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The Latécoère L.A.T.8 or LATE 8 was a medium size early attempt for a passenger/postal carrier to ply some of the short routes with less demand. A sort of small airliner. In many ways, it resembles the later and much more successful Breguet 14T "cabine", used more or less in the same way. The Late 8 could carry five passengers with the luxury of a restroom -equipped with toilet, and so was proudly announced in contemporary ads. The pilot, like in many other designs of the time, sat quite back in an exposed cockpit on the fuselage, to the right of the spine, and had to access his position from the exterior. There is not much in terms or reference material, but it's clear the plane first had a pointy vertical tail with the legend "LAT8", and then a more rounded one. The exhaust went through three changes, as well as some other external details. Photos also show it with and without the F-ESDF registration. When those were applied, they went on the vertical tail and under the lower wing only. Decals as usual are form Arctic Decals.

The smallish Gadfly I started life in 1929 as an ABC Scorpion-powered conventional monoplane of simple lines and conservative design. Soon after, though, its ailerons were deleted and instead a new device was installed, the so-called "oyster" rotary ailerons, becoming the Gadfly II. Gadfly III had a Salmson AD9 radial. This rather simple and small Gadfly is representative of an entry-level project, but there are plenty of other good candidates out there. I happened to have an old Aeroclub Salmson 9AD white metal engine (Aeroclub accessory), so I will be building the Gadfly III (G-AARK) that had that engine. Photos can be found of it flying with either "oyster" or normal ailerons, but I will do the "oyster" ones, since have never seen them on a model. The techniques and resources used for the build are far from being written in stone, and there are many ways to solve scratchbuilding engineering challenges. The build is meant to be only indicative of some basic approaches to the task, for those interested in scratchbuilding endeavors. The completed model is here:

A build from 2008, 11 years ago: I bet you never heard of this one. 1919…a seaplane-glider...now, that’s a concept. Whatever the logics behind it, the result was as cute as cumbersome. A not well known Fokker apparatus that was also tried on wheels, apparently didn’t produce any remarkable results to assure a place in posterity…other than this one. Towed by a motor boat with and without a pilot, the flight performance was strangely about the same. It was reported that among fish and cattle some stress cases were developed but fortunately without major consequences. Same goes for the pilot. It is a small model in 1/72, with simple lines that render design and construction easy enough to be dealt with over a weekend.

A build from 2010, nine years ago: Looking apparently for a niche in the market for economical and affordable single seaters, Mr. Pierre Maubossin designed a plane that was built by Louis Peyret (of Peyret Tandem fame) The Peyret-Mauboussin PM.X all-wood, ABC Scorpion-powered cute machine was ready in 1929 and had a wingspan of 10 meters. A floatplane version, the PMH.X bis (H for Hydro) was later developed. A two-seat, beefed-up, slightly bigger machine -the Peyret-Mauboussin PM XI- made a remarkable flight from Paris to Madagascar! The cantilever long aspect ratio flying surfaces and the short tail moment made the plane look definitely elegant, with slightly awkward although ultimately charming proportions. The main components were basically built over a rainy weekend, quite small in 1/72 and simple enough to make the building process run smooth. The all-wood construction of the original and the absence of markings (using as reference one photo that so portrayed the plane) accounted for a relatively easy finishing. For that wood finish color information I am in debt with master scratchbuilder and famous Canadian Cycling Gremlin Alain Bourret. Mr. Mauboussin went one to produce a notable family of designs, but that’s another story. Au revoir, mes amis! (and don't start with "you have to make a beaching trolley for it")

