Yesterday at Nordiccon I picked up a gem, a Stinson Trimotor by Ideal Toy Company. I was wondering how old this kit is! There is no copyright on the instructions, and no dates on the box. I remember making some wooden kits by Ideal, but never a plastic kit. I am assuming this is pretty old. Any way to find out how old this kit is?
I have long loved that plane. There is a museum here that has one, in early American Airlines markings. I had already started a scratch model of the plane, but will trash that one now that I have a nice kit to build. The previous owner had started the kit, but only to glue the top and bottom wing pieces together and he did an okay job on that. There were also three aftermarket engines in the box.
Don, is your kit a high-wing or a low-wing? I’ve seen both one time or another at Sun n Fun at Lakeland-Linder Airport over the years. Those old airliners are such beauties. It’s a joy to see them fly.
Ideal’s plastic models were better-known under the imprint ITC, and were a quite extraordinary range of kits—including rarely-seen civil a/c which unfortunately haven’t been re-released over the years as some of their more ‘manstream’ offerings have been.
I happened to be looking at one on an auction site the other day, so the links are still fresh; here is the Scalemates page, that shows it apparently dates from 1957. This is another interesting page I found, which includes some background and photos of a gentleman’s very-nicely-built version of the kit.
Thanks, guys. Greg, the two photos are planes both in the museum up here that I mentioned. The high wing is the Stinson T, the one of the kit. The low wing one is the Model A. I would love to build that too- maybe a scratch project, unless anyone knows of a kit for that.
And yes, Pawel, that box is the kit I just got. 1957, huh! That is about the era I was assuming.
Ah, Greg Herrick’s trimotors! He has had a few Fords in his collection, not sure, but I think he still has 4AT#10, the oldest Ford still around. It has the rear sloped windshield of the very early 4ATs, and the one modeled in Revell’s 1/77nd release from the last century!
Can’t wait to see the Stinson build! Now, if only I could find a larger scale Boeing…
With nothing else to do but heal , I got into my stash . By Gawd , If’n it ain’t fate , I got that same plane ! Box still sealed ! Like you , I always had a soft spot for planes that occassionally flew over when we were wee tads . T.B.
Aircraft Modelers , Listen up !! I see in these photos a slow ,patient , Kit Bash . Engineering wise it is not simple . But in Model form ya’ll don’t need to worry the Nuts , Bolts and Rivets .
Based on the photos , I see a lot of original Kit parts being used ! T.B.
Is somebody suggesting we lower the wings on a certain Trimotor? Of course, when I say we, Stauffer is going to do all the work, all we have to do is prod him electronically to keep him on task, and gleefully await the results!
Got a start on the Stinson yesterday, now that my B-47 is in the painting phase (slow drying enamel). I had started painting the passengers provided. I also glued in the windows. Turns out they are so distorted you can’t make out much of the interior, so I won’t spend too much time on the interior.
Here is a shot of it this morning. All ready to close up the fuselage. Don’t know why I spent such care on passengers and crew. The windows are so bad the figures are just a blob. But I know it is there, right
I think you should consider this . Next time Find some Crystal clear plastic from , say a small Cabinet drawer . Use the plastic from that . Probably the same thickness but , clear and visibility is excellent !
I buy stuff like that at garage sales .The case might be cracked but the drawers are useable for other stuff . Oh , By the way it’s looking great !
Yeah, Don - I think you could easily swap the kit windows for something beter, made by yourself. Or alternatively I have some practice with the “old-Airfix” windows that had a nice sinkmark each, right in the middle of them. Those still could be sanded flat, polished and coated with future - and after that you could see through them all right. So there’s still hope! Good luck with your build and have a nice day
Yet another idea is to make the windows with Micro Krystal Clear, if they’re small enough. That’s what I did with the windows on my 1/144 Boeing 314 Clipper.
The side windows are pretty large- I was afraid they wouldn’t form very well. In some spots the windows didn’t fit the opening, leaving a hollow. I am going to try Krystal Clear there.
I save the clear plastic package stiffeners from my shirts, for things like this. They consist of a long strip, usually about 10"x1.5", that is stuck around the inside of the neck or collar, and a little butterfly piece that goes under the front of the collar. It’s good plastic. I’ve used it for smash-molding windscreens, as well as cutting it for window panes.
The clear plastic packaging used for food can work, too. You just have to look for the clearer pieces.
Baron - I used to take that plastic, too, but then I’ve found out the hard way some of them have a bad tendency to yellow with time, so now I only use them for secondary things. Some time ago I have bought some Vivak - that is good stuff, very clear, resistant against cracking and also vacuforms very well, so I recommend it, if you can get some, of course.
