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A build from 9 years ago: Choroszy has been releasing a number of good kits on civil subjects, a trend deserving applause and worth continuing. Among those kits is the Church Midwing, a small plane with charming and graceful lines. It was composed by a Heath fuselage and different sets of wings, depending on the use and user (it was sold as a DIY plan or kit). Some ended up as racers, which is the case of Choroszy’s chosen subject. I was building this kit for a friend, so I was glad to be dealing with an excellent quality resin kit with very good detail and engineering. Resin is a media that doesn’t require magic powers or supernatural skill, just care, the use of adequate-for-the-task tools and appropriate adhesives (in this case cyanoacrylate and epoxy glues) . A mask must be used while sanding the parts to avoid inhaling the resin dust. The price of resin kits tends to be a tad high, just be sure that you are paying for something of reasonable quality, not for the fact that a few so-so kits were made and the costs had to be spread out on those few kits. The parts in Chroszy’s box came in three different bags, insulating the smaller from the bigger ones, therefore preventing any breakage. The parts in my kit were absolutely bubble/pinhole-free, presented no warping whatsoever and were complete casts (no short/incomplete parts); however, the engine had a blob of resin in the intake/exhaust side fused with the cylinders. Choroszy’s Church Midwing comes with only the race number (40) and tail regs as decals. The font used for the “40” seems to be incorrect. The scalloping that is the key of the aesthetics of the plane is conspicuously absent, which is a shame. The model is so tiny that masks are difficult to cut, so the builder may be forced to produce his/her own decals for the scalloping present in the leading and trailing edges of the upper wings and stab. I was not at all positively impressed by this omission. A museum subject at Oshkosh shows wing registrations, again absent on Choroszy’s rendition, but it still to be determined if the original plane wore them. Why this manufacturer choose to make a beautiful model kit of such lovely plane and leave the modeler alone with a problem, escapes my understanding. It was a black decal, after all, could have been printed with the other images, and any savvy computer-able designer would have done them without complications. The two-sheet instructions, of passable printing quality, have two 3-views, one showing the decoration scheme. Rigging is depicted there, but in 1/72 and not clear enough. And since we are at it, why many manufacturers insist on representing in their instructions very minute parts with very minute drawings? It doesn’t help much the modeler, does it?. Do you know guys, there is a thing called blow-up, where enlarged diagrams represent small or difficult areas so the modeler won’t have to pull his/her hair off trying to figure out what’s going on there at that minuscule ink blob. In this case for example the drawing showing the location of the engine components is confusing, fuzzy and small. And so you suffered modelers know, there are two rows of holes on the engine side, the intake goes above and the four exhaust pipes go bellow. So, again, the instructions are unremarkable, to say the least. The English used in the historical note is...puzzling; now, Choroszy has a number of English-speaking customers, wouldn’t it have been much wiser to just pass around a draft on the intended text in English and have it checked? Summarizing, you get excellent parts...and that is mostly it regarding satisfaction. And yet again, one could complain, but who else will be kitting these wonders? So I guess is welcome anyway as it is. I have seen online reviews of other Choroszy offers, and they had the needed decals, besides again praising the quality of the moldings. Before doing anything it is a good idea to carefully wash the parts, still attached to their casting blocks. Some painting may be done at this stage too, when it is still easy to get a hold of those tiny parts. Separating the parts from their casting webs was a painless operation, helped by careful planning on part of the manufacturer in regard of how the resin is cast. Wings and fuselage halves even have pins and corresponding locating holes, as in injected kits. The fuselage sides have not only interior structure detail, but excellent stringer exterior detail too; besides, tiny marks for the landing gear and wing strut locations and furthermore the exit holes for the tail surfaces’ control cables are already there. The headrest is part of one of the fuselage sides. What a level of detail. Nevertheless, care must be exercised in handling resin parts, especially the small/thin ones. In this kit, you get a number of teeny-tiny parts, and when you use your tweezers and magnifier be cautious; if these parts go into the Twing and Twang dimensions, with their translucent creamy color and small size the chances of getting them back are very slim. The control horns come in cast rows and have to be carefully separated and glued in position. Now for resin mostly superglue is used, so be sure of where do you want that part to go. You may substitute with photoetched ones, or cut from a soda can, or even thin styrene sheet. There were two leftover minute parts that weren’t in the instructions, and I have no idea what they are. Also with the kit came a piece of clear plastic, but this plane had no windshield, so again I have no idea what it was for. The resin tailskid is bound to break off at the least provocation, so it may be replaced with steel wire of adequate diameter. The engine is supposed to be trapped by the fuselage halves, but I shaved it a bit so it could be slid in at a later stage and therefore avoiding complicated masking. I decided to replace the resin wheels for photoetched spokes and solder tire to match photos. White primer was necessary to provide a better background for the yellow tone. A combination of decals, masking and hand touch-ups was used for the black decoration. Enter the Spider (oh, boy, here comes the rigging...) All control cables are mostly external -especially on the wing- and so is some bracing in the tail, undercarriage and wing struts; therefore there is a lot of monofilament to be threaded about. Compared to a complex biplane this is not big deal, but better muster some patience because of the small size of the model. One missing detail is the pulleys for the aileron cables, present on the upper side of the wing but absent underneath. Very good moldings, sober classy lines, and an (up to you to deal with) attractive decoration, Not bad at all.

