Wibault-Penhoët Trimotor by Ingenia

[papermodelfan]

Here is an old gem - a pre-war French model of the French equivalent of the Tin Goose. I was able to get it on eBay, now long out of print, and try building it. The old Ingenias are large scale, printed in large format and colorful booklets. They were of a variety of subjects - architectural, aviation, ships and others. The instructions and designs are simple, often crude - made for children. Yet they are appealing, and are of subjects I have never seen otherwise.

Here is the instruction sheet, and the start on the fuselage. While there are no formers, there is an inner box that gives the fuselage structure and rigidity. Fit is reasonable, but takes a little massaging.

[papermodelfan]

To continue, the wing is constructed with a simple rib at the points where outer wings attach to the inner wing. Sorry for the dark photos - I realized later my camera needed adjusting. The attachment to the fuselage is strengthened by a (cardboard reinforced) tongue that extends from the fuselage at either side, and by a tongue on the upper surface of the wing that locks into the fuselage . I added a cardboard rib shape at the wing root to make the joint stronger.

[papermodelfan]

The motors are simple - the nose motor is just 2 dimensional (and I added the back side by xeroxing the front), while the two wing motors are build as simple cylinders. The landing gear is also simplified - to the point that the wheels and pants are just two dimensional as well. I stiffened the struts with basswood strips. Here is the finished model.

The scale is 1/50. The artwork is signed by E. A Shefer. The publisher is Pelican Blanc, of Paris. The year of publication is not indicated. The aircraft itself is a Wibault Penhoët 242-T from the Air Union "La Voile d'Or"/"Golden Clipper" service that flew London-Paris starting in 1933. I am guessing the model dates from then.

[Texman]

Nice little build Rob, but I have a question.

Being a young'un, what's "xeroxing"?

[Rubenandres77]

The kit looks really charming! This plane looks nice and you made a fine build of it.
I only knew the Ingenia Citroen 2CV, didn't know any of their other kits.

[Don Boose]

It's a beauty, Rob!

There used to be a restaurant in Carlisle called the California Café. One of the owners was originally from France and was an aviation history enthusiast. Among the artworks on the wall was a magnificent Air France travel poster featuring La voile d'or in this color scheme, except that the registration letters were F-AMHP.

I look forward to seeing this one at Sterling in November.

Don

[SCEtoAUX]

Nice looking model and build.
Got any carbon paper?

[bradford46]

That's a fine vintage model that you have made. All those old trimotors have great charm. I think there is another wibault trimotor on the web. I forget where I got mine, but on the title page it says: les maquettes en papier du criquet, criquet11.eklablog.fr
It was a free model to download--it may even be in our download section--and is of excellent quality.

[Rubenandres77]

Originally Posted by bradford46

That's a fine vintage model that you have made. All those old trimotors have great charm. I think there is another wibault trimotor on the web. I forget where I got mine, but on the title page it says: les maquettes en papier du criquet, criquet11.eklablog.fr
It was a free model to download--it may even be in our download section--and is of excellent quality.

Could it be this one? Wibault 283T2
Criqet himself presented it here in our forum: Wibault 283t12

[at6]

Nice build. The good old days of carbon paper and Xerox machines. It still can be downloaded.