1/200 Scale

Among my hobbies I collect, are 1/1250 scale waterline model ships and 1/200 scale model airplanes. Both types I have collected for many years; and I have also over the years had to sell many of them for one reason or another. Once to help purchase a new car for my wife when her old Chevy was about to give up the ghost, I sold almost my entire collection of Wiking 1/200 airplanes. These were World War 2 German spotter models and were made by the Wiking Company GmbH during the war. My collection came from Czechoslovakia a few models at a time; and were used by the Germans as ID models. We used the 1/72 scale hard rubber black ID models that you see hanging from the celling in the pilots ready room on board any aircraft carrier in most World War 2 movies.

The Wiking Company GmbH, in Germany, no longer makes any of these models choosing instead to concentrate on making 'HO' scale model cars and trucks etc. So over the years these have become highly collectable.

In recent years, the Herpa company GmbH also in Germany and also who makes 'HO' scale models branched out into making models of airliners. They started with models in 1/500 scale. Soon they were expanding to 1/400 and then 1/200 and 1/600 scale. Today many companies make airline models in 1/200 scale and they enjoy a growing number of collectors, among them myself. That said, I have slowly started to collect some of these models. Now made mostly of metal, the models are very nice in detail. Not as highly detailed as what Herpa calls their Premium Models; for those models are made of composite materials where one can see inside the cockpit and many have spring loaded undercarriages, clear red and white lights etc. The Lower priced models are none the less still nicely made. So here is a picture or two of one of the models now in my collection.

After my military discharge, I went to work for Delta Airlines for a short while as a 'Cabin Service' agent; meaning we cleaned the inside of the aircraft after each flight. Not always the nicest job, but 'hey!' someone had to do it. At the time, my favorite airplane in Delta's fleet was the Convair 440, twin propellor engined airliner. I was too late to purchase the Delta Model made by Herpa as they have all been sold out and discontinued. However; I was able to get a Lufthansa marked 440 and have added to my slowly growing collection.

If you are interested in starting your own collection, The Airplane Shop: http://www.airplaneshop.com/index.html carries a good collection of Herpa Models and does mail order. You may also want to visit herpa at http://herpa.de/ As I mentioned earlier, there are a number of manufacturers now making models in this scale and one can 'Google' to find many other sources.

One last thing, If anyone happens to have a Delta Convair 440 and wants to trade it or sell it, let me know please.

St. Basil's Cathedral, Russia

Canon Paper Craft has done it again! Produced a fine model of the famous St. Basil's Cathedral located in Red Square Moscow, Russia. To boot, the model is a free download from Canon's Web site. See my links for the webs address.

Building is straight forward with very clear diagrams. Perhaps the trickiest part is making the colorful dome tops. These domes make St. Basil's such an attraction. Once you realize that each dome must take on an onion shape while gluing each segment to each other, the domes go together quite well. As for the rest of the model, each part is marked clearly on how it is to be folded and glued. Canon does an excellent job designing the instructions to be very clear and easy to follow.

It took me the entire week to build the model, working approximately two to four hours each day. As with any card model, the more accurate you cut each part, the better the fit. I always dry fit any part before gluing to avoid any problem later on in the assembly.

One other thing I do is copy most of the pages at the local copy center in black and white. I do not like the idea of using the glue tabs on the base of the towers I remove these and using parts of the copied sheets I glue to heavy card stock, I cut out the location base so that it fits the tower and glue this part to the base of the model where it is to go and then glue the tower to the model. This makes the tower stable and I believe enhances the looks.

To make it a little better to understand, lets use a cylinder tower for example. Using the piece paper I copied I cutout the tower base circle and glue this to a piece heavy card stock. Then I cut out the circle fitting it into the assembled tower. Once I am satisfied with the fit, I glue the circle unto the place where it is supposed to go on the base part and when dried, I glue the cylinder tower over it.

My model was printed on 68lb card stock and printed using a Kodak printer. I like the printer because it uses a dye ink rather then a water soluble ink as most printers do. For the base, I deviated from Canon's base by mounting the floor plan on a piece of Core Board; it makes for a stronger base to build upon.

A Simple Paper Model

People will often ask me when I mention that I build models from paper or card stock, "You mean like paper dolls?" No, I answer I build 3d volumetric models. So I go on to explain the different types.

Then I'm often asked if I cut out the models with scissors; so I explain that I use a straight edge and modeling knife like an Exacto; cut, fold, shape and glue.

For this reason, I present here a simple model that took no longer then six hours from start to finish. I cut out each piece before assembly to give you the idea of how simple it is to build.

I added a few personal touches to help improve the model. I added a core board base. Circles are laminated to thicker stock to make them more rigid. Colored the edges with a black tip marker.

As to what it is I cannot tell you. It's to small to be a pencil holder. Perhaps it was meant to hold coins as the Totem Head can be removed. It again is a model included in the ABC Magazine that I have mentioned before in this Blog.

