That is a magnificent lineup!  

Those are awesome! Esp love the balsa and tissue SE.5 and Dr.VII. I built about a dozen balsa aircraft back in the '80s and never got one to turn out anywhere near as well.

Thanks for the kind words Glamdring and Gamera.

Gamera, those stick & tissue builds were a great break for me. Had those kits in the stash for years and finally stopped building plastic for a few weeks to build those two kits. I remember from the "old days" that they never flew well, if they flew at all. I'm not an aircraft engineer but I wondered why they wouldn't fly well. I built mainly bi-wing WWI planes and the one thing that stood out was that the cockpit was always open to the air flow going right into the fuselage. Seems to me that it would only tend to mess up the airflow over the fuselage. So, I put a piece of balsa across the fuselage opening to shut off that flow. Well, it did make a difference. The plane flew better but still needed work. After the winter is over, I plan to experiment with the two planes and see if I can up their flyability. 

One tip. If you have some of them or plan to get some, make sure that you also order a supply of rubber for the motors. I found out the hard way that the rubber degrades over time. The second flight of the Dr-VII was interrupted by a loud snap as the rubber snapped and tore a couple of holes in the fuselage skin. Luckily it survived the "glide" into the edge of a farmers field with some green foliage that cushioned the landing. Don't know what he was growing but it made a nice soft landing spot. That's one nice thing about those planes. Five minutes with a piece of tissue and a bottle of Elmers glue and the fix is done. I checked the rubber on the SE-5 and it looked better but the flight ended the same way. Same solution.

I have a Comet Aeronca Chief with a 54" wingspan in the stash. Can be rubber or gas powered. I'm going to try that one when the weather breaks. I'll do rubber power. If it doesn't go well, it will be another wall hanger. 

Jim 

Stay Safe.

Amazing builts. Love those boats. I was thinking about trying to build a sailing ships, looks quite challenging. Well done

Thanks castelnuovo!

I started out building ships as my uncles used to bring us supplies and kits whenever they came to see my mother. They were both in the Navy in WWII. One was in the subs and the other was in the Merchant Marines. Our parents thought that building models was a waste of time and money but whenever our uncles came over, they found a way to slip us some supplies or kits. They started the supply route in 1946 when I was 6 years old. I have 1 really good pic of them and me together. Can't seem to find it, but did find one of them with my grandfather and one with the submariner and me at 4.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Y6kcg1vRJA8KKH5y7

Oliver, the submariner, built a beautiful model of his sub from scratch and kept it for years in his living room for years until he moved to N.J.  When he finished moving and was looking for the sub model he found that his wife had thrown it in the trash.

If you want to try a ship model, start small and work your way up. Sailing ships are challenging but slow but sure wins the race. I've built a few and it took a while, but they got done. Would love to build one of those really big sailing ships but my wallet says "Don't you dare". "Try it, you'll like it."

Jim 

Stay Safe.

Thank you fox. I looked at some kits on Hobbylink, most of them are well over $100. Do you think starting with somethink like this would be OK?

https://www.hobbylinc.com/model-shipways-phanton-nyc-pilot-wooden-model-ship-kit-1:96-scale-2027

Jim,I don't think I have seen any of your work.That is some nice stuff,great year.

The ship that you sent the link to would be one of my picks for a 1st build. If you've done ANY work with wood models, or working with any type of wood products, you would be past the opening hurdle. Sanding and filling wood is different from working in plastic. That kit is relatively easy to build and not very complicated. If you do pick it, I would advise you to just build it slowly and just OOB. If you do a WIP on the build, you will have quite a bit of help at your disposal in the ship section. I know I did when I was building my avatar "The Scottish Maid". It took me 2 years working it in between other builds. Since there are sails on her, I had super help from my wife who has been a seamstress all her life and still is. I made a copy of the sail pattern and showed her what I needed and she did a wonderful job of making them. When I started to put the sails on, they were perfect and I had not one problem with them. Rigging the sails is the part that takes a lot of time. 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tA9JLKwYp5fULSv37

You can tell that I'm an old fart that likes to talk so I'll quit. If you have any more questions, just ask and I'll probably talk your ears off.

Jim 

Stay Safe.

Those are somm great builds. I realy liked the F9 panther and the patrol boat. They are fantastic.

Great stuff fox!  That's a lot of work for one year.

Nice bunch of builds, Jim.  That Herr D-7 ought to fly pretty well, but if you can get a Sterling kit to fly well, tell me how you did it!  By the way, it's not the open cockpit that is the problem on biplanes, it's those two wings.  There is interference drag between them unless the gap between the wings is more than the chord, and almost all biplanes don't have that.  They are only 80% as efficient as a monoplane at best.  The Comet Chief is a nice kit but it's pretty big for rubber power.  A small electric motor is a better bet.  Right with you on needing fresh rubber, and anyway what comes in those kits, except the Herr, isn't too good.

Thanks for the kind words Lurch.

Thanks Keavdog. Most of those models were on the shelf of doom for years in various stages of completion. Some only needed minor work and painting. Some only took from a few hours to a few days to complete. I'm a lucky old fart. I retired in '98 and the wife is great with my hobby so as long as the honeydo list is done and chores done I spend as much time up in the loft as I want. If I wake up in the middle of the night, and not tired, I head for the loft. I don't have a time limit on restoration of the models for the museum so I work them into the mix when I can. I did complete 2 carrier planes for them and I plan to get them over there this weekend. As I said, I'm a lucky old fart. With all my medical issues, I'm still in fairly good shape and I thank the man upstairs every morning when I wake up and can get out of bed.

There's only 3 or 4 left on the shelf + the stash. Sooooooooooooooo, I'm good for at least the next 100 years or I get called to the great workbench in the sky, whichever comes first.

Thanks John. Thanks for the info about the efficiency of the bi-wings. That's a great idea about the electric motor. I hadn't thought of it. I think I might have 1 or 2 of them laying around somewhere. Would I still have to maintain the balance point on the plan or does it have to be moved because of the amount of weight added?  

Jim 

Stay Safe.

Fantastic builds for just one year, shelf queens or not.  Your quality of work and attention to the details is outstanding.  I like the variety of your interests, helps to keep you from geting bored or in a modeling rut.  I have a couple of questions for you about your builds if you don't mind:

1.  What did you use for your natural metal finish on your P-51?

2.  Your Swift boat must be Revell's old 1/32 scale one, do you have plans to get their new 1/72 Swift boat?

3. Was your Panter for the Bridges of Toko Ri built out of the box or are those after-market decals?

Once again, congrats on completing so many top shelf builds for 2021!

TJS

Very impressive! and working on ships rigging with glasses? it took me about 12min to rig up a 1/4oz bullet weight and worm hook w/o glasses lol.. 

Did you use dope on the tissue? Again a fine job across the board my friend.

Thanks for all the kind words guys! I really appreciate it.

Tojo - I've had loads of problems with posting pics over the years. The book "Computers for Dummies" is way over my head. My wife is better at solving my problems. As a result, I haven't posted much on here. I make a breakthrough every once in a while and then can't replicate the process. I know you saw my work once when we met at MosquitoCon but that was quite a few years ago. 

Mr Tom Schry - I don't mind questions at all. I try to answer them the best I can. Sometimes I tend to give back loads more than asked for. To answer your questions:                                                                         1 - On the P-51 I used Vallejo Model Air #71.062 Aluminum over Vallejo Acrylic-Polyurethane Surface Primer RAL 7021 German panzer Grey.                                                                                                                 2 - Didn't know about the 1/32 version of the Swift Boat. Thanks for the info. Might have to get one.             3 - Panther was basicly built OOB with only a few odds & ends added to the pit.

Nick - As my eyesight kept getting worse, I started using 2x, 2.5x, 3x drugstore glasses. Then moved to Optivisor with extra lenses and hand magnifiers. I use whichever one I need at the time to get the job done. I sprayed thinned Aero Gloss Clear on the 2 stick & tissue planes. I bought a few bottles of it a while back when it started getting hard to get. I have 2 bottles of it and 1 bottle of thinner left. Haven't checked lately to see if it is still available.

Jim 

Stay Safe.

Thanks Jim! Don't know if I'll ever get back to doing balsa and paper aircraft (I've only got a zillion or so plastic kits at this point) but I'll keep that in mind if I do!

That ship rigging is impressive. Fantastic group of builds you have here.

Thanks for the kind words John! I owe my rigging skills to some of the members on the forum. I learned a lot from them.

I do the best I can with what I've got and that is slowly but surely leaving me behind. As the hands and eyes get worse, I find myself picking easier kits to work on. But, I'll hang in there and keep trying.

Jim 

Stay Safe.

Nice work Jim, the Kearsarge is really impressive.  I am also partial to the stick and tissue models.  I have a Guillows Mosrse Scout I framed up last year and is waiting to be covered.

Scott

Thanks Scott!

I finished the hull of the kearsarge quite a while ago and it sat on the SOD for a few more years. After we moved to the retirement village, I started working on it little by little and finally finished it last year with the help of a few members here on the forum.

I have a Guillows SE5A and some Sterling and Comet kits plus 4 more Sterling Peanut Scale kits in the stash. I had a couple of pieces of leftover 1/2" blue wallboard in the garage and I'm useing them for the stick & tissue kits. I can start the framing and just set them leaning against the wall till I want to do more. They're great for taking a break from plastic.

Jim 

Stay Safe.