Shot Down

Craig · 29 June 2005, 11:37 AM

My year-and-three-quarters old niece shot down two of the 40+ models I have hanging above my desk. Well, OK - she grabbed the first as I held her to see them, it camr loose and smacked into the second. Anyway, the first one, an Aurora 1/48 Halberstadt CL.II, is reparable. The other, an AeroClub FE2b, predictably shattered into a thousand struts. Kinda funny how it was reduced to a gondola and a top wing and not much else.

PeterL · 29 June 2005, 12:09 PM

I'd be interested to know how many others here hang models from the ceiling. It's not something I've done for a very long time. Even so, at least ten years ago now, a three year old succeeded in gaining entry to my display case and reducing my entire collection to scrap. Not a happy bunny that day, but cheered up when it dawned on me I had the opportunity to build them all again.

John Masters · 29 June 2005, 12:47 PM

here i am panicking about shelf space and I'd forgotten my childhood! Of course, the dogfight must go on! 72nd scale doesn't take up that much room. Thanks for the reminder.

From the Factory design center,
John

Barker · 29 June 2005, 01:11 PM

<salute>

England Expects Every Man To Do Her Doody.

Bought my first house.
Had built a lovely galleon about 15 years back.
Moved and made trips everywhere.
Survived the trip round the horn.
Full rigged, full sail. Berthed on a fine plank O clear birch, varni'.

Windy early summer's day and...

She took a trip orf the top shelf, bound for history!

Nelson!
Avert thine eyes!

(it was time for her to go - there was poetry that day, but is banned from this august pr'ceedin')

Shame about the Fee, Craig.
Drat and also, F***, to that.
ouch.
yikes.

Lost a Blue Max Barker early 6313 last year to ack-ack.
Biplane to monoplane in an instant. Brass struts flew as did one's own spirit.

Hun barstids..

buzz1941 · 29 June 2005, 02:09 PM

Here we go, G-8's battle SPAD over my desk at work. Jeez, our ceiling is a mess. Soon to be joined by a black Fokker.

I had to hang dozens of models in my other "career" as an aerospace museum historian/exhibitry designer, and I learned a few things:

# Never hang anything valuable or that can't be fixed or that can't be cleaned.

# Don't hang anything too small.

# Fishing-tackle shops are your best resource for clips and hooks and swivels and 20-pound-test line.

# Find the balancing point on your model, drill a small hole in the fuselage at that point and affix a piece of aluminum tub in the hole, extending about a quarter-inch into the model and flush with the surface. When the model is done, the only thing that shows should be the tiny hole on the surface. Insert those bent-wire loops that glass Xmas tree balls use, and clip the line to that. If you want the wire loop gone in the future, just nip it off and let the wire ends fall inside the model.

Tom Oxley · 29 June 2005, 02:19 PM

Oooh, and I even recognize GI Joe there with the AA guns.

Wonder if those "rare earth magnets" would work for that. Instead of drilling holes, place a magnet inside the fuselage and put a metal weight on the wire or string. Those new magnets are very strong. We are using them in the bottom of the fuselage or just over the lower wing to mount the model to a telescoping magnetic tool finder as an alternative model stand for our WW1 miniature war gaming. The model is on there so strong, you can lift the weight of the base and tool, and have to tip the model slightly to break the connection. The small magnets (about the size of a small watch battery) will hold over 2 pounds.

Tom

LtPaxton · 29 June 2005, 11:53 PM

Hehehe, I have lost hundreds of models. Thousands!

Some of the first ones I made failed miserably in my airworthiness tests as a kid. Others became scenery and excellent cover in my Green Vs Grey plastic soldier wars.

Since then most lie forgotten in boxes that have been moved from houde to house and rattle with the sound of loose undercattiage struts.