, and would require some modifications. Since a reasonable improvement and detailing of the kit already would consume certain time, and not wanting to get into a building quagmire, I discarded the subjects that belonged to other marks of the Proctor and centered on a few candidates that were more or less a direct adaptation of these machines into civil use. The parts were liberated from the ever-present flash, cleaned up, and slightly refined. My boxing -bought 334,677th hand- was missing a side window, no big deal. This area needs to be opened up, so one hole and two razor cuts do the trick: Vent drilled: Another small intake drilled: All locating pins were removed since invariably they actually dis-located the parts they were supposed to seamlessly align, and stabs and wing halves were shaved a bit, since they sinned of fatulence (yes, correct word, no typo, it describes a known kit malady that makes kit parts -especially flying surfaces- look excessively fat).

A model from 9 years ago: A simple slap-on weekend project as a relaxing distraction from more involving endeavors, using an old and affordable kit as a divertimento. The Fokker D.VII needs no introduction; after the first world war a number of these and another planes were used as civil machines. The one represented here, O-BEBE, belonged to Belgium and was used at a flying school, still wearing its camouflage but sporting prominent registrations on a white background. I got the Revell D.VII, which is an old mold and a not totally bad -but a bit crude- kit. It suited the project since I wasn’t especially looking for detail and I am used to deal with kits that have some shortcomings. It has no interior, only the dreaded styrene mummy that sits on a tab. Now, what is unforgivable regarding the Revell kit is its laughable lozenge decals. Who in heaven thought that you can provide a “paint-by-numbers” white decal with a delimitation grid in black for the modeler to fill the polygons with the different colors? It is just me, or this one qualifies for the silliest decal sheet ever? In any case, fortunately, I wasn’t going to use the decals anyway. Flash, ejector marks and dubious spots were sanded, scrapped, filed, filled and otherwise made inconspicuous before construction began. The too prominent ribs were toned down too. Revell provides one side of the wheel covers as a separate part. If this was thought to facilitate painting, you still have to deal with the tire-cover separation line on the other side anyway; and in any case, the two-part approach could have been tire and rest-of-the-wheel. The funny thing was that the covers won’t fit, due to some excess plastic in the recess. I had to use a rotary tool to remove plastic in order to be able to make room for the cover. Some genius was loose in the Revell quarters. A bit of structural detail was added to the cockpit area and the addition of a floor, seat, pedals, joystick and instrumental panel made for a suitable interior. The decals were home made. Once the fuselage halves were closed the area were the guns used to be was filled and blended and a new windscreen -as seen in photos of the original plane- made. The lower wing was glued in place –had to sand a tad here and there- and also blended-in. The other parts were being decaled separately meanwhile. Since lozenge decals cover large areas, it is not always easy to position and align a thin decal film. Once all decaling was completed and the locating holes or gluing areas of parts were cleared, the parts were given a coat of varnish in order not to mar the decals during later manipulation. Once all major components were ready, final assembly began. The struts could be replaced if so wished by more to-scale streamline stock. I only used the outer wing “N” struts for the sake of alignment. All the other struts were replaced. Some details were added like control horns and control cables, plus rigging. When I was making the decals, I spent some time reading discussions on lozenge. Boy, were these discussions long. What it seemed to be the undeniable truth at some point was just bogus at some other point. “Proofs” that demonstrated something, only demonstrated their own relativity time later. What was supported by one photograph was contradicted by the next. As in many areas of life, although some general agreement exists, there is not really ultimate word on lozenge. Add to that the variations of weathering, printing process, monitor screens, chromatic aberration, ortho and panchro nuances and quirks and you have a carnival. Where I am going with all this? Firstly, you don’t have to have the latest thing in town to make a nice or fun model. Secondly, you can choose an original livery, not necessarily the "that plane again" machine. And thirdly, all this within reasonable effort and budget. The silliest "paint-by-number" decals sheet ever, a despicable attempt to get rid of the compromise of choosing the lozenge colors. Cheeky monkeys...

