Monocoupe

The last issue of Skyways is mostly dedicated to the Monocoupe and related planes
http://www.ww1aeroinc.org/
Store.html
I was glad to contribute to it with the model you see here
BTW, The Curtiss Robin -also in this blog- was featured too.
Skyways and WW1 AERO are fine publications where many times I find inspiration (and good information!) for my models.

A deceiving itsy-bitsy teeny weenie:

A surprisingly lively little thing this Monocoupe; the beast in the beauty you may say.

With a long lifespan and a design that evolved into many, equally-successful sub-types, the Monocoupe became one of the many iconic shapes of the Golden Age of aviation.

Many a machine of this type won or placed high in a remarkable number of races and was used by big names of aeronautics as well as by the general public.

There is plenty of material out there for you to satiate your appetite for knowledge, but I’ll recommend Skyways magazine of April 2012, that features a great article and...this very model.

Regarding the modeling side of it, not much to tell you that I haven’t told you before in one of the many articles posted before, but I must say that I keep waiting for a reasonably-priced printer that can print good white images and that is not out of production, a nightmare to handle and maintain, and with available, fairly-priced supplies. We live in hope.

The photos pretty much describe the building process, which consists of training a labor force composed of all those discarded 1/72 figures in the spares’ bin. Once they learn, they are good, don’t require food and their only request is to read poetry once in a while.

I’d like to thank Lars Opland of Khee-Kha Art Products fame, Tom Polapink and Matias Hagen for their help with this project.

Stinson Detroiter

Continuing with the record plane saga, here we have the Stinson SM-1 Detroiter “City of Chicago” that conquered the endurance record after flying 553 hours 41 minutes with in-flight refueling. The four Hunter Bros. manned both, the record and the refueling plane (Big-Ben, another Detroiter).

I guess that by the time they got down, the diameter of the pistons of the venerable Wright J-6 was reduced to that of a pin.

As in other similar record planes, maintenance of the engine was done by the dubious procedure of exiting the plane while flying and stepping on a catwalk that surrounded the plane’s nose. Brave men, those record-seeking people.

Once again, as no kit of the Stinson SM-1 is around, and David* wanted a model for his display, scratchbuilding was the solution. Fair is to say that Khee-Kha Art Products of Alaska sells a beautiful resin J-6, with prop and exhausts included, and that helped quite a bit. Wheels where white metal aftermarket parts form Aeroclub (please, re-open your online store!) and the rest concocted as per accompanying photos.

Of a slightly bigger size than the previously posted Curtiss Robin record plane, they share nevertheless a similar concept shape-wise, so more or less the same building techniques were used, the only variation being the upper and lower fuselage which had a slight curve, and therefore required particular parts. The building sequence therefore won’t need to be explained again, and the images should suffice. In case of doubt, though, you can always take on knitting.

The record-breaker Stinson Detroiter "City of Chicago", stayed aloft for 553 hours 41 minutes with in-flight refueling. The excellent resin engine, exhaust and prop came from Khee-Kha Art Products of Wasilla, Alaska. They produce excellent vac kits of several bush planes, along with accessories and decals for some of them:
http://www.mtaonline.net/~zdk/

*To re-live the thrill of that mile-high engine repair, David put on a batman cloak, climbed to the roof, built a catwalk around the chimney stack and there he prepared omelets, dictated his apocryphal memoirs in loud voice, engaged in solving complex equations using his fingers to count (therefore not using his hands to clutch to the rails) an so forth. It is said that his wife Ann was delighted with all that aeronautic romantic re-enactment and prepared him sandwiches and lemonade that she hoisted to the roof, assuming the role of the refueling crew.