168 articles · 9.3K karma · 20 friends · active 16 minutes ago

Three things accompany and fascinate me throughout my life: history, the fine arts and the fascination of aeroplanes and ships. In the many aspects of model making, these fascinations come together quite happily.

In this respect, I take the freedom to build anything and in any scale that occupies me. In practice, these are mainly aircraft in 1:48 and 1:32 scale, but lately the 1:72 and even the 1:144 scale have developed a great fascination for me.

As a child of the 1970s, I am aware of the scale in which the offers, possibilities and demands in plastic modelling have developed: we are living in truly great times... aren't we?

Travelling globally at Mach 3.5: the future looked so limitless! Boeing 7207, America's Supersonic Transport of the 70s!

Europe's Concorde, the Soviet Union's Tupolev Tu-144 - and the USA's Boeing 2707: this is what the world of supersonic passenger aviation would have looked like from the 1970s onwards according to US plans. It was obvious that the American [...]

The Mil Mi-6 ‘Hook’, a truly record-breaking giant!

The heavy transport helicopter presented here not only occupies a special place among Soviet designs, but also stands out among all rotorcraft designs of its time. From the time of its first flight in June 1957, this giant was the largest [...]

Lancaster or York? Definitely a Lancastrian! Avro Lancastrian VH-EAS, Qantas 1949

The name "Lancastrian" may sound strange to uninitiated ears, but it has significance and weight in English history: the aristocratic party of the House of Lancaster had fought with the supporters of the House of York in the [...]

A civilian "Mossie" and Niels Bohr in need of oxygen? Well, that sounds confusing, but interesting: BOAC's DH.98 Mosquito and the "ball bearing runs" Britain-Sweden

Christopher Nolan's latest major film "Oppenheimer" offers many haunting scenes, but one in particular has stuck in my mind for a special reason. The character, who plays the Danish nuclear physicist Niels Bohr, has just arrived [...]

A model that I originally didn't want to build at allbut which was (and still is!) a lot of fun: Zlin 137 Agro

The path to building this model of the Zlin 137 Agro is so entertainingly winding and full of twists and turns that I would like to start this report with a description of it. Sometimes the journey changes the perspective in such a way [...]

What a sight! McDonnell Douglas DC-10 Air Tanker

With some modelling projects, it is quite clear what motivated you to build them. In the case of the rare DC-10 modification presented here, I can easily identify three factors that I would like to present below. Fascination number one: [...]

Fire, water, air... three elements, one aircraft: Canadair's mighty CL-215!

The fact that the invention of the aeroplane and the mastery of flight has changed the world is a commonplace that no one will contradict. It becomes more concrete when we take a closer look at an area where the use of aeroplanes makes [...]

A giant spreads its wings: B-24 GR.Mk.VI, 10th Squadron RCAF

A quote from Paul Kennedy's book "Engineers of Victory" should open this article: "Closing the air gap did not happen because some great person decreed it. There was a group of chiefly Canadian air engineers who in early [...]

Saab SK 60 times three! Part III: Saab SK60B /60083 of the 3rd Squadron "Urban Gul" of F21 Wing and my experience with Pilot Replica's long awaited kit!

The Saab SK60/Saab 105 occupies a prominent position in the history of aviation. Its very origin as a project for a civilian four-seater business jet gives it a special status. What is particularly interesting, however, is that it was [...]

Saab SK 60 times three! Part II: a formation of four Saab SK60s called "the Vikings" and the Swedish neutrality.

The history of the Swedish Air Force is a reflection of the neutral political stance that the great Nordic country developed in the fateful years of the 20th century. In 1905, two years after the first motorised flight had been achieved, [...]