What is it with light aircraft?

General Discussion General Modeling Discussion
1

Hi,

I’m tired of trying to find any continuous interest in models of light aircraft, racers, touring and sporting types.

Is there a forum anywhere for just these types of a/c? I am already on the Yahoo groups Wings of Peace and Civil Wings and thank Heavens for these, but surely there must be somewhere more specifically civil, rather than the endless tedium of prickly bits and cow pat cammo?

I also look in on Civil Model Aircraft on facebook, but that is an odd format where a regular discussion is difficult to accomplish. Also it seems that the greatest interest in these varied and colourful types is in Poland, a language I haven’t mastered!

Can anyone lead away from Warplanes…please!!?

Martin

2

Several Special Interest Groups that focus on non-military aircraft listed on the IPMS USA website.

http://web.ipmsusa3.org/sigs

3

Trouble with that, Rob, is you have to be a member to get much out of it and it is very US biased.

I’d rather spend my limited funds on modelmaking, rather than endless club subscriptions.

But thanks for the heads-up.

4
  1. You don’t have to be a member to participate. Much of the site is open to non-members with just basically organizational business forums being off limits to non-members. Special Interest Groups are so small that they wouldn’t turn away any interested modeler, whether a member or not and regardless of your country.
  2. You never said where you are from; since this is a US based model magazine, I assume USA when no country of origin is stated. The SIGs will lean towards US civil aircraft because many members are American and you build what you can get or see.
  3. Foreign membership is $30 or $32 and includes a 12 month, 6 issue subscription to the Journal magazine, but again joining is optional.
5

There is a civil aircraft forum in the “modeling subjects” hiearchy, just below aircraft. Lots of discussion of just this point.

6

Rob, I’m in England and as you say, we tend towards what we know. For me that means De Havilland, Miles, Percival, etc. More Kings Cup racing than Reno, maybe. And all the small aircraft at my local clubs, like the above plus Austers, Chipmunks and of course all the usual Cessnas, Pipers, Robins, Emeraudes, Rallyes and Pitts that abound at any club.

Don, as you can see I’ve posted in that section, but without much response. It seems we non cammo fellas are in the extreme minority and getting fewer, unfortunately.

I think everyone ELSE is missing a hell of a lot.

Martin

7

I build some Civil aircraft now and then, including some military types that ended up in civilian hands for various reasons, I have a Pitts in 1/72, and a few others

I don’t know of a specific forum, most that I have belonged to just run a Civil group build now and then (which is something that you could do on here)

Just on the off-chance that you don’t have this link, and that you build in 1/72, here is a link

www.72scale.com/menu.htm

go to Aircraft, then General Aviation, and then the country you want to look at, you could also glean some Civil aircraft out of the various military models on there, if you needed one

I hope this helps in some small way

8

Thanks, Tarnship. A potentially interesting site, but nothing to click on apart from a long list of kit manufacturers, which is helpful.

The pity of it all is that if you look at the civil sections of these big forums, you get endless modern airliners, which all look the same to me.

And the responses to civil of any kind are few indeed. Such a shame.

I now have to decide if there’s any point in my continuing with my plan for a small range of vac-formed light aircraft kits at all. Plastic prices have rocketed and with support so poor I might as well make the same kinds of masters for resin, which involves me in far less work, albeit resulting in a higher priced kit.

Or, I could just give up on the whole scheme and scratchbuild the odd kite just for me!

Martin

9

" but nothing to click on apart from a long list of kit manufacturers, which is helpful"

I don’t understand this

I get a page of aircraft types on the left, sorted by country, with model companies and kit numbers for each type on the right side

for example, clicking USA includes

Beechcraft 17 Staggerwing Sword 7210

clicking Beechcraft 18 gives me

18 Hobbycraft 1388, PM Model 304

AT-7 PM Model 304

AT-11 Kansan Matchbox PK201, Pioneer 2 4009, PM Model 303, Tyson FJTHC001

C-45A Pioneer 4003, PM Model 304, Tyson SMCCBC002

C-45F Hobbycraft 1355, 1388

C-45G Hobbycraft 1357

C-45H Hobbycraft 1357 , 1389, Tyson SMCCBC002

JRB-4 Tyson FJTEFN002

JRB-5 Tyson FJTEFN002

SNB-1 Tyson FJTEHCN01

SNB-5 Tyson FJTEHCN01

the only warning about using that Census, is that the list is supposed to be that person’s choice for the BEST kit of each subject, not a list of all kits released of a subject, which of course is subject to opinion and cost considerations

(it doesn’t help to know that Aurora produced the “best” fill in the blank if 11 other kits got skipped and Aurora is OOP)

10

I am not an anti-war protester, and in fact was once an officer in USAF. I do build military models. But I do feel civil aircraft are undervalued, and even sneered at by many modelers. Even at contests the judges often award a military subject a higher score than a better-built civil subject. In previous discussions on this topic a frequent comment is that civil subjects are “just boring.”

