The History of scale aircraft modelling-Part 1

[wonwinglo]

When we open our latest model kit and check over the detail and finesse we expect today,it is important to remember how scale models first started,in fact scale aeromodelling has been going on for as long as flight itself,both Leonardo Da Vinci and the Wright Brothers built small scale models of their inventions to show proudly show sponsors and those who were interested what their inventions looked like.

But several important landmarks in history have escalated not only the full size flying machine but its tiny model counterpart,and it the latter that we are going to discuss here in detail,as the machine went to war and thousands of aircraft were built for the first world war alone interest was created by those air minded people who looked skyward,so much so that boys comics and magazines of the day had free card cut out models to pull out and build up,out came the old Seccotine adhesive,a pair of mums kitchen scissors and so young ( and not so young!) boys would build their first model aeroplane,some of these early models were also made from reed cane curved under a candle flame and then covered with oiled silk,one of the people responsible for designing and producing these card models was a genius by the name of Wallis Rigby,in his time he produced many thousands of card models and also used them as commercial selling aids to promote many different products,people would send in tokens cut out from the product,send them in to obtain these small models,and so was born the first so called 'Premiums' these are incentives used in industry to promote products.

As aeroplanes became an household name and pilots like Louis Bleriot flew across the English channel,and Alcock & Brown conquered the Atlantic people just wanted to build small replicas of these machines and so the small scale model industry was well and truly born,it was not however until Charles Lindbergh flew the Atlantic single handed that a mass market was created literally overnight,every school boy and inventor plus the public at large were intrigued by this new found method of transport which could carry people thousands of miles across water ! the spark was well and truly lit and has never died since.Companies all over America & France produced scores of different models of the 'Spirit of St.Louis' Lindbergh's well known Ryan N-Y-P monoplane,models of this machine were virtually made from every conceivable type of material,wood,tin,metal, paper mache and the well established cardboard we have spoken about here !

Next time I will deal with the pulp magazine era that swept America,and with it brought yet another way of promoting the small scale model and the interest that it created,see you soon.

[wonwinglo]

Typical card cut out model that would be supplied with boys comics & magazines of the day,in 1930 the first world war battles of the skies were still very much in the minds of the people,the frail biplanes and the heroes did a lot to create interest,and above all for people to start making models of them.

[wonwinglo]

The impact that early flying had on the public was immense,the Daily Mail gave large sums of money for aerial meetings like this,flying was here to stay and young boys who would look in wonder as people like Claude Graham White toured the country landing on local commons,in America Samual Cody was also on tour with his wood & fabric biplane,likewise in France there was much development,people wanted to make models of these machines and gradually clubs were formed under organisations such as the Royal Aero club who promoted the sport.The hobby of building scale model aeroplanes worked alongside that of the progress of aviation itself and has refined itself into what we accept today.

[wonwinglo]

The history of scale aircraft modelling-Part 2,The pulp magazine years.



With the first world war just twelve years gone and the advances in aeroplane construction reaching new levels,the thirties were to become the golden years of flight,all over the world new manufacturers were springing up to produce that elusive perfect airplane,in America flying was reaching fever pitch with ordinary people learning to fly on the Taylor (later to become the famous Piper Cub) Cub,during the thirties some names were to be with us for a long time to come,Lloyd Stearman,Beech,Waco,Porterfield and Fairchild designed and built some of the finest sporting and aerobatic machines of their day.The publishing giants realised the potential and brought out an odd mix of what were termed 'Pulp magazines' produced on self destroying cheap acid based paper these mags have become collectors pieces in themselves,the front part of the magazine would feature both real life and fictional stories written by such stalwarts as Arch Whitehouse,world war one aces battling it out in the skies,superb drawings of machine guns ripping through fabric of early biplanes and triplanes !!,then there was a section typically called 'On the lightplane tarmac' featuring such aircraft as the Aeronca C.3 Flying bathtub with its tiny JAP.99 engine,a section called 'I learned about flying from that' a sort of period primer in aeronautical chance taking,but it was the rear of the mag that held treasures,articles and above all plans of small scale models made from balsa wood,the new wonder material that was both light and strong which grew at an alarming rate in the swamps of Ecuador,these plans coupled with clubs such as the well known 'Flying Aces' club sparked enthusiasm beyond all belief as modellers throughout America reached for their building boards and sharpened up their craft knives,the infectious way that the plans were laid out and the succinct instructions that came with them were here to stay.

