Subject: Re: Scratch-built 1/72 American (Shelton) Gyro Crusader
From: "Submissions for ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "claudio luchina" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 20:14:30 -0700

Hi,
I just wanted to let you know your article went on ARC today.  Thanks again for sending it in.

Steve Bamford
Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: claudio luchina 
  To: [email-masked] 
  Sent: Monday, August 11, 2008 9:23 PM
  Subject: Scratch-built 1/72 American (Shelton) Gyro Crusader

  Gallery Template #05

  "Scratch-built 1/72 American (Shelton) AG-4 Gyro Crusader" 

  by "Gabriel Stern"
  --------------------

        Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 01.jpg here  

     The retro-futuristic look and curvaceous, graceful lines of the Shelton American Gyro Crusader whisper in your ear "streamlining" and "teardrop". 
     To anyone familiar with the Bauhaus school of design it wouldn't be a surprise if this one would have come up from their workshops, but it didn't. It is actually an American design -many of you already knew it- that had the misfortune of seeing the light of day in the post-depression hard years. 
     Nevertheless the only machine attracted a lot of publicity, the attention of the general public and some remarkable personalities, Amelia Earhart among them. 
     During its life the Crusader had some changes in its landing gear and props and also in the variety of images applied mainly to its nose. In some images its surfaces seem to appear clean, though. A good reference is: Crusader: The Story of the Shelton Flying Wing by Alexander Roca. 

  Click on images below to see larger images
        Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 03.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 03.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 04.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 04.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 05.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 05.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 06.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 06.jpg 

     The model required what I would like to politely describe as a somewhat complex engineering, although modelers not specially inclined to good manners could perhaps describe it as a darn freaking nightmare. The building process should be clear in the accompanying images. 
     For the finishing coat a metallic copper tone is described in the references. Stretching my devaluated dollars I acquired a variety of paints and began some testing, and ultimately decanted for Alclad II, by far the best. All the other known or arcane modeling paint brands presented a major or minor "metallic flake" effect perhaps more apt for Christmas decoration. 
    The white registrations presented a problem solved thanks to the intervention of fellow modeler Steve of the Merciless Lands of Arizona. I traded the decals for the recipe of "salsa golf". I know, it's a steal. 
     Besides the interior some external details were needed: a small collections of surface bumps on the engine/boom areas, some (6) mass balances erroneously depicted in all the 3vs I have seen, a Pitot tube, control cables running to horns on the elevator from the aft fuselage and wheels. The props were adapted Hamilton resin ones provided by Khee-Kha Art Productions (Thanks, Lars!). 
     A wide arrange of materials and techniques were used to build this model, including wood, vacuformed opaque and clear styrene, metal shapes and rods, resin parts and pizza. 

          
        Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 02.jpg here  

     This was not an easy one, and remained -incomplete- in the hangar (you know, the clamshell clear plastic food tray you took from the trash can when you assumed -wrongly- that your wife wasn't looking) for a long time. 
     But all the tribulations are behind now that I can contemplate this dazzling metallic scarab gleaming in its unmistakable halo of charm, wrapped in the hazy mist of the glamorous 30's. 
     Or so I like to dream. 
    
  Thanks to Mike Fletcher and Jon Noble for their help.

  Click on images below to see larger images

        Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 07.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 07.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 08.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 08.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 09.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 09.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 10.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 10.jpg 

        Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 11.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 11.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 12.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 12.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 13.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 13.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 14.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 14.jpg 

        Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 15.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 15.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 16.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 16.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 17.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 17.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 18.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 018.jpg 

        Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 19.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 19.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 20.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 20.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 21.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 21.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 22.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 22.jpg 

        Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 23.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 23.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 24.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 24.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 25.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 25.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 26.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 26.jpg 

        Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 27.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 27.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 28.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 28.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 29.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 29.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 30.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 30.jpg 

        Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 31.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 31.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 32.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 32.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 33.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 33.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 34.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 34.jpg 

        Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 35.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 35.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 36.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 36.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 37.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 37.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 38.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 38.jpg 

  Photos and text © by "Gabriel Stern"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------