Kenny's Old Time Model Airplane Magazine:
December 2001

Editorial

Hello Gang, welcome to this third edition of my on line magazine. We have reached December and the holidays are upon us. May the joy of the season bless you and those you love with great peace and happiness!

The format is starting to take shape. Expect a couple of rubber plans, probably one scale and one sport. The story will be crapshoot. The great Flying Aces magazines had such an assortment of stories that I suspect that you'll never know what'll be up from month to month. I don't have too many Bill Barnes stories, so they will come as a rare treat. My personal favorites are the "modern" mysteries rather than the War stories, but I'll make sure to mix it up. Do any of you recall favorites? Are there any that you would like me to include? The solid model will most likely be an oddball. There are so many weird ones to choose from. And the advertisement... well who knows.

A couple of areas that I have not yet covered, but hope to soon, are gas models, and current event / opinion pieces. I have yet to build a gas model, and know very little of the arcane world of ignition engines. I do know that there were some beautiful designs published which should be reviewed by the masses. The news and opinions published are fascinating. It seems that today, most of the questions have been answered, and need only fine-tuning. Modern aircraft the world over seem to all follow the same lines for each of the jobs they perform, much as our cars all appear to look alike. In the 1930's, the answers were not so clear. Dirigibles were still fair game to explore, and two place fighters were to rule the skies. There was also a valuable selection of how-to/information pieces published. I will be including these articles from time to time. Until then, enjoy Vol. 1 No. 3.

The Story

This month's story is from a 1932 issue of the English magazine The Modern Boy. A creation of the author Capt. W.E. Johns, Second-Lieutenant Bigglesworth, or Biggles as he was most commonly known, began his career flying Camels for the Royal Flying Corps. A decades long career saw Biggles fight in both wars and go on to solve countless mysteries with the Special Air Police. The early stories were contemporaries to the Flying Aces and Bill Barnes stories, but carry a much different tone, a British tone. Many are sad, even perhaps hopeless, though that is not what I'll present on this joyous month. This story finds the boys of the 266 Squadron on the short end of stick when it comes to having any kind of special Christmas feast. That is until Biggles promises to get The Turkey.

Enjoy.

The Rubber Powered Model Airplane Plans

The first plan almost fits into the aforementioned category of how-to/information pieces. It is a Twin Pusher designed by the renowed Charles H. Grant as part of an educational series co-authoured with Edwin T. Hamilton in the early years of Universal Model Airplane News. It is a simple sheet and stick balsa model aimed at beginners (such as yours truly) in the realm of the Twin Pusher. Encouragingly, the model "has remained in the air over two minutes and flown a distance of two thousand feet."

For a rather more complex job try out this month's scale job. This article combines the most beautiful machine ever designed by man, the Supermarine Spitfire, with one of model aviation's prettiest draftsman, William Winter. I've looked at this plan so often that I forever scared myself away from using it as a flying model plan. One day though, I hope to build and finish it exactly as shown and hang it from my ceiling in homage to the greatness of both William Winter and the aircraft itself.

Thermals.

The Solid Model Airplane Plan

This month's solid model is Col. Roscoe Turner's 1938 Thompson Trophy Winning Racer "Meteor." This model, like last month's, is one of those clean sexy racers of the late 1930's. Another simple beginner's choice and again, all wonderfully rendered by Robert Morrison. This one originally appeared in the December, 1938 issue of Model Airplane News.

The Advertisement

This month's ad, Comet's new 1"=1' Exact Scale Grumman Gulfhawk, is taken from the January, 1938 issue of Model Airplane News. I've read an article in the K.A.P.A. newsletter on this model, and I must say that if I could do it I'd go back in time and ask Dad for this one on the 25th of December. That $3.95 price tag, though small looking today, would most likely earn me a scolding from my depression era prairie farmer family. The stuff of dreams none the less.

Many of the documents I will be sharing will be in .pdf format