A build from 11 years ago, text as originally posted: First a few words regarding this article: The objective of this series was to spark awareness and interest regarding wonderful but lesser known designs, especially from the Pioneer and Golden Era periods of aviation. Their creativity, significance, and unparalleled charm are for me (and perhaps for many of you) a very important but often overlooked part of aviation history. I would also like to express my thanks to the ones that with their supportive, affectionate, informative and sometimes witty correspondence established a wonderful feedback that allowed me to improve my articles and models. Thanks also for the invaluable help received from fellow modelers, aviation enthusiasts and friends. Was Mr. Arnoux a minimalist? Were his creations early expressions of Minimal Art? The concept of Minimalism, applied now to creations in diverse media that characterize for being stripped to their essential components or elements, both structurally and expression-wise, surely can be applied to Arnoux’s aeronautic creations. His work in the field was precursory in many ways, and the rationale behind his research can perhaps be summarized as: -Which are the essential components of a plane?: a lifting surface, a power plant, and the space necessary for the pilot. I have previously dealt with one of Arnoux’s earlier creations, the Stablavion of 1912 And this is the fully evolved concept, of 1922. Built to compete in the Coupe Deutsch, a control problem and the subsequent rough landing prevented this incredible design to enter the event. It was powered by a Hispano-Suiza engine and the control surfaces at the wing’s trailing edge acted as what we would now call elevons. Vision for the pilot was masterfully impaired by having his head protruding on top of the trailing edge and behind the cumbersome Lamblin “lobster-pot” radiator. As usual with these odd-balls, references are not abundant. Fellow modeler and friend (the late) James Schubert helped a lot with this one. The plans that are around are good, but as usual the few available photos quickly showed some minor inaccuracies, mainly in the landing gear, lower tail and a few details in the radiator area. Once the model engineering was solved (at least in paper) it was out with the Mattel to vac the fuselage sides and just a bit of careful work on the Lamblin radiator and the wood prop. The remaining parts, including some interior and exterior details, were straightforward although the fuselage nose took some fiddling because of the number of details grouped there. No decals for this one, which alleviates the task, and just some airbrushing for the two-tone livery that was the product of educated guessing. Minute, cute, plumped-looking “tailless” racer to celebrate aviation history!

A build from 9 years ago: At the start of the 20’s it was realized in Japan that racing planes could be of great interest, therefore the first plane in the country designed for that purpose was built by Kawanishi and designated K-2. It was to be powered by a six-inline Hall Scott rescued from another plane. By 1921 the result of the endeavor was a very pleasing, modern –for the time- little plane of refined lines that showed promise. It was made mainly of wood and had a low cantilever wing of constant chord. The little fin/rudder area apparently gave a bit of trouble under some circumstances and minor problems precluded the building of more machines. The only K-2 built didn’t enjoy much development, but the plane flew with wire-rigged wings and later received airfoiled wing struts. Wheels had their spokes exposed or covered, depending on the photos. At least two different props can be seen on photos. The little plane eventually reached an unofficial speed of about 250 kph, not bad for the about 220 hp of the engine and for 1921. The boxy radiator, right on the face of the pilot, puts a sort of funny note to the design. Minute in 1/72 but with a definite racy appearance, the sort of art deco lines of the K-2 seem to make by themselves a statement about speed.

A second Travel Air racer, also from 5 years ago. (The first is here: There were five Travel Air Mystery Ships built. Many went through several paint scheme iterations and a few minor aspect modifications, giving us modelers a pretty wide field of options regarding our personal choices. I won’t abound here in their story which can be easily found in good publications, the Net, the Akasha Chronicles and your crystal ball. As I said before, Skyways # 102 April 2013 has an article on the Mystery Ship that will give you a good idea. I have built as you know a model of Hawks’ RN1313 posted here, and I went for another. Since I had the wood masters for the spats and fuselage from the first model the work was not as hard. Having also already figured out the engineering, things went relatively easy. The possibility of a new livery was a breath of fresh air (I usuallydon't like to make the same model twice) and some research and additional work was done to represent it correctly. Here is as usual the photographic record.

A second Stagg conversion, from 5 years ago This second model I am presenting to you now, of the early Staggerwing machines produced by Beechcraft , denominated A17SF, was conceived to participate in the MacRobertson race as NR / NC12569. Several circumstances did not permit that to happen, and the plane was eventually sold to the Bureau of Air Commerce as NS68. But first, the differences with the model I previously made and posted –the first 17R, NC499N, that you can see here: and this version, the A17SF, whose characteristics are: -a much bigger cowl to house the Wright Cyclone -absence of ventilation gills on the fuselage front -the presence of landing flaps underneath the upper wing * * this in turn demanded a cut on the “tail” of the wing strut upper fairings. DO NOT follow Wylam plans regarding this –and other- details, they help, but get stuff wrong all the time; look at photos instead (or besides) -a non-divided rudder –a divided one was used as an airbrake in the former model- that also has a small compensator protruding ahead from the hinge line at the top -steerable tailwheel -different nav lights located on the lower wings (as in the series models) -some sort of intake tube on left wing root –but only on NS68, not on the racer- -two Venturis underneath the belly –only on racer- -carb intake on top of cowl -thin struts instead of wire rigging on tail feathers -presence of antenna wire -on NS68- -different Pitot tube -different landing wires rigging -elevators had also small compensators protruding from the hinge line -antenna loop on the cabin roof Now, to this particular model of the Stag, A17FS. This particular version had the most powerful engine and the stumpiest look of them all. The schemes differ slightly too between the two incarnations of A17FS: -of course different registrations -scalloped-painted pants in the racer -different propellers -the wing struts were red on NS68 and silver on NR/NC12569 -the regs on the tail are red on NS68 and silver on NC12569 (besides of course the obvious facts that the regs themselves were different) I will repeat here the warnings I posted on the other conversion: The two things that gave me a lot of headaches and produced a lot of frustration were the two-part windshield and the struts. The struts as molded have tiny locating protrusions which you are at risk to confuse with the leftovers of the gates, a couple millimeters apart. If you have managed to spot that with a “phew!”, you are not off the hook. The curve of the upper part of the strut will not match that of the upper wing which it supports, nor will the little pip align with the faint hole in the said wing.

