Sketchbook - Model Building Tips
August 1954 Air Trails Hobbies for Young Men
August 1954 Air Trails
August 1954 Air Trails Cover - Airplanes and RocketsTable of Contents

These pages from vintage modeling magazines like American Aircraft Modeler, American Modeler, Air Trails, Flying Aces, Flying Models, Model Airplane News, & Young Men captured the era. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
This is the earliest edition I have of Air Trails Hobbies for Young Men, so this is also the first edition of Sketchbook I have. Sketchbook continued for many years as a monthly feature where modelers wrote to the magazine with handy ideas for saving time and/or money, and just for offering tips and suggestions on a different way of doing something. In those days there was not the plethora of accessories available for building models, so a lot of creativity was involved. Even items as commonplace as bellcranks for control line models and dethermalizers for free flight were fabricated from salvaged parts like metal soup cans and hairpins. I'm guessing no magazine today would publish a scheme to attach bottle rockets to a model airplane as is shown here.

Sketchbook

Earl Cayton, Salem, Oregon, employs dural firewall plate - Airplanes and Rockets
Earl Cayton, Salem, Oregon, employs dural firewall plate as firm base for thrust adjustment washers in radially-mounted engine of free flight gassie -



- Airplanes and Rockets
Have you developed something new in construction, control, or flying? Send a rough sketch - we'll redraw it and pay $5 for each accepted. Contributions should be original ideas; sorry, we cannot enter into any correspondence on submissions.



Ad hoc modeling tools by Arthur Lederle, Southold, New York - Airplanes and Rockets
Inexpensive model "tools" for easier handling of small model parts - Arthur Lederle, Southold, New York.



Fabric covering by Eric Knox, San Francisco, California - Airplanes and Rockets
Fabric covering is easily applied with paste adhesive. Spread over frame with fingertip, it allows 15 min. period for stretching covering before setting. By Eric Knox, San Francisco, California.		 Hair com grilles by Phil Boretto, Santa Rosa, California - Airplanes and Rockets
Sections cut from combs make realistic grills for cowl openings. Ideal for team racers, stunt & scale models of all sizes says Phil Boretto, Santa Rosa, California.



Fuel line coupling by L.M. Waldorf, Binghampton, New York - Airplanes and Rockets
L.M. Waldorf, Binghampton, New York, makes small coupling at firewall to facilitate replacing fuel line to "sealed-in" tank.



Nail polish spinner, Keith Red, 12, Union City, Michigan - Airplanes and Rockets
Great variety in shapes of plastic nail polish caps include some suitable for A/2 engine spinners suggests Keith Red, 12, Union City, Michigan.



Richard Chang, Hong Kong, China, rigs realistic rocket - Airplanes and Rockets
Richard Chang, Hong Kong, China, rigs realistic rocket batteries under wing of control-line model -

Click for full size page scans

Sketch-book from August 1954 Air Trails Hobbies for Young Men (p64) - Airplanes and RocketsSketch-book from August 1954 Air Trails Hobbies for Young Men (p65) - Airplanes and Rockets

Sketchbook Editions
| Jan 52 | Jul 54 | Aug 54 | Sep 54 | Dec 54 | Mar 55 | Jan 57 | Feb 57 | Mar 57 | Apr 57 | May 57 | Jun 57 | Jul 57 | Sep 57 | Oct 57 | Nov 57 | Dec 57 | Oct 58 | Mar 59 | Jul 59 | Aug 59 |Nov 59 | Dec 59 | Jan 61 | Feb 61 | Mar 61 | Apr 61 | Jul 61 | Aug 61 | Dec 61 | Mar 62 | Jan 62 |Feb 62 | Jun 62 | Jul 62 | Oct 62 | Sep 62 | Dec 62 | Jan/Feb 63 | Mar/Apr 63 | May/Jun 63 |Jul/Aug 63 | Sep/Oct 63 | Nov/Dec 63 | Mar 67 | Oct 67 | Feb 68 | Apr 68 | May 68 | Jun 68 | Jul 68 | Sep 68 |

Back when the Sketchbook, Gadgetry, Powerless Pointers, and Engine Info columns were run, there were very few pre-built models, and there simply was not as much available in the way of hardware and specialized modeling tools. We were still a nation of designers and builders. The workforce was full of people who worked on production lines, built houses and buildings with hand tools, and did not have distractions like Nintendos and X-Boxes. Remember that plastics were not common material until the early 50s and the transistor wasn't invented until late 47. Enjoy the tips. Some of you will no doubt wax nostalgic over the methods, since you can remember the days when you did the exact same thing!

 

 

Posted October 5, 2013