A build from 9 years ago: It is not a common occurrence that decal makers will release options for civil machines of kits that are sold as warplanes. When I saw the (made in Czech Republic) Rising Decals “J-Birds” sheet and a related article in the ARAWASI magazine #7 on Japanese Hansa Brandenburg W.29, I was all for it. I wish Arawasi would include more civil golden era plane content. The acquisition of a W.29 kit proved difficult, though. The MPM, TOKO, and Eastern Express kits were not as easy to obtain as I thought. The available resin kits were not an option for my modeling budget. Finally Steve K. kindly sent me the Eastern Express release from his stash and Christos Psarras from the soon-to-be Atlantis (Florida) helped me to get another for a future “limousine” version (this one not included in the decal sheet). The Eastern Express (ex TOKO) kit has a reasonable level of detail. It offers two different stabilizers and two rudders. As a bonus you get a dolly and a couple of supports to prop the model “on land”. The wing-fuselage joint needs a certain amount of shaving and sanding to get it to fit, but I won’t go on describing the kit since it was already reviewed on the Net. Its nose is not applicable to the Japanese versions (which were powered by a geared Hispano Suiza) thence some nose cosmetic surgery was in order. A new radiator, firewal, support pieces and a metal cover were made .An engine was scratchbuilt too as per images. The interior was enhanced a tad adding bulkheads and some other detail parts. The kit two-blade prop was replaced by a touched-up four-blade prop from Aeroclub. All building and accessories made, the model was painted with a whitish aluminum acrylic and Future applied in preparation for the decals. The decals are wonderful, but bear in mind that they are thin, as good decals should be. Handle them with care and patience. I used Micro Sol and Set, but my impression is that they may not need setting solution if you apply them to a gloss surface and take care of eliminating water and bubbles. Their color is dense and not translucent at all, they are sharply defined. Two decals folded on themselves as I was trying to apply them (again, they are thin) but adding water and carefully prodding them with a toothpick straighten them out. Be aware of the direction of the Japanese lettering, you may not notice if you put them upside-down if you don’t speak Japanese. In this case (one of the four machines you can dress with the decals) you have a couple of options regarding some small lettering. Study the provided leaflet beforehand. After decaling assembly of the main parts ensued and details were added. There were a number of Japanese Hansas on the civil register (J-BASL, J-BAAI, J-BAFI, etc.) and if you are interested on the type a little research will be in order. The Hansa has indeed “character”, further enhanced by a civil registration and livery it really stands out. Stay tuned for the “limousine” version. (the other HB W29 is here): Scratched engine: Modified interior: Scratched radiator:

A build from 6 years ago: Did you notice that after playing a popular character or role, for some actors and actresses it becomes very difficult to be cast in another type of role? Same for the airplanes. So I was pleasantly surprised when I found a photo of the Nieuport 28 as a post-WW1 sport machine parked (and possibly repaired/reconditioned) by the Rogers Aircraft Inc. aviation company. This is a very simple, effortless conversion for a fun an quick weekender, without pretensions. The plane had a simple paint scheme which somehow delineates well the design shape. The Revell kit was used but there are others around. The kit is nice, has certain detail -a bit exaggerated-, but not a good interior, so to the lonely kit’s seat some bits were added. Some rigging –the kit’s instructions in that regard are kind of vague- is required but nothing that can not be endured with the help of a cup or glass of your beverage of choice. I cut out some openings in the front and side of the cowl as per the real machine and modified the mount of the rotary engine to allow for room for the detail inside the cockpit. The windshield was discarded and the stab struts were replaced by suitable brass Strutz. Control horns and cables were added to the rudder, all other control surfaces were torque rod-operated. The canvas-covered kit’s wheels were replaced with photoetched spoke wheels as per the real plane I was modeling, and wire snippets had to be inserted in the trimmed axle to locate them. The kit’s prop (with a sorta chunky hub) was also replaced by an Aeroclub white metal item. Home-made decals were printed. In my research I also found a number of French machines with civil registrations that looked enticing. A relatively simple kit that has potential for alternate liveries, so the research is now up to you. Hint: Compagnie Generale Transaerienne.