Another model from about a year ago, more eye candy for the select audience of British subjects 😉 Here comes the Hurricane (Or, as friend Patrice Roman said, a "Pacific Hurricane" 🙂 A very nice, inexpensive, well-detailed Academy kit that assembles quite well, with decals that are already in the market, so no need to reinvent the wheel this time. An exciting departure one may say from the dull versions seen already to the point of indigestion. For you heretics of the 1/48th sect, there is a Hasegawa kit -that has a few mistakes, though, check against photos. Beware that this racer went through many changes, look at photos for details, like different exhausts, antenna, decoration, race number, mirror or not on the canopy, and so forth. I used the wonderful Lifelike Decals Hurricane Pt.1 set, but taking only what I needed to create the first appearance of the plane, without race numbers, with only one "the last of the many" legends on one side, and a slightly different position -according to photos- of the wing registrations. I added a rear-view mirror and a metal ring on the carb intake, again following photos. A truly enjoyable kit, a very nice and well-behaved set of decals, a superb-looking civilized subject: modeling paradise. What do you do to relax? I read J. L. Borges, listen to baroque and contemporary music, watch British TV shows (Masterpiece Mysteries, among many), and Fellini's DVDs...and I build models. And to relax of building models? I build more models. There is a surprising quantity of after-market sets for this kit that you can use to spice-up your build, like spinners, props, wheels, photo-etched galore, etc. I will ignore them all, since I want to keep things simple this time. Did you know that this very plane was entered by Princess Margaret for racing purposes? Or that it was the last Hurricane ever built? Or that the English term "Hurricane" derives from Spanish "Huracán", that in turn derives from Caribbean native language "Hura-Kan", which means "Heart of Heaven", and was also the name of the god of storms? Now you do.

A conversion from about 5 years ago involving the Monogram F4B-4 kit and a lot of work. Mr. Hughes received a civil 2 seat Boeing 100 (NC247K) from the factory at the time nobody else -but him, of course- could. He promptly started to toy with it to convert it into a racer. In charge were Lockheed engineers and designers that largely modified the plane to Hughes’ fancy. With it, after some further mods, Howard won a closed-circuit race, once more outracing the fastest planes of the day, including needless to say the ones of the military. In its possession the plane went through a couple of major modifications, as can be seen in photos. Later on the plane was sold and had a long line of owners, most renowned Bob McManus, Art Goebel, Ben Huntley, Ben Bradley and possibly others, as X/NR/NX 247K. Colors, saved Art Goebel’s machine (brilliant green, orange, metal), are anybody’s speculation. Paul Matt, an unavoidable but not completely trustworthy source says it was blue (with yellow flying surfaces for the first Hughes’ mod). Matt bases his assumption in the belief that Hughes Tool Co. logo was blue, but the fact is that it was red and yellow at the time. Decades later -around Hughes passing- it was changed to blue. I won’t abound on the kit’s comments -other than saying that it was superb for its time (and actually this time too) and had extremely sound locating devices. Extensive chopping, scratching, adaptation, supplantation and mystification are in order, not for the faint of heart. But it is also fun and you learn a lot. Well worth the price (no, not the price of the kit, the price of daring). This kit was kindly handed over by Tin Melson, a modeling arch-villain that hides behind the identity of a very nice Tuesdays' Irregular Boingland Club member. To him my thanks. The Hughes plane as said went through a few incarnations, here I intend to model the first one, that still had the original vertical tail. Again, as said before, as it went from owner to owner, the aspect changed quite a bit. Among the things you will need to modify on this kit are: New, larger cowl; new vertical tail; adding pants; replace the wheels; cut-out a notch on the wing; re-do the ailerons -as they were very different than those in the kit-; heavily modify the fuselage; modify the cabane; modify the landing gear legs; make a new windshield; etc. That is, lots of entertainment!. That being said, if you want to have a more relaxed approach, there were many civil-registered F4B-4s that do not need any modification other than a few decals and some paint. There is a great deal of pondering regarding the colors of this racer, and no opinion has been so far verified with hard data, so here is my own theory: a) Boeing delivery colors of the time where green and orange (with light grey when applied) b) Hughes Tool Co company logo of the time was not blue, as Paul Matt assumed for his determination of the racer's colors, but Red/Yellow instead, as seen in contemporary company material. Around Hughes death, this was changed to blue (decades after the Boeing 100 was painted). c) Hughes jacket as seen in the B and W photos in front of the machine was probably dark blue with white pants as per common use of those garments. It is clear that the color of the fuselage is a much lighter hue and not therefore "dark blue" as again stated by Matt. d) One of the later incarnations of the machine (Art Goebel's "Skywriter") was undoubtedly green and orange as color photos prove. Did Art choose those colors, or where they just the colors he inherited with the plane? The B & W photos of that plane show a gray gradation very much alike the ones taken during Hughes ownership. e) Hughes’ Boeing 100 as we know was deeply altered two times, once by Douglas and then by Lockheed. The reg was X247K. That reg changed later on variously to NC, NR and N. f) Two shades are easily perceived in the photos: a darker hue for the fuselage and a lighter one for the tail feathers and wings. The engine shield in all photos appears to be an even darker shade (red? black?) g) The regs on the first Hughes mod on the tail are probably black -again as per photos-; no regs are unfortunately clearly seen on the wings. I'd like to posit to you (since the "blue" -Paul Matt’s choice- is hereby called into question) that the plane was indeed painted in a variation of the Green and Yellow colors, used at the beginning AND much later during the time when color photos of the plane were taken, with black regs. Here is Howard Hughes Boeing 100 racer -in its first incarnation- completed. Home-made decals:

A triplane racer built 2 years ago. Paraphrasing the enigma that the sphinx presented to Oedipus: "What is it that roars, and first flies in one wing, then in two wings and then in three wings?" Can you give an answer before I throw you into the deep chasms of modeling ignorance? It is the Curtiss Cox / Texas Wildcat / Cactus Kitten racing plane(s). All planes have a story behind, many times a very interesting one (although perhaps that's valid for any object in the world, even the simplest, or perhaps everything in the universe) and the Cactus Kitten is no exception. The story begins with the Curtiss Cox racer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_Cox_Racer As you can see, the concept started with a modern design, and after much research and trials, ended up retrograding to a much older one, outmoded and passé concept. And they call that "progress". I wonder to which other aspects of life this may apply... But I digress. Things started when I found the type and some data in the book of Michael Gough on the Pulitzer races. The prop is hand-carved wood, the metal wheels form a dwindling Aeroclub items' stock, the fuselage was vacuum-formed on a hand-carved basswood master, the rest is Good Ole' Styrene. The radiator "books" were fun to engineer and build, and the rumors of me going to modeling rehab are spurious and unfounded. Since I am portraying the racer as it won second place in the 1921 Pulitzer, before it was ultimately ceded to the Navy, there are no markings to deal with. When I first posted this model somewhere else it generated a lot of feedback, mainly about the dubious aerodynamics of this racer (triplane, huge "book" radiators). And I agree, BUT: it not only came second, as said in the post, in the 1921 Pulitzer race, it was the FASTEST plane of the race in a straight line (loosing speed at the pylons due to very cautious piloting by Coombs, who may have doubts about the structural integrity or manageability of the plane). So there 🙂 This plane was completely covered in plywood, hence the absence this time of ribs and frames showing through the surfaces. The race number was 3 (thanks Mike Gough!) and I have seen it in only one low quality photo on the Net. All other images that I was able to look at had either no number or marks, or the navy marks on the tail. The original plane had a broad and massive propeller, and quite robust wing struts. This is a small model in 1/72nd scale, and things get complicated by the triplane configuration and passing-through diagonal struts, not to mention that I had to scratch every single part but the wheels. This is most definitely one of those "Phew!" models, confirmed by the big sigh of relief you proffer as you add the last part. Cute, strange-looking, with racy lines and awkward "book" radiators, this Cactus Kitten surely is a prickly (sorry, couldn't help it) build, but it compensates that with the happiness it provides when you hear it purr on the shelf.

A model from 6 years ago. The Bellanca 28/92 is indeed an example of how unusual a particular product of a fairly traditional designer family can be. If you consider the other, more known Bellanca types, you would have never guessed this plane descends from the same ADN strand. The only other Bellanca type that trumps the 28/92 in rarity is the very peculiar Bellanca TES Tandem, which I really hope I’ll be able to build one day too. The 28/92 has many similarities with the preceding, more conventional 28/90 racer design. This glamorous trimotor started life as the result of a request for a long-distance flight plane. It was supposed to be flown by Alex Papana, who in 1937 clumsily managed to break it, have a tantrum, and leave the plane unpaid. The plane was entered in the 1938 Bendix piloted by Frank Cordova, but had to abandon. It then placed second in the 1939 Bendix at the hands of Art Bussy. The plane eventually found an obscure end being shipped to Latin America, where it was lost, after being bought by a military representative. What a sad end for such beautiful machine. I have seen models of this plane that have the colored areas on the nose and nacelles painted in red, black, blue and other colors. That seems not to be the case. So far I have found written evidence of it being aluminum overall with the mentioned colored areas in matt green. I would have really liked red or blue instead. The flowing lines and the three engines make this plane very appealing, with a stance similar to those racers flown by the heroes of the comics.

