Family Jewels

[Leigh]

Found some old pics the other day and thought I'd share them, more about the stories really.

THE B-17 THAT COST ME MY MARRIAGE;

Well I think there was other reasons too but my ex really hated having planes around the house and I had to buy a special cabinet for my models and they weren't allowed anywhere else. Well this is the Monogram 1/48 Fortress that came with the bomb dolly, ground crew, and one of those great Shep Paine diorama building pamphlets, "ooh what a good idea " thinks I. So this monstrous 2' square dio was the result and the only place to keep it was above the telly on the entertainment centre. God she hated this thing. Amazing what photo's with a crappy disposable camera will hide, I built this before discovering sandpaper, putty, liquid glue, future and all the other stuff, what you don't see is all the seams, gaps and fingerprints.
When she kicked me out this one got broken up for bits, I got the cabinet but the girls wanted to keep the planes inside so my ex stil has to look at "those goddamned planes" on the shelf  She must hate dusting.

[Captain Canada]

The camera doesn't hide that much, Leigh......that thing looks like a piece of crap !

Oh, I'm supposed to be positive.......

Very nice. Looks all beat up and well used. Pretty good job for a guy who 'claims' that he doesn't know what he's doing ! I could see a woman going mad having to look at that, tho ! BIG. Too bad you had to break her up for bits.......those olf Monogram kits were wicked, eh ? Especially with all the extra bits they tossed in. I have a set of those Shep Paine diorama pamplets kicking about somewhere. I did his B-25 dio way back when. Man, I stared at that pamphlet for hours.....it was just that cool.

[Leigh]

THE GIRLS FIRST PLANES;

While I was in this modelling phase Siobahn my eldest built a few with me too and Anstiss my little one was about two years old and used to get upset that she couldn't play with planes too. So I decided to build her her own plane that she could bash about. I made it from Birch (don't ask me why, I think it was cos it was the only stuff that came in small pieces at the local hardware warehouse) and I had never ever done any woodworking of any kind before. I'm a construction worker how hard can it be? :dum: Well it helps if you have tools, these were made only with a coping saw, sander, knife and a drill, they are mostly sanded to shape. The props are made from the end cap off ABS pipe 'cos that's the best idea I could come up with. Completely off scale and grossly distorted this was before we had the internet and the only reference I had was an old Airfix catalogue which is why the Spitfire looks like a Hurricane.
Planned as a Christmas present for Anstiss the Spit took me about six weeks and I proudly brought it up to show my wife a month before Christmas
"That's beautiful "she says "but where's the other one?"
"Huh?"
" You can't make one for one kid and not the other, better get your donkey back down to the garage and make another"
So after four weeks of very long nights in the garage it's the night of December 23rd and I've reached the stage of just putting a gloss coat on the Mustang each day, go down to the garage and either very tired or very drunk I picked up the wrong spray can and sprayed it red! I managed to repair the damage with a rag and tups before it dried but you can still see a red tint on it in places.
So began the tradition of making something for the girls each Christmas.

The Spitfire has long been lost to the box of broken toys but the Mustang proudly sits where the B-17 used to be, right on top of my ex-wife's telly  

[AeroplaneDriver]

Good grief Leigh!  Those wooden planes are incredible, especially the P-51!  If you built those with no woodworking experience and an Airfix catalog, I imagine you could set up a nice custom model business if you tried.  

Beautiful work!!

[John Howling Mouse]

Well, I'M suitably impressed.
Just building a 1:48 bomber is a sign of modelling gusto in my books.  Funny how I've since lost the guts to tackle such subjects.  I can't even imagine gluing together the wings of the 1:48 B-24's and B-29's I built as a kid.

Leigh, have you considered building that Mono 1:48 B-17 kit again, just to see how much more skilled you've since become?

[Eddie M.]

Leigh, have you considered building that Mono 1:48 B-17 kit again, just to see how much more skilled you've since become?

That's where I got the fuselage for my big bomber. The latest release has little to no detail, so you can go hog wild with scratch built details!. Your past works are just as impressive as everything I've seen from you. Good show! B)
     Eddie

[Brian da Basher]

Simply amazing work there Leigh! I am bowled over! Thanks for sharing the pics and the cool stories behind them. it makes me very happy the model-hating ex still has to look at your surviving builds. Hehehehehehe. Sweet!

Brian da Basher

[lancer]

Stunning work Leigh, those wooden models are simply amazing.

[NARSES2]

Nice B17 Leigh

And talking of wooden models did anyone else see those mahogany aircraft at Doncaster - wern't a bad price either

Chris