A natural progression was to be the advent of many manufacturers producing and selling kits of parts to make up models,the back cover held advertisements for cloud soaring Mr Mulligan racers and balsa solids attractively packed in small brown card boxes,propellers made from tin,wheel pants made from deadly lead and tiny turned wooden wheels and cowlings,a whole new industry was created around a demand never before realised,as the nation became air minded the thirst for new models increased by the week.Back in England things were also about to change and as Uncle Sam actively recruited for its air force and navy elements for darkening skies,second hand copies of the pulp mags such as 'Flying Aces' & 'Model Airplane News' started to emerge on the market stalls of England,and this is where another story has to be told,the next installment will deal with the way that scale aircraft modelling was starting to emerge in a very big way indeed and how one man in particular was about to start building an empire which included a dedicated following of scale model builders.

Part 3 to follow soon !

[wonwinglo]

The history of scale aircraft modelling-Part 3-The UK scene.

Whilst scale model builders yearned for stocks of difficult to obtain balsa wood in the UK ( It had not yet made it in any quantity yet over the Atlantic in any quantity ), and drooled over scale plans and advertisements for Cleveland aircraft kits in the American pulps,one man in particular was taking note of what was going on,his name was J.J.Halliday and he was busy setting up a business who had a name that was to go into the model making history books,originally marketed under the name 'Givejoy' the company was more well known as the prestigious 'Skybirds' models,within a few months in the nineteen thirties the Skybird league had been set up,this consisted of model clubs scattered the whole length of the country and had its mouthpiece in the form of a several paged newsletter at the rear of the 'Aeromodeller' magazine.Before we go on it is important to mention someone else here who was deeply involved with the Skybirds empire,his name was James.Hays.Stevens a clever young draughtsman who was producing the drawings for Skybirds in his spare time,his talents were recorded in the pages of the period 'Air Stories' magazine,yes another pulp mag with an aeromodelling section at the back like its American counterparts,but this time UK orientated,every month an aircraft type was covered as a three view 1=72 nd scale drawing together with building instructions,these were the same drawings used in the Skybirds kits and were works of art in themselves.

The thing about Skybirds kits was that they were not just crude blanks of wood thrown into a box,but beautifully sanded spindled pieces that were hand strung into flat boxes together with tin propellers,wooden wheels and proper struts with pre-drilled holes into the wood patterns,they set standards in wooden kits that have never been repeated to this day,they could even be purchased by those who really needed them built built up.Sadly as war loomed over Europe Skybirds were in decline and cheaper inferior quality kits with wooden blanks started to appear to fulfill the needs of the enthusiast,that enthusiast model builder was to play an important part in the few years ahead.Meanwhile a new owner took over the Aeromodeller magazine and wanted to start charging the Skybirds league for its pages which were previously a gift to the aeromodelling youth of the country,new management swept clean and wanted money,that money was not available and despite heated discussions no soloution was found,the Skybirds empire sadly died leaving the market wide open.

Part 4 will cover the need for people to recognise aeroplanes in wartime,friend or foe as they said,before you opened fire you needed to know whether it really was a Junkers Ju.88 and not a Blenheim ! and this was where scale models played a big part,see you soon for a bit more nostalgia !

[wonwinglo]

The history of scale aircraft modelling-Part 4-shooting down the right aircraft !



The lead up to the war years promoted scale aircraft modelling to new heights,every week in the 'Flight' & 'Aeroplane' magazines a new aircraft would be described,usually very little was known of some of these machines and a hastily prepared silhouette was shown,the Luftwaffe in particular as we know were gearing up their fleets of aircraft to frightening levels,Dornier's,Junkers 88's and Heinkels were being stockpiled ready for action,the layman could hardly tell which aircraft was which ? and to this end Penguin books published a small recognition handbook,which sold in its thousands,the problem was that when an enemy aircraft approached the coast and with the sheer number of British aircraft training by day they quickly infiltrated and got to their target at very low level,usually munitions factories and other important sites were targeted and it was vital to track these aircraft and if possible shoot them down with AA fire as they dodged between the balloons strategically strung around the country.

