Charter Flight to the Mountains of Madness (Airfix 1/72 Ford Trimotor)

[thorfinn]

 

Miskatonic University

Fall Semester, 1930-31

 

Courses for graduate students:

 

GEOL 670: Special Study

(Cross-listed with ANTHR, HIST, MYTH, OCST, SOC)

Cr. 6 F.

 

Join Professor William Dyer and staff colleagues for a multi-disciplinary exploratory expedition to Antarctica to investigate the remains of a strange prehistoric civilization previously unknown to science.

Side-explorations to the Plateau of Leng and the lost city of R'lyeh may be mounted, as circumstances permit.

 

[N.B.: Prospective volunteers should be aware of the slight possibility of the development of minor psychic disturbances or subtle physical alterations resulting from their participation in this expedition. Transient symptoms of profound paranoia...spontaneous glossolalia...manic hallucinatory episodes...and/or the sudden growth of extra limbs---or tentacles---may be experienced.]

 

Having picked up this venerable Airfix gem at a too-good-to-resist price on an auction site , the kit proved to be complete as advertised...but the included original (and rather indistinctly-printed) 'American Airways' decals were a crusty sepia tone that suggested they were well-past resuscitation. As a 'fun project' alternative, I started casting about for something more in keeping with the sturdy 'Tin Goose's' iconic look suggesting 1930s mystery and intrigue. I originally considered doing the 'Lao Che Air Freight' Trimotor from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom...but while 'trawling' for images on the interweb, another more dramatic possibility raised its (multiple) heads: one of the ski-equipped charter aircraft from Miskatonic University's ill-fated 1930-31 Antarctic Expedition...as depicted in the classic H.P Lovecraft horror novella "At The Mountains Of Madness."

 

 

Airfix's old but well-engineered kit was built per the yellowing instructions, save for half the passenger seats being replaced with a scratch-built 'cargo' of supplies and scientific equipment well-secured in the aft cabin. Skis were made up from laminated styrene sheet and bits of strip. The Airfix kit had earlier donated its 'speed ring' P&W Wasp Junior outer engines to my recent Williams Brothers Boeing 247 conversion, so that kit's similar engines and cowlings were adapted to serve here. I used the cut-down cowlings simply to help conceal the notable lack of detail in the engines themselves; my 'rationale' for the unconventional style cowlings (for a Trimotor) is that they are modified Lockheed Electra cowlings, 'specially fitted' here to improve engine performance in grueling antarctic conditions.

 

 

 

 

An online build/review conveniently alerted me to the fact that Airfix got the well-molded 2-blade props backwards---with the 'concave' part of the blades facing forward. It was an easy fix simply to trim the molded-in 'shaft' to become the new 'hub,' and flip the props front-to-back...and since I tend to glue my props solidly in place anyway, I just used the original hub as a 'stub' shaft to mount them to the engines.

 

Color scheme is a standard one for the type, mostly natural metal with areas of colored trim around the nose and passenger windows. The high-visibility orange panels were commonly applied to aircraft which were intended to operate over water...or, in this case, the vast and empty Antarctic wastes. I couldn't resist adding a light wash overall to highlight Airfix's lovingly-rendered corrugated surface...and then partially-removing it in 'sketchy' fashion to give the aircraft a well-used and 'lived in' look suitable to its challenging polar mission.

 

 

 

 

 

Decals were home-made, with the 'expedition seal' graphic being adapted from widely-circulated internet images, here modified specifically to depict a Ford Trimotor. The 'Ward' in the charter-company name is a none-too-subtle nod to yet another one of Lovecraft's well-known horror tales. The number chosen for the aircraft's registry---taken from the actual range of those assigned to Trimotor production---seemed the obvious choice, given the sinister ambiance of the project.

 

[On a 'historical' note...it appears that the real NC9666, curiously, may have had no better luck from the 'inauspicious' 666 in its registration. The 25th production Trimotor 5-AT built, it served most of its career with TWA on regular commercial passenger duty. In February 1933...exactly four years and one day after its first flight...the a/c had just departed Bakersfield Airport, headed for Los Angeles, when it caught fire in-flight only 10 minutes out---apparently from some catastrophic problem in the nose-mounted center engine. With the plane wrapped in steadily-spreading flames---and the co-pilot doing his level best to calm the understandably-agitated passengers--- the cool-headed pilot quickly turned back to the field, managing to bring the sturdy ship down safely. All 7 passengers and both crew successfully evacuated only moments before the burning aircraft was destroyed in an explosion. One passenger suffered burns to the hands and face, but...almost miraculously...there were no fatalities.]

 

 

 

 

 

Home-made inkjet decals---which tend to the 'stiff' side, due to the necessary coat of clear sealer to protect the water-soluble inks---were admittedly not the best option for a project where all the surfaces where the decals needed to be applied are rippled just like corduroy. Meticulous glossing of all the surfaces helped...as did repeated judicious application of both Solvaset and Future acrylic...and I managed to get about 95% of everything to 'lay down' before things started deteriorating and sealer and the inks beneath threatened to dissolve. An overall satin top-coat helped blend everything together; and if you look at it from just the right angle...you hardly notice the random spots of silvering and slightly-muddy print. C'est la vie.

