Holland 1944

Just this week I found these two photos of a diorama from 1977 or so. I didn't expect it would survive the trip to Ecuador, so I gave it away.

Rufe

 Tamiya's 1/48 scale Rufe, posed on the patio table. As usual, handpainted w/ craftstore acrylics; finger applied dry pastels; electrical tape canopy frame. I made up the camo, although I may have seen something similar.

Pas de Deux

This creature's overall shape kept reminding me of wingsuits. I decided to make the resemblance explicit by adding the flying human. 

The propulsion unit is an LED headlight module from my son-in-law's motorcycle.

Turkey sled

Loosely based on 20th century Russian aero-sleds and ekranoplanes; and influenced by blue-footed boobies and albatrosses. Odd bits: old lavatory faucet cartridge, pulltab seat for the rider, lower side-fins carried by gypsum-board wall anchors. 

 

USS Olympia

Pyro's USS Olympia, 1959 molds. Still a delightful kit, considering its age. Hardware store spraypaint on hull and deck, the rest handpainted with craftstore acrylics. Masts are bamboo skewers, mylar sails scaled and traced from drawing below.  A bit of necklace chain for the anchors.

RAF P-40

 Another shot at Revell's 50+ year-old 1/32 P-40 kit. New decals. Handpainted w/ craftstore acrylics, topped with finger-applied pastels in assorted shades of brown & tan. As with the prior build of this kit, I thought the kit exhausts were too understated, and replaced them with bits of plastic straw. Left off the pitot tube, I would have broken it off sooner or later. Canopy framing made with strips of painted electrical tape.

Queen Mab's Wild Ride

 I saw Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet movie when I was 11. 55 years later I still remember the line, "Drawn with a team of little atomies," from Mercutio's description of Queen Mab and her carriage. This project is loosely based on that speech. Six deceased rhinocerous beetles, turkey bones, mylar sheet, ball-bearing. Model airplane mechanic figure plays Mab, the midwife of fairies and dreams. 

MERCUTIO: ... I see Queen Mab hath been with you.

She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes

In shape no bigger than an agate stone

On the forefinger of an alderman,

Drawn with a team of little atomies

Over men's noses as they lie asleep;

Her wagon spokes made of long spinners' legs,

The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers;

Her traces, of the smallest spider web;

Her collars, of the moonshine's wat'ry beams;

Her whip, of cricket's bone; the lash, of film;

Her wagoner, a small grey-coated gnat,

Not half so big as a round little worm

Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid;

Her chariot is an empty hazelnut,

Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub,

Time out o' mind the fairies' coachmakers.

And in this state she gallops night by night

Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love...

καλλιόπη

This multi-colored jumble of 'helium' balloons looked to both Janet and me as something that should be in a circus, hence the name Calliope. Left-over styrofoam balls from other projects, burned-out blow-dryer motors, a toilet tank float, two turkey breastbones, zipties, string, friendly pilot.

 

Scapular Ornithopter

This little flyer was dubbed Scapular Ornithopter by a commenter on social media. "Scapular" because the assorted winglets look like shoulder blades; and "ornithopter" because the wings look like they might flap like a bird's. BTW, 'ornithopter' comes from the Greek words for 'bird' and 'wing.'

The hemispherical main body comes from a broken blow dryer. The rest is made from typical materials: turkey bones, bamboo skewers, mylar sheets. The motor is from an old 1/35 scale tank model, with some additions. Some curvy wooden bits are leftovers from an old wooden ship kit, The shape of the control surfaces is taken from the wing of a Spitfire, with the wing-root rounded off.

Tractor-trailer

Symbiotic combo of a self-propelled cargo module, and a pilot to which it is easily attached and detached. That is, the front element is a sentient creature, and the back is a machine.