Some Epinal builds; historical background.

[Diderick A. den Bakker]

Stimulated by some of the pictures in the Vintage part of the forum I sat down and had a go.
I did a few architectural models some time ago (to be found on my New Photo Collection, Flickr.com/photos/Zeist_bouwplaten ). Most scans available on the internet are too low resolution - not really a problem for the parts themselves, but most of the letters and numbers indicating the position of various parts become blurred and illegible. Again, no problem in the case of straightforward models like buildings, but it makes life very difficult with more complicated projects like the Zeppelins and Dirigibles, or the Cannon à Balles (Mitrailleuse) I was aiming at.
Tom Greensfelder (member of this forum) provided me with high resolution scans (300 dpi) of the zeppelins; I couldn't find one of the Cannon, so I had to make do with what I had.
Epinal's sketches are hardly more than illustrations, and do not give much information as to the construction of the model. The numbers generally indicate a fairly strict order of working, but they are not always sufficiently clear either. Then I had a brainwave: pictures of the real thing might help. So I did a Google Images search. All three models turn out to be based on historical examples, with several fairly good pictures available on the internet. The links to Wikipedia articles made this part of the project even more interesting. I had always been under the impression that Epinal models were probably more phantasy than reality, but these three at least turn out to be fairly good representations of the real thing. Some fairly obvious mistakes in details did not really distract from the pleasure of building them.
The first two pictures show the first Italian dirigible (N1), designed and flown over Rome for the first time on October 31st 1908 by military Engineers Crocco and Ricaldoni (interesting to read that Crocco set out making airships, and ended up in the space industry!). Note that the pictures do not show the position of the propellers (or air screws, as they still called them in those days). The drawing on the Domenica del Corriere (15th November 1908) is also rather impressionistic about the stabilizers. Clearly, however, the Epinal model is wrong about the position of the stabilizer.
The other two pictures show the Nulli Secundus and the Cannon à Balles (Mitrailleuse).

[Diderick A. den Bakker]

Of course the Epinal models are fairly simple to make. One of my pet grumbles with regard to tube shapes is the fact that designers often do not add formers / strengtheners, so I added those myself in both models. Some measuring and fiddling with Word Perfect > insert figures always gives perfect results.
I did not correct some obvious mistakes on the part of the designer: the position of the stabilizer on the Italian N1 is wrong, and the outriggers that carry the propellers on the Nulli Secundus are obviously far too short... On the Nulli Secundus, did modify the supporting strap in the middle of the machine.
Many years ago I used to build and fly lots of mainly single line kites. The shape of this strap on the Nulli Secundus triggered some memories. When I looked the NS up on Wikipedia I found out why. This first British 'semi rigid airship' was designed by a John Capper, and Samuel Cody - the latter famous for his man lifting kites. It was flown for the first time on 10 September 1907, and flew over London in October of that year.

Finally, the Cannon à Balles (mitrailleuse). This turned out to be the Reffye Mitrailleuse, designed 1866 and used extensively in the Franco-Prussian War. It had 25 13mm barrels, and a reach of 2000 yards - a truely horrible weapon in those days.

Here, too, I was glad to find the pictures to help me constructing the model.

[Diderick A. den Bakker]

Forgot to add the spictures!

[Don Boose]

Many thanks for the historical background and the excellent images of these Epinal models, Diderick.

Don
PS: I am not sire if I ever told you that the Lockheed L-049s arrived safely. Much thanks.

[Vermin_King]

Very nice. I saw that Mauther noted them on his blog, too. On the first balloon, yours seems to be more blue than mine. Is that the file from Toto?

[Pat_craft]

Many thanks for the comments and the pictures, Diderick !

Mistakes and error are very common with Pellerin's papermodels. Sometimes, we can say that the model is more an illustrator'vision than the paper model of a real object.

[Diderick A. den Bakker]

All Epinal / vintage fans: see my new thread with that name!