Wonwings Diary-a blog with a difference.

[wonwinglo]

Well Richard I have always had a love of windmills, and someone brought me a book for a birthday present several years ago,if it is old machinery then it is just a product of a bygone age,but nothing to stop us from modelling these blasts from the past.

Yes it will be electric motor powered and have the full working hatches where the flour bags are deposited from the wheels which press the raw material,been a long term on and off project now for some time,glad that you like it.

[wonwinglo]

You have just given me an idea,if I disconnect the drive band then it can be allowed to blow in the wind,why not ?

[wonwinglo]

Wonwings diary-More Diecast vintage ship models needing identification.

Warship#6





Warship#7

[Guest]

You have just given me an idea' date='if I disconnect the drive band then it can be allowed to blow in the wind,why not ?[/quote']Why not indeed, and if the bottom bearing is good enough and you have a rudder on it then it should also turn into the wind automatically.

[wonwinglo]

Wonwings diary-Will Lyn Watson please get in touch.

Lyn I have accidently deleted your message regarding World War 1 aircraft rigging notes,please will you get in touch again,thank you.

[wonwinglo]

Wonwings diary-Vintage Diecast Ship Models needing identification.

Warship#8





Warship#9

[wonwinglo]

Wonwings diary-A walk around my local airfield.

Wellesbourne 29-07-2006

Fortunate that we have a friendly local airfield,there is always something new to see and you cannot beat getting up close to see aircraft and record the detail.



G-AYMO Piper Aztec minus port engine seen outside the maintenance hangar.

The Aztec is quite a geriatric twin and seems to have made a comeback in popularity with enthusiasts.



Irish Robinson R-22 EI-DKI,the two Irish R-44's have now departed over the Irish sea to their new owners.



G-AYKK R-44 in a smart blue/white scheme.



Another new Robinson R-44 G-DYCE with Heliair in green with gold trim.



Active with the flying school is G-FOGY R-22.



On loan with Heliar from Tatenhill is G-VEYE R-22.



G-KTOL R-44 Clipper with its inflatable pontoons packed away above the skids.

[wonwinglo]

Wonwings diary-Alex Henshaw Percival Mew Gull replica earmarked for Cosford.

I have been informed that the static Percival Mew Gull replica of G-AEXF that Tony Ditheridge is producing for Alex Henshaw will probably not now be ready for display until the Spring of next year.

It will still go on display at Hendon, but it is ultimately destined for the new museum at Cosford.Personally, I hope it stays at Cosford too,as far too much stuff has been filched from Cosford for Hendon.Frankly, there is just too much concentrated at Hendon now with very little space available there,over concentration of exhibits is not a good idea.

[wonwinglo]

Wonwings diary-A walk around my local airfield.



G-SWEL Hughes 369 visiting Wellesbourne on 27-07-2006,note that the centre of the airfield is used for crops,some silly regulation that stops grass operations from the airfield,years ago there used to be some really good air rallies held here,however the compulsary crops have ended all of that.



N818Y American egistered Twin Comanche now appears to be based at Wellesbourne.



Transitting through Wellesbourne were these Jetstream propellers which are going for overhaul,they came down from Humberside.

[wonwinglo]

Wonwings diary-A plastic bucket manufacturer that changed the modelling world.

The advent of what must today seem crude moulding equipment back in the fifties, was set to change the face of modelling forever,overnight boxes of roughly shaped wooden parts which were the basis of building up scale model aircraft would be obsolete,a small company that supplied plastic utensils such as buckets,mops and combs was set to change the way scale models were made by the masses,the aptly named 'Airfix' company were taken aback when a tiny pale blue Spitfire,sold by the million in only a few weeks of being offered for sale in plastic bags at all branches of F.W.Woolworths stores throughout the UK,special counter displays were allocated for the new kits,with a built up example directly in line with your eyes,quickly Airfix paints in awkward screw top bottles,paintbrushes and cement were on offer in order to complete your own personal masterpiece.

The subject matter just grew and grew into four engined bombers that nobody had ever attempted in kit form before,Airfix quickly became a multi million pound success story within weeks,months,years gradually producing a range of kits un-equalled ever before in modelling history.

Whilst design staff worked from a small shed in Bridlington producing brass masters ( not at the main factory ),artists elsewhere were hard at work doing the evocative kit header paintings and later box artwork to meet the demand,Airfix were quick to realise that including bombs and rockets would vastly increase sales !

The magic figure of 2/- two bob was enough to make a considerable profit,without putting off the pocket money brigade of young lads ( and lasses ) gradually a 3/- three bob range was added,then the bombers at a whopping 7/6 seven bob six pence.

As the model shops demanded that Airfix sell the kits to them as well,Woolworths fought hand and tooth to secure the first batches of kits,something that they did for many years before gradually other outlets managed to secure supplies to meet the ever increasing demands,slowly Woolworths lost total control over a very powerful Airfix company, who by now had made a move away from their old factory at Haldane Place where the first little grey Massey Ferguson premiums had evolved.



