JHS Skybirds

[lastvautour]

Transfered from the Gallery section.  Lou


From Will

Barry,

Some of your new JHS photos do seem to show models shown or noted in Sinclair's 1994 "Skybird Notes" book.  In that book they're all stated as 1/36 scale though, reflecting JHS words in "Scale Model Aircraft" and also the plans advertised in the back of the same book (which I presume were enlargements of the 1/72 on in the book)?
Are these models in your collection?
Will

[lastvautour]

3rd Comment

Sorry everybody, this book was published in 1994 so would definitely be coyright.  The book does say that some of the original drawings by JHS were still in existance (then) so someone somewhere may know where they are, .

Will

[lastvautour]

4th Comment from Dave T

I get the impression that "Skybird Notes" is extremely rare. It would be nice to get just a glimpse of it- for academic purposes.

[lastvautour]

5th Comment from Mark

They are very expensive when you do find them.  Luckily, I got mine when first published.
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&tn=Skybird+Notes&x=41&y=14

[lastvautour]

6th Comment from Will


Guys,

I've uploaded some Skybirds kit plans from Skybirds Notes.  Unfortunately adding the details went pear-shaped in multi-file mode and I don't seem to be able to access anything other than my project album to edit.

Enjoy the plans anyway.

Will

[lastvautour]

From Ray

The plans are there, they're just in PDF format and the gallery doesn't make thumbnails for PDF's. You'll have to download them or just click them if your browser has a PDF reader on board. Sorry for the bugs guys. The program came with the site.
It was quite reliable and will be again.

[lastvautour]

From Barry

Will,you could get around this quite easily,do some screen grabs of the plans and simply save them as jpeg's,you can crop the edges etc,the pdf files are not very forum friendly and do not upload this is probably the problem.

Sorry that I missed you today on the landline I will ring you tomorrow for a chat on Skybirds,yes you know where I was ! at the workshop building replica Skybirds until late,then I did a midnight food shop,thats retired life for you.

Barry

[lastvautour]

From Dave T

I had a look at the Skybird pdf files in the gallery and knowing nothing about them at all, it made me wonder- were these the type of drawings that came with the kits or was there something more detailed (cross-sections, etc)?

The drawing of the soldiers was nice, were they cast lead or "pot-metal"?

[lastvautour]

From Barry

Dave these James Hay Stevens plans are virtually identical with what was presented in the sets,no cross sections were ever used by Skybirds,in fact I have never seen any cross sections on any of his plans ?
One thing that is generally not known is that Stevens also had a monthly plans feature in the 'Air Stories' pulp magazine,once again the drawings are identical and include some interesting 'bonus' items never kitted by Skybirds,for example the little known Vickers Bullet biplane.
I think it is time to dig these drawings out and scan them for placing within our files,another bonus is that they include detailed building instructions right down to cloth buttons being used for wheels ! I have managed to pick up some of these old buttons from car boot sales etc,you fill the centre with filler and re-drill a centre hole then build up the cone,as they are very narrow in profile they suit WW1 aeroplanes very well. 
I am delighted at all this renewed interest in Skybirds and more especially the information,plans and photographs that are coming forward.
Barry

[lastvautour]

From Dave T


Barry, thanks for that information. It is interesting how resourceful people were in the 1930s. A while back, I uploaded some homemade toy vehicles photos in my "inspiration" gallery. They were made in the '30s by a father as gifts for his children and I noticed they had similar metal wheels. It turned out he worked at a place where they went through a lot of typewriter ribbon spools, so he put them to good use.

[lastvautour]

From Barry


Dave I love resourcefulness and I think it is something that people today should take into account as they throw useful things away down the tip,examples of good uses for items in model building and fretworking were illustrated in the old 'Hobbies Weekly' magazines,anyone here subscribe to them ? over the years they did some excellent plans which you could purchase wood packs for direct from Hobbies Ltd at Dereham in Norfolk.
The help section at the back of the magazines told you how to make everything from home made lamp black paint to nylon stockings for filtering lumpy paint !
I have built several solids from the free plans that were given away in wartime issues of 'Hobbies Weekly' including the Blackburn Botha,Defiant,Dornier Do.215 etc
Wooden sewing reel bobbins were mentioned in an issue of the 'Aeromodeller' magazine for use in radial engines,and by the way modern bobbins are made from plastic so hoard those old ones.
Barry.

[lastvautour]

From Mark

I think the James Hay Stevens 3-views that appeared in Air Stories and the accompanying instructions for building 1:72 scale models were somewhat more sophisticated than the Skybirds kits.  There were usually two 3-views per issue, one with instructions and one without, the latter clearly aimed at more skilled modellers.  I have a stack of these 3-views, the actual pages cut from the magazines (no, it wasn't me that cut them out).   Here's the Air Stories/Stevens 3-view for the Sopwith Snipe.

Mark  

[lastvautour]

From Mark

For those not familiar with Skybirds, they were partially pre-carved mahogany solids with tail surfaces made in celluloid at first and later in red fiber.  Cast lead parts and brass turnings in most of them.  Here's pristine unmade Percival Gull Four still in-the-box.  These elaborate red box kits were pre-WW2.  They were greatly simplified during WW2.   They were in production from 1932 to approximately 1946.   There were also dozens of cast lead figures, both civilian and military, motorcycles, machine gun crews, parachutists, lorries, petrol bowsers, hangars, etc to go with the airplanes.

Mark

[lastvautour]

From Dave

That is really something, the way they packaged those kits, everything neatly arranged and fastened down. Fantastic.

[Balsabasher]

Every part was fastened by hand and laced into the boxes with a needle,if they were done incorrectly then the sorter was docked her pay and had to re-string the whole lot again,the strung box system was started by Meccano except in their case every nut was screwed onto every single bolt,the attractiveness of the presentation led to some stunning window displays in model and fancy goods shops and was no doubt part of the success of Skybirds,the countrywide clubs and the annual model competitions ensured a big following of these products,the prizes were substantial.
See the latest pictures that I have placed under 'Solid model sightings' here you will see the largest collection of extant Skybirds products.
Barry.