The Little World

Those of you who have never seen me in a tee-shirt may be a little startled at the top image. I am hoping it has that effect on the owners of the construction company that used to own the Lockheed Lodestar CF-TDI…the one I am building at present. I sent them a letter yesterday asking whether they had any company history pictures of the old plane that they could email to me. As they are multi-billionaires, I do not expect a personal phone call, but as we used to slide down hills on a toboggan together at their Dad’s ranch, they may still remember me. 62 years cannot be that long ago…

Well, here in the part of the world that doesn’t own toboggans, the progress on CF-TDI is going well. The Czech Special Hobby company makes sure that there is plenty of interior in their kits to satisfy the detail freak – fortunately they also add extra parts for other versions of an airplane, and in this case they made a row of airliner seats. The version they depict on the kit box is much plainer but those seats are on the sprues and I am delighted.

The actual arrangement of CF-TDI is quite different from that of a plain Lockheed commercial ship – I think they decided to take out four of the front seats to leave a cargo space over the wing. I’ve got one picture taken in about 1951 of the interior with Fred Mannix and a few of the employees on the trip to Quebec to confirm this. My choice of colour is vague memory and speculation – as it is all closed up in the model I must keep it in my mind only.

I also keep in my mind memories of that chemical toilet at the back of the aircraft. I remember perching on it in freezing cold during turbulence – internal and external. And there was no washing facility – you wiped your hands on a premoistened towellete after you were done.

The Special Hobby people are getting better – this interior was nowhere near the nightmare that the Anson was, all that long ago when I started it. No warpage, no resin parts to fight. A little side trimming that will never be seen in the dark. I was briefly tempted to open the door  but decided that I was going to have enough sweating over the separate windows anyway.

Tasks to think through:

a. How to get the CF-TDI call letters on the wings – port under, starboard top. They are blocky black letters but no-one seems to have clear decal sheet or the old Letraset in stock in Perth, so it looks as though I will be trying to cut a stencil.

b. How to get those windows in evenly and flush with the outside of the fuselage. The same situation arose with the Northrop Delta 1 and, quite frankly, they look like a haunted house. I need to do better with these.

c. Whether to use the photo-etch brass flaps in the extended position. They are a nice touch, but none of the pictures I’ve seen of CF-TDI or any other Lodestar on the ground display them open.

I am avoiding thinking about the side lettering on the fuselage – it was a script ” Mannix Ltd ” with flowing lines – in red with a couple of speed lines framing the side windows. The speed lines don’t faze me but the script is going to be a real task.

Note – that interior paint is all lacquer – and it went on very smoothly.