A small selection of original kits from Wonwings collection.

During the nineteen fifties a small factory based at Haldane Place,London called Airfix,was making plastic utensils and buckets for F.W.Woolworths,one day a company called Massey Ferguson contracted Airfix to make small scale models of their famous little grey tractors to give away as gifts for publicity purposes at sales centres,Airfix responded with a super little kit which was to be their very first venture into kit production and never really intended for direct sales to the public,shortly afterwards they made a 1=72nd scale kit of a Supermarine Spitfire ( said to have been copied from an Aurora kit ) moulded in pale blue plastic with abnormally thin wings and not representing any particular mark of the machine,this was quickly followed by a Gloster Gladiator,Supermarine S.6B,DH.88 Comet Racer,Sopwith Pup and a Westland Sikorsky S-55 helicopter in B.E.A markings,then some galleon kits,the models were a knockout and sold in their millions at branches of F.W.Woolworths who had a special counter for this product,every weekend thousands of schoolboys would flock to Woolworths clutching 2/- two old shillings for the smaller kits,3/- for the twins,and later 7/6 seven shillings and sixpence for the Lancaster,it is said that if you had invested heavily in Airfix at that time then you would have probably been very wealthy later on,in fact the company went from strength to strength producing an amazing range of model kits which quickly became an household name lilke 'Kodak' and 'Meccano' the range in fact became top heavy and some kits sold very badly such as the Fairey Rotadyne and the Bristol 192 helicopter,the successful designs carried the inevitable lemons which dragged on for many years.

As these words are written Airfix are part of a large company but still producing kits abroad striving to bring a new image and a brand new range of kits of exceptional detail.

[Guest]

Barry, What an amazing collection of kits that bring back so many memories. I really appreciate you sharing them with us and certainly look forward to seeing them in some sort of period setting.

I have always seriously thought about collecting these old bagged kits as well but I am now put off by the current prices of them. I don't see them as a monetary value more of a museum item that I can relate to as they are such a significant part of my past.

[Guest]

I remember these kits hanging up in their plastic bags. It was something I could afford to buy as a lad. The last one I built was a yellow Zero or the american fighter that looks just a bit like it. Great days.....

Martin

[Guest]

Having now received my copy of Janes I have had a quick look through the models and found out the following:

1)This would not seem to match up with anything from Janes WWII offerings. The two funnels should narrow it down to Renown, King George V or Vanguard classes and none of them have that gun configuration.

2)Once again these don’t correspond to any configuration in Janes. I do think though that with the very vertical funnels and only a single turret fore and aft, they may be WWI period rather than WWII.

3a) This does tend to indicate a WWI vintage again as there were no four funnel ships in WWII in the Royal Navy.

3b) I think this is possibly correct although I haven’t found a picture yet but an armament layout matches the HMS Cardiff launched in 1917 and was a Ceres Class Light Cruiser. Just found a picture but not very clear, however the long slim hull configuration is definitely WWI so I think this is the second HMS Cardiff.

4)I think I have this one, mainly as it is an old WWI vessel still around for WWII. The configuration of this one matches up with WWI Queen Elizabeth Class of which there was HMS Malaya and HMS Barham still active in WWII. As the Barham is probably the more famous by being filmed exploding after being torpedoed if it was meant to be a specific vessel I would opt for that one.

5)Nothing obvious here again as the twin funneled vessels in WWII, mainly cruisers with two forward and one aft turret all had their crane between the funnels. There also wasn’t a vessel with the forward funnel larger than the aft with this turret configuration so my guess would be WWI again.

6)Although in profile this ship is very similar to the Uganda Class and the Swiftsure Class they both had multi-barreled turrets so no luck here either.

7)This does actually look quite close to a cruiser of the Devonshire/Suffolk/Norfolk Class and seems to match up to all the configuration points. It is also very similar to a Kent Class cruiser but I think the first choice is closest.

8)The most distinctive feature of this one seems to be the gun between the funnels which would make it HMS Faulknor, an Admiralty type destroyer, if we assume the blobs after the aft funnel and the aft superstructure are torpedo tubes.

9)I’m afraid I can’t find anything that matches up with this one.

So at the end of the day not what you would call a resounding success however two very positive things have come out of it. One is that I think the majority of these vessels are from WWI so a book dealing with that era would probably produce more matches and the second is that I have bought a superb book, which is a wealth of reference material and it cost me next to nothing. The original published price in ’89 was $80.00 and it cost me about seven pounds!!

[wonwinglo]

Wonwings diary-Vintage Diecast Ship Models needing identification.

Warship#10

Dinky Toys H.M.S Nelson

One gun missing.





Warship#11

[wonwinglo]

Richard,you have excelled in my opinion and there are still more to come,see the latest offerings on posting #557 the fact that they are of WW1 vintage makes them even more special,so do not despair all that we need now is a period WW1 Janes to do the rest,I would like to thank you for taking the valuable time and trouble in sorting a least this first batch out,no easy task.