Old Man

That's quite a movie. I especially like the scene where, midway through it, they hear of Pearl Harbor on the radio. Be worth checking to see. The advertising short above has a good deal of air to air footage of the civil type aloft. James

Thanks, John. The aeroplane does look good. Can't speak for the model yet.... James

I thought about doing that one, Cliff. One of the old-line resin companies, Aardpol, did it in 1/72, but it's not something you see for sale nowadays. They are turrets: here's a picture with the guns mounted: There was also a gunner's position in rear, certainly with a ventral gun, and likely with waist guns as well. A fixed gun forward for the pilot may have been provided. I saw, in hunting up the kit, someone who started converting the Glencoe kit to the bomber version. He didn't finish, but did find the perfect match for the turrets --- 'googly-eyes' with the backing removed. Curtiss sold a few to Bolivia during the Gran Chaco War despite an arms embargo on both belligerents. The attempt to deliver by slipping them through Peru failed, and they remained there as transports. James

Wonderful stuff, Sir! James

Are these all to be in the Gentleman's scale, Sir? It's a great project. I've items in mind for the Navy and Asia GBs, and might choose a Hawk III in the latter myself. James

Great subject, JB! Curtiss almost lost any future business with Navy over this one. What weakened the wings was sympathetic vibration of their metal structure with the motor at cruising speeds. It was grounded after one fell apart in the air. Curtiss couldn't fix it by any means other than reverting to the earlier wooden Hawk wings: the Navy wouldn't pay for it, and wanted metal airframes. The whole remaining batch was stripped of motors and instruments and dropped over the side off the California coast. With the wooden wing, it was the Hawk III, which did very well on the export market. James

Looking forward to this one, Marklo. British airliners are in this period are ... interesting. James

I'm already in it, friend. I like the Hawk biplanes, and am quite fond of the P-36. I do have a bit of a bone to pick at the company over, though. I've found it useful to think of Curtiss as a PR firm with aircraft factories attached. The GB banner features a P-6E, and it is widely seen as emblematic of the period. But there weren't quite four dozen of them ever built. The Army purchased three times as many of the P-12E, Boeing's contemporary biplane fighter. The difference is skill at publicity and salesmanship. Curtiss was not a pioneering company. It stuck with the tried and true, for example the biplane Hawk wings remained the same from the P-1 to the Export Hawk III (the metal-wing disaster of the BF2C being the sole exception). There were benefits from this, but reaping them foreclosed innovation. Rant over.... James

Thank you, Peter. I'm more familiar with the military aviation of the period than the commercial, and had no idea that was the origin of the DC3. I think one of the problems with the concept was the relatively short duration of the flights. On a train you tuck in for the night, but the Condor, even if flown non-stop to the limit of its range, wouldn't be aloft but for about four hours, and most flights proceeded by shorter stages. The 'Luxury Sleeper Transport' didn't give you time for much more than a nap. James

That was my line if pressed, Col. This isn't assembling, it's just getting stuff in shape off the sprue.... I didn't know much about the aeroplane when I took this up, just of the kit and its noteriety. I knew some bulbous odd-duck flew Gen. Chiang about, and that there were biplane airliners here and there (mostly British). Looking for pointers on the kit before starting it up led to all sorts of places. I don't know much about the commercial aircraft modelling scene, but it does seem this would be a natural. It's big, in 1/72 the wingspan would be 13 1/2 inches, and in the minor scale it's still going to come in at about a foot. Might do well in 1/144, struts and wires are pretty thick. James

Thank you, Dennis. I appreciate the indulgence. This go I'm putting in the little triangular roof windows, 'floor and bulkhead' baffles in the cockpit, tending to surface detail on the fuselage pieces. and probably will get the lower wing halves together (they'll need assistance). Ribbing isn't half bad, and won't need much leveling. James

Because there's so much to do to get this thing presentable, I jumped the gun a little, keeping Uncle Dennis apprised of what I was doing, to be sure I stayed clear of the 25% complete standard. Here's what I've done so far. First, I've opened up wheel wells. The original kit was set for floats, and so had solid nacelle bottoms. In the re-issue new lower wing undersurface pieces were supplied with open bays, but they don't come near fitting, their chord is much too narrow. It was easier to doctor the original part, and likely better for fuselage fit, too. I've gotten the glass-work sorted. The opening for the cabin windows are irregular and wrongly sized. I cut out the whole area on each piece and put in a strip of 1mm clear plastic. I made both a bit over-height, so there would be room to dress the seams. Taped the part to remain clear: Masked to leave open the spaces between the windows: Here's the result on the port piece: And the starboard: Next is cockpit glazing. It's three separate flat panels a side, meeting in front in a point. The bottom of the largest panel should jibe with the bottom sills of the cabin windows. Here it is with two panels in on each side: They do have to match in front: Here the final two front panels are in: I've done a good deal of polishing since these were taken. I'll be happy with 'bottle bottom' quality, though, there won't be an interior. There are frames where you see seams, for which I expect I'll use decal strip painted. I am not going for full accuracy, but for verisimilitude only. The fuselage is the worst bit of the kit, and to make it accurate would require extensive surgery. The size and shape of the cabin windows and their orientation with the cockpit glazing, is something that even a casual eye would note, looking from photograph to model, so I do very much want that looking right. James

