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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 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

My dear Britmodellers Having built the RWD-5 and RWD-6, both posted here at BM, I decided to follow suit with the RWD-8, another ungainly but ultimately charming Polish effort: This old but still reasonably good kit was gifted to me by my good friend Sønke Schulz, an Evil Genius that has a lair in a Volkano, in the country of Volkania, of which you may haven't heard before. Here is his note, from his very hand: Such magnanimous gesture deserved an equally flamboyant build, so I decided to get the box with me in our holidays trip to visit the inlaws, and start the build there. How can that be done -you may rhetorically ask yourself- in the midst of scores of relatives, pets, libations, and people speaking unintelligible languages (they are from Yorkshire and Ireland)? Well, to start with, I first acquired a Yorkshire cap, in order to ingratiate myself with the majority of the inlaws (and hopefully with some members of the BM distinguished audience): Foreseeing this event, I had also purchased a Part after-market set of photo-etched parts, and two sets of Yahu instrument panels: As said, the kit is still holding: I made a box with the basic needs just to start the model, that is, to separate the parts and clean them, check the fit, and glue the bits that could be glued together without having to paint. For a mold this old, there is surprisingly no flash whatsoever, and hardly any noticeably mold lines. The detail is fair, if profoundly (never that well said) marked on the wings, which will require some subduing. Researching the history of this kit I found that replacement resin parts had been issued more than once, to correct some shortcomings on accuracy. I looked around but the parts are not easily available at this time, nor I am completely convinced that I want them. There is a surprisingly wide range of decorations that this little parasol monoplane can wear, and the kit provides a few of which I still have to check accuracy. In any case, will see how much of this can be done as my Third World relatives mill around preparing (and eating, mind you!) British food, which is kind of an oxymoron. Will try to keep this diary in exile from my building board. Alea jacta est.