wonwinglo

Do you remember ?-Aviette kits.
Over the years literally thousands of companies have come and gone in the world of model building,the hard facts are that quite a few of these companies were set up by enthusiasts with sometimes more enthusiasm than business acumen,some just dies a death overnight,others lingered on hoping that they would make their fortunes but very rarely they did.
Sometimes the various products required extensive tooling,skill and expertise to set up and once again the hard facts are that very few companies re-couped their initial outlay,having been up this very avenue myself when a small band of us produced what was then probably the very first ARTF model to be launched in the UK with a total production figure of 557 models,not many by todays standards but I am proud of that design and the number of people that it got airborne and taught them to fly.
So what about Aviette kits ? well what I do know of this blast from the past is that they produced some truly excellent kitted designs,most of these had foam wings quite a revelation at that time and had one of the largest facilities for mass production of wings that I am aware of,the equipment was built in house together with the essential extractor fans to take away the noxious fumes that foam produces.
From the kits that I remember the largest was for a North American B-25 Mitchell bomber,once again a very ambitious design for its time it came in just as the company was going into decline,another model which never quite made it was for a Hawker Hurricane coming complete with a moulded high impact plastic fuselage and foam wings,I saw this on show one year at Cranfield but never saw it advertised in the modelling press ?
The company had its headquarters at Newport Pagnell and at its peak were listed 15 kitted designs which were all great flyers.

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'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
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