Peg Monoplane No. 1 - Progress Update

It's been a long week and a busy weekend, but I managed to reach my goal of getting the main construction of my monoplane done by Sunday evening (before I settle down to watch a movie)! 👍 

This project has been completely problem free - so far - and went together really quite quickly (for me). Obviously the model is a simplified - almost cartoonish - take on the aircraft which inspired the design (the Boeing P. 26), but even so I am quite pleased with the progress... Particularly because I have so many projects on the workbench at the moment.

I really like making my self-imposed 'Sunday night deadline' as it give me a real sense of achievement and I feel like I have actually done something before I return to work on Monday morning.

There's not much I can tell you about the construction really as the accompanying photos say it all, I think. However, I should point out that I have not made the engine and propeller part of the model yet as I want to install this after I have painted the rest of the aircraft. [I'm working out how to make the prop free spinning.]

Well, that's another weekend gone. I am starting to think seriously - though - about my peg model hobby and how it's kinda starting to take over everything. I've almost totally ceased a couple of my other hobbies and their associated blogs and I am aware that peg model making has hijacked this blog as well.

I have NOT lost interest in Molatero and the idea of creating a Funny Little Wars army, but at the same time the making of funny little peg soldiers seems to fit into this blog quite nicely. Though, I may stray slightly off-topic on occasion with my tenuously related non-military peg project - such as my Lovecraftian Horror based figures and Pop Culture characters. O hope you - my audience - will forgive their trespass! 😁

New Project - Peg Monoplane No. 1

 So much going on at the moment and it seems I am a bit of a victim of my own success! Yes, the requests for peg figure commissions have begun. In truth, I have already had a few enquiries about purchasing custom peg  models but so far I have kinda ignored the thought of this becoming a cottage sideline... The thought of a relaxing hobby becoming a business has not really appealed to me.

Anyway, that's my problem to figure out. In the meantime, I'm starting a new little plane model - as if I didn't have enough going on! 😉

It'll be in the style of my previous little cartoon style bi-plane fighter - my 'Purple Baron'...

But this time I fancy trying out a different period. I have a particular liking for the aeronautic history of the early 1930s as it was a very exciting time, foreshadowing - as it did - the next World War with the Great Powers trying out their latest technological advances. Yet, at the same time, it was still a time of the romance of air travel and adventure!

In 1930 the bi-plane fighter was still queen of the sky and monoplane warplanes were still something of a novelty. Designs were quaintly crude and still included features that were soon to become obsolete - like open cockpits and fixed landing gear - but which lent these war-birds a certain cuteness. 😃

For my first attempt at a peg monoplane I decided to use a particularly endearing American design as a template for my little model...

The Boeing P-26 "Peashooter" was the first American all-metal
production fighter aircraft and the first pursuit monoplane to enter
squadron service with the United States Army Air Corps. [Wikipedia] 

Making a Peg Plane...

Calling this a 'peg plane' is a little bit of a fib as I am starting the main bit of construction - the fuselage - will be done using a length of dowel rather than one of my usual beech dolly pegs. This is due to my decision to try out dowel as an economic alternative to pegs as dowel also offers the posibility of less waste cut-offs.

I begin by roughly sketching out the basic shape of the body of my plane on a section of dowel...

This is then roughly shaped using my rotary sanding machine, thinning the tube down to a point to create the tail of the plane. The length of the fuselage will be about 60mm, the effect being to shorten the overall size by squeezing it into a cartoon version of the real aircraft's dimensions (I believe the Japanese call this caricaturization of vehicles 'chibi' which is Japanese slang for 'something short).

Once I have the underlying shape I want it's time to work on some of the detail, like carving out the cockpit and adding the elongated flared headrest and the engine cowel...

With these rough shapes added they can then be smoothed down into their final shapes, blending them into - hopefully - a seamless and aerodynamic appearance. Additionally, I created a little pilot - or at least his head - using a small wooden bead, which I pinned in place...

It's starting to look like the P.26 now! The next job will be to work on the wings, but I'll leave it here for now and get on with some of my other 'production line'! 😂