Walkarounds – www.modeldesigns.net

IVL K.1 Kurki revisited

Posted on 03.01.2019 by admin

You might remember back in 2015 when I visited Vesivehmaa aviation museum? I did get great pictures of many interesting planes. One which was in appaling condition was so ugly that I got interested into it and when I heard that Ilmailumuseo finished restoring it I immediately decided to visit it.

Here it is… This is truly an sight only mother of the plane would love. But still, it is in much better condition than last time I saw it. Took some pics for your viewing pleasure.

See also previous photo gallery. That was bad then. It really is in much better state. But still this plane is ugly.

Here is something completely different.. Sisilisko which is almost like WWS-1 “Salamandra” but not quite.

Posted on 31.10.2018 by admin

Short story : Time and location is 1947 Finland, Tampere. There was an ambitious and exciting aviation club, Tampereen Ilmailuyhdistys (TIY Ry) seeking good sailplane for their club flying. They set their eyes to WWS.1 Salamander they have seen with their more southern colleagues, PIK. They tried to obtain plans for it but were not so successful. I have read some comments that the plans were too expensive, but who knows.

This small obstacle did not stop TIY. They decided to design an plane inspired by Salamander. And name it as Sisilisko, which is almost directly translated Salamander to finnish. Chief designer was Paavo Järvenpää. Building started same year and was completed 1950. Only one plane was built. Design proved to be great flyer. Fun fact : there is also some links between Salamandra and PIK-5a, but this too long story to put here.

In year 1961, after many flights plane was sold to Jyväskylä. Then after some time it came back. After restoration it spent some time in display at Vapriikki @ Tampere. Then back to storage, Now it is time to take it out of storage and start planning for putting it to display. Again.

I have participated in Pirkanmaa Ilmailuhistoriallinen Seura Ry (PIHIS, Pirkanmaa Aviation Historical Society) projects before (see this then this and finally this). When I heard of this project I knew that I simply must participate it. First step is to get plane out of long term storage. Weather was cold and windy, but plane itself is in good shape. Properly packed in bubble wrap. Which caused some limitations for photography, but still this is great stuff. Actually I had never seen this plane in real life and only seen couple bw-photos of it. So orange colour was real surprise.

We moved plane from one storage to another for further study. I trust that this is really good progress and I am aware of further planning of new location. Hopefully it will find nice home like the PIK-12.

I will keep you updated on further developments, meanwhile some pics below.

Some further reading :

Eklund TE-1 @ Ilmailumuseo

Posted on 17.03.2018 by admin

Here is an nifty and nice small waterplane. It was originally built as ambifious plane but due weight considerations wheels were removed. For further info see here.

Kessel 12A 13 @ Ilmailumuseo

Posted on 03.03.2018 by admin

Here are couple old pics of Kessel 12A (id 13) which was waiting for it’s restoration. Plane completed restoration and is currently hanging from ceiling of main hall. For short article of plane see here.

VL Sääski

Posted on 24.02.2018 by admin

VL Sääski is one of my all-time-favourite Finnish biplanes. It has simple, yet sleek lines and it looks rather light. Name Sääski comes from finnish, meaning mosquito. This post contains pics from three sources listed below and it is extremely long. It is not really walk-around, it is 3x walk-arounds. Great.

VL Sääski was designed in 1928 (see Wiki here). You can see original sales- & information material at finnish national digital archives. It was originally built in float, ski and wheel variants. Only surviving examples are float ones and to mu knowledge there are no plans around for wheel version.

To the actual VL Sääskis. One should note that there is an VL Sääski at Nors Luftfartsmuseum @ Bodø, Norway. It’s replica and the story behind (and it’s owner) is intriguing.

First, you should visit Maritime Centre Vellamo @ Kotka. It ia incredibly nice maritime history museum containing among other things seaplanes. They have VL Sääski in maritime customs livery hanging from ceiling, id LK-1. This is so nice…

Second, you should Aviation Museum @ Vantaa.

They have VL Sääski at display, bearing identification SÄ-122.

Last, but not least

Some years ago, I was visiting Vesivehmaa Aviation museum, obviously @ Vesivehmaa. They had some VL Sääski wings in rather derelict mode in one corner of museum.

VL Tuisku @ Ilmailumuseo

Posted on 19.02.2018 by admin

Here is an classic Finnish biplane. It is an Finnish trainer aircraft designed and built in 1930’s. Approx 31 was built and this example is nicely preserved in Ilmailumuseo at Vantaa. For more planes at Ilmailumuseo check corresponding tags on right pane (–>). Walk-around pics of original, for model aeroplane plan see below.

For extremely rare vintage plan of this plane see here (51mb file). Preview below.

Bonus!

I went through old pics in my archives and stumbled on pics of separate Tuisku wing which was hanging on Ilmailumuseo wall. It is partially covered so you can see internals of wing.

Pics of full size VL Myrsky II -project

Posted on 20.07.2017 by admin

Visited Finnish Airforce Museum (Suomen Ilmavoimamuseo / Keski-Suomen Ilmailumuseo @Tikkakoski near Jyväskylä…) to see interim display of Aviation Museum Association (my own translation, I do not know the official translation) restoration / replication / rebuild-project of VL Myrsky II. Rebuild-project has been continuing for some time now and current state was up for display for summer break. For finnish language announcement of event see here.

Breathtaking project with craftsmanship out of this world.

I really know that this is so pic heavy post that it pushes everything else from first page, but… it is worth of it. See below. And visit museum!