 

To end it all (so to speak) on a suitably-lurid, Lovecraftian note:

 

"...The aeroplane now appears as abandoned...its crew and passengers having mysteriously disappeared, swallowed-up by the tractless Antarctic wastes---or worse. There remains only a faint trail of oozy slime...and a cold deeper even than the surrounding ice-bound wastes, tinged with the foetid stench of the charnel-house...to suggest that the aircraft's last visitor might indeed have been spawned from an Elder race, whose own interests are pitilessly inimical---or simply unmindful---to the more parochial workings of Mankind.

         "The ceaseless howling of the flaying Antarctic winds from without, seem as a whispered chorus of unearthly disembodied voices...repeating, again and again, a single, murmured phrase:

 

"`Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn....'"

 

Enjoy the photos.

 

 

 

 

[noelh]

Well you got me hooked. I'd actually forgotten Airfix did a Ford Trimotor. That's a wonderfully rendered example of something that appeared in a very obscure book. Marvelous.

 

I was at Oshkosh a couple of years ago and there were two of them giving joyrides all day. Not bad for aeroplanes 90 and 89 years old. Sturdy is the right word to describe them. 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Awesome stuff, in so many ways! 

 

[kapam]

Awesome build!

Admittedly I've not had time to read the full text/history you have posted - too busy ogling the model pics!

Just superb work with some very cool scratch-building and enhancements.

[dogsbody]

That's a real beauty. Good back story, too.

 

 

Chris

[Procopius]

My favourite Lovecraft story, and a cracking model.

[invidia]

Great model and a great story. 

[TonyW]

That looks fantastic!

 Everything about the model just looks right. The colours used add a whole lot to the overall look of things. Well done on building a difficult kit to a very high standard.

 

Tony.

[stevehnz]

AWESOME. I've been dishing out a few of those of late but they all deserved it, as does this, both for your superb Tri & gripping back story. I can see an intro to Lovecraft coming though horror is not my favourite genre.

Steve.

[Spitfire31]

Fantastic model and a great write-up! Iä! Iäää!

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

 

[Vinnie]

That's a lovely build, well done. Always good to see a Trimotor.

[Mitch K]

Superb, but having seen this, I must now go away and forget that I ever did so, that my mind that that of all  humanity might be saved from the eldrich knowledge therein...

 

On second thoughts, I think the story talks about using Dornier flying boats too - how about one of them to go with it?

[tonyot]

I love it,....... a beautiful model and the subject matter fits perfectly,..... grest stuff.

 

I recently got a cheap Trimotor myself and intend on building it as a RAAF aircraft used in New Guinea, I `m just trying to compile reference material.,

 

Cheers

           Tony

[thorfinn]

2 hours ago, Mitch K said:

Superb, but having seen this, I must now go away and forget that I ever did so, that my mind that that of all  humanity might be saved from the eldrich knowledge therein...

 

On second thoughts, I think the story talks about using Dornier flying boats too - how about one of them to go with it?

Actually, I 'erased' the Dornier from the 'Internet' version of the expedition seal, to substitute my non-canon Trimotor!

2 hours ago, tonyot said:

I love it,....... a beautiful model and the subject matter fits perfectly,..... grest stuff.

 

I recently got a cheap Trimotor myself and intend on building it as a RAAF aircraft used in New Guinea, I `m just trying to compile reference material.,

 

Cheers

           Tony

My own 'dream' Trimotor project is the 'Royal Typewriter Air Truck,' which---I kid you not---was used by the Royal Typewriter company in the 1930s to drop pallets of typewriters by parachute over middle-America, as part of a promotional campaign to demonstrate the sturdiness and reliability of their construction. (The campaign---and presumably the accompanying bombardment---was actually quite successful, by all accounts. It boggles the mind!)

But that version was the earlier, slightly-smaller AT-4 version of Ford's production, so I shall have to acquire the equally-ancient Revell 'box scale' kit in order to do that one.

 

Thanks again to all who took the trouble to 'like' or reply!

[billn53]

Very cool! I’ve always been tempted to do an aircraft from that Ill-fated expedition, but now you’ve done gone and did it 🙂

[Doc72]

Brilliant modelling and story.

By coincidence, I have just started to read "The Call of Cthulhu" this week. Coincidence? Who knows. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

The Good Ole Trimotor, always a source of joy.

Well done.

 

[matti64]

Marvelous!, Cyclopean!,.....Decadent!  A Superb rendering  that really catches the mood of the story.

[ColinChipmunkfan]

Great modelling, and very believable !!

[Buzby061]

Great work & an interesting story to accompany it.

 

Pete

[stevej60]

That's just a bit different! Excellent work all round.

[TallBlondJohn]

Throdog hnah mgepuaaah geb.  Hup vulgtmah hri ot britmodeller!

[Kev The Modeller]

Very nice, I do like these aircraft 

[TallBlondJohn]

A fabled place of eldritch knowledge, esoteric arts and guarded secrets, wherein can be found misshapen abominations, insane imaginings, unfathomable instructions and Things That Should Not Be, made from What Should Not Be Used. Inhabited by old ones, tentacled horrors and acolytes on the brink of madness.

 

But enough about of Britmodeller - let's have some more Lovecraft. I've posted the Miskatonic Railroad before, but if you missed it here it is again: http://www.ottgalleries.com/MRR.html

Edited September 20, 2018 by TallBlondJohn

[thorfinn]

2 hours ago, TallBlondJohn said:

Lovecraft. I've posted the Miskatonic Railroad before, but if you missed it here it is again: http://www.ottgalleries.com/MRR.html

That's a pretty astounding stack of work on that railroad layout! (Since I'm on my phone, I only managed to scratch the surface, but I will look in again!)

Dare I ask how many years' work that represents?