Kenny's Old Time Model Airplane Magazine
by Ken Horne
This marvelous web page offers a variety of plans as well as nostalgic memories of modeling and aviation from "days gone by." Ken's enthusiastic appreciation and enjoyment of the hobby is obvious.
In Ken's own words:
"I like to read old flying model airplane magazines
from, say, 1935-1945. Sometimes I build the models; sometimes I just look. Some of my
models fly; some just sit around and look good. Some I never finish. To me, the fun is in
floating through the time machine and being absorbed into this fascinating period of
aviation, and world history. "
"Although the flying model plans are the highlights of these magazines, what I always
look at first, I have grown more and more interested in the rest of the content. The
solid, shelf model plans, or 3-views, can be made into attractive models. Pick a low wing
closed cockpit monoplane, carve it out of balsa, and leave it lying around. Little kids
used to do this, but today it will attract attention like you would never expect. The
stories read like old radio shows. High on drama, comedy, and excitement... not exactly
prime sources of subtlety or ambiguity. Even the advertisements, sometimes especially the
advertisements, are sources of entertainment. "
"With luck, and your feedback, I will be able to share with you the emotion and
feeling of these Golden Age magazines."
"The old magazines, Model Airplane News, Bill Barnes Air Trails, and Flying Aces in particular, were the source of these pulp fiction style hero stories, model airplane plans, and current event news articles. By posting small snips of these magazines, I hope to offer a fair representation of this age."
The site features reproduced articles, plans and advertisements from vintage aviation, and aviation modeling magazines. The files are reproduced in PDF Adobe Acrobat format. While there are not many plans, the site is just too much fun to ignore....
Example: A solida model plan set from