A model from 4 years ago: I really enjoy and applaud every time a manufacturer ventures beyond the usual frontiers and presents something refreshing. In this case, Special Hobby offering started nevertheless as a war bird, as you can tell for the machine-gun holes and other clues. These exact molds were first released as such. But then, in a welcome turn of inspiration, Special Hobby went for the racers to which many of this military machines were converted after the war. The decal sheet offers no less than four choices! The complete kit package is constituted by multiple resin parts nicely and cleanly cast, a small photoetched fret, a piece of printed film for the instrument panel, extensive decals as said before, two (!) vacuformed canopies and several pages of instructions. All of the items are neatly bagged and therefore protected, only to put them in one of those self-squashing, end-opening boxes. The model is not new now (2014) but it is still available for a reasonable price. The price is reasonable, sure, because the moldings show the effects of a lesser molding technology, with no locating pins, thick gates and prominent seam lines. Very little flash is present, but to get out some of the parts is not easy, and I broke two -that I promptly repaired- even when I was extra careful and, err, have been doing this for a little while. The surface detail is very good, and dry trials showed a not too precise fit, although not bad either. The masters for these parts were superb, but the technology for the fabrication of the kit traded low cost for some loss of quality. So be it. This subject is a tad outside my usual choices' envelope and is the one portrayed in the box art, but bear in mind that the contemporary machine you see on the Net is not exactly like the original machine that participated in the races in the late 40's. You get parts for both, as well as others to cater for some little differences between the other subjects in the decal sheet. Beware that in spite the abundant decals some areas still have to be painted, in this case white at the front of the nose and the vertical stabilizer tip. Always study your photos (NOT drawings) and compare, then take notes and proceed. The kit got an incorrect 9-cyl row engine, but the kit I am building has a 7-cyl row that came with later -corrected- releases, although it still has three magnetos instead of the seven needed. And so it began: As soon as I compared the "corrected" resin engine with the real thing I noticed that if it was true that the cylinder count was now correct, the cylinders themselves were not; being the shape, pushrods, configuration, all not accurate. So I ordered and Engine & Things P&W R-4360 aftermarket engine and to hell with the kit's one. Then I turned my attention to the resin bits. There are three things I don't like about resin parts: 1) When they are bad (NOT this case) 2) When they do not have a good fit (more on this) 3) When they are ridden with flash, pinholes, bubbles, etc ( again, NOT this case) 4) When the pouring blocks are not intelligently or practically connected to the parts themselves (more on that) 5) That they are made of resin (more on that too) Sorry, did I say I didn't like three things about resin parts? I guess they were more. The resin parts as said are good, well detailed, and mine had no blemishes whatsoever. While most came out obediently from their pouring blocks, the wheel wells were cast in a way that made very difficult to remove the excess resin, and this is critical because these parts are trapped between the wing halves, and of course, like every other resin cockpit and wheel well in the universe, they do not fit, being too thick (point 2). But if you sand too much, you will come through the wheel well roof , ruining the part, so WHY was the pouring block located there (point 4)? Anyway, you will have to sand too the wing parts to allow for the part to fit. As you sand the resin parts you produce an interesting amount of harmful resin dust, a health hazard. So the more you have to sand away those pouring blocks and the parts for them to fit the more crap you generate. I use a mask and do it partially under running water, but the stuff surely gets somewhere else too (point 5). The resin exhaust stubs are correct for the original racer (the two top on the sides being larger and the two lower ones shorter). The contemporary rebuilt plane has all four side stubs of the same length. The kit manufacturer omitted the ones that run underneath the fuselage, another three pairs of them, that you will have to scratch and add. The prop is too small for this variant,. Another glitch that keeps you in "step 0" fixing things and thus unable to proceed with the building itself. It is good that the overall quality of this kit is so high, and that's a strong motivation to persist. All these minor issues are not something terrible, and are relatively easily taken care off. But I have one complaint: the fuselage is split in two halves as usual vertically, but all the way up to the front; no separate cowl, no separate lip. This for me is a mistake, because you trap the engine as you join the fuselage, therefore corrections on the joints inside the cowl's lip are very difficult. A separate front lip was all that was required, and as it is, is reminiscent of bad and old kits. I was tempted to cut the cowl off and assemble it separately, or at least cut the lips off and join them apart, but decided against it in order not to mount even more corrections and tidying ups. The model shows the beautiful lines of the original now at the service of a more peaceful purpose. I liked this one, especially for the well-cast resins, the crisp and sturdy vac canopies (2!) and the superb level of surface detail; although it is not -as any other kit- without its issues. The decals cover many subjects and the graphics and register are superb, but they are really fragile and shatter easily, and there are a few wrong calls in the numbers. The decals adapt to the surface detail superbly, but are a pain in the neck to handle. There are, as you know, other good-looking racing colors and designs for this kit. As I commented, there are some differences between the restored machines and the originals, so study your references. Although restorations and rebuilds of planes are commendable and deserve high praise, as a norm I never trust them as a source for information regarding the original machines, since invariably something is off. And it is in this case as usual. You could model, of course, the contemporary machine and be done with the issue, but I am a nostalgic and enjoy digging in the past to rescue as much as possible of the golden glory and charm of the vintage subjects. As you may know, besides this Special Hobby kit, there is an Aviation Usk / Xotic-72 kit of the same plane, but I can't comment on it since I have never seen one. This model requires care and attention, and for sure some skill, but the reward for your no little efforts is a stunning racer with lots of pizzazz.

A tardy entry that may come to naught: In keeping with my current racer fetish, I've ordered one of these Hannants aren't showing any in stock yet but hopefully it should make a timely arrival and bring a bit of civilian glamour to this collection of trigger happy warbirds 😉 Cheers Anil

From two years ago, an unlikely racer. A little divertimento based on an affordable and readily available kit, with a twist. I found a brief article on the issue #5 of The Aviation Historian magazine on this little racer that participated in the 1921 Aerial Derby in England, with even a drawing of the scheme it had at the time. How could one resist! The Airfix Pup is surprisingly detailed for a 1973 kit and although far from perfect, it's an encouraging starting point. Decals came from Arctic Decals in Finland. New tricks for an old dog.

