From the archives (2007)
(early scratch project)
Beauty is sometimes a hidden
quality that only needs just the right eyes to be discovered.
Motive, on the other hand, may remain forever hidden when you think about the rationales that supported the creation of certain flying things.
In any case, how can anybody resist the charm and flair of winged wonders like this one.
The more you enter into the strange lands of esoteric designs, the less information is likely to easily appear. In this particular case there were no plans or three views, just a very few images available upon which you should muster enough building steam to arrive to a safe landing, which, be it said, wasn’t the case with the real plane.
The Arctic Tern was a special-purpose plane created in 1932 to provide a photo platform to survey Alaskan regions, intended to be used by Shell in its explorations.
As far as we know, it was really used to scare the pilot, passengers and bystanders, not to mention the occasional real arctic tern.
Besides the pilot, cruelly semi-exposed to the elements, two enclosed positions were provided on top of the floats, with forward-leaping windscreens a la Fokker F.10s or earlier Boeing 247s.
The plane’s original wing was donated by a Lockheed Sirius, the tail by a Vega, being the engine a Wasp of imprecise denomination.
The design unavoidably evokes the Savoia Marchetti S.55 and specially the Bleriot 125, among various other beautiful flying creatures.
The model at a glance:
Starting from the photos a drawing was sketched as a truly optimistic base for the ensuing construction. The floats came from a Sword Beech Staggerwing, which were slightly broadened with a sandwiched styrene sheet and later re-contoured. The front of the structures on top of the floats came from modified left over pants of the Matchbox Heyford. The engine, prop, main wheels and struts are from Aeroclub. Everything else was pretty much squeezed-out from the Fifth Dimension, including the Sculpey-made “upper” fuselage.
As a bonus track a photo sequence graphically describes the method used to scratch the “tail” wheels.
Motive, on the other hand, may remain forever hidden when you think about the rationales that supported the creation of certain flying things.
In any case, how can anybody resist the charm and flair of winged wonders like this one.
The more you enter into the strange lands of esoteric designs, the less information is likely to easily appear. In this particular case there were no plans or three views, just a very few images available upon which you should muster enough building steam to arrive to a safe landing, which, be it said, wasn’t the case with the real plane.
The Arctic Tern was a special-purpose plane created in 1932 to provide a photo platform to survey Alaskan regions, intended to be used by Shell in its explorations.
As far as we know, it was really used to scare the pilot, passengers and bystanders, not to mention the occasional real arctic tern.
Besides the pilot, cruelly semi-exposed to the elements, two enclosed positions were provided on top of the floats, with forward-leaping windscreens a la Fokker F.10s or earlier Boeing 247s.
The plane’s original wing was donated by a Lockheed Sirius, the tail by a Vega, being the engine a Wasp of imprecise denomination.
The design unavoidably evokes the Savoia Marchetti S.55 and specially the Bleriot 125, among various other beautiful flying creatures.
The model at a glance:
Starting from the photos a drawing was sketched as a truly optimistic base for the ensuing construction. The floats came from a Sword Beech Staggerwing, which were slightly broadened with a sandwiched styrene sheet and later re-contoured. The front of the structures on top of the floats came from modified left over pants of the Matchbox Heyford. The engine, prop, main wheels and struts are from Aeroclub. Everything else was pretty much squeezed-out from the Fifth Dimension, including the Sculpey-made “upper” fuselage.
As a bonus track a photo sequence graphically describes the method used to scratch the “tail” wheels.
I really do enjoy making
these strange creatures of wonder, it feels like touching the unknown.
Thanks again, "Gabriel"; this one is VERY special. Who else would ever build it, after all?
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