From 2014, 5 years ago, comes this strange creature: Back to weird, as it should be. After some wandering around toying with more plane-like subjects, the usual stints and dabbling into related fields (the cars and buses), is back to the roots time. For years all those who know me had to endure the shower of esoteric stuff upon their modeling heads. I am sure they miss it, so here it is some more of that. There is beauty and beauty. There is the predictable, boring, repetitive beauty of the known types that have been modeling far beyond saturation, and there is the gourmet, secret pleasure of the beauty hidden in more selective subject choices. I'll just say to you, as an example of what I mean: Farman Jabiru. A subject one day I hope to honor. Meanwhile today we gather to celebrate an even more arcane type: a winged creature born in darkness and shrouded in secrecy, but coming now to light in all its splendor, the Nungesser Hydravion. How strange in so many ways is this apparatus, regarding not only its appearance but also its provenance. Reportedly it was created by or (more likely) made for Nungesser, the famous French pilot -although no other sources than the Gallica archives state so-. Design-wise, is of the canard type; they probably thought that if a duck floats, then a "canard" -duck, in French- configuration would be optimal (or at least safer) for a flying boat. Interestingly enough, is a tractor canard, that is, the engine "pulls" from the front of the "fuselage" and therefore does not push from behind as in other canard designs. No details other than the ones that can be surmised from the very few photos are found or provided. Nevertheless, this extremely attractive weird ugly duckling surely deserves to come to life in model form. As usual, I started by having to draw the plans for it, very carefully studying the photos, comparing, and tracing, and erasing, and re-tracing, etc. This bird was all wood-covered, save a panel in the upper front of the "fuselage" that looks like formed metal sheet. Window-doors with three hinges each are seen in both sides, along with profuse windowing ahead and after them. The radial engine is fixed, as one can safely assume from the exhausts connected to the cylinders and gracefully curving out and back on both sides. I had the file on this subject for years now, waiting for the odd chance that more material will be eventually revealed, and although that was the case for many of my files that sat quietly in the dark, in this case the mystery remains. From the Gallica archives:

These are all old builds, and in retrospect should have been posted at the beginning of these series. They often represent the first, hesitant steps on scratchbuilding. Here is another from 2008, 11 years ago (original text as posted then): The Coanda Jet Riding the Flames, The dawn of the jet era…in 1910! Romanian Henry Coanda of later “Coanda effect” fame found himself taking off the ground –involuntarily, I am afraid- during a ground test of his revolutionary creation. Given his reduced talents to keep the aircraft aloft, the flight was very short and ended in disaster –although he escaped unscathed- , but a careful observation of a strange phenomena –the flames exiting the combustion chamber adhering firmly along the sides of the fuselage- later became one of the most important contributions from Henri Coanda to physics, specifically to the dynamic of fluids, known as the Coanda effect, The mysterious engine was in concept similar to the one utilized, decades later, in the Caproni-Campini CC-2, that is, a “mixed” engine, with an internal combustion unit driving the compressor stage of the jet. His design, that incorporated a great deal of innovative features, went, for no reason, ignored by mainstream aviation history until recently. The elegant and futuristic lines of his design were hard to resist, so out again with the glue, styrene, filler, sanding stick and the metal bits. Available plans differ from each other and all of them differ from photos, so there you are submerged in the relentless fogs of scratch-building. Hopefully the images will give an idea of the materials and techniques involved in this attempt, but perhaps most important, will render a general sense of the gleaming beauty of the design. Seemingly flying away from a still of Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” –by the way, a much later production- its proud pilot could well have been Little Nemo in Slumberland. Some of us are interested in aviation history, some others in the constructional aspects of modeling, and some just love these planes for their diverse, rich, alternative, disconcerting but immensely attractive aesthetics. Whichever the reasons that lead you here, I am sure you will like this first jet of aviation history.

A build from 12 years ago: Yet another old effort that may be done better today, but here it is anyway for your amusement: The Flea that came from Scratchland What can be better for improving your scratching techniques than a Flying Flea? Henri Mignet used to play with an apple crate as many kids do. He first added wheels, then a dashboard, then a rudder, wings and by the time he was a grown-up he finally installed an engine and taught himself to fly. Or something like that. In any case, he helped to promote what is now the home-made aspect of aviation and the ultralight movement. Many amateurs around the world constructed Pou-Du-Ciels –or Flying Fleas-. His creation flew well, but had a sneaky inherent flaw that led to some precipitated landings. The flaw was later corrected but the design got some bad publicity and most Fleas got grounded. The Pou-Du-Ciel had a tandem-wing configuration of simple lines that accepted a wide variety of power plants, most of them from fields other than aviation. It is difficult to get an idea of its relative size, so in one image you will see a comparison with a clothespin. The graceful lines of the Pou can be reproduced with little effort. As raw materials you may use the tiniest of the scraps in your styrene box, some wire, stretched sprue and a few spares. What you will need in large amounts is good sight –not my case, I am afraid- and patience –neither my case here. I spent more time looking for parts that flew away to the great beyond than in the actual building. There are a number of Pou-Du-Ciels still jumping around or hanging from museum roofs, and most of the liveries are very attractive, so scratch that itch: it won’t take much of your shelf space.

