The Little World

Hugo Junkers died in 1935. May he rest in peace.

What I am left speculating about is; was he buried in a corrugated coffin? All the Junkers planes I have built so far have featured this form of sheet metal and I am starting to think it would have been a nice touch if he could have been hauled off in a corrugated aluminium box…

I do not decry the principle of the thing. The fences round my properties and the sheds that make up their outbuildings are all constructed on the principle of corrugation. They stand up very well with a minimum of bracing. As long as the asbestos panels are not exposed, I am safe.

And I understand the idea of using corrugation for aircraft sheeting – it reduces weight while increasing resistance to flexing. More power to the Junkers designers.

But when it comes to decalling these surfaces, I start to quail. No matter what one might do to soften a decal, getting it to go down to the depth of a corrugation is a nervous procedure. Either it doesn’t go to full registry or it splits while trying to do so.

I’ve chosen the scheme that will call for the bare minimum of decalling on the Junkers. I’ve coated the bare paint with gloss lacquer varnish. And I’ve prepared myself for failure by excusing the whole thing beforehand.