Alan Dent

1:32 and 1:35 scale
aviation modelling
Special Interest Group

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Gallery - Alan Dent

Alan Dent

Part II

We saw Alan's amazing work for the first time at the Southern Expo, held in Hornchurch, London over the weekend of 18th/19th March 2000.

The models illustrated here are either built from scratch - vacuum forming over hand carved wooden masters, or based on the Echelon Lightning kit in the case of the Lightning and P1. The photos don't do them justice - I've taken some 35mm shots and will post those when I have them developed.

Over to Alan:

I became interested in modelling way back in the year of 1949. For the youngsters out there it was all done in balsa, be it flying (in kit form) or carved from solid block to represent a static scale model. Now in my fifty-first modelling year I still find the hobby as engrossing as I did way back in those dark days immediately after the war. It was all hands on, long before all this new pre-formatted entertainment became common, ah happy days, the most exciting event (frequently) was a cut off the safety razor blade used in modelling, for the youngsters ask granddad.

In 1953 I was to build my first plastic kit, the scale is long forgotten but at a guess around 100th, it was a Lockheed Constellation, from then on I was hooked. The cost of kits in those days was, to say the least, expensive. To a 10 year old it represented approximately 3/4 plus weeks pocket money. The results were terrific, one afternoon two coats of paint and decaled. All well and good completing a kit in a day but it had its drawbacks, so it was back to the carving, of our dear old friend, the balsa block. I must add that the love affair with balsa did not end and in the future would become the backbone of my hobby building plastic models..

The years were to pass making conversions from the hints and tips found in Airfix mags' of the 60's.

Then in the early 70's vacforms appeared on the market, adding another dimension, one more string to the modellers elbow. This new medium was the spur to produce conversions which required building a vacform machine as outlined in an early 70's Scale Models Mag. This was to prove an instant success, though many pitfalls were encountered and overcome along the way, and it was well worth the perseverance. We realised that this presented us (at that time a gang of four) unlimited avenues to explore when making models. Over the years the simple 150mm by 150mm pulling board was increased to 300mm by 200mm. The main obstacle to overcome will be that of wife or mother, as the cooker was to provide the temperature to soften the 1mm plastic sheet. Later we purchased a second-hand cooker and adapted the grill to our requirements. In due course we were banished to the shed in order to carry on the process.

At this juncture I should return to the love affair with balsa. This inexpensive medium was used to shape the moulds required for vac-forming the conversions and complete kits. From now on the world would be our mollusc, no aircraft or any other component was out of reach i.e car bodyshell, tank turret, the list of possibilities was endless.

My own preference in modelling was British aircraft, 1944 up to the present day. The leap into complete kit form stemmed from my desire to produce all of the post war prototypes from piston engine aircraft, helicopters and finally the jets all in 72 scale. The leap into 32 scale was as a direct result of three of these prototypes, Short Sperrin, Avro Ashton and the Vickers (Tay engined) Viscount plus the VC10. Sadly many of these moulds were reduced to produce other moulds, for example the Viking 72 scale moulds were re-profiled into a Bloch 220, for one of the clubs displays.

The next leap was to further increase the available parts using RTV, for moulding white metal parts, i.e undercarriage parts, the same RTV would be used for making the masters for resin add ons when more than one kit of the same mark was required, as with the Blackburn Buccaneer, MKs 1 and 2.

Finding markings was once, one of the main problems when finishing the models. This was partly overcome by using roundels from various decal sheets, as were the serial letters and numbers. Alas the squadron markings were none existent and required hand painting, all the models shown have hand painted squadron markings except the English Electric Lightning T4. The badges and bars were courtesy of the local photocopying shop agreeing to print my art work, onto clear decal film.

Finally, I did not realise the interest in 32 scale was so vast, even if the subject matter is limited. I hope the photographs of some of my models inspire more modellers to be adventurous in their chosen field.

Happy modelling to all, remember its all about fun.

Alan

Phantom FG1

Conversion of the old Revell F4J, New canopy, new intakes, under fuselage tray and rear end for the jet pipes. This one dates back about 8 years.

Fairey FD2

The FD2 is somewhat older and is one of those home grown Vacforms. Alas like many of the others it no longer exists in this form, many years ago I began to re-work it as the BAC221, who knows I may even complete the beast.