Black & White

[Philip]

Rummaging through a dusty cupboard the other day and came across a big envelope with a pile of monochrome photos inside which brought back some happy memories. The story is that many moons ago I was asked to write an article for the UK "Popular Crafts" magazine, and the publishers sent round a photographer and his equipment to take a few snaps of my models as illustration to the text. For what it's worth, I show you a few of them here. It was so long ago that I can't remember what they all are exactly so I would be in debt to anyone who can throw a light on things.

- An airliner (Leon Schuijt)
- Another airliner (Maly Modelarz)
- Light aeroplane (ABC magazine)
- Breakdown truck (ABC magazine)
- Passenger liner (Leon Schuijt) Could it be the SS Rotterdam?
- This next is a flying model (Flying Paper Scale). I've never tried to fly it though.
- I believe the quick-looking areoplane is a Cunningham Hall racer. (Publisher unknown)
- Two very simple buildings (Leon Schuijt). I had a thing about his stuff then.
- Old Town Hall, Prague (Albatros)
- Moving Dinosaurs (Albatros). They move their heads and wag their tails by means of slight air currents, so you only have to walk past and they can't wait to let you know how pleased they are to see you.

So there we are then.

[Vermin_King]

Nice reminders. Do any of these survive?

[Don Boose]

Great models!

I once built the Japanese KI-61 (Image 6). It was part of a series that included a P-51 Mustang, which I also built. I can't remember the name of the company that printed the models.

Image 7 is the Metamodel Hughes racer designed by D.L. Emmons (see, for example, Howard Hughes H-1 Racer, a 1:24 Scale Model Card Kit by Meta Model - Paperback - 1979 - from Milliway's Books (SKU: E4.086)). I have a couple of copies, but never tried to build it. Nice model.

Emmons also designed a Vultee P-66, a Cunningham-Hall GA-38, and a Valkyrie B-70 Bomber.

Don

[Philip]

Hello, and thanks.

V_K: The only model from this lot that still survives is the Hughes Racer, but it's so encrusted with the grime of ages that I doubt if it could be cleaned up properly.

Don: Thanks for putting me right about the racing plane. You say you've built the KI-61 and one of its stablemates. I would like to ask if you ever attempted getting them to fly; and if so what was their performance like?

[Don Boose]

Philip - I do not think that I tried flying the KI-61 or the Mustang, but I played around with similar rubber-band-powered paper models back in the 80s and as I recall, they flew okay, but the power-weight ratio was too high for anything other than long powered glides.

I also built some Rigbys and Wheaties airplanes, including a Fulmar that, when properly trimmed, still makes long straight glides down the corridors of the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center once a year during the Paper Modelers at Army Heritage Days event.

Wot larks!

Don

[Viator]

Image 2: The first plane registered as SP-LKE was a Li-2 liner in service of Polish government agency "Zarząd Ruchu Lotniczego i Lotnisk Komunikacyjnych" (ZRLiLK).

Lisunov Li-2 version "P" called "Parrot" was in fact a modernized passenger version of a Douglas DC-3 "Dakota", reworked by Boris Lisunov design office in USSR between 1938 and 1942. Poland bought some 30 "Parrots" for Polish Airlines PLL LOT and some 10 more for the agency "Zarząd Ruchu Lotniczego" (established in 1966, July 21st). Their home airport was the only Warsaw international passenger airport, Okęcie, now Chopin Airport and they were operated few years until they were replaced with Iliushin Ił-14 in late 1960s (in the Polish Army they were still on duty till 1974), so the model represents the ZRLiLK's Li-2P in late 60s.

The attached picture shows the same plane in the latest colors used.

See either Lisunov Li-2 - Wikipedia

[Philip]

Thanks for the info, Viator. That clears that one up!

Anymore for anymore?

[asettico]

Wonderful pictures of beautiful models!
I'm not particularly interested in airplanes, but when I see those harmonious aerodynamics curves... I have great respect for your skill.
The same is true for the other masters specialized in aviation and navigation...