A build from 11 years ago, as promised more autogyros: A remarkable typology among the diverse world of flying objects is constituted by the strange-looking autogyro. Cross-developed with the helicopter, it contributed with many technical solutions later adopted by its still strong-going cousin. These remarkable machines flourished especially during the Golden Age of Aviation, but dwindled in numbers, for no apparent reason (given its performance-cost ratio) until almost totally disappearing nowadays. Pitcairn, De La Cierva, Kellett, are some of the most renowned brands. Hafner autogyros are not that well known, but the appearance of this one on itself merited at least a model of it. Rotor blades for the Hafner were made of Contrail streamlined strut stock. I ordered the Pobjoy from Aeroclub, together with the wheels. Stab halves are the usual styrene ribbed envelope, which allows for a later introduction of a spar to fix them to the fuselage. A pleasant interior was created before closing the two vac shells, being very careful since the styrene that the Mattel can handle is very thin.

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 build from 11 years ago, as promised more autogyros: What is an autogyro? This unlucky cousin of the helicopter enjoyed a brief and well deserved moment of glory during the 30’s and for no reason its popularity dwindled. The Kellett K-2 had a Continental engine, while the K-3 had a 5 cylinder Kinner. The subject of this article started its life as a K-2 but was later given the Kinner. There were many other Kellets K-2s and K-3s: one went to Japan, another to Argentina, and the rest vanished in the mist of time save one restored airframe that now is in a museum. Coincidentally it has the same registration that my model. Scratch-building is indeed easy; the only issue is that is difficult.

A build from 5 years ago (soon to be 6 years ago): Only a tiny little cute touring plane more, Mr. Creosote. I was in a modeling hiatus produced by traffic back-ups in the 405 freeway, delays in the distribution of the mail, a slight slow down of Earth orbit around the sun and possibly an impending invasion of Klingons, who certainly do not tolerate well hesitation. I couldn’t help myself and had to build a replica of this Mickey-Mouse sorta plane. A small cute little thing, and a relieving endeavor to be able to take a break from demanding builds. For such a minute model I was surprised I had to drill three holes for the prop and cylinders, two for the attachment of the wing struts on the fuselage sides, two for the stirrup, four for the LG struts, two for the tail skid, six for the control cable leads, two for the wing spar, three on the fin and stab for the rigging and four on the wings for the struts; twenty five in total! I felt like a mad texan, drilling holes everywhere. No decals for this one, but a hand-carved wood prop was made, and a reasonable cockpit interior. The resin cylinders were a courtesy of Matias Hagen, and the white metal wheels came from Aeroclub. The parts’ count should be around sixty, quite a bit for such a toy plane. I used the plan drawn by Bill Hannan, of Hannan's Runway fame. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich-Gobiet_DP.VII

A build from 12 years ago: This design was patented in 1917, and built in 1929. Now there you have an idea: make a super-sized dart-like paper airplane, bolt-on a Curtiss OX-5 engine and climb on board. Crazy? Well, in 1930 Mr. Scroggs, a tailor, test flew such thing at a height of 10 feet! The way he christened the machine, “The Last Laugh”, surely says something about the lesson he taught to the incredulous bystanders. For the curious here is a link to a movie of it: https://mirc.sc.edu/islandora/object/usc%3A30075 Hey, I just looked at it and knew I was in love. I can still hear Scroggs' laughter!

