Boss! Boss! Da Planes! Da Planes!

A few aircraft models I've built recently.

A couple of months ago, my wife and I decided that I could do an exhibit/demonstration at the Fall Fair that is held every September in St. Stephen, New Brunswick where our summer cottage is. I would demonstrate the characteristics of flight and basic aircraft design to some kids at the fair where I would teach them how to build flying gliders using ordinary foam meat trays that everyone knows about. In so doing I would also teach them a little about aviation history using a model airplane display. So I spent some time between work building some model airplanes that I had in my stash. The ones shown below are those models. I also have a few more to display that I had posted on my main website and here on this substack page in the past, such as the Wright Flyer and the Bell X-1 and so on, so they are not seen here. These are the ones I built exclusively for the show for their historical significance.

We start off with this Bleriot monoplane, which was the first airplane to cross the English Channel in 1909, just 6 years after the Wright Brothers first flew. It’s built to 1/48th scale from an ancient Linberg kit that Round 2 re-popped a few years ago. Pretty tiny and crude kit but it gets the point across.

Next, we have another historically significant airplane called The Spirit of St. Louis. Bigtime booby prize to you if you don’t know the significance of THIS plane! It’s built from the Revell 1/48th scale kit.

Here we have a Lockheed Vega, known as the Winnie Mae, which set many world records in the early 1930s. It’s built from the 1/48th scale Lindberg kit.

Next up, is the Granville Gee Bee R1 which set speed records in 1933. It’s essentially an engine with wings. This model is in 1/32 scale and built from the old but very competent Williams Brothers kit.

I normally weather my models to make them look more realistic but in this case, I kept them clean so they’d look “pretty” rather than realistic. Here is the Grumman Wildcat built from the crude Revell kit in 1/32 scale. Trumpeter makes a much better kit, and I have two of them, but this ancient Revell example was quicker to build. I made a stand for it from a slab of pine I had lying around and a wooden dowel. The canopy slides on it too.

The infamous German V-1 “Buzz Bomb” shown below was made from the simple and tiny 1/48th Tamiya kit. Historically significant in that it was the first UAV or “drone” that was ever put to use… unfortunately.

What’s an airplane collection without what could be said was the most successful fighter of WW2? With an 11-1 kill ratio, the F4U Corsair was a formidable foe for the enemy to deal with. This model is built from an Academy 1/48th scale kit of the F4U-4D version.

Another record-setter, the X-15 was the fastest manned airplane ever built and holds the title to this day. This one is built from the 1/72 scale “Revellogram” kit.

This F-104 Starfighter is built from the 1/72 scale Matchbox kit. I found an old stand from another kit (sprayed with “hammered” paint) that I adapted so it could be propped up from the tail which always looks better for a jet.

What’s so historically significant about a Cessna 172? Heck! You see them everywhere! And that’s the point. The 172 is by a good margin the most produced aircraft of all time. Over 44,000 of them have been built and still counting, as Cessna builds them to this day. This one, on floats, was made from an ESCI/ERTL kit in 1/48th scale.

Last up is this Schleicher ASK 21, a sailplane that may not be historically significant, but I wanted a model of a sailplane on display to show the kids that they do indeed exist, and offer up some conversation about how they fly and so on. This is built from the Revell Germany 1/32 scale kit. The wingspan on this model measures almost 21 inches!

There. That’s about it. More planes than shown here will be on display but these are the ones I built in the last few months (except for the Wildcat which I built about a year or so ago) and haven’t shown elsewhere. If all goes well, I will give a report on how the demonstration went and whether it was a success or a flop. Meanwhile, enjoy the pictures!