malpaso Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 Who needs a kit? Not me... When the local paper ran a story in 2013 about the first plane to land in my local area I thought I'd build a model. The plane was the BE4 and the two RFC occupants landed near a local pub just over a mile from my home due to "engine problems". As it landed in a field next to the pub one wonders. The pub and the field are still there but the BE4 took two later occupants to Glory when the rudder snapped off, an early example of metal fatigue, and well before many more planes and men took a similar route over Flanders fields. Anyway, here's the model, which I built in a couple of weeks to enter in the local group's annual competition. It didn't place but both model and I got our photos and a story in the local paper. The model is built from balsa and brass wire, the prop was carved from a coffee stirrer! Cheers Will 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cngaero Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 What a little stunner. Nice back story too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celt Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 Well tidy model and story.Very interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meatbox8 Posted April 30, 2017 Share Posted April 30, 2017 A great model of a rare aircraft. Superb modelling skills. It's a shame more aeroplanes from this era aren't represented in kit form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerrardandrews Posted April 30, 2017 Share Posted April 30, 2017 Great model and brilliant bit of history background story 😊 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selwyn Posted April 30, 2017 Share Posted April 30, 2017 On 2017-4-29 at 7:46 PM, malpaso said: Who needs a kit? Not me... When the local paper ran a story in 2013 about the first plane to land in my local area I thought I'd build a model. The plane was the BE4 and the two RFC occupants landed near a local pub just over a mile from my home due to "engine problems". As it landed in a field next to the pub one wonders. The pub and the field are still there but the BE4 took two later occupants to Glory when the rudder snapped off, an early example of metal fatigue, and well before many more planes and men took a similar route over Flanders fields. Anyway, here's the model, which I built in a couple of weeks to enter in the local group's annual competition. It didn't place but both model and I got our photos and a story in the local paper. The model is built from balsa and brass wire, the prop was carved from a coffee stirrer! Cheers Will Gives an entirely new meaning to the term "drinking and driving!" Selwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheonix Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 (edited) Lovely model of an early type which I have not seen before. Where did you get the plans? I would be interested in a set if they were available as I too enjoy scratch building these early types. P Edited May 4, 2017 by pheonix spelling corrections Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malpaso Posted May 3, 2017 Author Share Posted May 3, 2017 1 hour ago, pheonix said: Lovely model of an early type which I ave no seen before. Where did you get the plans? I would be interested in a set if they were available as I too enjoy scratch building these early types. P Thanks for your message. The plans were in the Putnam history of the Royal Aircraft Factory. That book is chock-full of highly modellogenic plans of sometimes odd aircraft. SE1 anybody? http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/raf_se-1.php The Putnam drawings are small but adequate for making a 72nd scale model, often there's only a handful of photos to prove they existed at all. Some of the Putnam drawings appear on the website above or at http://richard.ferriere.free.fr/3vues/3vues.html I liked building it in balsa, but it might be easier to build a more detailed model in plastic card, though it would probably be more fragile. Good luck if you have a go, I'd recommend it. Nobody knows they can't scratchbuild unless they try, and anyone you show the result to who isn't a plastic modeller is significantly more impressed by a handmade model than even the finest Tamigawa! Cheers Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheonix Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 Thanks for the information Will. I do not have a copy of the Putnam history but I am sure that I can find one via my local library. P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now