A build from 5 years ago with the original text, as usual: Ah, the irresistible attraction of an out-of-the-beaten-path subject, obscure, arcane, esoteric...and why not irrevocably weird. Your odd model though will most likely not be destined to resemble the ones already populating the shelves and modeling contest tables, and, best of all, will bring to 3D life a subject that until then was never appreciated. That's a good feeling, isn't it? to bring to life a piece of aviation history that wasn't there before, the designs and hopes of sometimes ignored individuals, the shapes and configurations created by daring minds. Of course, you may get the occasional blank stare. That is perhaps unavoidable, and can actually be construed as a compliment: "Whozzat?" translated into proper language means "I see something new". But, who am i to judge, I have sinned in my youth too. There is a more difficult side in dealing with odd balls, though: you are almost surely bound not to find a kit to adapt or convert, or even a plan, or abundant photographic references. Research will take a little time, but man, will it be rewarding. So your little creation will grow from almost nothing to something, in your caring hands and brain. I must say, though, that in this particular case, I did find a 3view, although in some obscure crag in the Net, containing the pertinent issue of the French journal "Les Ailes", together with all the additional stats needed. The plan had to be corrected and refined, but it was a very good starting point. Considering the year when this creature was born, 1922, one can immediately see its pioneering solutions: cantilever low wing, sport -private- market orientation, a canopy to insulate the crew from the inclement elements, simplicity of design and -for the time- dashing appearance. A precursor no doubt of many other Farman future endeavors. Of the very few images I managed to find, a couple show the plane without the canopy, in a configuration that may suggest one occupant instead of the standard canopied two. This type should not be confused with a later model that also got the "F.200" denomination, a few years after. Contrary to the blurbs that are found on the Net regarding its performance (given as pour) at least one contemporary article speaks about many successful flights and good maneuverability. The deceivingly common appearance of this cantilevered low-wing beauty should not make you oblivious to the fact that it was built in 1922!, way before this configuration was widely spread and accepted. I'd like to thank some friends for their input: the Canadian Twins Malain & Alain, Mr. Xtmoxchs P. of Florida, Mr. Jaime Irregularis of Pugetland, Lars Abominable Snowman of Alaska and finally Helga, who stole valuable information from the vaults at the Volkano lair of the Zoenke Evil Empire Aktiengesellschaft. Accessories are from Aeroclub's stock. A flight magazine photo of it (lower half page): https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1923/1923 - 0007.html?search=farman tourisme An Aerophile photo of it (upper half page: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6555017m/f19.item

