Model planes
I have always liked to create things. I like to draw. I like to paint. I write things. It is no wonder that I came
to like the idea of assembling model planes. I believe I realized this first after watching Top Gun in cinema
sometime in late 80s. Until then, I did not pay too much attention to airplanes. My collection of toys did include
a very crude model of an unarmed MiG-21 fighter, but I never played with it until after the movie. Inspired by the
highly unrealistic dogfights, I would fly my MiG around, blasting enemy jets. But it always bothered me that my MiG
did not have any weapons. So, I used to make my own missiles, from plasteline, cardboard and toothpicks. Still,
they were ugly and not very detailed.
I mustered enough courage a few years later. I built my first kit in 1992. I had no proper tools, no adequate
paints and definitely no patience. I glued the 100+ parts together in less than an hour. The result was ...
disappointing. Parts did not fit properly, some having been left out altogether. Tears of cement were smeared all
over. I used blunted scissors to cut down the edges off the pieces, leaving them scarred. And worst of all, only
after assembling the module did I realize that I should have painted the hard-to-reach pieces first.
After that, my models became prettier. I was still very much short of professional tools, but I managed to
improvise rather fairly. I made precision brushes out of big oil-paint brushes by trimming off their hairs save
only a few whiskers. I used thin strips of adhesive tape as casts for painting. I would even sand off bits of
plastic off landing gear tires to make them look as if they sagged under the weight of the planes. I also used
highly thinned copper paint to trace out corrosion lines on naval and marine planes. Oh yes, I painted the parts
before assembling them.
My planes never came close to being the uber-perfect examples you could see in magazines. Then again, they were
never meant to be. I did not have a garage with a special ventilation system and 34 types of airbrushes. I did not
have an oven, a laser drill or tens of thousands of dollars needed to make my planes look like fashion models.
I built my best and last ones from 1998 till 2001. Since, I have not made any models. I have dedicated my passion
to other things. Nevertheless, I think I have made a few very nice examples. You will be able to read about each
one of them in their individual galleries.
A word of caution for 56K dial-up users: For enhanced experience, I thought it would be best if I did not use
small-size thumbnails to link to enlarged images, but rather to display them in their full glory within the gallery
pages. This might cause a bit of a delay in the loading.
Galleries are sorted chronologically, with the newest on the top.
Enjoy.
British Aerospace Hawk
updated June 8, 2008
Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk
updated December 15, 2007
SEPECAT Jaguar
updated August 10, 2007
Henschel Hs 129
updated April 13, 2007
Lockheed F-104G Starfighter
updated January 27, 2007
McDonnell Douglas OA-4M Outlaw
updated October 23, 2006
McDonnell Douglas F-15D Eagle
updated September 2, 2006