Here's the contents: I'm using these drawings, by Paul Matt and Putnams, in sorting the thing out: The Condor biplane made a big splash a sort of 'Pullman of the Skies', with paired seats that could be made up into sleeping berths. The interior is fairly well photograph, somebody could make a quite decent kit of this, in a standard scale. The 'sleeper' configuration does not seem to have caught on, being replaced by standard seating, with seats ranked in twos or threes. This video focuses on a Condor flight, and shows the cabin and crew arrangements in useful detail. The 1934 yearbook, too, has much material on the Condor: https://www.aia-aerospace.org/wp-content/uploads/the-1934-aircraft-year-book.pdf Curtiss fitted out the Condor as a bomber for export, though there were few customers. The demonstrator model did wind up in service with the Nanking government in China, reputedly as Gen. Chiang Kai-shek's personal transport: The USAAC purchased two early production examples, which, under the designations YC-30 and C-30, were used as VIP transports operating from Bolling Field outside Washington, DC. I intend to finish this model as one of those, in 'Yellow Wings' Orange Yellow and Olive Drab. When rigged for VIP use, the cabin may have resembled this: The Navy bought two of these, of a later model, and this is a picture of one's interior. I didn't think the model could support the mostly aluminum lacquer finish of the Navy machines.

Here is a link to the thing on-line: https://www.aia-aerospace.org/wp-content/uploads/the-1934-aircraft-year-book.pdf This contains a great deal of information about how things worked, and what was thought, in commercial aviation at the time. Not so much direct modeling usage, but informative. The whole series can be found here: https://www.aia-aerospace.org/about/history/ (open Aircraft and Aerospace Yearbooks link at top) James

Inspiration of a sort: This is a twenty minute promotional film 'about' air travel. To call it a luxury trade would smack of understatement. Worth the time. James

Just an odd history note, Dave.... This was the 55th Pursuit emblem prior to 1934. James

Thank you, Sir! I will see if I can track down the book. Given the clear superiority of Italy's air service, that would be serious. The aerial end is more familiar to me, and the RAF would have been in an almighty pickle. It was looking into the background of a model I'm working on (a Bulldog in Sudan in '35) that I came upon mention of the Navy's ammunition supply. What I recall reading was that the Mediterranean Fleet would have had little more than their shipboard magazines contained if it had come to a fight. My impression was that main battery ammunition was being referred to. Thank you again! James

Looking for background on RAF operations in the Near East during the Abyssinian Crisis, I came upon someone saying the British navy was extremely short of shells at that time. I do not remember the site, it was a forum I visited several years ago, and the fellow did seem to have a grasp of the subject. Curiousity has been renewed lately, and I figured people here might know the situation. James

Great work, Andy! Love these boxy little things, always nice to see one done up proud. James

Great work, Sir! Nice to see one built up, I've got one I've never quite got around to doing. How was the belly transparency? Contemplating it has always left me slipping it back into the stack. The persistence of the 'heavy observation' type in the USAAC is one of the odder procurement decisions in that service's checkered career. I recall some Congressman complaining of plans for their retirement saying "They're just as good as they ever were...." James

That's nicely done, Sir. Great work on the BMF: it's really got the lived-in look about it. James

Thanks, Steve. That campaign was a sort of 'cabinet of curiousities' in the aeronautical line. I have the A-Model but never built it. It's 'East Africa' decals are bogus (though accurate for the recruiting tour later), but there may at some later stage have been squadron emblems employed (1st or 2nd). That's why I pitched it at the start of its career in Kenya. James

Thanks for reminding me of this one, Tim. In sunlight the colors do look more like what the eye sees, but I still got the substitute Dark Earth too red. Live and learn. I kept the Photobucket account active till a couple years ago, and recently paid them a month's ransom to download stuff, and keep the watermarked pictures going. I ought to do further replacements, but I'm unlikely to before I join the procrastinator's club, I've had the application for years now. There's a lot tucked away in old threads here. That 1/144 scale stuff is fantastic! James

This recently popped up in my notifications, and thought I would add some more recent pictures of the model, in daylight.

Sounds like a good one, Sir. Count me in.