1/39 Monogram 'Classic' Wright Flyer

Gallery Article by Grant Matthews on Dec 17 2003

 100th Anniversary of controlled powered flight Dec 17 1903 

 

Each new country I go to, I try and pick up a model with some local or national relevance. In November 1999 I found myself in Phoenix, Arizona where I spotted this kit. It seemed to fit all the criteria and was a real must have. Unfortunately, when I got back to the hotel room and opened the box I was a little disappointed. Every part had deep, clear and crisply molded release pin marks. On just the upper surface of the lower wing alone there were 23! So it languished in my stash until I came across ARC and the tool'n'tips section with advice to fix all those marks. As it was 2003 the model just had to be built.

 

Click on images below to see larger images

Despite the 'chunky' appearance of the wooden members and the unrealistic seating points for the struts, I felt that fixing that lot was a little beyond me and that I would be very happy with just getting rid of all this release pin marks. I quite enjoy rigging bi-planes and in my youth had always used black thread. This time I thought I would try fishing line as a more realistic alternative and I think it has turned out fine. It was certainly a lot easier to work with than I was expecting. Luckily I had just finished an extra large Toblerone when it was time to start rigging and the triangular box proved an ideal jig for holding the wings.

I would really liked to have built a dune base for the model, including all the footprints around the aircraft at the start of the take-off ramp, but the space required was just so big I had no where to put it. So instead of a colour photo of 'the' photo here are some shots of the finished article in my newly acquired display case.

Here's to the next Century of Flight, and a Merry Christmas to all at ARC.

Grant Matthews

Click on images below to see larger images

 

      

Photos and text © by Grant Matthews