02/08/2026
Something a little different this time, it's a bit of a story...:
A couple of months back Penguin Men's Shed was given a 1:18 model of a Spitfire Mk 1A. The model had come in pieces in a magazine, a new edition every week or two. There were 120 magazines in total!!!! These were originally being collected by a Penguin man but unfortunately he passed on before receiving all the magazines and was unable to build it. His wife continued to collect until the set was completed, all it needed was someone to assemble it. The lady called the Men's Shed, the story continues...
This is quite an advanced model and needed someone with serious modelling experience and lots of spare time.
After a few weeks I found just the man for the job - a keen modeler, much of it with ships - he has been having a few nasty health issues and the inactivity was causing him grief. Having just finished a display model of the "Black Pearl" (a sailing ship) he was looking for a new challenge.
So it was that the Spitfire found its way from Penguin to Port Sorell. A few weeks later the model is pretty much complete. This is a complex model with hundreds of parts, motors, gearboxes, lots of electronics, sound effects and simulated flying. The last 20 magazines provided extras, various support vehicles, buildings etc to add to the diorama effect.
So here we are - the cover of one of the magazines, and a couple of minutes of video showing the completed model taking off, flying and landing. There remains an issue with the landing gear (it should retract) but that just leaves him one more little challenge.
Thank you to the lady who donated this model, it was great to be able to pass it on to a man who needed something like this and I am sure this has helped him.
