WOW....Thats the tidiest workbench i've ever seen!!!
You can actually see parts of the bench itself!
You can actually see parts of the bench itself!
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Wonwings diary-Desperate measures for desperate times-The Slipwing Hawker Hurricane.
Hawker Slip Wing Hurricane.
During World War 2 some desperate measures were undertaken to increase the range of fighter aircraft,some of the ideas were verging on dangerous such as towing three fighters behind transport aircraft and dropping them off as gliders,then the engine would be started in flight and the aircraft carry on with its task,another system that needs explaining is the 'circular runway' in this case the aircraft was attached to a pole and once flying speed had been reached,the aircraft was literally flung into the air ! thankfully experiments proved the impractibility of such a technique and it was scrubbed.But one idea that was tried on Hawker Hurricane L1884 entailed the fitting of an upper wing,the idea was that aircraft could be flown from tiny fields hidden away from the enemy,once airborne the upper wing was jettisoned,needless to say this ingenious idea was not adopted by the R.A.F,the experimental Hurricane was converted by F.Hills and Sons Ltd who designed and adapted some most unusual aircraft during wartime.
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Barry, I don't know if this is of any interest to you in your endeavours to restore old models. I was thinking more of the decals and the bits rather than the headers.
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***Thanks Richard,I have picked up one or two decal sheets like this in the past,I think the present bid is perhaps their money,but you know how silly these things can go.
Barry, I don't know if this is of any interest to you in your endeavours to restore old models. I was thinking more of the decals and the bits rather than the headers.http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Decals-Instruc...QQcmdZViewItem
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I agree and I suspect the headers will push the price up to an unrealistic high.
I would have liked to have had a go at collecting old bagged Airfix kits but the prices seem a bit silly to me. There is an old SRN1 hovercraft on at the moment and the buy it now price is fourty pounds. People have more money than sense nowadays!
I'm still tempted though, just to see some of the old bagged kits that I made thirty odd years ago still give me a buzz!!Comment
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Recently on television, on one of those collectors shows appeared a chap with four large cardboard boxes,in them was virtually every Airfix kit unbuilt from forty years ago,he said that he went into Woolworth's each week and brought them but never opened one ! fanatical at the time for someone to buy but not build kits ?
Dont worry you will find a few old Airfix kits one day,there is still loads of kits stuffed away in drawers & attics etc as millions were made,I would never pay silly prices for them,I missed a batch a few years back when a neighbour had a clear out,he gave a load of unmade kits away to a young lad,and the lad built one,botched it up,got fed up and ditched the lot,thats gratitude for you.
I once won a B-29 for writing a letter to Airfix magazine,it never turned up,then won another kit this time an Heller CL.215 that never appeared either ?Comment
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Barry i have a huge collection of decals if you need any let me knowComment
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Wonwings diary-The De Havilland DH.89A Dragon Rapide
The De Havilland DH.89A Dragon Rapide, was probably responsible for successfully setting up more small airlines than any other machine,the reason being that the simplicity of design and operation,coupled with a small monetry outlay ensured that the company made money,just as the Douglas Dakota paved the way for the larger airlines the Rapide was ideal for operation from small fields,even flying from the beach taking customers from the Channel Islands to the mainland,the aircraft saw wartime service with many air forces and was used amongst other jobs as a navigation trainer,crew ferry with the Air Transport Auxiliary and by the Fleet Air Arm.
This nostalgic cover from the 'Aeromodeller' magazine shows one of the British European Airways examples which operated amongst other places to the Scilly Isles.
This is the Heller Rapide painted in the colours of the Automobile Association,this aircraft was used for traffic spotting and congestion solving in the UK,also aerial photography.
The markings were home made using an Epson printer onto white tissue paper,these were then stuck onto the model and protected with Johnsons clear,there is also full interior detail with home made seats,although you cannot see much of it at least I know it is there and there are no voids when looking through the side windows.Comment
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***Thanks for your very kind offer Nigel,the ones that I am short of are post war R.A.F roundals and especially fin flashes,Modeldecal used to produce them but are no longer in business.
Barry i have a huge collection of decals if you need any let me know
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Wonwings diary-The lovely De Havilland DH.84 Dragon's.
De Havilland DH.84 Dragon
The DH.84 Dragon was designed by Arthur Hagg in response to Fox Moth operator Edward Hillman's request for a twin engined aircraft to be used on a proposed air service from Southern England to Paris.The slab sided plywood box used successfully in the Fox Moth was adopted for the fuselage of the new design,a clever two bay biplane with wings that could be folded just outboard of the two Gipsy Major engines.The pilot was provided with a separate compartment in the extreme nose and the main cabin would seat six passengers.The prototype first flew in 1932 at De Havillands works at Stag Lane,Edgeware,Middlesex,it was later delivered by air to the Maylands airfield ,Essex together with three more Dragon 1 production aircraft for operation by Mr Hillman,the planned Paris route took place in April 1933,British production totalled 115 aircraft built at Stag Lane and when the company uprooted to the new factory at Hatfield,a further 87 aircraft were built in Australia during World War 2 at Bankstown,these were to become navigation trainers for the Royal Australian air force,the first of which entered service in 1942.
A further version called the DH.84M was fitted with a dorsal gun ring,a dorsal fin and was supplied to the air forces of Denmark,Iraq and Portugal.
The model of the DH.84 Dragon was scratch built from Plastikard sheet and Jabrok and wire.
It represents a machine currently restored by Air Lingus to represent their early roots,this aircraft often comes over the Irish sea to airshows and special events in England.Comment
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Wonwings diary-Todays special treat-Mazda Aerobatic team
Fasten your seat belts again,and for this one you will also need your G-Suite.
The high bandwidth version does not load properly which is a great pity,suggest that you use the low bandwitdth version instead,sit back for some of the finest aerobatic flying you will ever witness,and once more some of this has been filmed from above from an helicopter,very unusual and beatifully done.
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Wonwings diary-Avro Lancaster visits Coventry.
Seen taxying in on Saturday 26-08-2006 is PA474 Avro Lancaster,two Spitfires one a PRU blue painted with five bladed prop and clipt wings,the other wearing invasion stripes with a four bladed prop also arrived,these were hangared overnight in the Classic Flight hangar.
The aircraft are due to give a display at 12.00 am on Sunday over the Town & Country Festival.
The Memorial Flight Avro Lancaster PA474 taxies in after its display over the Town and Country festival on 26-08-2006,the aircraft overnight stopped together with two Spitfires which were pushed into the Air AtlantiqueClassic Flight hangar.
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Wonwings diary-The beautiful De Havilland DH.90A Dragonfly.
De Havilland DH.90 Dragonfly.
The external simularity of the De Havilland DH.90 Dragonfly to the DH.89 Dragon Rapide belied its very different internal structure,the earlier designs spruce and plywood box fuselage being replaced by a preformed plywood monocoque shell strengthened with spruce stringers.The lower wing centre-section was strengthened ,making possible deletion of the nacelle/wing root bracing struts and inner bay rigging wires,and so providing easy access to the cabin,with accomodation for a pilot with four passengers.Powered with two Gipsy Major engines,the prototype made its first flight at Hatfield in August 1935,the first production machine being flown and delivered during 1936.Production totalled 66 aircraft and the aircraft was very popular with wealthy private owners of that time,the type was also used for commercial purposes and served with the air forces of Canada,Denmark and Sweden.
Model of DH.90 Dragonfly G-AEWZ is scratchbuilt and made from Plastikard,Jabrok,Jelutong and wire.
You will not see these models on display at any IPMS meetings,they are 'banned' from the tables because they do not fulfill the 'all plastic' criteria,I dont care because I build for my own enjoyment from whatever materials I can find,and to enhance my collection,anyway it gives me greater pleasure sharing them with you here.
The last in the series of De Havilland biplanes the DH.86 Express airliner is undergoing a repaint,so I will cover that some other time.
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Wonwings diary-The Focke-Wulf FW.44 Steiglitz.
Focke-Wulf FW.44 Steiglitz.
Second only to the Focke Wulf FW.190 as the most prolific Focke-Wulf design,the FW.44 Steiglitz ( means 'Goldfinch') trainer appeared in 1932,the prototype making its first flight in the late summer of that year in the hands of Gerd Achgelis.Powered by a 140 hp Siemens Sh.14a radial engine,the aircraft was a single bay biplane with a welded steel fabric covered fuselage,with wooden wings and fabric covering,in its original form the aircraft suffered some undesireable flight characteristics,but these were soon sorted out after an extensive flight test programme undertaken by Professor Kurt Tank who joined the company during 1931 from the BFW organisation,he headed the design and flight test departments of Focke-Wulf when Heinrich Focke became pre-occupied with his rotary wing activities.The Steiglitz became an outstanding aerobatic mount,particularly in the very hands of Achgelis,Emil Kropf and Ernest Udet,it won many export orders from Bolivia,Chile,China,Czechoslovakia,Finland,Romania ,Switzerland and Turkey,licence production was also undertaken in Argentina,Austria,Brazil,Bulgaria, and Sweden.Built in substantial numbers for the Luftwaffe,serving as a trainer until the end of World War 2.
The lovely Steiglitz climbs away from Baginton ready to give a superb aerobatic display at the 1954 Lockheed Aerobatic competition,the aircraft was crated in and assembled on site by Alvis Ltd.
Ready to go into a flick roll,the powerful ailerons on top and bottom wings.
And with a rock of the wings to inform he judges that the competition flight was complete,and into land.
The model was made from a stripped down Revell Boeing PT-17 Stearman kit,the wings needed to be swept back and a new aerofoil section filed in,the shape had to be altered dramatically,ailerons replaced,new undercarriage built up,the fuselage was cut just aft of the cockpit and a new front fuselage made from Jabrok grafted into place,the Siemens engine was scratch built from toothpicks bound with button thread,rocker covers made from a toothbrush handle,pushrod guides from pins.The tail is made from Miralyte 1=64th ply two laminations,struts made from Contrail/Sutcliffe streamlined section pinned to the board and glued together,the whole model was then primed with Holts white primer and sprayed with auto enamel Canary yellow,details hand painted.
No doubt there are now kits available for the FW.44,but this one was built a long while ago.
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Wonwings diary-Avro Lancaster & Spitfires at Coventry over the weekend.
Updated pictures of the Memorial Flight Avro Lancaster,and two Spitfires that visited Coventry for the Town and Country Festival flypast.
The Spitfires of the Memorial flight start up their Rolls Royce Griffon engines ready for the flypast over the Stoneleigh Showground,pictures courtesy of Dave Peace.
The Memorial Flight Avro Lancaster PA474 taxies in after its display over the Town and Country festival on 26-08-2006,the aircraft overnight stopped together with two Spitfires which were pushed into the Air AtlantiqueClassic Flight hangar.
Memorial Flight Spitfire IX PM631 (left) and Spitfire XIX MK356 at Coventry 27-08-2006 together with the Lancaster below,pictures courtesy of Dave Peace.
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