A build from 7 years ago: Have you seen those marine life documentaries depicting a seagull or similar seabird snatching the fish from the one that caught it in the first place? Well, in the early 30’s there was a French guy called Delanne who designed and built a plane named Delanne II, a side-by-side two-seater (baptized Ibis Bleu) powered by a 5 cyl Salmson 5Ac radial, later substituted by a 6 cyl radial Anzani and registered F-AJGB. He sold it to a partnership named S.F.R. which predictably enough re-named the plane SFR-10 and planned to turn it into a machine suitable for three people. The plane nevertheless is shortly after sold to J.M. Moreau, therefore becoming Moreau JM-10. Moreau hires Payen, who contributes to the design and installs a Renault 4Pb, which in turn is later replaced by a De Havilland Gipsy Major, and eventually by yet another engine, a Regnier R6. The plane receives a new registration, F-ANNI. It seems that Moreau was not preoccupied by the fact that the design was being attributed to him at this time. Attribution of the design varies according to different sources, but the one just described seems to be the right account. Monsieurs Delanne and Payen will become later on recognized names in the aviation field. The plane -and the story- do not end well. Moreau tries to sell the plane in civil war-engaged Spain and is murdered. The fate of the plane unknown. The design (especially the first incarnation) bears a certain resemblance with the Tunison Scout, a contemporary American plane. The almost organic metamorphosis of the plane involved a series of changes, besides the powerplants already described and the different noses thus created. Most noticeable are the canopy shape, the vertical stabilizer outline and the landing gear. You could build may be seven models that differ in something depicting the machine at different points in its life. I could not decide which of the planes I would like to model: F-AJGB with its greenhouse canopy, or the “streamlined” F-ANNI; so I went for both. If somebody ever tells you that it would be much easier to build a second model or variant of the plane you are building, do not believe them, it is not. As it is many times the case, no reference is 100% spot on, so you have to correct drawings, review the data and especially look at photos. Now, I have done a few 3 views, so I know it is a difficult task, especially with odd-balls for which there is little reference material; so I praise the guys that do it, but also keep a healthily distrustful eye on what they make. On the other hand, if you wait for perfect references to appear, very few plans or models could ever be drawn or built. Furthermore, as scratchbuilders know, the mere fact of producing a model dramatically increases the chances for references of all sorts to surface –notably after you completed your model-. As you can see in the photos styrene sheet and rod were mostly used for the build. Wood masters were carved for the two canopies and the engine cowl of the later variant and the vac copies were produced in the Mattel 60’s Psychedelic Machine. Wheels and pants came from the spare box and some lengths of Strutz brass material employed for the LGs. Props were adapted to fit the bill and a Ragnier engine scratched to spice-up the nose of the second plane, since the first one also got the exposed cylinders for the radial (thanks, Matias Hagen!). Colors in this case were either described in the references (F-ANNI) or implied in the plane’s name (F-AJGB, Ibis Bleu, which is a sort of cobalt blue hue). Thanks to my francophone friends Michel Barriere , Alex Bigey and Alain Bourret whom very kindly helped me with the research on this project. References: -Pierre Cortet article in "Avions" magazine issue #68. I realized that the cockpit photo in the article is wrongly identified as belonging to the Moreau, and Alex IDed it as representing a Couzinet 33. “Avions” #45 has another snippet on it. -Les Ailes, contemporary article by R. Saladin -Aviation Magazine, Nov 1983 -"Aircraft of the Spanish Civil War" -Flight, Dec 6th 1929 page 1284, and July 4th 1929 page 544 -L’Aero May 11th 1934 -L’Aero Aug 10th 1934

Two builds from 5 years ago: The Mercedes-Daimler L.21 was the winner of the Light Plane Class of the 1925 Rundflug. https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1925/1925%20-%200257.PDF The L.21 was a parasol plane for one person equipped with two two-cylinder Mercedes engines of 19hp each located on small nacelles on the wing leading edge. The design, if appealing, is nevertheless a tad odd, with a mix of refinement and some bluntness to it. I have been gathering material on it for a few years, but the call that brought the model to light came from friend and fellow modeler Sönke Schulz, who is involved in building one, but at the heretic scale of 1/48th. For such little model, it has a great number of details, and it is a veritable strut forest. Besides the four main wing struts, there are small eight of them to hold the landing gear, four very little ones to steady the engine gondolas, plus eight more for the cabane (that's for you illiterate the structure that unites the wing to the fuselage). 24 in total, for such visit card-size model. Small does not automatically translate into easy, as you will be able to see in this build. Decals are from Arctic Decals These TWO models are D622 and D623 ,the two planes that participated in the 1925 Rundflug. D622 was not completely finished at the start of the competition, therefore lacks paint in certain areas and some details that are however visible in D623 , which was fully painted and had details like the Mercedes-Daimler star on the nose, among other things.

A build from 4 years ago: Inspired by the reading of "The Pulitzer Air Races" by Michael Gough (a very thorough, intelligent book packed with information) I started this project, depicting the specially modified Loening M-81 that participated in that race. Racers have a special appeal, even if -as in this case- are converted existing airframes. For racing purposes the standard Loening monoplane got new wings of less span and chord and different planform, plus a refined elevator and other details. It did not fare particularly well (you may read its story in the book) but had the merit of being a monoplane -in a biplane supremacy time- with adjustable stab incidence, and had a squatty stance that had its charm. The wings were separated from the fuselage by a very small gap, and it had no dihedral whatsoever. I was aware of the existence of the an old kit by 12 squared (O.O.P. now), a nice model but with some minor accuracy issues, and the Pro-resin release of the "normal" versions, but I decided to go scratch when I found a nice plan and specs at the Dec 20th 1920 issue of Aerial Age Weekly. The procedures, materials and techniques are the ones I have been portraying here often. I used a Hispano Suiza white metal aftermarket engine -plus wheels and seat- (thanks, Armando Gil!) and the customary styrene sheets and rods. Home made decals were designed and printed as well.