The government acted quickly to establish factory roof spotters,these spotters would man the roof and hopefully positively identify oncoming aircraft and report them together with the ROC ( Royal Observer Corps ) usually they were some of the factory workers themselves and their skills were dependent on how good they were at recognising quickly an aircraft type to determine whether it was one of ours or not ! many mistakes had been made with the Junkers Ju.88 and the Bristol Blenheim,and oddly enough the Focke Wulf 190 and the Hawker Typhoon at certain critical angles.Above all the building of wooden aircraft models was actively encouraged and people would gather around Salamander heaters in squadrons and units carving away at what were termed 'Solid' models,these models took many forms,they could be built from commercial kits which supposedly were only available to members of the forces,also plans were published in magazines from which to build them,accessories such as tin propellers,cast lead cowlings,pot wheels were also available in model supply stores.The Air Ministry also commissioned companies such as 'Skyleader' and pattern making shops and furniture manufacturers to make black painted recognition models ( like the one above from my collection of a Fairey Albacore biplane ) all these were basic accurate shapes of the aircraft ( or ship for that matter,made by Bassette Lowke ) that could be hung from the roof nissan huts together with silouette recognition charts pinned to the walls alongside the inevitable pin-ups ! all of this frenetic activity was serious stuff and the importance of these models which were the tools,were to play an important part for those involved in identifying aircraft not only quickly but with great accuracy.One magazine/paper that appeared was to be the 'Aeroplane Spotter' a newspaper like publication which kept people up to date with what was likely to be seen in our skies,it was full of silhouettes,drawings and dimensions to keep everyone up to date.

As the war years thankfully draw to a close the seeds had been sown for many people as they became interested in looking at aircraft as an hobby,this is where the aircraft spotters of today first originated,it is all part of our social history.

Part 5 will deal with the immediate post war period and how scale modelling developed in peacetime,hope that you are enjoying these stories about our hobby and how it gradually developed through circumstance.

[wonwinglo]

The history of scale aircraft modelling-Part 5-The post war period

Scale models had done a good job of getting more people interested in modelling,and also fulfilled a very useful purpose in making the identifying of aeroplanes & ships in a fun way during the war torn years of Europe,as the Lancasters,B-17 Flying Fortress & Liberators were smelted down into making peacetime saucepans,people enjoyed their new found freedom.

The wooden solids were by now well established although understandably sales did go into decline as people just wanted to forget the trauma of war and the machines that went with it,many companies went into decline including Skybirds which struggled on until 1945,but around this period a new type of model kit was starting to emerge,the roots of which would change scale modelling forever,Frog ( Stands for flying,rise off ground ) introduced some de-luxe and expensive kits of parts made from a form of celluloid,these were to be the breakthrough into what we now know today as plastic kits,but the celluloid mouldings had many drawbacks one of which they used to warp very bady,for this reason not many survive to this day and I d not have a single example in my collection ! the models were difficult to assemble especially on the thin edges of the celluloid which had to be stuck with a special adhesive.

The ordinary solid kits plodded on but in all fairness never changed much or developed into anything more sophisticated than the crude chunks of timber,in fact in some ways they went downhill and the quality declined and varied from one manufacturer to another.Veron had a range called 'Truescale' which included the early jets such as Supermarine Swift,Supermarine Attacker,Mig 15,F-86 Sabre,De Havilland Comet airliner etc these included small plastic wheels and a supply of thin ply for the undercarriage doors,nice clear cockpit mouldings as well.Down in Wickford in Essex the long established Keil Kraft company were making a similar product line to supplement their famous flying model kits.

