The files.. "The Flight of the Phoenix

An interesting project for the amazing toy museum in Nürnberg, Germany: build a large model of the contraption they put together to escape the desert in the classic movie.

Once again, a scratch build project. Fuselage was built from the ground up, but the wings and fins were customized items from the left overs pile.

By watching the movie over and over again (and this is the good one, with James Stewart) I developed a good idea of what the plane looked like.

The engine was kept real simple; built on an old Guillows vacform engine from one of their magnificent balsa models.

Mocking up.. at this stage, I always feel the project will go badly... This is the time when all I can do is to grit my teeth and think forward.

The landing, or rather, starting skids were built from balsa and plastic card and stock.

Painting is underway.A perfect engine cover was bought at the local hobby shop.

And here yours truly is signing some papers for the hand over in Nürnberg. A real fun project!