LEGO Aircraft by David A. Karr

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WWI Aircraft

In December, 1994, I made two World War I airplanes. I made a biplane (19K JPEG image) and a triplane (20K JPEG image). The salient ingredient for these models is red plates. The old LEGO idea book (c. 1970) used plates extensively to emulate tapered objects and curved surfaces like wings and fuselages, and I did a bit of this too.

I had in mind actual WWI-era planes when I put together these models, but I was working quickly and from memory when I built them, so they're not extremely accurate. The biplane could probably be any of a number of aircraft, maybe an SE-5. the triplane was intended to be a Fokker DR-1, appropriately flown by the Red Baron. (I suppose if I could style the biplane as a Sopwith Camel and find a fitting Snoopy toy somewhere ...)

The steering wheels in the cockpit are an anachronism, of course; a joystick would be more appropriate. But I thought steering wheels would appeal more to my young daughters. I'd also like a better ``machine gun'' than a blue 1x6, though I recall that when I was 12, the 1x6 was entirely adequate.


Last updated Mon Sep 29 00:57:17 EDT 2003 .

From David A. Karr's LEGO Collection, by David A. Karr