Solid model websites

Roundel · 31 January 2006, 06:36 PM

The long nights of winter lend themselves to building models, but for some reason there are family members who aren't excited by the aroma of plastic cement or don't appreciate the bracing cold air from the window opened for ventilation. In such households, solid wood kits might be an alternative since they can be put together with harmless white glue and painted with just about anything. Aside from the very occasional small time revival, solid kits haven't been produced in large numbers since the 1950's.

However, there are some websites that offer plans, advice, etc., for scratchbuilding solids, among them

http://solidmodelmemories.bravepages.com/

http://www.ualberta.ca/~khorne/solid/solid.html

Taz · 31 January 2006, 06:49 PM

Great site, I built one of the Hobby-Time B-47s in the 1950s. Brings back real old memories. My father helped me paint it. Still have a solid P-40 my father built during WW-II. He flew most of the WW-II fighters and went to war in the P-47D with the 86 FBG.

Taz
Terry Phillips

Wind In The Wires · 2 February 2006, 05:06 AM

Thanks very much Roundel, I'm really enjoying the trip down memory lane. My first airplane kits were "pre-carved" wood models as plastic kits weren't available yet. The skills I got from them stood me in good stead when I began to build stick and tissue flying models which eventually got me a job at Grumman-American.

Lufbery · 2 February 2006, 07:36 AM

One of these days, I'm going to try to carve a solid model. There are some great plans available that have good profile templates at various stations along the fuselage -- including one in a recent Scale Aviation Modeler. That issue had some great plans for an F6F Hellcat that could be used to carve a solid model.

Regards,

Roundel · 15 February 2006, 03:21 PM

Glad you guys found the website interesting.

I've done a bit more research. Solid kits and/or plans occasionally pop up on Ebay. Books and magazines containing solid plans are occasionally found on Ebay as well and some, like the H.H. Gilmore books, can be found on Ebay or www.abebooks.com.

A company called Propeller Models (www.propellermodels.com) currently offers several solid display kits. None so far are of WWI planes. These kits have sanded and dried blocks and planks of mahogany, so the builder has his/her work cut out for him/her figuratively, but not literally. No "carved body, shaped wing." For those, consider some of Blackhawk's control line kits (www.blackhawkmodels.kit).