From 8 years ago, a little racer that was also surprisingly modern from its time. Ideas and available technology don’t always go side by side. The ever-reducing wing area of racers needed a solution to avoid high speeds when they weren’t desirable, i.e. on landings. One solution is a variable camber mechanism, intended to deal with the speed envelope of a plane making the wing as efficient as possible through the whole range of those speeds, especially during take-off and landings, when slats and flaps are deployed to increase lift and be able to fly at low speed without stalling. The variable camber mechanism of the Dayton-Wright RB-1 racer (Rhinehart-Baumann, pilot and designer, respectively), a wonderful concept, didn’t quite make it in real life, adding mechanical complexity, weight, drag and unreliability to an otherwise sound idea. Same for the retractable landing gear, another seemingly good addition that didn’t pay off. The wing was solid light wood further lightened by way of partial carving. And bear in mind esteemed membership that this was 1920! and those ideas were very good ones, and are present today in almost any plane. The RB-1 was built to compete on the Gordon Bennett prize, and those technical features were implemented to improve performance, and although the plane quit the race, in time they demonstrated their value. The machine was powered by a Hall-Scott L-6 inline engine and had the pilot hidden inside the fuselage with limited vision, a la Ryan NYP. There are a number of photos showing alterations on the plane. If you are building a model of it, look at your references. The fuselage was vacuformed from basswood masters, and a styrene sheet endoskeleton was built –see images-. A wood prop was carved, stained, and a photoetched boss added. After some pondering I decided to cut the very front section of the nose and build a separate unit made of two laminations. Aeroclub white metal wheels of the proper style and diameter were used. I made a sill for the windows inside the fuselage, so those could be added at a later time. For them, masks were cut and laid on clear plastic. Aluminum color was sprayed, and then the windows cut leaving a frame, as seen in the images, One pic shows the other side of the clear plastic as I was being sure that no paint got under the masks. Decals were home made and layered decals were used to represent the radiator, again as per in-process images. As it is some times the case, all the plans and 3 views I could get a hand on differed in some regard from the original photos, in a few cases on important details. This visionary design, although not smiled upon by the goddess Fortune, is an example of cutting edge thinking in the very early stages of aviation development, and points out to the important roll that air races, record flights, good will flights and aviation meetings played on that wonderful era (not in vain called “Golden”) of aviation.

A scratchbuilt 1/72nd scale model made 10 years ago, for the pioneer thread: Bullets for sure travel fast, but usually don’t land successfully. There were many racers given that particular name, and this is one of them, a bullet with a three-blade propeller in the rear. Some say it was fast because it didn’t want to get caught by its own prop. The Gallaudet A-1 Bullet was a design made especially for the 1912 Gordon Bennett race but unfortunately crashed in a practice flight and was later a victim of lengthy discussions and diverse criteria on how to modify it. It didn’t make it to the race. The process somehow resembles congress/parliament politics. In any case it was a fairly simple, although intelligent design, complicated only by its control system that was apparently the cause of its sudden demise before it could show its worth. A rotary engine was located in the front of the fuselage and a transmission carried the power to the pusher prop. This configuration was also present in the Tatin Aero Torpille of 1911, and the Borel Torpille of 1913. Fast for its time, clean looking in a way, given the time period, when you could barely discern a plane from the maze of wires, flying surfaces, controls and engines. It had all-flying tail surfaces, and they were very small compared to the area of the wing. The necessary data came mainly from one of Bill Hannan’s lovely publications (GBs & Gee Bees) and from contributions from fellow modelers. Again, this was 1912, so a heck of a design for the time. It could even pass today for a coffee maker or a cheese grater on a shelf at a fancy-schmancy design store.

Many international sports events were held during the 30s where countries attempted to demonstrate their aeronautical prowess and gain prestige. The Schneider Cup was one of them, the McRobertson London to Melbourne Air Race was another, and also notorious was the Istres-Damascus-Paris Air race. Italy had the upper hand since it entered a number of machines with state sponsorship, a group of Savoia Marchetti S.M.79s, and two Fiat BR.20As. They were all civil versions that differed from their military counterparts to some extent. The airframes were completely demilitarized of course and optimized for speed and long range capabilities. Their visual appeal is needless to say orders of magnitude higher than the one of their boring, drab and gloomy counterparts, and of a higher order was their purpose too. Through the years I have modeled a few of those machines (D.H.88s, D.H.89 and SM79s come to mind), and who knows, may be one day, when their numbers increase, they could be displayed in a nice starting line array (I am ogling, as I write this, the box of the Farman 223-1 F-APUZ kit released by Azur that flew also in the Istres-Damascus race). The build implied some surgery and some scratch-building, but was pleasant, entertaining and rewarding, and as you know the starting point was an inexpensive very old Italeri kit that was thus redeemed from a dusty shelf demise or an obscure destiny. I purchased mine -during a Palm Springs desert trip- at the Rare-plane Detective (thanks Liz and Jeff!). If you would like to check the whole building sequence you may go here: The special decals were produced to their usual high standards by Arctic Decals. A photo-etched set was used (although only partially) to enhance the interior and a few exterior details, with modifications. My gratitude to Paolo Miana and Fabrizio D'Isanto who provided data that helped with this project. Any mistakes made in the representation are only mine. It is like if I could almost hear those engines running, getting ready to fly to glory.

