Jet Fighter – this day in 1942 saw the Messerschmitt ME262 become operational. It’s shark-like appearance and brute speed must have been an eye opener for the allied pilots. A far cry from the bubble car a decade later as seen in yesterday’s posting.
July 18, 2017
The Swallow
June 13, 2017
Roundel Clad
Aces High – the little fighter is complete. Though I rushed and mucked up the tissue a bit, it is presentable and probably decent enough to wind up and fly.
June 9, 2017
Drum Roll
A Skin Game – delicate less than paper thin tissue sheets glued over the spars, ribs and stringers; then a spray down with water and the covering becomes drum tight. Need to find a cellulose dope alternative to give the paper added strength.
June 9, 2017
Merlin Rubber Band
Supermarine – the balsa Spitfire is taking great shape. Indeed the classic elliptical wing designed by Canadian aerodynamicist Beverley Shenstone is obvious. RJ Mitchell’s overall layout is pure in form and elegant in execution. Tissue paper covering next!
June 7, 2017
Tour of Duty
War Machine – BSA M20 in military patina. In marvelous aged appearance; the greyed olive drab is ready to thump over European lanes.
May 31, 2017
Airfix or Bust!
B.S.A. Scaled – just finished this little Tamiya BSA M20 model kit. First one I’ve built for thirty odd years. 1:35 scale with darned small waterslide transfers. I have the rider and bike in courier colors but this would have been the model my grandfather rode across North Africa during WW2. Next throwback hobby: balsa Spitfire!
May 5, 2017
Dame Rider
Pink Lady – Proud Helen Kiss Main on a her delightfully colorful Indian Scout. She was the first treasurer and one of the first 51 charter members of Motor Maids the oldest continually operated women’s motorcycling organization established in 1940.
(Bike make and model corrected)
April 20, 2017
Breath Easy
Whit a Gas! – Dusty trail across a rocky Mediterranean isle. An Indian Sikh despatch rider putting on his gas mask during a 50-mile motorcycle trial in Cyprus, 3 March 1942. A well worn BSA M20. The
March 22, 2017
Supermarine
Spitfire! The V12 Rolls Royce Griffon engine belches into life of one of the most marvelous machines ever created. This is a Mk XVI
January 17, 2017
Doughnut Delivery
Giant Scarab – I spotted this patina-rich coffee & doughnut van scuttling about the City recently. Elegant hand painted script cheerily advertising a morning refreshment for construction and office worker alike. It’s a doughty International Harvester Metro Van, produced between 1938 and 1975 keeping its distinctive flowing form well into the sixties when its edges were squared off to meet a demand for something new. The flowing gumdrop lines were created by the capable hand of Mr Streamline himself, Raymond Loewy.
December 18, 2016
Big Brother
Thought Police – a 1956 film adaptation of George Orwells dystopian novel published just eight years prior had the ThinkPol riding the then futuristic looking Vincent Black Knight.
December 17, 2016
Orwellian musings
True Words – “all vehicles are equal but some vehicles are more equal than others” Napoleon
May 24, 2016
Pans, Flats, Shovels & Knuckles
Harley Davidson – the local manufacturer made good attendance at the northern Illinois gathering on Sunday. Each was careworn with decades of roadwon patina.
April 28, 2016
Organization
Knolling- a new verb to utilize in my life of disorder. I do it unconsciously already for some assembly tasks. It is the laying out in a squared away fashion all of the items and components of the thing to be built. Here’s a Knolled wartime Triumph TRW 500 from Burton Bike Bits.
It was coined by sculptor Tom Sachs who adopted the term from a janitor at Frank Gehry’s furniture workshop, Andrew Kronelow, who, whilst working on a range of Florence Knoll’s furniture, would lay all tools, materials and fixtures in a right-angled arrangement.
“BULLET II: ALWAYS BE KNOLLING (ABK)”
- Scan your environment for materials, tools, books, music, etc. which are not in use.
- Put away everything not in use. If you aren’t sure, leave it out.
- Group all ‘like’ objects.
- Align or square all objects to either the surface they rest on, or the studio itself.
April 21, 2016
QE2 ninety
19 year old Princess Elizabeth riding slalom on a military 250cc BSA during the Second World War as part of the ATS (Auxilliary Territorial Service). Her main role was maintaining ambulances and ’tilly trucks.
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