This year has been a slow one for me with only 27 completed models, normally it’s somewhere in the 40s. Before I made this list I thought this low build rate was because I’d spent so much time during the year getting The Little Aviation Museum going, but it’s not really that simple.
The main theme for the year seems to be Qantas with eight models bearing the name: Consolidated PBY-5, Consolidated LB30, Short Sandringham, Avro Lancastrian, DeHavilland Drover, Airbus A.330-300, a Comet 4 wet leased from BOAC and a QantasLink Airbus A.320.
Ten of the kits were resin: Caudron 232, Bombardier CRJ200, Farman 380, SNCASE Armagnac, Short Sandringham, Caudron 59, DeHavilland Drover, Republic XF-103, Breguet Atlantic, Boeing 247
Five models went in for significant surgery: Consolidated LB30, Bleriot XI and the three DeHavilland Comets. The only kits that did not put up a fight were: Consolidated PBY-5 (though I had to civilianize it and make new decals) Douglas A4D-1 (though it was converted back from A4D-2 standard), Sopwith Triplane, Roland D.II, Grumman F9F-8 and the two Airbus A.320s.
About half the models have aftermarket decals and Hawkeye contributed seven sets: Consolidated LB30, Short Sandringham, Avro Lancastrian, Airbus A.330-300, the wet leased Comet 4 and the two .320s.
Looking at my production in this light I should not perhaps be so hard on myself. And perhaps I should resolve to make more kits straight from the box in this new year (though somehow I can’t see that happening.
So let’s see what all these models look like.
January 2022
Consolidated PBY-5 – Qantas Empire Airways, G-AGID, c.1944 – Minicraft 1/144
February 2022
Douglas A4D-1 – VA-93 aboard the USS Ticonderogsa, 1957 – Airfix 1/72
Caudron 232 – Aero Club d’Auvergne, F-AJYK, October 1930 – Dujin 1/72
Bombardier CRJ200 – Delta Connection, N818CA, November 2006 – Welsh Models 1/144
March 2022
Farman 380 – sole aircraft, 1933 – Adrien Roy 1/72
Consolidated LB30 – Qantas Empire Airways, VH-EAI, late 1940s – Crown 1/144
Bleriot XI – aircraft flown by Bleriot across the English Chanel, July 1909 – Eastern Express 1/72
April 2022
Sopwith Triplane – 10 Squadron RNAS, aircraft flown by Raymond Collishaw, 1917 – Kovozavody Prostejov 1/72
S-75 Dvina – a standard S-75, 1960s -Maquette 1/72
May 2022
SNCASE 2010 Armagnac – TIS, F-WAVD, 1953 – F-RSIN 1/144
Short Sandringham – Qantas Empire Airways, VH-EBX, 1951 – F-RSIN 1/144
Avro Lancastrian – Qantas Empire Airways, VH-EAS, 1948 – Amodel 1/144
June 2022
Roland D.IIa – Jasta 25 in Macedonia, 1918 – Kovozavody Prostejov 1/72
Caudron 59 – aircraft flying in Manchuria in the 1920s – Omega Models 1/72
July 2022
DeHavilland Australia DHA-3 Drover – Qantas, VH-EBR, New Guinea, 1952 – Welsh Models 1/144
Dassault Mystere IVA – Armee de l’ air, Centre de Tir et Bombardement, Cazeaux, 1959 – Matchbox 1/72
August 2022
Republic XF-103 – the mockup, March 1953 – Anigrand 1/72
Grumman F9F-8 – US Navy Blue Angels, c.1958 – Hasegawa 1/72
September 3022
DeHavilland Comet 3B – BEA, G-ANLO, Farnborough Air Show, 1958 – Airfix 1/144
Breguet 1150 Atlantic – Number 9, Aeronautique Navale, Lann-Bihoue, 1980 – Welsh Models 1/144
October 2022
DeHavilland Comet 4B – Represents: BEA, G-APMA, January 1969 – Airfix 1/144
Boeing 247D – United Air Lines, NC13363, early 1935 – Welsh Models 1/144
November 2022
North American L-17A Navion – US Army, 1951 – Valom 1/72
Airbus A.330-300 – Qantas, VH-QPA, 2010 – Airfix 1/144
December 2022
DeHavilland Comet 4 – BOAC/Qantas, G-APDP, early 1960s – Airfix 1/144
Airbus A.320 – Air Australia, VH-TQC, January 2012 – Zvezda 1/144
Airbus A.320 – QantasLink, VH-JQL, December 2019 – Zvezda 1/144
Leigh Edmonds little box of stuff 