[Paper Kosmonaut]

Hi friends.
Time to show a little happy-maker. When things aren't great, these kinds of builds *really* do make my life better. And I cannot put my finger on exactly what it it that does it. The Late Fabrizio Prudenziati has left his beautiful paper models behind for us to make us all happy, I guess.


Anyway, building a Zio aircraft takes me away from those cloudy grey overcast feelings I often have nowadays in these challenging times (that expression itself had already become a cliché...) and it takes me to a place that clears my mind, lets me almost thoughtlessly tinker and fiddle with some colourful pieces of cut-out paper and leaves me in the end with a little plane and a big happy smile on my face, blowing at the propeller and making airplane noises.
And that is why I always reach out to another little Zio plane when I am in need for a quick result, or when a big build is starting to drag me down in a way. I build them just for me to get a little kick out of. I never start building them to be a super great model. But they always do turn out to be very good-looking little buggers to be added to my crowded shelves.

Mille Grazie, Fabrizio.


The DH.82 is like almost every Zio plane a joy to build. Some little improvements were made because I felt like it. I used the 'carve the wing ribs and roll 'em up' technique to acentuate the wing ribbing a little more. And I used spliced matchsticks to replace the paper struts and a sewing pin with two little beads to make a spinning propeller.
The only thing I added to the actual kit were two self drawn windscreens.