Wright Flyer


On December 17th 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright made history on the sands of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, USA, with the aircraft they had designed and built. The first powered flight by a heavier than air machine lasted twelve seconds and covered a distance of only 120 feet, which is less than the wingspan of a modern jumbo jet airliner! Nevertheless a dramatic achievment at the time!

This model of the famous Wright Flyer was built from the recent re-release of the old Monogram kit which dates back to the 1950's. With a wingspan of a little over 12 inches, I built and rigged this model in just about a day.

Since the original aircraft was covered with unpainted fabric, I deliberately avoided painting the plastic flying surfaces to preserve the translucent appearance. The plastic struts and framework were sprayed with a metallic brown paint and dull coated to give the impression of laquered wood.  The rigging was done with the cotton thread supplied with the kit, but in hindsight it would have been better to use monofilament line instead, as the cotton thread is much too fuzzy.

These photos shown here as well as the rest of the models shown on the Small Art Works web site are unretouched except for some colour correction to counter the tungsten lighting, the removal of some background clutter and the prop rod used to hold the model up off the table (that pesky thing called gravity can get in the way of good model photography sometimes!). The details on the model itself are not altered in any way.


 
 
 

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