DougN Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 In November, my wife and I were blessed with the arrival on our son. Being a modeler, I wanted to put some airplane models up in his room, and decided to build a mobile with a couple of old 1/72 kits, as I build primarily large scale these days (eyesight). Around the time when I started building the models, the arrival of a collection of old 1/72 kits at the LHS for sale cheap ended up making this a much more complicated project! The wife insisted on bright, colorful models, and as hard as that was to do, I figured that most of these old kits would never have been built anyway, so I felt good helping them achieve their modeling purpose It was actually quite fun to build these kits, as I did not worry about anything other than getting them together and making them as strong as possible. The painting was a bit of a pain, not only trying to come up with unique schemes and also trying to stay in the ballpark of an "accurate" scheme, but I think I must have used most of a roll of Tamiya tape to get these things painted up. Even harder (for me) was designing how to get these 18 aircraft all together in a mobile without being too large or extending to low. After measuring and coming up with the plan, I then had to figure out how to get all these models balanced on the steel rods. After some trial and error (and broken models), I determined that the best way was to balance each sub-branch individually, and then assemble them on the ceiling. In order to balance them, I finally came up with a plan to make some small plastic "washers" that would fit snug on the steel rods (and on either side of the fishing spinners I was using) that would allow me to move the center mounting of each tree branch to get them balanced. To make the washers, I had to hand drill 70 holes into some sheet styrene and then punch out 70 washers with my punch and die set! Here is the finished result, let’s see who can be the first to identify all 18 aircraft! Thanks for looking! Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dergrunepunkt Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 (edited) Great job!, lovely idea I'll copy your idea for my unborn son Edited May 17, 2011 by dergrunepunkt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody37 Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 Great idea, I'm off to make a new son ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muller Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 Looks like a WW2 dogfight on LSD! Great idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul A H Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 Superb work - that's put a great big smile on my face! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vulcanicity Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 Start 'em young, eh! I like it a lot, what a lovely idea! Since you challenged: Grumman F-4F Vought F-4U Messerschmitt Bf109e Focke-Wulf FW190A Hawker Hurricane IIc DH Mosquito FBVI Albatros D.III Hawker Fury I Messerschmitt Bf110 North American P-51D Focke-Wulf FW190D Junkers JU87B Royal Aircaft Factory DH4 (or is it a DH9?) Ilyushin Il-2 Supermarine Spitfire Ia Messerschmitt Me262a Blihm und Voss BV215 (yeesh, that one took a bit of googling!) Nerd points...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbuna Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 What a fantastic idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godders Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 I love it! The colour schemes are really fantastic! That Albatross is really saying "Stay away..I bite!". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob C Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 That is brilliant. I'll remember that for when I start a family! You really have done well with picking the colour schemes. Almost like they're straight out of a Pixar movie. Absolutely love it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goose Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Fantastic idea. they look different Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Ogilvie Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Brilliant idea - love it!! My son, just turned 4, has built a few of the 21st Century kits - and his 109 he painted in all sorts of colours - with odds and sods from the decals store. He loves it - but it's used for play, rather than ceiling, so starting to look the worse for wear! Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakingModelsAgain Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 WWII Beatles-Style! Brilliant! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Badger Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 I love this! I have a new Nephew (and Godson) who's Christening is coming up in September so I am going to unashamedly steal this idea and make my own version for him.... I'll use some of the same aircraft but I think I'll add some later jets so its a sort of history of military flight (I've got a Red Arrow that would be perfect for this). hmmm wonder what else to add in.... off to evilbay to look for cheap 1/72 scale stuff. TFB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micha Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 GREAT =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shamael Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Great Stuff Man! Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BasicModelling Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Superb.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Royster Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Love it, Love it, Love it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottC Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Looks amazing had the same idea when my son was born he's now 9 months and all I have is a yellow Hunter done ! Scott C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fids Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 brilliant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyC Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 That is magic and what a brilliant idea! Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougN Posted May 19, 2011 Author Share Posted May 19, 2011 Thanks for the kind words all! By all means, anyone who wishes to copy the idea, feel free! If you need any info on details of the mobile, or just questions about how to do something, just ask and I will do my best to answer. I am pleased with the way it turned out, my son really does seem to like it as he will stay still and watch it move around (the bright colours are so he can see it better, as it apparently takes some time for their color vision to develop fully) Even the Mrs. seems to be impressed with it! Start 'em young, eh!I like it a lot, what a lovely idea! Since you challenged: Grumman F-4F Vought F-4U Messerschmitt Bf109e Focke-Wulf FW190A Hawker Hurricane IIc DH Mosquito FBVI Albatros D.III Hawker Fury I Messerschmitt Bf110 North American P-51D Focke-Wulf FW190D Junkers JU87B Royal Aircaft Factory DH4 (or is it a DH9?) Ilyushin Il-2 Supermarine Spitfire Ia Messerschmitt Me262a Blihm und Voss BV215 (yeesh, that one took a bit of googling!) Nerd points...? Very good effort on guessing the kits! Only two major errors in the list, and one minor error! Anyone else want to have a go? Cheers, Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnT Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 (edited) MODS CLOSE THIS THREAD DOWN - OR ADD A HEALTH WARNING I showed those pics to my wife who does not have the slightest interest in my hobby after a few minutes she said - and I quote "Thats lovely........You know we should have another baby" first time I couldn't work out which emoticion was the right one to use !!! off for a stiff drink now and to look at the overdraft PS loved the mobile - fantastic idea - you could have a business selling those !!! Edited May 19, 2011 by JohnT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Absolutely brilliant idea!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad 10 Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Nerd points...? More than you can possibly imagine! Love the mobile, excellent work Richard McC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Bloody Brilliant!! And yes, that put a big grin on our faces this evening. I am definitely going to copy that idea and have Mrs. Busdriver's full support! 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