A build from 6 years ago: The Ryan M-1 and its successor the M-2 were the ground upon which more streamlined and refined later types stood. Lindbergh’s very Ryan NYP was a cousin of this sort of clumsy-looking planes. Many of them worked for incipient airlines and plied the Air Mail air trails, as it is the case with the subject modeled here. There was a version equipped with an HISSO in-line engine, which can be seen today at the Seattle museum. The radial versions had different powerplants, but the Wright J-4 seemed a common choice. The chubby, stumpy, squarish, fridge-like lines have a unique charm, punctuated by details like the ice-cream cone-like landing lights and the exposed radial engine. I just posted the build of a kit by Greenbank or Greenbank/Castle. It is a little bit heavy-handed, and scarce, but caters for both the in-line and radial versions, and has decals. The kit is dated 1971, and one may say it is not that bad for that vintage. Every build present its challenges, and scratchbuilding more so. If the model is quite simple indeed, the polished swirls on the aluminum cowl and wheels are not easy to render. The nav lights, decals and other details required some attention too. I enthusiastically made a laminated prop that took a time, only to discover that the real prop wasn’t visibly laminated, so another one was carved. An interior was also added to spice-up the little boxy winged crate. The fuselage needed to be drilled in more than 20 places to accommodate struts, landing gear, control wires, etc. The visible tubular structure above the cockpits that supports the wing must be dealt with carefully. The plane fortunately is painted aluminum overall, but many areas should be treated with the previously-described burnished aluminum; that includes fuselage nose, upper cockpit area, front of central section of the wing and small square panels that cover the exit points of the wings aileron controls. Horns, cables, handles, nav lights, wires, coaming and the like were added to the exterior to make for a more realistic model. This replica of the nice little cute lumbering fellow can now fly home.

A build from 5 years ago: The chubby but charming shape of the Boeing 281 (as the civil, unarmed version -for export- of the P-26 was called) has always pleased me. Nevertheless, there were only two 281s -of the 12 made- that I was interested in: the first, X-12771, and a second machine without visible regs. Statements about their colors differ a bit (how surprising!) giving green and yellow or black and yellow for the first, and the same options with a black/white or red/white triangular design on the fuselage and pants for the second. Look at photos to base your work upon. No antennas are visible and no armament was present in these machines. I have built time ago the venerable Revell kit with its entire rivet galore, still a nice little kit if you deal with the surface detail, but I am glad this new renditions are out. There is a quite complete interior, a piece of printed film to make the windshield, a resin engine and the usual sprues with an alternate tailwheel; the kit has recessed panel lines and overall good detail. The decal sheet seems nice, but I won’t comment on it since as usual I will have to make my own decals for the machine I want. The parts as you can see are all well defined and well detailed, but have almost no locating pins and holes. There is no flash as per se present, but some parts do show mold lines and sometimes slightly rough edges, there are also a couple of sink marks on the tailwheel arrangement. In general, I am very satisfied with the quality/price ratio. Some other kits of this plane had issues with the dihedral, not this one. As you can see, it is perfectly possible to take a "normal" manufacturers' model and make of it something different. Scores of kits can be turned -with very little effort- into civil machines, something that unfortunately not many manufacturers dare to do themselves (issuing civil decals or catering for civil versions). I wish the civil options would deserve at least equal attention than their military counterparts. Since these civil planes are not only generally very colorful (especially compared to their usually drab counterparts) but have a different conventionality.

I have managed to finish some old kits this summer. Boeing 727-200 A rather quick build. Less than two month. Decals from 26 decals. Well not a Swedish plane but Denmark is close enough. I have wanted a Sterling 727 since the 1970's and finally I have one. The Caravelle's wasn't as fast to build. I thing that I started on them around 2006. Decals from F-DCAL But I should have bought new engines for it but I didn't want to dig in to references so I built it out of the box. Not a Swedish plane but it says SAS on the side. Good enough for me. I think these decals came from F-DCAL as well. Thai Airways International was founded in 1960 as a joint venture between Thailand's domestic carrier, Thai Airways Company (TAC) and Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) In 1977 the Thai Government bought out SAS and THAI became fully owned by the Thai government. I had built this Air France plane back in 2006 and after I had finished it I found decals for SAS and Thai so I had to buy more kits. Built straight out of the box with the decals supplied in the kit.

In 2012 I started on these: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234931616-a-pair-of-dc-9/ and finally I have finished them. SAS DC-9-20 I used LN-decals for it. They were hard and a bit brittle, I don't know if they are old. I have had them for some time now. Finnair DC-9-50. TwoSix decals was used on this one. They were soft and flexible but a little bit on the thick side.