A build from 9 years ago: The use of radial engines in small airframes tends to create very cartoon-like shapes of an undeniable appeal. Some of these stumpy, chubby, cute little bugs are well known (like the Gee-Bee racers or the Polikarpov I-15) while others are more obscure subjects. If this type of design was a monoplane (like the Bristol Type 72 Racer or the Polikarpov I-16), then the effect was even more notorious; but if on top of that we have a “flying wing” example, then the resulting aesthetics are just as fun as they are attractive. The BOK-5 was a Russian design proposal originated –as the designation states- at the Bureau of Experimental Aircraft (Buro Osovikh Konstruktsii) and the project was led by V. A. Chizhevsky. It had a Mikulin M-11 as its power plant and a span of less than 10 meters. It had metal structure and the flying surfaces were mostly fabric-covered. After initial flights and some adjustments the plane revealed itself as a very good machine, but notwithstanding its virtues didn’t go into production. The Scupley-made fuselage master fitted comfortably in the Mattel Vac-U-Form plate and promptly I had my two fuselage half-shells. The interior was furnished according to references and then the wing was fabricated out of styrene sheet and rod as per photos. A sort of Townend ring was created laminating styrene sheet on a metal tube–see also the images to follow the simple procedure- and an “Engine ‘n Things” Mikulin was retrieved from deep hibernation in the spares bin. This particular engine is not the best one I have seen from this manufacturer, being the back side well detailed and the front side marred by the area of the cylinders enclosed by the pushrods, which was a pool of resin. Some pinholes –or potholes- further enhanced the overall results. Wing and fuselage were mated, but no eggs were laid. Details on the fuselage were added and then the under-hanging control surfaces for the wing. Wheels came from Aeroclub and landing gear structure was a combination of assorted bits. Last details were the home-made wooden prop and a number (14) of photoetched control horns, which amused my ears with the “ping” sound they made every time they jumped to hyperspace from the tweezers. Finishing presented a dilemma. The original color was apparently either white or light grey, but I think that aluminum is a possibility as well. Some color reported as red –which will make sense being this a Russian plane- was applied to the nose ring, leading edges and to some trim lines on the upper fuselage. But for the annual parade a very original and psychedelic scheme was applied, a la Kalinin K-12 “Zhar Ptitsa”. This artistic scheme is represented in different ways by several sources. The usual heavily retouched Russian photos duplicated with hectographic gelatin in the cold basement of a Buro (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hectograph) did not help. That made me lean towards the original scheme. Few decals for this one: only the concentric circles for the wheels and the BOK triangular logo for the rudder

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 Another iteration of the Arup. The Arup family of planes had the goal of providing an economical, reliable, low speed machine that was easy to fly and simple to build and maintain. During the thirties there were a number of attempts by different countries to achieve that elusive goal. These series of flying wings (I just posted another two) is well known to the enthusiasts, but even general aviation buffs sometimes never heard of them. The model presented here is a nose tricycle modification of the S.4 model, powered by a 70hp LeBlonde engine and a span of 22 feet. Access was via a hatch that opened partially bellow the left wing and partially on the fuselage side. It could carry two people with dual controls and had the registration 14529. There is plenty on the Internet about the Arup wings, so if you feel curious use your fingers and look it up.

A build from 2 years ago: This Arup, which has a tailwheel besides its front tricycle landing gear, is mostly seen in photos tail-sitting, thus no lead was added to the nose. The pilot's weight made it "seat right".

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.