I was aware for the first time of the Fiat BR.20a racer modification while reading Paolo Miana's "SIAI Lost archives Vol.I: Sorci Verdi", a wonderful book about the SM.79s that participated on the Istres-Damascus-Paris race. Since I am a product of the sixties and seventies, to be able to transform bombs into flowers sounds to me like a rewarding endeavor. Three civil Fiat BR-20s can be obtained modifying the Italeri kit: -Civil registration "I-FIAT" named "Santo Francesco" -St. Francis- (variant BR-20L) with its sleek figure and pointy nose. -And two Istres-Damascus-Paris race competitors (variant BR-20A) that flew under the race numbers I-8 and I-10 (civil registrations I-ROBO and I-GAQU). The conversion in all cases involves a somewhat extensive surgery, but it's not really difficult if you have chopped a kit or two already to produce some modified variant or substitute kit sections for resin parts. But I won't lie to you, and -as friend Lars Opland says- a weekender this is not. The most conspicuous areas that need excising and replacing are the nose and belly. Other important details need addressing too: new interior, deletion of turret and windows, relocation of doors, and many other details. Since I have already models from the Istres-Damascus race, there is an extra incentive for building the racers: the possibility of photographing them together (I don't say "display" because I don't have a model display case, I put them in boxes to sleep). I-FIAT has its own set of modifications, and it differs noticeably from the racers, but I won't abound here on details since that isn't the variant I will be building. The Italeri kit is quite dated, so much so that some boxings still read "Italaerei". Like some other kits of the time, it's still somehow holding, and can be made into a fair representation with some love. As we all know, we start by looking at those nice drawings and profiles...only to dismiss them for being inaccurate in some detail or another an turn to photographs of the real thing for bona fide clues. Notepad in hand, we shall make notes of all details that need addressing. I have all I need (almost) regarding documentation, and it was provided by the ever-giving Internet, so as with all research projects, the more butt hours on that computer chair, the more you will learn. Don't be lazy. What we get with this "Italaerei" kit is aligned with the zeitgeist of contemporary kitmakers: rivet galore (although not nearly as annoying as Arfix's or Matchbox, as much as I also nostalgically love them), raised panel lines and general clunkiness. Separated control surfaces, exaggerated ribbing and fabric effect, very thick transparencies... the works. But you can operate some alchemy on that beast and turn it into a nice, fair replica, chopping and filing and filling and sanding without remorse or thinking that you may be obliterating some precious detail. Summarizing: the result can hardly be worse than the thing you had at the beginning, so you are liberated to exercise creativity, inventiveness, daring engineering and have fun for a modicum price. Contents of the kit box. Transparencies' sprue included: "Rattle, rattle, toil and trouble": Rivet-counter paradise: The dreaded Homunculi, the modelling golems: And it seems I caught unawares the one that should have been posed in the plane's relief facilities. Awfully sorry for the interruption, old chap: This is big even in 1/72: which actually facilitates surgery, so here are the sections that need excising: The provided engines, if not delicate, at least have the two cylinder rows and some detail, and are certainly better that some I have seen in much more modern releases: }} As we know surface detail is not particularly subtle, but can easily be toned down: Parts presented against plans allow for a modicum of optimism;

By now most of you may have realized that I have a soft spot for vacuformed kits. As with any other media, there are very good ones, fair ones, sort of lacking ones, and despicable ones. This one, a very old mold from Airframe, belongs to yet another category, the "optimistic" once. The plastic is sort of thin and in some of the backing sheets uneven, with variations in thickness. There is no surface detail, no interior, no decals, no detail parts. Some of the parts (in this case the float legs) are better left in the "smirking" box. What these kits do have, is very pleasant and uncommon subjects, and a more than convenient price. So, let's see what can we do with it. What you get: Parts easily separated from backing sheet: Somewhat soft detail on the radiators: Better to use them -if at all- showing the other side: Airframe kits are engineered always with this "keel", intended to provide rigidity, and a bridging and aligning surface to easily locate the other fuselage half. On the few I built, I found them imprecise and somewhat annoying. The idea is sound, but doesn't translate to reality well: All parts sanded flat: Proper styrene sheets can replace those radiators: Nose cone given a backing plate: Had to cut a section of the "keel", otherwise, as predicted above, it wouldn't fit: Stab halves glued together. Float legs leave much to be desired: No matter what, and how much you shuffle them around, it is impossible to find real matches. To the "smirking" bin these go too. Sigh... Given the simplistic nature of this kit, an equally simplified interior is provided, barely to be seen due to the very small cockpit opening:

(Caveat: this is not a new build, it is actually ten years old, a time when my scratching was quite less developed. I am posting here this as an illustrative aside on a conversation we are having on another thread I posted, in order not to clutter things there, and hoping that perhaps somebody may have a glimpse and smile) Original text as it was published ten years ago -somewhere else- follows: The quest for Speed has originated a plethora of beautiful shapes, dazzling prototypes, unique machines with the single purpose of combining lots of power with a polished, streamlined, efficient, lean airframe. The object of this article was just a study, a proposal on the subject by W.G. Carter published in the “Aircraft Engineer” supplement of Flight Magazine of September 1930. This racer was supposed to use two Napier Lions in a tandem configuration, thus canceling the dreaded torque effects that made these super-powered machines hard to control especially during take-off runs. Of course the tremendous heat delivered by the power plants needed a huge radiating surface – these were water-cooled engines – that had to be spread over almost every surface. The oil radiators were placed on the model in the lower surfaces of the engine gondola, while the water radiators were represented by colored decals in several areas, depicting the aluminum “skin” type radiator also used, for example, in the Supermarine S.6. Construction The model is based on the 3–view given in the second page of the above-mentioned article. With extremely attractive lines this proposed machine was conceived to embody the state of the art of the trade for the time. Since this design was just a study, there is no really detail to talk about, so for example radiators surfaces location, cockpit interior and colors are speculative. A trolley was also devised to help exhibit the model. The tiny canopy was vacuformed in my psychedelic Mattel contraption. In-progress images will tell the story of the building development, while shots of the finished model will give an idea of the refined concept and gleaming beauty of this 1930 study on marrying horsepower with elegance and efficiency. Ingredients: One float – modified – from the Aeroclub generic floats vacformed sheet. One seat from a long ago forgotten kit, reversed and modified. A Napier Lion metal casting also from Aeroclub. Several aluminum tubes, wires and liberal use of styrene sheet and rod. Home made decals. Completing the ingredients list are Argentinian Yerba Mate, putty, a modicum of predisposition towards sanding, and a couple of Fellini’s DVDs for the breaks.

