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Granger Archaeopteryx, Scratch-built 1/72


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Found yet another one, from the dawn of my scratchbuilding efforts, a model from 13 years ago.

 

What is an Archaeopteryx, besides a very good Scrabble word? Literally, an “ancient wing”.

And you know that with that kind of name…err, it will look…well, you get the idea.

The Granger brothers started to build a plane upon a design of their own -refined by Latimer Needbam- that flew in the very early 30’s. It was influenced by the equally bizarre –read “beautiful”- Pterodactyls built by Capt. Hill. Although unusual, it has a pinch of elegance. The engine used, a two cylinder 32 hp Cherub of very limited power, made take offs very…interesting.

Being a small plane of course it renders an equally small model, as you can see in the image with the quarter.

The Archaeopteryx –sorry to make you read this word again- is a fairly simple scratch project, no doubt helped by the use of tiny brass “Strutz” for all of the –many- required homonyms.

The photo sequence will provide you with a general idea regarding materials and construction steps.

As this little moth-like bug flies off your book case into the eerie atmosphere of the room, it will remind you of Tinkerbell, leaving a sparkly trail as it lands, with a subtle shudder, on your building board.

 

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A couple of mentions on Flight Magazine (links to their archives)

https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1935/1935 - 1503.html?search=granger archaeopteryx

And with a different tail decoration:

https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1933/1933 - 0268.html?search=granger archaeopteryx

 

 

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11 minutes ago, Alpha Delta 210 said:

Very, very impressive!

Thanks, you are generous, but as an early effort, I can see now much that it could be improved. But that I guess is evolution.

So many times I am tempted to build them all over again, but given a potentially limited (as rumor has it) lifespan, other endeavors call for attention.

Cheers

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16 hours ago, Moa said:

Thanks, you are generous, but as an early effort, I can see now much that it could be improved. But that I guess is evolution.

So many times I am tempted to build them all over again, but given a potentially limited (as rumor has it) lifespan, other endeavors call for attention.

Cheers

With some kits I feel that the only sensible course of action would be to buy two and build the first in order to find out how to make a decent job of the second but as you say...

Regarding lifespan I'm approaching my acturial limit so I may soon be in a position to offer some personal experience.

John

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Beautiful Moa. I can remember the Archaeopteryx for 2 reasons. One - I couldn't say it when I was young (I couldn't say Pterodactyl either!)  two, I remember it in an old 40/50s Aeromodeller magazine of my Dads. I have also seen the real one many moons ago at the Shuttleworth Collection at Biggleswade. Beautiful little aeroplane.

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

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7 hours ago, Dave Swindell said:

An early aero isoclinic wing?

Lovely little model Moa.

Thanks for bringing up the term, Dave.

Well, they followed Hill (of Pterodactyl fame) who developed it earlier.

But in perspective both are early users (considering aviation's timeline and later users)

Cheers

 

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4 hours ago, Silenoz said:

beautiful work... I asked before, but where do you keep getting these from... the golden age of flight, and all that didn't survive most history books...

Aviation history in general sadly focuses too much on boom-boom bang-bang, barely touching these subjects, perpetuating the glorification of violence, but a wealth of information is out there, in authors like John Stroud, and in publications from that time period (many available online) like Flight magazine, Les Ailes, L'Aeronautique, Le Manche a Balai, L'Air, L'Avion, L'Aerophile, Skyways Magazine (now defunct, but still selling old issues), even Popular Mechanics occasionally published golden age content.

Popular Aviation and Aeronautics are both available (not in all countries) through Google Books:

https://books.google.com/books/about/Flying_Magazine.html?id=iRqI-1xucWgC

But some dedicated research is in order.

Cheers

 

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