Two planes

A new year has started. My last post was about what I hope for in this year, so i don’t have to get into that any more.
During the first month of 2023 I have made two models and brought back my models from their two and a half month stay in Uithuizen, where they were shown in the local library. I have had positive reactions so I think you could call it a succes.

In the meantime I was looking for new models to build. And I decided to keep it familiar territory. So it became a Fokker D.XXI and later on I had fun building a little Zio plane. Here are two pictures of the planes; after the break there is a more detailed report.

Zio's Breda BA-65

Nobi's Fokker D.XXI

The Fokker D.XXI model I built is designed by Nobi and has a fairly accurate shape. I think it is extremely fun to see a Thai designer creating a Dutch aircraft model. Thanks Nobi, it really was a fun build!
 

I added some extra detailing to the engine.

The three mice are a nice little detail by Nobi. The outer cowling ring is edge glued.

The cowling is a little crude and I think the model would improve with a redesigned, steeply tapered nose section to the engine, so there would be a notable gap between the engine cowling and the fuselage behind it. The cowling could do with a better inward curvature in the leading edge. But in the end it is a great rendition and in itself the model is very well designed. The fit is good and it is easy to build.

The gun sight is an addition of my own. It should have been a little more subtle.

The ribbing in the non-wooden/metal parts of the plane has been created by using
an ever so slight carve with my knife and careful curving with a knitting needle.

The Fokker's belly. Again, all parts fit great and it looks the part.
The wheel cowls are deserving some extra attention when making them.

The end result.

The model by Fabrizio Prudenziati is the ill-fated Breda BA-65. A war plane intended to have a great career but obsolete when it entered service. it is more or less the Italian version of the German Stuka, which also was outdated when WW2 started. The first batch had just the pilot’s seat under a heavily framed canopy and an open hole for the gunner in the seat behind him. Later on the airborne man-hole was changed into a turret. Really great for the overall weight of the plane I guess. 

As with all models made by Fabrizio Prudenziati, this one too of course was fun to build. It needed some thoughtful and careful shaping and curving, especially the transition from fuselage to wings and the fuselage itself.

The circular hole is the turret's; the trapezoid shape in front is the actual cockpit

The turret-to-be. Since this model lacks instructions, it was a little puzzle how it had to be built.
There's a triangular bit that has to fold one way or another. But ... how?

 

Aha! Like this. Inward. And the little half-moon shape will be the part for the gun barrel.

Although Italy is renowned for its sleek design, Breda wasn’t really concerned with the looks of the plane, I assume, because it really is a butt-ugly machine. But I think that is a feat of Breda, since the train they designed for the Netherlands a couple of years ago (the Fyra, which was supposed to become our High-speed train system), also was ugly as hell. Thankfully that train has not even survived its trials in the Dutch weather and it was sent back to the manufacturer.

Apart from its ugly appearance the plane also didn’t do too well for the Italian air force and it was soon degraded to do secondary tasks and was phased out reasonably quick. This model comes without any instructions so it was a little difficult to determine where some of the parts should go. It took a couple of hours looking at photos online to figure out how the landing gear should be put together.
In the end i think the main landing gear is designed quite nice, with lots of parts and details. I guess for Breda it was one of their first attempts to make a retractable system. It still is a little big and clumsy, probably not even hydraulic but with a system of sprockets. Because of the lack of instructions, here is a pictorial report of the landing gear.

These parts are the mud guards for the main wheels.

They can be curved and rounded using a piece of tissue and an embossing ball.

I guess this is how it should look. They kind of trail a little behind the wheel instead of on top of it.

The gear door is a little curved vertically, and the sprocket-based mech part is bent in a zig-zag to follow the contours of the inside leg part of the gear door. It points the same way as the strut.

And here with the wheel and the position of the mud guard.

 

And here's the port wheel in its position under the wing in the landing gear bay.
The starboard gear is made the same way but mirrored, of course.

Front view of port main gear. The wheel has been made with
two solid little circles of super thick card inside.

Rolled boom-sticks for the ugly flying machine.

I used needles to roll the machine gun barrels and my standard elements (tiny beads and sewing pins) for the propeller. I thought about making the turret able to rotate but in the end I found that too much of a hassle and abandoned that idea.

The biggest 'burden' of this build was glueing the many double engine cowling pimples. (what is the official name for them? I think you know what I mean..) I had to use my magnifying lamp to help my eyes. The eye-hand coordination still is optimal but the old eyeball 1.0 is getting a little worn...

It magnifies and has two bright lights on both sides. Wonderful.

close-up of the cowling warts.

Ready to stumble into the air.

Start the engine! Andiamo!

Anyway, the Breda joined its fellow paper model planes on the shelves a week ago, although it is not entirely in the same scale.

Up next: Your guess is as good as mine. Something space-related? another plane? a train or a boat maybe? We’ll see.
Have a good year and until the next time. Peace.
—PK