11

True, most aircraft modelers gravitate towards military subjects. Afterall, the posibilities in kits and decals and paint schemes is endless. The reason I like Military subjects is because I’m around civil aircraft all day for my job as an aircraft mechanic and pilot. I see them everyday and while I can appreciate them, I much more love the older military subjects that arent’ around anymore that you just dont’ see everyday. I’m sure most people have their specific reasons for liking thier favorite subjects.

12

I’m not actively anti-war; these things happen unfortunately, but I am anti-glorifying it. And it seems to me that the bulk of cammo modellers are doing those aircraft because of the war element and not because of the aircraft themselves, considering so many are so ugly. Even the beautiful ones like Spitfires and Mosquitos are hardly helped by being painted like a muddy field.

I was also so very put off at my local model club by the abject nerdiness of the war mongers, showing their umpteenth Bf 109 G or T34 tank and poo-pooing any attractive colourful pre War civil aircraft shown.

That, above all, cemented my tangible dislike of militarism. Even as far as portraying a 6 Squadron Hurricane IV with rockets because that’s what my Dad did in the War.

Martin

13

Warmongers? Only slightly offensive. Why don’t you take your tirades somewhere else. You obviously have no interest in the goings on around here.

I guess because I’d rather build a Mustang or 109 (both more attractive than any piece of civil garbage ever produced) that means I’m glorifying war. Your logic is way off and frankly absurd.

14

My reference to warmongers was purely aimed at those I knew at the model club, not anyone here that I obviously don’t know.

And, I was answering a post that raised the matter of civil versus military in a way that I have every right to express.

As to what is or isn’t attractive is so subjective that it isn’t even worth discussing as it would be never ending.

Why is it OK for you to be mildly offensive in the tone of your post and not me to simply express an opinion and a real-life observation of a particular group of people I actually knew first hand?

I have made this point (rather than a tirade as you call it) elsewhere and received a much more balanced response.

Finally, to show that civil aviation is my purely personal preference I am currently engaged professionally in a conversion set to turn a Junkers Ju 88 into a Ju 388, because in the end we all have to eat and a shape’s a shape.

Absolutely no offence intended. Life’s too damned short.

Martin

15

It sucks to hear about your snobby local model club, but I don’t see that attitude around here, I just see civil aircraft being a bit less popular, but surely not for war-mongering reasons.

16

Nathan,

I’m glad you don’t have that attitude where you are. It did spoil things for me. I did try to join in by making a Spitfire, but because it was in silver finish they poo-pooed that too! And that was a special request from my father-in-law who was in the RAF!

Cheers,

Martin

17

I think I see more variety of color and markings than when I am at an air base.

I can see how someone who works at an airport day in and day out might want to build something different. With me it is the opposite. I can visit civil airfields any time and find various classic planes. True, since 9/11 I have been questioned more when I visit local airports than in the past but it is still do-able. So it is easy to get scale documentation. Since I have been retired for a long time, it is much harder for me to get to a military base, and most of the bases around here feature only one or two aircraft types anyway. So it is easier to build civil types.

As a kid I was a hanger brat. Dad’s idea of family time was to take me to an airport and turn me loose while he hanger flew with his buddies. I remember so many of those old classics- Wacos, Fairchilds, Beech, and the Stinsons, Pipers and T-craft. So I really like to build them now whenever a kit is available (or I do a very occasional scratch build). Loved building my Roden Staggerwing!

18

Sounds like some pretty cool childhood experiences Don. Now days, all those cool civil classics are gone, and hanging around small airports all you might see is a few newer cessnas and crickets…haha. But I do live around small airports, so those in the cities are probably more active.

19

If I were at an airport day in, day out (and it seemed that way when I was travelling a lot for work) I would probably give up aircraft altogether! You have my commiserations!

Don, I too was taken to airfields as a kid, but only over the fence-looking with a nice picnic. A family afternoon on a Sunday on the rare occasions my Dad wasn’t remodelling the house or fixing the car.

North Weald (RAF) was a special treat, but usually it was Abridge, where all sorts of tail draggers were to be seen. Also the Ercoupe, which I didn’t even realise was an American kite, but would like to do a model of.

Familiarity, when the subjects are varied doesn’t always lead to contempt.

Martin

20

Nathan, I’m lucky in that living in East Anglia, we have many of the old Wartime airfields dotted about, now used by small flying groups who own some wonderful old aircraft and also have hangars where they restore stuff. For instance an afternoon out now can get me to Seething Airfield, where a unique Percival Q6 twin is being restored to flight, near that is Flixton Museum and my old flying group, Felthorpe, where a covered canopy Tiger Moth and a Hornet Moth are residents. So my fix is easily had!

Martin