Having a break from painting (a wall not the plastic) I glanced at the stash and thought " why have I 3 biplanes and 2 Parsols when I hate rigging?"...and thus the story begins... Would it be sacrilege to wiff with a Matchbox Walrus? Probably not thanks to the Revell re-issue, albeit without the multicolored plastic we all love so dearly. ok so ideas now began to form in my crazy mind... Turn this: into this: From Turning to Burning. Or maybe this: Monoplane it (although Supermarine already beat me to this with the Seagull) Or a simpler: Just drop the rigging, and repaint in a new scheme wether alternative warbird or civi. Of course there other whacky options: 'gunship' - rockets, torpedos, turrets etc 'electric' - long before the EKA-3, predating the F3D-2Q, and making even the TBM-3Q seem positively modern. '2000' - well if Dornier can modernise their WW2 vintage boats... 'racer' - didn't a Walrus do a lap at Reno? Not looking like this... ...and I'm sure there more! Some things would be hampered by the rather bare stores box, others by the skill box - but nothing by the 'outside the box'

Hello folks, A while ago Airfix released a newly boxed version of the dH-88 Comet but it was "The Green 'Un". For me, the iconic Comet is Grosvenor House so when they recently released that version I bought one. I'd read a number of reports detailling the ancient molding of this one (late '50s for the original I think) but decided to take the plunge anyway. The model is offered in the new red box style of current Airfix releases but the plastic is showing it's age. There are very fine raised lines on the surface which will prove a challenge to sand around. The fit of some components looks to be a bit vague at best and the cockpit detail is none existent, two amorphous pips on top of a flat deck suggesting the crew. So, where to begin? Inspired by several 1/72nd scale builds here on Britmodeller I decided to attempt a little additional work. As many know, the Comet has a big glass house looking canopy so that seemed a sensible place to begin. I carved away the flat decking on both fuselage halves and added a semblance of an interior. I did n't go all out on this as A/, it's all black and B/, I planned to add a crew (from the old 1/72nd scale Tiger Moth) to fill out the space. With these modifications complete it was necessary to take a long hard look at the kit canopy. The clear plastic is very thick. My copy has two air bubbles trapped within the plastic and the shape is not accurate. To allow a better view inside the modified opening and in an attempt to improve the shape I smash molded a replacement from clear packaging material. A resin master was carved from waste resin pour stub and mounted on stilts so that the plastic sheet would clear the template. The canopy shape of the full sized bird is quite complex so it took a number of tries to get anything resembling the real deal. Equally, it took even more attempts to arrive at a part that fitted the opening adequately. I used scissors to cut each canopy but it was trial and error to get a good enough fit and there was plenty of waste. Finally I ended up with a passable (for me at least) result which is much clearer than the kit part. I've joined the two fuselage halves together now but one task on the horizon is re-shaping the spine of the fuselage aft of the glass house. The kit depicts this as almost triangular yet the real Grosvenor House is more rounded. I have replicated the rounded edge to the canopy so I'll have to fill in the gap. Initial thoughts are two-pack modelling putty like GW "green stuff". Thinking ahead, if anyone has any ideas about re-creating the thin lines of the canopy framing I'd very much like to hear them. The framing is made up of at least two different thicknesses some of which is inside the canopy glazing. In this scale it is very thin Plus, it needs to be red on the outside and black on the inside..... Anyhoo, I've made a start and the canopy framing can be done later. Once the glue has set I think I'll have a look at the profile of the nose. From staring at reference photos it looks as though I might be able to tweek the shape a little to improve the look. Thanks for stopping by. More when I can. Cheers. Julien has posted up a walk-around of the Comet by Mark Mills in the Walkaround section. See it here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234954337-de-havilland-dh88-comet/

Hello fine folk of Britmodellerland, If I may, I'd like to share my latest model? I've been tinkering away merrily with the old Airfix dh-88 Comet racer for about three months or there abouts. The old girl needs a bit of TLC to get the best from her so I did some work on the kit in an attempt to model "Grosvenor House" as she appears today. Thanks in large part to some fine images by Alpha Delta 210 (see here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234968762-de-havilland-dh88-comet-grosvenor-house/ ) and others in the Aviation Photography forum plus the walkaround here on BM http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234954337-de-havilland-dh88-comet/ I had plenty of reference material to work from. For those who have n't seen it, there is a WIP thread detailling the specifics of what was tackled here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234967804-airfix-72nd-scale-dh-88-comet-new-release-ancient-molding/ I'm not as used to photographing the smaller scales as I am the larger scales so I apologise if the images are n't too clear. Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy them anyway. These next few are a bit closer in an attempt to show some details. Lastly, a couple of shots in front of a scenic backdrop. A big thankyou and two thumbs up to everyone who helped me along during the build. Now, what to build next? Cheers for now.

Hi guys 'n' gals, I thought I'd share this link as I stumbled across it whilst gurgling. http://www.cometracer.co.uk/ If this is old news I apologise but I had n't seen it before. A very worthwhile project and with "Grosvenor House" back in the air it would be astonishing to see two of these beautiful pre-war designs together. Cheers.

I stumbled across this subject some months ago when looking to see which types of aircraft had participated in the early post war American races. Google revealed the cover image of Don McVicar's book "Mosquito racer" and I was able to find a copy on abebooks for a few quid. The kit was picked up at Teflord where Antics were selling them for a tenner a pop. Anyway, tidied the garage today so that the bench is once again accessible. The kit and the reference book. Unfortunately the only colour image in the book is that cover art and other searches have revealed just one profile drawing and a skin on a flightsim forum. The book is specific about the colours though, "My choice of a paint job was was a delicious light yellow shade called Diana Cream, offset by a trim strip of sparkling Stinson Green". The image below is a rough draft for the decal artwork and the initial work was very kindly done by my good friend Rich Hutton in Glasgow, who shares my interest in civilian versions of warbirds and was a graphic designer in a former life. A couple of days after a late night phone conversation a surprise email arrived with marking for one side and the wings. The colour will need tweaking and the original re-sizing to fit the kit properly, but it's a very useful start.