Saturday, December 18, 2021

Victor's Rhino

1:1 scale Rhinocerous Beetle. Mylar wings and prop, hardware store spraypaint, assorted bits from the junkbox:













Saturday, December 11, 2021

Lilienthal's Turkey

Ever since I was a kid, I liked turkey breastbones. They have a prehistoric flying creature look to them, and I would treat them as toys. During my teen years I added wings to one, it was quite attractive hanging from the ceiling. This is a revisit of that now long-gone winged turkey bone, influenced by the gliders built and flown by Otto Lilienthal in the late 19th century. Wings made of mylar and bamboo. Egg-shaped object is an eggshell.











                                        


Wednesday, November 10, 2021

Sukhoi 22 Fitter

Hobbycraft's 1989 initial release of its 1/72 scale Sukhoi 22 Fitter in Libyan service. Handpainted with craftstore acrylics; weathered with Rembrandt pastels. Nose should be green, but I like red noses. Incredibly rudimentary kit for 1989, still results in a pretty object. Pix taken on the patio under the brutal Equatorial sun for a North African ambiance..








Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Sovereign of the Galaxy Display

 I posted this ship earlier. Living in Ecuador, I needed to minimize the risk of this model getting damaged by tremors, while also looking like it's flying. Had a local metalwork artist make the display stand.





Avion Français

 Pleasant little 2-weeker, 1/32 Nieuport 17. Lissome as a mosquito hawk. Handpainted with craftstore acrylics over balsa-plane tissue.






Convertible Sunset

I grew up in a convertible household, and my father gave me his 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 ragtop in 1980. I drove it until we moved to Ecuador in 2017. All those years I had a term, "Convertible Sunset," for pink evenings that flattered the Olds' yellow paintjob. We (Janet and I) still say that when we get a just-so pink sky here in the Andes. Anyway, there was that beguiling Convertible Sunset just now, so I took a shot looking back over part of our house's front terra-cotta roof into the now glassed-over-former-patio family room with its shelves stuffed with books that had to come with us to Ecuador. Other people's houses beyond and to the right, slammed up right against ours. It's graciously particular:
 





Saturday, October 9, 2021

Tiger I in Normandy

 Tamiya's old Tiger kit, this dio dates to the early 1990s.








Gretel

 Mamoli's 1/54 Gretel kit. Built around 2000. 



                                        




Friday, October 8, 2021

Sovereign of the Seas Galaxy



I've enjoyed this Frank Frazetta fantasy riff on an original pirate illustration by Howard Pyle for about 50 years: 


Pyle's work below:


All those years I imagined riffing on that flying galleon, and have now done so. This is the Airfix 1/168 plastic Sovereign of the Seas. Skipped all the cannons, added cloth sails and antigravity gizmos. Most masts, spars, yards, etc. are local (Ecuador) bamboo skewers and toothpicks in assorted sizes. Acrylic craftstore flat paints, except for gold bits. It has to hang, so I ordered a custom display from which to hang it. Will post photo(s) once I have it.










Bits of the antigravity system confected from the junk box: