I recently had the pleasure of visiting the “Fantasy of Flight” museum in Polk City Florida, and I must say it is very, very impressive. This is the largest private collection of war-birds in the world.
All planes are restored to flying condition and once a day, they feature one with a small air show. I was a little dissapointed when I saw a Fi-156 Storch come out. I thought to myself, why not the Mustang, or at least the Hellcat. My frown quickly turned to a smile when I saw what that little plane could do! Absolutely amazing.
Two days later I found this kit in a hobby shop in West Palm Beach,and the following is the results of my purchase. This is the Rev/ Ger 1/32 kit finished just as I remembered it. Pristine clean, and no weathering. All of these birds are very well taken care of. So now when I look at my Storch, I think of the “Fantasy of Flight” museum, and can’t wait to go back. Give it a shot, you won’t be sorry.
P. S.
It beats going to Orlando to see the mouse!![xx(][xx(]
kind a goes with Wolf’s picture of the day’
dragonfly
Very nicely done dragonfly…I would love to own the real thing! Such an amazing little a/c for then and even today. Your model really does it justice!
Joe Youngerman
Beautiful build Dragonfly. Looks great.
Regards, Rick
Nicely done thanks for the peek…
Nice model of the Storch. Kermit Weeks has quite a collection of airplanes. I have not been to Fantasy of Flight, but I did get to visit his museum in Tamiami before Hurricane Andrew’s so unwelcome visit.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
I’ve been to Weeks’ Museum several times; only live about an hour north and west. Always wonder just how many jugs of silver polish have been used to bring out the shine on his Mustangs. You could use them to shave by!
FYI: The Polk County Mustang car club and Weeks museum are having a joint show in April. See below web site for more data
http://www.imperialmustangs.org/
Dick McC
Neat place. I recently moved from the Tampa Bay area and I sorley miss hoping in the car to spend the day at fantasy of flight. I was there back in September and they flew the p-40 for the 2:00 demo - way cool!
Great build BTW!
Ray
I visited Fantasy of Flight twice in the year that I lived in Tampa. I was lucky enough to see Kermit fly the P-51C and the Storch on my visits. It’s been a year and a half since I moved from Tampa - I think I smell a roadtrip in the works!
Steve
As stated above, Absolutely amazing private collection. I was down there about a year ago, and they were in the process of building the new restoration hanger across the field. When you walk in to the lobby you are instantly transported back to the 40’s and just know that this museum is gonna be good. If anybody’s thinking of going, make sure you do the back lot tour, if they’re still running it, that is truley worth the price of admission.
When I was there I had the same thoughts about the Storch, but just as you, loved it after a little history lesson and the demonstration flight. Don’t know if it’s still there, but I also took a ride in a 5 seater bi-plane, white scarf goggles and all. Truly amazing. Gotta say, I would make the trip to my new Mecca in a heartbeat once the weather gets better up here. I think this time I’ll get some friends together and take the motorbikes. The new Triumph RS needs a few miles.
I also took a ride in the bi-plane. It’s a beautifull restored D-25 New Standard, seats 5 and was very reasonable on the wallet. The pilots name was Waldo!! Nice guy and enjoyable ride. I will jump at the chance to return to this beautifull museum.
dragonfly
I just visited the museum in mid-January when I was down there on business. I likewise got to see the Storch fly and was similarly impressed. One of the other visitors related that I was about two hours too late to see the Spit and Mustang formation flyby (friends of Mr. Weeks, apparently). The state of the airplanes is so impressive. I can’t wait to see the progress next time I get down there. It serves as a model to all aviation museums, but I also realize the funds are not always there to achieve the results seen in Polk City. Patronize as many as you can when you travel- I got to see the Florence, SC museum before it closed up and scattered its collection to the four winds and I am glad I did. The down side was that I was the only person there besides the one person staff, and I could see the signs that it would soon be a lost cause. These things are truly treasures.
Wow what a coincidence, I was just down there the day after Christmas and I had the plesure to meet Mr kermit Weeks, he let my crawl around his B-24J Joe for about 45 minents while I took video fottage of the bomber, After that he offered me a contract to build a 1/48 Replica of the bomber for the museum (Price to be set[:D]) It was an extreamly exciting visit, I might aslo be building his short winged Marauder for him too.
I figure it will take about 9-10 months to finish, the entire interior of the kit will be tossed out and scatch built, the landing lights, bombay lights, instument panel, and entire interor will be lit, and all the engines will work. I am also going to build a figure of Kermit standing next to Joe.
My first contract job, and only after a year and 11 months of model building.
BY ther way glad you enjoyed your visit to the museum