I used to build models for a living, building oil refineries, off-shore drill platforms, shopping centers, pipe-line laying ships, abig model of the Cutty Sark sailing ship for a museum, etc. At a later time, for a side line, I put my name in at hobby shops on their bulletin boards offering to build models for people. I built RC gliders, the big Top Flight Spitfire and Corsair, and plastic models, (which is how I got into the B-17 balsa model with aluminum sheeting, as discussed earlier.) When I would build a plastic model, I would build two or three at the same time, practicing on one, and improving one the second. The best model goes to the customer, and the inferior of the two I would keep. The photos below are from an A-6 Intruder that I built for a gunny who wanted to give it to a friend. I built this model about 25 years ago. I have about a hundred un-built models in my storage room for some future date. One of the things I do on my planes with the gear extended, is place them on a griddle that goes on my stove, and then the burner is turned on. As the griddle heats up, the tires get flat on the bottom and bulge a little looking as if there is weight on them. I know I did it on the A-6 but it may be hard to see. For my "remove before flight" flags on the ejection seats, I use #46 wire and took the foil off the back of Wrigley's gum wrappers. That foil was about .0005" thick. I could peel it off, flatten it out, paint red, cut in strips, glue the wire on and then glue the other end of the wire onto the appropriate location. I was going to put tags on the nose of each of the bombs, but lost motivation on this model before I did.
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