Hi folks Another day, another model This months exercise in sawdust making is the recreation of the best looking car ever to have been built (you may disagree, but you are wrong*) the Aston Martin DBR1 Le Mans winner from 1956. I remember as a young boy in the 70s being read bedtime stories by my Grandma from a book written in the jingoistic style of the 50s of the exploits of a plucky British driver in a car that was clearly a DBR1 overcoming the dastardly exploits of Baron Otto von Stereotype in a 300SLR and Count Lucio di Spicable in a 250TR, which meant that for me a Le Mans car was an Aston Martin. Anyway, nostalgia aside, I am attempting to recreate the curves of the car by hand from a block of limewood and will be trying to make wire wheels , also by hand, from plastic pipe and guitar strings (the car will have standard British tuning, none of this foreign rubbish). This build was inspired by @albergman's ebony Jaguar, but won't be quite as impressive due to a skills deficit and a simpler choice of wood. *special exemption for anyone saying Lamborghini Miura Starting point Ignore the rough cut lump of pine, that was just practice with my new chisels Templates:

A build from 6 years ago, another classic of the Golden Age. Continuing with the record plane saga, here we have the Stinson SM-1 Detroiter “City of Chicago” that conquered the endurance record after flying 553 hours 41 minutes with in-flight refueling. The four Hunter Bros. manned both, the record and the refueling plane (Big-Ben, another Detroiter). I guess that by the time they got down, the diameter of the pistons of the venerable Wright J-6 was reduced to that of a pin. As in other similar record planes, maintenance of the engine was done by the dubious procedure of exiting the plane while flying and stepping on a catwalk that surrounded the plane’s nose. Brave men, those record-seeking people. Once again, as no kit of the Stinson SM-1 is around, scratchbuilding was the solution. Fair is to say that Khee-Kha Art Products of Alaska sells a beautiful resin J-6, with prop and exhausts included, and that helped quite a bit. Wheels where white metal aftermarket parts form Aeroclub and the rest created with the Enterprise replicator Of a slightly bigger size than the previously posted Curtiss Robin record plane, they share nevertheless a similar concept shape-wise, so more or less the same building techniques were used, the only variation being the upper and lower fuselage which had a slight curve, and therefore required particular parts.

While looking for something else, I came across this: https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/824087/maserati-forumla-one-racing-scale-model-car-auction It piqued my nterest enough to put here, even though the auction took place in 2017.

A convoluted build from 4 years ago of a very philosophical plane. Long ago I saw a scratchbuilt model of the Capelis built by Jim Lund that sparked my interest and led me to contact Mike Herrill of Execuform to see if he was willing to pull vac copies from the wood masters I carved, in order to create a sort of kit for me to work from. He pulled the copies and so this project could see the light of day. The main reference was the Skyways magazine article on the Capelis found on the October 1995 issue (#36) But first, what was the Capelis? Some scholars state that occidental culture as we know it was born in Greece, a well of knowledge that still today feeds psychology, philosophy, mythology and modeling (just remember the great Greek philosopher, modeler and olive pitter Styrenides (V century B.S.). The Capelis started as a transport project of the Capelis Corporation, whose president, of course, was no other than Socrates Capelis. The Greek community backed the project and by 1933 the plane was ready. Modern for the time (all metal construction) sported nevertheless a forward leaning canopy and a biplane tail, which some say was an outdated feature, but nobody will dare to deny that confers the plane its remarkable aesthetics (aesthetics as a science, by the way, is another Greek legacy). Things weren’t peachy, though, an after some inauspicious beginnings the whole thing was prematurely and unfortunately dropped. But the Capelis kept going, this time re-incarnated as a movie prop. It endured some modifications and went on for many movies bathing on the golden glory of Hollywood, featuring in many films, the most famous, arguably, being “Five Came Back”, with –among many other movie stars- Lucille Ball, and “Flying Tigers” with John Wayne. The above-mentioned masters were very simple, on the vein of those vacuformed kits that provide the general shapes. Details, accessories, decals and the like are provided by the modeler, as well as surface detail. Once I got my vacuformed parts from Mike, I started building the model. There were some minor and major modifications done to the Capelis over time. This model represents the plane as it flew, with its forward-raking canopy. Another nose was later mastered to allow the building of the movie versions, which has a more conventional canopy arrangement. Another copy -from my masters- by Execuform was built and presented at Telford by another modeller, where you may have seen it, this and the past year. As a mythological metallic bird coming from Mount Olympus, the Capelis extends its wings over the modeling world. See you soon.