Kenny's Old Time Model Airplane Magazine

Hey Gang, it's 2018 and I've resurrected the ol' site!

This little web site was created back in 2001 as a place where model aircraft enthusiasts could take a quick look at the magazines that fed information to the boys during the depression and war-time years. In these 21 issues you can find stories, news and model airplane plans that will transport your imagination to a time so hard to imagine today.

Though I have no immediate intention to create new content, the old stuff has returned in all it's former glory. Along with the Magazine, the Solid Shop, the Spitfire Project, and the Comet 5¢ Flyers, there will be a new section featuring my book, By Name Alone.

jump here to the 21 issues of the
Old Time Model Airplane Magazine
Come see what was all the model airplane rage during the '30s & 40's.

jump here to The Solid Shop
Celebrating those other Old Time Model Airplanes.

jump here to the Spitfire Project
The Spitfire is the perfect beginers model to learn Solid modelling. Come on in and give it a try.

jump here to the Comet 5¢ Flyer Series
Comet is my favorite of the old kit manufacturers. Little brothers to the famed dime scale models, their short lived 5¢ line was the cutest of the bunch.

27 April 1944. RAF Lancaster PG-S left Lincolnshire on a raid to Germany but failed to return. Navigating the flight was Warrant Officer James C Horne, RCAF. By Name Alone is the result of a very personal research project to discover who my uncle was, and how I could share that story with my son, this generation's Jimmy Horne.

Here's how I introduced this small effort back in aught one:


A bit about me... and this web site's hopes and dreams for the future

I like to read old flying model airplane magazines from, say, 1935-1945. Sometimes I build the models; sometimes I just look. Some of my models fly; some just sit around and look good. Some I never finish. To me, the fun is in floating through the time machine and being absorbed into this fascinating period of aviation, and world history.

Although the flying model plans are the highlights of these magazines, what I always look at first, I have grown more and more interested in the rest of the content. The solid, shelf model plans, or 3-views, can be made into attractive models. Pick a low wing closed cockpit monoplane, carve it out of balsa, and leave it lying around. Little kids used to do this, but today it will attract attention like you would never expect. The stories read like old radio shows. High on drama, comedy, and excitement... not exactly prime sources of subtlety or ambiguity. Even the advertisements, sometimes especially the advertisements, are sources of entertainment.

With luck, and your feedback, I will be able to share with you the emotion and feeling of these Golden Age magazines.

The old magazines, Model Airplane News, Bill Barnes Air Trails, and Flying Aces in particular, were the source of these pulp fiction style hero stories, model airplane plans, and current event news articles. By posting small snips of these magazines, I hope to offer a fair representation of this age.

Here is a sample cover of the vintage magazines I will be talking about

These are the types of plans you will see

Check out this solid plan for a Grumman XF5F-1 Skyrocket

Check out this Free Flight rubber sport plan for the
American Zipper

Check out this Free Flight rubber scale plan for the Supermarine Spitfire

Here is a Bill Barnes adventure

Enjoy The Blood Red Road to Petra

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

PDF files are to be read using Adobe Acrobat Reader. This is a free download from Adobe and is a simple tool from which these documents can be viewed and printed. To print, under print options select "print as image." This should result in a printed copy equal in size to the original.

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