1/72 Scratch-built Dormoy Bathtub

From the archive (2009):

What could be more appropriate than to fly in than a bathtub?

Especially if you learn how to scrub yourself while making "s" turns, leaving a trail of bubbly foam.

With a span of 24’ and powered by a Henderson four-cylinder in-line engine it looks like the ultralight take for 1924. It was replicated a number of times more recentlyby aficionados, either because they wanted a simple plane or because they needed a bath.

The main parts (flying surfaces, engine and tub) for this project were made in about three hours on a Saturday. The photos describe the building steps.

Would you believe me if I tell you that the real plane won a trophy?

And so finishes this article, as small as the model it describes. But to make up for it, here are some

Things to Amuse Yourself While Building

Or

The Exciting Life of a Modeler

- Make a puddle of superglue to dip-in the needle used to attach a part. Immediately forget that you did that and, while holding some delicate assembly, put you hand on the puddle.

- Variation of the precedent: use the top of a container to put some glue there. Forget about everything as previously described. Then place the model to rest exactly on that glue spot. Go and have a sandwich. Come back and lift the model, now with the attached container. Cry. Desperately try to figure out a way to make a diorama that will include, for some obscure reason, that container attached to the model. Cry again.

- Finish the most delicate part of a model; let’s say a very tiny scratch-built engine. Contemplate it and congratulate yourself. Make a phone call, probably to a fellow modeler to brag about it; discretely, of course. When the moment arrives to install the engine look up for it in the finished parts’ container. Oh, that’s true, you left it somewhere else to make the call. Start to look in all the other containers. Then on the floor, then, cringing, look under heavy objects. In despair, go and look in the fridge, because you went there at some point too, remember? When midnight arrives and you have already dismantled your workshop looking for that tiny engine, give up and take a seat. Oops, what was that noise underneath your butt?

- Build several models at the same time. Ha!, this time you finished them all. Start to take those pictures. While loading the images on your computer, suddenly notice the strange size of the wheels, propellers and the like on ALL the models. Scramble to detach the parts, swap them, and put them in their correct models; after all, you were struggling to glue them in the first place, remember? They kept falling off again and again. They may even be loose. Well, guess what, now they are firmly glued. As you pull off that prop, all the entrails of the model will come out attached to it.

- Your building space is a mess. You decide to clean up. Ah, satisfaction; finally a clean and neat working surface. Now, where were those parts? Oh, they were there, where now there is nothing! Run desperately to rummage the trash can. AFTER you are done with your rummaging, somebody will tell you that the trash was already taken out. Run again outside your house, only to hear the sound of the garbage truck as it meanders down the street, blending with the crepuscular light that now sets on the scene.