Global Scale Modeller

Fellow Modelers,

Below are construction and finished photos of Aerobase’s 1/72 scale Ryan NYP airplane christened “Spirit of St. Louis”, and used by Charles Lindberg in his solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. I just finished this yesterday. This is a bend-and-fold kit made out of polished brass photo-etched parts with a few white metal castings (and a cardboard cutting board!) . A small amount of Superglue was used to hold some of the connections together. The design and fit of the photo-etched parts was outstanding. Photo-etched brass is softer than stainless steel, so a gentle touch was required during assembly to prevent the parts from distorting. The low point of the kit was the white metal castings which had mold lines, poor detail and a rough finish. I spent a fair amount of time sanding and polishing the white metal parts to get very shiny, smooth finish. As you can see the kit builds into a really beautiful and accurate display. The wingspan is approximately 7.75” and the fuselage length about 5”. I hope you enjoy the photos.
Phillip1

WOW!! That is an impressive job!!

Beautifully done.
Do you use a lot of Ca or is it all held together with foldable tabs ?

RangerNeil/digger303-Thank you for the compliments and enthusiasm!

RangerNeil-The brilliance of these Aerobase kits is that they look very intricate, complicated and difficult to build, but they are easier than you think. This kit only had 43 total parts. It was not a difficult kit to build but having some experience using photo-etch is highly recommended.

digger303-All of the photo-etched part connections are by slots and tabs. A tiny dot of Superglue (CA) was applied with a needle head in certain locations where the fit was not tight. The manufacturer even gives suggestions of where the Superglue should be applied (marked by blue triangles on the instruction sheets).

Phillip1

Interesting little kit that you did a great job on

I saw a 1/16 BF109 today at the hobby shop that was metal with no skin over it, kind of like the giant version of yours.
Interesting models

cor-Thanks for the kind words! I have also seen the 1/16 BF-109 you mentioned. It is a highly sophisticated kit and includes an electric motor to spin the prop, LED lights for the wings and tail, retractable landing gear and moveable flaps/ailerons. It is very detailed and expensive (around $500.00 US dollars)! Surprisingly I have read two different negative build reviews on the BF-109.

Phillip1

That looks great! I am in awe of the kit and how you put that together.

runnerUA-Thanks very much for the kind words welcome to the forum!

Phillip1

Sweet! Makes me want to go watch the old movie starring Jimmy Stewart again...

DRUMS01-Thanks!

Phillip1