ssculptor

Anyone remember "Flyboys"? I woke up early (5 AM this Morning, as usual) and discovered the movie "Flyboys": starting up. I never saw it all the way through so I settled back in bed and watched it. I like it. Yes there were cliches, improbable scenes, obligatory love scenes, etc. but they were well handled. Yes the Germans were all nasty fellows, except for one guy. All the French and Americans were nice guys. Well, what did you expect, Hollywood ulber alles. Looked like they had built some replica airlanes. I could not tell the diference between the replicals and the animation. All in all an enjoyable movie.

R.I.P.

Kinda makes one remember model airplane "dope" which we used to paint onto the tissue covering the old stick and tissue models of my youth. Glad I dont know now. Kinda scary.

If you are considering using a chemical with which you are unfamiliar I suggest you viait your local fire station and ask to see their hazardouis materials handbook. Look up the chemical and you will get a good idea of what precautions and protections you should use when dealing with that material. You may be surprised. When I was into flying models back around the Korean War era we would wrap rags around part of the wings and soak them in titaniuim tetrachloride. "Tillie" as we called it emits lots of white vapor when exposed to air. Makes great smoke trails when stunting the models. We were literally washing our hands in the stuff. I once looked the stuff up at the fire department and found that the warning to firemen who may discover some when entering a building was to immedeiately evacuate the area and call for the Hazmat truck. Only that crew fully protected in their special suits (totall enclosure) could deal with it. Yes, we were playing with the stuff bare handed. MEK, like a lot of chemicals, is dangerous. MEK Peroxide is a hardner for liquid polyester resin (for making fiberglass stiff). I learned right away to be careful with it since the odor made me instantly nauseus.

MESSENGER, SCHMESSENGER! WHAT KIND OF NONSENSE IS THIS AND ALL THE OTHER FORMS OF ELECTRONIC COMMUNICTION? I should know how to attach files to Messenger? I just learned Text messenging! And when I master, so to speak, Messenger something new will appear. My brain hurts already.

For that much work I would just scratch build each plane and maybe just take a few minor parts from old Revell Zero kits for details. Or just wait for the nether regions to freeze over for that is when we will see a real kit by any of the big manufacturers.

Well, we begin with an excellent modeler to build the prototlype. Then we have it scanned in 3D and have the kit produlced by 3D printing. Prnt up some plans and instructions. Hae some decals produced. Buy some simple boxes (no fancy graphics, in fact no graphics at all.) Thus we have some elementary kits like in the old days of resin kits. Lots of variables here. But if you do the job cheaply enough a $50 contribution will actually help. If you want a finished, quality kit then a donation of 50 dollars will buy you the dirt on the bottom of your shoes. In other words a decent model kit will cost lots and lots of money but the range of possibilities is wide open. Lots of luck to us all.

'Tis true, there is very little time available to many of us for scratch building, alas, much less kit bashing. I apologize if I insulted anyone. Donktcha kinda envy the guys who make the movie props for the Sci-Fi programs? Whata great job.

That is a great idea, but for the wrong plane. I propose doing the same for the Japanese Val and the Kate. Waddyathink, gentlemen of the society of the admirers of Japanese Aeroplanes of WW2? P.S. How do you get spell check to work in this new format?

I wondered what it was so I clicked on the link. Its a science fiction item. So why buy one? Why even await its appearance on the market? It is not a scale model and never can be because the real one never existed and never will exist. It is entirely fictional. Therefore, why not just get some parts of old plastic kits and kitbash build your own. Who can say you are wrong? The real one never frigging existed in the first place! Also, if you build your own you may, inadvertedly of course, develop some real modeling skills. Some times I just never understand the younger generation.

Correct me if I m wrong, but as I vaguely recall nylon was substituted for the tissue paper for a covering for the kits. It was stronger and lasted much longer. However, in a crash the nylon would hold up but the balsa wood structure under it would break up very nicely so the plane was no longer flyable. Ultra light fiberglass is a possible solution these days for greater strength plus it may hold the shape better. But that requires a motor for power if you want to fly it. Fun is the name of the game. Stephen

Nowadays we use stronger material instead of tissue. Since the 1950's we use silk, or silkspan, to cover the model. Yes it is heavier than tissue but it holds up better. Also we use nylon and other fabrics with epoxy resin. This is stronger than tissue.

Yes, they still fly U-Control with all the various competitions. I loved combat as it was smashing good fun. I started when I was 9 years old. I started building solid models when I was 4 years old, rubber powered at 7 and I joined the AMA when I was 10. The AMA is the Academy of Model Aeronautics, like the IPMS and the NMRA. I was a member of the CULP Chicago U-Line Pilots in those days. By the time the Korean War broke out I had started high school and got into different hobbies. Great fun!!!

Days? How about years!

I went to 1/32 scale because I detest handling itsy bitsy little parts. This is a hobby for pleasure, not self torture. Horay for WNW's advice. "A little dab will do you.'' was an ad slogan for Brylcream and also for using glue to simulate turnbuckles. Its my model I'll build it my way. If, however, someone comes up with scale working turnbuckles, then I'll buy and use them.