A model built 3 years ago, to indulge in the expressed predilection of some esteemed members on the inter-wars period. The beautiful Zeppelin-Staaken E4/20 passenger four-engined monoplane was a product of the postwar (that is post-WWI war), and a very good one. Wisely or not (there were, ahem, understandable fears, surely not appeased by the camouflage covering), the Allied commission decided it should be dismantled, so it bloomed only to be scraped. The mind behind this innovative use of metal (in a way different than Hugo Junkers) was Dipl. Ing. Adolph Rohrbach, later of flying boat fame. In a way, it followed the steps of an unlikely (and unrecognized) grandfather, the Sikorsky Russky Vityaz and its successor the Illya Mourometz ( from 1913!!!!!!), very big, efficient and innovative four-engine machines used in part as commercial passenger planes. So the Zeppelin-Staaken of 1919 was not really new or revolutionary in that regard, but it was a much modern design that took advantage of the advances in technology developed during WW1, being an all-metal, almost total cantilever monoplane. For the skeptics: it did fly, and flew well enough. Many years would pass until such an achievement would be recognized or even copied, or re-invented, and DECADES would pass until a conceptually similar plane was designed, built and flown. Now, the bad news: the kit: As I opened the intact bag Lalo Schifrin's "Mission Impossible" theme started to sound in the depths of my mind. The surface is a disaster, the plastic has dirt inclusions, the edges are ill-defined, the "panel lines" have been -unevenly- traced with a banana, some of the wheels are oval...I mean, how hard is to trace a circle? But I am not being totally fair, this kit is not just bad: it is horrid. No interior and no accessories complete (or incomplete?) the package. True, where else can you get a Zeppelin Staaken E4/20? Do you think Revell is going to come to the rescue? Exactly. So we are stuck with this Frankenkit until 3D printers can be bought for twenty dollars and you can produce your own. I have seen some built on the Net, with more or less fortune, valiant endeavors that I shall not dare to criticize. These brave souls did enough, whatever the results. Classic Plane from Germany was the perpetrator of this...thing, many moons ago. You get your quasi-formed (the term vacu-formed would be too optimistic) plastic of decent gauge, some clear material for the windows, a 1/72 plan that does not coincide with some parts (i.e. fuselage length, span), a page of dubious clarity with some notes. Hope and Faith are not included, and you have to provide your own. There are redeeming qualities: the plastic has a good gauge, cuts and sands easily, glues well, and its surface admits finer sanding. There were some changes on the plane that can be seen in contemporary photos, most noticeably: the addition of a canopy above the cockpit. The presence in some images of a nose wheel -to prevent nose over-. Some probes that appear in some photos over the nose area. Changes in the fairings of the wheel struts/shock absorbers. The door opens sideways in most photos but in other photo is shown opening downwards (associated with the canopy). A couple photos show the legend "Staaken" painted and crossed over. The wheels are seen with visible spokes or fabric-covered. There were two sort of tripods on the wings towards the wingtips. So, in order to reproduce an accurate version of the plane at any stage of its life you chose to, you must study photographs. Here I give you the first 4-engine passenger-carrying monoplane built mostly of metal...in 1919.

This little, simple, picturesque touring plane was just completed. The WIP post is here:

The colorful Tiedemann flying advertisement plane is now completed. The step-by-step building thread can be visited here: The modifications involved manly a different nose and a new two-passenger accommodation aft position. Some parts of the Broplan kit were discarded, like the engine and some struts, a tad crude for the purpose. A whole new decal set was commissioned from Arctic Decals. It is a rewarding experience to make those drab and gloomy WWI birds into more joyful machines with appealing color schemes and much more positive lives. Flying advertisement went along with aviation development from its very beginnings, and since the purpose is of course to grab attention, the resulting models of them are per norm visually striking. Many kits can be converted with little or no modifications into out-of-the-ordinary models that present another side, more luminous, of those magnificent flying machines.

A simple vacuum-formed model from Execuform. This is again for a friend, since my interest on the type is less than nihil. It is posted so it can hopefully encourage those having vac kits and not quite gathering momentum to start one. It's easy, as you will see. I agreed to build it under the condition that it will be completed on a civil paint scheme. Not like this one below, but in a simpler scheme (it gives an idea of the type, though): From Wikipedia: This was surely a vintage edition, since it has white metal parts: Contents of the kit's bag: The white metal accessories: The very simple parts, an Execuform trade mark: And what pilots and modelers like: redundancy! Several canopies vacuformed in thin very clear plastic: In this mold, parts are marked and cut from the back of the sheet, where the parting line is clear: Parts off the backing sheet with no effort: The nice (for the time) white metal parts: The engine even has the cylinder exhaust stacks: All parts free en ready for some little surface detail (there is a plan with the kit, and you have to engrave everything regarding surface detail, even ailerons, flaps, rudder and elevator lines:

Congratulations to Avis for releasing this fantastic, futuristic plane of the Golden Age of aviation. Not only a civil subject to break the routine of drab military machines, but a plane with a revolutionary design and a very appealing shape. The kit itself requires thorough cleaning and some prodding here and there, nothing extraordinary, though, and something we modelers are used to with these kits from smaller manufacturers. I replaced the kit's nose decals, with Arctic Decals items. Otherwise the kit's decals and masks behaved very well. I cut and lowered the flaps, added a couple of missing mass balances and elevator control horns with their cables, besides a Pitot probe and navigation lights. I also discarded the kit's exhausts parts and made new ones from metal tube. The engine nacelle fronts that came plugged in the kit were hollowed and mock engines were added inside. I am pleased beyond words (although I had nothing to do with it) that a subject that I scratched many years ago for sheer love of the machine, is now available to the modelers in the form of a fairly detailed, affordable kit. So here it is a plane that may have looked like a space ship in its time, when biplanes were aplenty on the skies. Shelton, the designer, was no doubt a refined visionary, unfortunately hindered by the financial doldrums of his time. He created a memorable plane that whispered "streamline" to the ears of the incredulous bystanders.

I recently finished this off in the B-25 STGB and thought I'd share the results here. It's the new Airfix B-25C/D converted to a J and then converted again to a firebomber that crash-landed in Alaska, and is now being restored to flight. It was a lot of work to do the conversion (there's more differences between the D and the J than I thought!) but I thoroughly enjoyed it You can find the build here: Anyway, on with the pictures!! Some details: And finally, some more artistic shots with the piece of the real aircraft, and on a VFR sectional chart of Alaska: For reference, here's what the real thing looked like: Thanks for looking! Beggsy

It's difficult to recognize the future when it is in the present. As with other many cases in aviation history (and History at large), the American (Shelton) AG-4 Gyro Crusader arrived too soon. Eight years ago, attracted by its aspect, between futuristic and comic book, I made a scratch-built model of the AG-4 Gyro, thinking that there was no chance that any manufacturer would ever issue a kit of it. I am glad I was proven wrong, so others can enjoy the incredibly modern looks of this remarkable plane, created in 1933 and flown in 1935. My scratch of 10 years ago: Here a clip of its test flight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1xifECLKFc I will quote myself from that build of long ago -since this house policies preclude me from posting a link to my scratch-build, located somewhere else-: "The retro-futuristic look and curvaceous, graceful lines of the Shelton American Gyro Crusader whisper in your ear “streamlining” and “teardrop”. To anyone familiar with the Bauhaus school of design it wouldn’t be a surprise if this one would have come up from their workshops, but it didn’t. It is actually an American design –many of you already knew it, since the answer is in the question- that had the misfortune of seeing the light of day in the hard post-depression years. Nevertheless the one and only machine built attracted a lot of publicity, the attention of the general public and some remarkable personalities, Amelia Earhart among them. During its life the Crusader had some changes in its landing gear and props and also in the variety of images applied mainly to its nose. In some images its surfaces seem to appear without any inscriptions or images, though. A good reference is: "Crusader: The Story of the Shelton Flying Wing" by Alexander Roca." So we have now the Avis kit in what it came to be known as short run technology. It has, as we all know, its pros and cons. We get those models unlikely to be cater for by the industry giants at an -in general- reasonable price, and we have to deal with something that occupies our modeling skills in a perhaps more demanding and certainly less complacent manner, cleaning flash, refining parts, dealing with the lack of locating devices and some vague fit. So be it. Resealable bag, I like that: Parts' array: Masks included: Decals (will talk about them later): Transparencies. Fair, if not precisely crystalline: The limitations of the media, but nothing a modeller can't deal with...with some skill and patience: Some cleanup is ahead... Instructions, well printed, in good paper, with a few vague points: Transparencies cleaned, washed, given some floor polish: The coffee mesh in which all those parts, especially the very small ones, are washed after the cleanup. Do not lose them!: Parts cleaned up. And man do they need cleanup: Not the sharpest of molds: Again, the fixes seem easy enough: The engine fronts also need a serious cleanup. Not sure if they attempted here to represent the things behind the openings, or these are just plastic blobs. In any case I will open those up and simulate the engine inside: