Russian "Aerosan RF-8" Paper Model, 1:35 Scale

 

"Aerosan" means "aero sleigh" in Russian. A variety of aerosan designs were built and used by Eastern European countries during the first half of the 20th century. But it was Russia that made the most use of these propeller-powered sleds.

The Aerosan RF-8 was built by the Gorky Automobile Factory under the name GAZ-98 and entered service in 1942. It was used in variety of roles including, recon, patrol, communications and raiding, often in support of ski troops and often behind enemy lines. Some 2,000 were built.

The GAZ-98 was powered by a GAZ truck engine. In the winter 1942-43, many of them were refitted with water-cooled inline aircraft engines and redesignated RF-8 or GAZ-98K.

They were built of plywood on a wooden frame, rode on independently sprung  wooden skis, carried a crew of two, and mounted a single 7.62 mm DT machine gun. The RF-8 was fast, stable, and effective in its various roles. It continued in service until 1950 for border patrol.

The model is a free download from Paper Diorama. I built this one as a gift for a friend who was a product engineer in the snowmobile industry. It's a nice little model and an easy kit to build.

McDonnell-Douglas F-15A Eagle Paper Model in 1/33 Scale

This is another of Yoav Hozmi's digital kits for Israeli jets. I reduced it from 1/30 to 1/33 scale, so it would fit on letter-size sheets. then built "out of the box." My only addition is the pilot, also made of paper. At 1/33 scale, this a large model, 22 inches long with a wingspan of 15 inches. The kit doesn't include landing gear, so it is displayed in flight. Yoav's kits are free downloads from the online forum papermodelers.com. 

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Apollo 17 Command and Service Modules, paper model, 1:12 Scale

 Some photos of my Apollo 17 paper model that I never got around to posting:

Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on the Moon, while Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans orbited above. Schmitt was the only professional geologist to land on the Moon.

The mission broke several records for crewed spaceflight, including the longest crewed lunar landing mission (12 days, 14 hours), greatest distance from a spacecraft during an extravehicular activity of any type (7.6 kilometers or 4.7 miles), longest total duration of lunar-surface extravehicular activities (22 hours, 4 minutes), largest lunar-sample return (approximately 115 kg or 254 lb), longest time in lunar orbit (6 days, 4 hours), and greatest number of lunar orbits (75). (Source: Wikipedia)

The Apollo Command Module (CM) kit, designed Ken L West, has over 2,400 parts on 127 PDF pages. The 37 pages of assembly diagrams and text are very thorough. The kit includes a full interior and is designed to be separated into several sections for display. I built the kit over six or seven months, and I found it challenging for several reasons:  the amount of detail, the close tolerances between subassemblies, and simply the size of the beast. The hatch, alone, is a complex and beautifully detailed model. Overall, kit was certainly worth the considerable effort it required. I lit the interior with four micro-LEDs powered by a 9-volt battery hidden in the SM.

Above: The CM as built by Billy Leliveld, showing the open display option'

Below: My build of the main hatch

To build the Service Module (SM), I started with a digital paper model in 1:48 scale and scaled up the parts to 1:12 scale. That provided a good "blueprint" even though I had to redraw much of it due to pixilation. Scott Sullivan's illustrated book, Virtual Apollo was an invaluable resource. I chose the SM from Apollo 17 because of its interesting open instrument bay, which I built partly from scratch.

At the annual Winnebago Area Modelers Classic contest and swap meet in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, my Apollo CM/SM took "Best in Show" for most votes from all attendees.

Israeli Kfir C.2 Paper Model in 1:33 Scale

 I reduced Yoav Hosmi's Kfir kit from 1:30 to 1:33 (A4-size to Letter-size) and built it without any other changes. I vacuformed the canopy from my own mold. The model's length is about 16 inches, wingspan about 10 inches. This is an outstanding kit, and it was a pleasure to build. The Kfir and several other of Yoav's Israeli jets are available for download from www.papermodelers.com.

DKM Bismarck 1/200-Scale Paper Model

I built this paper model over ten months in 2013-14. I do not know why I have not posted it here before this but better late than never. The kit is from GPM (Poland). I built the superstructures first, figuring that if I finished them, I would be compelled to build the hull. The aft superstructure came first, and I can see the effect of my learning curve as I went from stern to bow. 

I have taken the model to several IPMS meets. At the 2023 Midwestern Model Ships and Boats Contest at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in May, my Bismarck received a Gold Award. 

So far, this is the only capital ship model I have built, though I have paper kits for DKM Graf Spee (GPM), HMS Prince of Wales (GPM), HMS Rodney (Gomix/FlyModel), and IJN Yamato (Halinski). I have started the escort carrier USS Gambier Bay (Halinski) and have GPM's kit for the USS Yorktown, complete with the Doolittle Raiders' B-25s, all in 1/200 scale. That is several years' worth of model building!

The model is on permanent (I think) display at the Ripon Public Library. The library staff tells me it is very popular with visitors and patrons. I built the case.

Below, that is my Bismarck on the cover of the Autumn 2022 issue of NRJ. Inside is my article on "Some tips and techniques for paper model ships."

 

Fouga Magister, Israeli Air Force Paper Model, 1:33 Scale.

The French-designed Fouga Magister was license-built in Israel as a basic jet trainer for the Israeli Air Force (IAF). "Tzukit" is a small songbird. During the 1967 Six-Day War, the trainer was fitted and used for close air support. The model is designed by Yoav Hozmi and is a free download from Papermoders.com. I reduced it from 1:30 scale to 1:33 but made no other changes. The model's wingspan is about 14 inches, length 12 inches. The stand is from Murph's Models. I repainted it in PhotoShop® for the Magister. Yoav's models are superb and include several planes in IAF markings and camouflage. 

Beechcraft C90 Super King Air (Modelart) Paper Model - 1:32 Scale

 Modelart's Super King Air kit is well-designed with almost no fit issues. I built it "from the box" except for a few changes. I opened up the passenger door, filled the interior with cases and cartons (instead of seats) secured by (paper) cargo nets, and scratch built the boarding steps from paper and card. I used a grey semi-gloss paper for the exhausts and silvered card for the propeller spinners. I left out most of the cockpit detail because it can't be seen, anyway. 

When I started building this kit and Modelart's C80 Queen Air kit, it didn't occur to me how big the models would be. This one has a 21.5-inch wingspan, the Queen Air spans 19 inches, and finding a place to display and store them was a challenge.