|
1884 -
Mozhaiskii Monoplane
UPDATED! |
|
|
|
|
|
1890 - Ader Eole Amazingly anthropomorphic, this bat-winged plane actually flew - the Twin Pushers site has a lot of info on the Eole. Plans of Emmanual Fillon's 25" rubber powered model can be purchased through the SAMS catalog (reference K488). A reduced-scale version
of the same plan can be found in "Stick & Tissue
International" Vol 3, available from Hannan's
Runway. |
|
|
|
|
1894 - Maxim's Test Rig A large monster of an aircraft, this behemoth even had its own launching rail to "fly" along. Famed American modeler Hewitt Phillips made a stable peanut scale model of the Maxim - read about it here. |
|
|
|
|
 |
1895 - Lilienthal Monoplane Glider This fan-winged glider is synonymous with the great German pioneer Otto Lilienthal. A flying model of the glider, constructed from card, can be downloaded in full from this German-language site. An excellent resource
when making Lilienthal glider models is the online book "Vom
Sprung Zug Flug" as it contains many photos and 3-views of his
designs. The book can be downloaded for free at this site. |
|
|
|
|
1901 - Whitehead #21 Monoplane Much controversy surrounds whether Gustave Whitehead's fan-winged plane ever flew. Ken Johnson wrote about his large rubber powered 40" model in the July 1982 "Model Builder" magazine. Copies of the article as well as the plans themselves are available from Bill Northrop. Article and plans for a
semi-accurate peanut scale model of the Whitehead #21 can be found in the
June 2002 issue of "Flying Scale Models" (ISSN 1368-9002). This
model offers only modest performance. Plans for a Wright Flyer peanut
scale model can also be found in that issue. |
|
|
|
|
 |
1902 - Wright Glider The glider that proved all of the Wright Brother's theories and showed that they were ready to make a powered craft. Online plans for a crude model are available here. (For greater realism, the balsa endplates could be replaced by clear plastic.) NEW! A flying model of the Wright Glider, made from card, can be downloaded for FREE from Fiddler's Green website. It should make for a nice static model as well.
NEW!! From the same site, one can also download
a static model of the glider that influenced the Wrights - the
1896 Chanute hang glider. |
|
|
|
1903 - Pearse Monoplane A New Zealand farmer, Richard Pearse designed and built this high-winged plane completely as a solo effort. Australian Tim Hayward-Brown recently has constructed a very nice peanut scale model of Pearse's plane - check out these photos. |
|
|
|
|
Nowlen Aero's Aerodrome model. |
1903 - Langley Aerodrome A A huge tandem winged plane, which was twice launched from off the top of a house boat, and which twice crashed. Nowlen Aero sells both kits and plans of their peanut scale model, which won the 1985 Indoor Nats. The plans are very impressive. The Nowlen Aero kitset (ref G151) can also be purchased online from the SAMS website. In 1914, Glenn Curtiss
extensively revised the Aerodrome in order to prove that it could fly.
This it did, but only just. David Dodge made himself a beautiful rubber
powered model of the altered Aerodrome. To see plans and photos of the
model plus a wealth of background info, check out his Twin
Pushers site. |
|
|
|
1903 - Wright Brothers' Flyer The most famous early flying machine of them all - and deservedly so. Dare Design are selling some fine looking models of the Wright Flyer. There's a 40" model that has 2 electric motors and 3 channel RC. Also there's a 13" model free-flight glider. Both of these models were made by Pat Tritle and you can read up about his work here. A 17" model, originally featured in the April 1937 "Flying Aces" magazine, can be downloaded from the Old Time Model Airplane Page. Plans for a twin rubber motor, 48" span model appeared in the December 1945 "Aero Modeller" magazine, the model being very typical of the era. Download the plans as two 500KB jpg images - page 1, page 2. These plans have been improved considerably by the kind work of Russell Naughton. Article and plans for a peanut scale model of the Wright Flyer can be found in the June 2002 issue of "Flying Scale Models" (ISSN 1368-9002). This model offers only modest performance. Plans for a Whitehead #21 peanut scale model can also be found in that issue. For a kite, rather than a model, then Stratton Kites' fine 50" Wright
Flyer fits the bill. Not an exact replica, but it looks great. Find out
more at the Into
The Wind site. An impressive static model kitset is offered by Easybuilt Models. Arizona Models offer an array of large and expensive RC models of the Flyer. A review of their 40" "Park Flyer" model can be found in the Dec 2003 issue of "RC Model World". K & W Models Airplanes also offer a large and expensive RC scale model of the Flyer. A listing of the retail agencies for this company can be found within their site. A 41" semi-scale RC electric model of the Flyer, designed by Keith Humber, is showcased in the Dec 2003 issue of "RC Model World". Plans (ref. MW3059) can be purchased separately from the magazine's website. Dick Baxter has made a
nice whimsical model based on the Wright Flyer. Check out his
photos
and download the
plan if you like. |
Dare Design's Wright Flyer.
The Windy Sock's Wright Flyer.
Easybuilt Models' static model. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
email aerohydro |
|