A Ship in a Bottle that Isn't

Yes, it is the ship in a bottle that isn't. Here's the story...ABC Magazine, which is published in Czechoslovakia, for young adults always has a least two paper models in every issue. This model was in a issue from several years back. It was to be assembled and inserted into a bottle. The magazine is written in the Czech language and although there are illustrations it is often not clear how some items are intended to work. Such is the case of this little ship.

The instructions do tell you how to make the funnel and the mast on a hinge and where to place the tread so that once inside the bottle, a pull on the thread will allow the mast and funnel to seat in place. What I did not know and still do not know is what goes inside to hold the ship in place and how to tie off the ends so that it appears to be complete inside the bottle. This part of the assembly may have been a little easier then the normal for a ship in a bottle; as this model is larger then most. Measuring about 4 inches in length and about an inch. or so wide, it would not fit into a normal small mouth opening bottle thus requiring a bottle with a larger mouth. Hard to find a glass bottle that size in this plastic world we live in.

As a result, I chose to make this little tug as a stand along static model, glueing the mast and funnel into place nice and solid. A little iota of cotton for smoke and we have a cute little ship model for our curio cabinet.

Cathedrale Notre-Dame De Paris

A few years back, Canon Paper-Craft- http://cp.c-ij.com/en/ -produced a paper model of the Cathedrale Notre-Dame. The model is very well designed and is a free download to booth. This model is now rests in a curio cabinet of a neighbor.

I thought I would share a few pictures of the model with readers. Building the Notre-Dame is straight forward in terms of following the instructions provide with the model. I printed the model on standard card stock available almost everywhere. It was printed on an Epson printer. Epson printers offer waterproof ink and does not lend itself to marks as easy as most ink jet inks do. The only change I made to the model was to double the braces that surround the nave area.

So for your enjoyment.

Minox "THE SPY CAMERA" Extraordinaire!

Of the many cameras I have owned over the years of my life, the Minox has been one of my favorites. These cameras carry the distinct label of "Spy Camera". Minox cameras were never designed as such and except for one or two rare occasions never used by any Secret Agency.

The term "Spy Camera" is due in most parts to Hollywood movies, It has been used in several movies most recently in the Movie "Shinning Through" with Michael Douglas and Melanie Griffith. Other such movies like James Bond and a few World War 2 era films are mostly responsible for attaching the term "Spy Camera" to the Minox.

Without going into a great amount of detail about how the Minox works and all the technical details, let me say it is suffice to say the Minox uses a strip of photographic film inside a cartridge and yields several negative images measuring 8 mm x 11 mm per image. Today one can still purchase several different models of these cameras on Ebay although finding film and processing is getting harder to obtain. I always carry my Minox with me daily even yet today.

While thinning out a vast amount of photo CD's in my collection, I came across some Minox pictures that were transfered to CD by the processing lab a few years back. I came across three pictures that I thought I would share with you. The tractor, I understand dates back to the 1920's and the photos were taken in the late afternoon with my Minox model ECX. When one considers the size of the original negative 8 mm x 11 mm, the pictures are pretty good.

Liberty Ship "John w. Brown"

During the summer of 2003, the Liberty Ship "John W. Brown" came up the Detroit River for a fundraising cruise to help pay for new rivets she badly needed. A dry dock in Toledo, Ohio is still the only dock that makes rivets and could handle a ship her size. So she sailed up the St. Lawrence Seaway and had over a thousand new rivets installed. To help pay for this, she made a trip up the Detroit River for a one day cruise out into Lake Ste. Claire and return to Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

My wife and I purchased tickets and we became part of that historic cruise. It was a beautiful July Saturday with temperatures in the low 80's, mostly sunny with calm waters. As luck would have it, an Air Show was happening at Selfridge ANG Base that same day. It truly turned out to be one of many high lights of our Golden years of retirement. We had box lunches, below decks in one of the forward cargo holds while listening to music of the era. On deck, a band dressed in uniform played and a group of dancers also in costume danced the Jitterbug and various swing dances. Later an actor who is part of the ships company dressed as General Patton gave Patton's famous speech.

Before long, we were under siege by aircraft from the Air Show. Passes were made by a Spitfire, an Avenger, a Swordfish, a B-25 Mitchell Bomber and a Japanese Zero fighter. The guns on deck were maned by members of the Navy Guard which sailed on every Liberty Ship during the War. These guards are also part of the ships company and in uniform. The guns have been rigged to simulate via electric circuitry the flash and noise of the guns, mounted in an open gun tubs protected by thick pads of cork.

When we reached the turn around point, a prayer was said and a wreath tossed overboard to honor those lives that were lost during the war from the United States and Canada. When the ship returned to Windsor, visitors were allowed on board the next day, Sunday, before she left to return to her home port in Baltimore, Maryland.

Here are a few pictures of the "John W. Brown" taken by me as she arrived in Detroit on the Friday afternoon before.