Spirit of St. Louis - some considerations

[Leif Ohlsson]

An announcement of a recent addition to the existing paper models of the Spirit of St. Louis gave rise to an interesting discussion about how to best model this famous aircraft in paper (see this thread).

I'm sure this reawakened the interest of many who, like me, have considered the Spirit from time to time. I thought it would be good to collect what of existing material there is on the Spirit and discuss some critical issues in modelling it in paper.

To that end, I have gathered the most useful photos and images I have found on the internet in five galleries here on the site. I thought they could be used later on for discussing various proplems when modelling the Spirit, but the curious can have a look already now:



1. Spirit of St. Louis - original construction: Twenty high-quality photos from the original construction of the Spirit at the Ryan factory in San Diego. A most important primary source (see example above), but not always representing the Spirit as it flew the Atlantic.



2. Spirit of St. Louis - panel & interior: The only ten photos I have found of the interior, particularly the instrument panel at various stages of development. Above is a rare photo from the interior of the Spirit as it hangs in the Smithsonian.



3. Spirit of St. Louis - replica: Eleven photos of the construction of a replica of the Spirit (probably the Old Rhinebeck version). As the example above demonstrates, they are good for understanding the general technique of building this type of aircraft, but they are not to be used indiscriminately as a representation of the original.



4. Spirit of St. Louis - today at the Smithsonian: The ten best photos I have found of the Spirit as it hangs today from the roof of the Smithsonian. Good for certain details, like the text on the fin (above), but it does not represent the pristine aircraft flying the Atlantic in 1927.



5. Spirit of St. Louis - miscellaneous: The example above shows a rather pretty see-through drawing of the Spirit.

[dansls1]

Great collection of photos. Thanks.

[Leif Ohlsson]

The main source for the historical photos gathered in the first album is http://www.charleslindbergh.com, particularly the section http://www.charleslindbergh.com/history/sec/ .

On that site, I just discovered a wonderful source, unmined until now, and that is the "Donald A. Hall Photograph & Document Collection". There are literarly hundreds of additional photos. I invite you to dig through it and come up with examples worth collecting in the albums.

You may also want to download Donald Hall's (chief engineer at Ryan, designer of the Spirit of St. Louis) "Technical preparation of the Spirit of St. Louis" (pdf file).

On the same site, the "Lindbergh Discussion Center" is a primary source for all things technical (and many things peripheral) when modelling the Spirit.

For inspiration, you may from time to time wish to return to the existing movie clips of the Spirit taking off for Paris.

For purely modelling purposes, you may also find it useful to download the free building instructions (pdf file) for Göran Kalderén's 1:5 RC model. There are some useful structural details worth studying there.

[bclemens]

Thanks, leif! What a wonderful set of references. This will be a fascinating discussion.

[Don Boose]

Many thanks for this very systematic lay-down of Spirit sources, Leif. You make exceptionally valuable contributions regarding aviation history, paper modeling, and model-building generally. It is most generous of you to share the fruits of your research and hard work.

Don

[Leif Ohlsson]

Discussing the various existing Spirit of St. Louis paper models in the previous thread, the conclusion was that there are few options. True, there are many "toy-like" paper models of the Spirit (and I don't profess to know them all), which probably are good and fine if you want to make a small-scale model for fun.

Likewise, I have no reason to believe otherwise than that the Schreiber Spirit of St. Louise in 1:50 is good and fine for that scale, and at that level of detail.

However, for serious modelling purposes there only exists one design, namely the one by Rafael Ciesielski. It is available as a printed version from WAK, and as a scaleable electronic download from Gremir.

If you wish to build the design "as is" and in the standard scale of 1:33, your best bet may be the printed version by WAK, since then you get a fine silvery shine for all parts, plus you don't have to print them yourself. It is a good option.

However, if you want to do further work on the model, and particularly if you want to make it in another (probably larger) scale, I would say that the Gremir version is the by far best way to go.

Hitherto, I have not been able to buy any of the Gremir models, since the scaling & printing software that comes with the purchase doesn't work on a Mac. Thanks to the gracious cooperation of Michael Krohl at Gremir, I have now for the first time been able to lay my hands on such a model of the Spirit, and I must say it is vastly superior.

Attached you will find some (low quality) samples from just the first print sheet. As you can see from the enlarged parts, the pattern on the engine covering plates are exquisite, likewise the pattern of the internal tubing in the cockpit section, plus the crisp and sharp details.

Nothing like this would have been possible to achieve by enlarging a scan of a printed model (the paper texture of the kit would have blended in with the texture of the printing paper; plus that details would have been lost in the scanning process).

I will therefore take this version of the design as the point of departure for discussing the various problems of modelling the Spirit.

And thank you Michael (at Gremir)!

[Gil]

Hi Leif,

I'm becoming interested in the Donald A. Hall story, the designer behind the Spirit of Saint Louis. Do you have any idea of whether internal structure drawings exist?

+Gil

[Leif Ohlsson]

Hi Gil, from the top of my head, remembering what I read on the main source site, Donald Hall prepared a set of drawings at the time for a replica built in Japan (or built for a Japanese customer).

I have no source for such drawings, which are much wanted. I imagine they ought to exist somewhere in the vaults of the Smithsonian or similar.

I also remember corresponding to a person who was doing a book on the Spirit, and who was preparing a set of 1:25 detailed drawings for that book. However, I have not seen or heard of that book, although it should have been published by now. (And of course, I've lost the name & email of that person, damn!)

Generally, there is a surprising dearth of authoritative drawings of the Spirit, and of photos for that matter, compared to the plethora of information on less famous aircraft. That's what surprised me most, digging for information.

At present, the Charleslindbergh.com site, and the Donald Hall documentiation center there, seems to be the main readily available source. I imagine the Old Rhinebeck would have had access to drawings, though. As would the EAA, which possesses one (or possibly even several) of the existing replicas.

Hope you can do some useful digging from your end.

Leif

[Leif Ohlsson]

Speaking of the EAA replica, I think two accounts of flying it are worth saving as a reference:

The Spirit Flies On by Barry Schiff

Paradoxical Spirit: Flying EAA's Ryan NYP

It was not a relaxing experience!

[pahorace]

Thanks Leif,
for this Thread of Research.
Even for me, this is the true essence of modeling.
The modelling is mainly "Research": historic, iconographic, photographic, and in this you are a specialist.
(A model is not only Cut and paste!)
This will serve to me then for my Gremir's spirit, thanks again.

Orazio