It was to be America where the first breakthrough was to happen,a company called Monogram,started to add small plastic mouldings to their wooden model kits,I have an example of a Mig 15 which has a plastic nose button,undercarriage legs and other tricky to make fittings,a sort of combo kit,it also featured a nicely made spindled fuselage but again chunks of badly sawn wood for the basis to make the wings,finesse in one respect but back to the dinosaur in another,it was to be another 5 years before something happened that changed things forever,so here meanwhile are two questions ? What was the very first injection moulded plastic kit ever to be made in the UK ? and which model was to be the very first in a range that still exists today ? if you happen to have either of these then they are worth a lot of money.

[Guest]

Airfix's first model ever was a Ferguson tractor! (why??)I had one, moulded in grey plastic, with rubber tyres, and remember the whole engine cover which tilted forward "just like the real thing"

[wonwinglo]

Airfix's first model ever was a Ferguson tractor! (why??)I had one' date=' moulded in grey plastic, with rubber tyres, and remember the whole engine cover which tilted forward "just like the real thing"[/quote']*** If you still have that tactor she is worth a lot of money,more about this product and how it originated in the next installment.

[Guest]

I'm not well up on tractors but I think the fergie was a model TEA.(we used them as aircraft tugs, easy to get them wheel spinning with a fully bombed up Canberra in tow on a wet tarmac)

The first plastic aircraft I can remember was the Linderg F-94 Starfire, about 8 pieces plus the stand, no u/c, raised markings and two little balls moulded for the pilots heads and about 1/48 scale.

[wonwinglo]

The Lindbergh Starfire was an early model kit but not the first,dont forget we are talking about the first to appear in the UK I am not sure about Australia ? both Lindbergh,Hawk etc started to infiltrate the model distributors world wide in the fifties with some good models made from tough plastics,some of which was difficult to glue with conventional adhesives at that time.

By the way the Lindbergh F-94 kit was revamped later to include undercarriage,co-incidently this kit was made from the original Lincoln International moulding,but that is yet another story that we will cover some other time !

[Guest]

Australia!! What are you implying. Australia is the island 1200 mile off the coast of my fair land. As a country, Australia only has one geographical disadvantage - it's above sea level!

[wonwinglo]

Australia!! What are you implying. Australia is the island 1200 mile off the coast of my fair land. As a country' date=' Australia only has one geographical disadvantage - it's above sea level![/quote']*** Sorry Kiwi,what made me say Australia ? you live in a beautiful part of the world,a friend has just returned fron a trip to New Zealand visiting air museums.

[wonwinglo]

The history of scale aircraft modelling-Part 6-A major breakthrough.



During the nineteen fifties a company called 'Kleeware' were producing domestic items plus a few toys in the United Kingdom,they had somehow obtained the moulds for a model of the Bell 47G skeletal boomed helicopter from America and produced it for the UK market,this appeared long before Airfix had even thought of marketing kits and was to make history as the very first injection moulded plastic kit to appear in the UK.(Note: the only other mouldings to appear just after the war were celluloid Frog Penguin's but these were entirely different in concept)

The model shown here which is a treasured part of my collection and amazingly survived all of these years despite several repaints ! only the side stretchers are missing which plugged over the undercarriage supports,the rotor head was a piece of steel and the whole thing came packaged in a rather spartan looking white & blue card box,despite its apparent crudeness it can lay claim to being a pioneer and must be looked at in the light of the day that it was made.

The Aeromodeller reported it straight away giving instructions on how to convert it to take two Jetex 50 motors lashed to a new set of rotors ! sheer sacrilage in my opinion and I wonder how many were destroyed in this way ? as the plastic would not stand up to any hard landings,the idea was no doubt a copy of the twin engined balsa model helicopter model marketed by Wilmot Mansiour who marketed the well known Jetex motors and kits of the day.

In a few years time from this a small injection moulding company based at Haldane Place in London were to change the whole concept of kits with a small model tractor contracted by a large manufacturer for publicity purposes.

Part 7 will deal with this story in detail.

[wonwinglo]

We have the dreaded 'X' again but it should appear soon as the server cycles,for those wishing to view the picture of the Kleeware Bell 47 go here- http://www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/id45.htm