Boeing 314A, Bill Matthews, 1/144 Airfix Injection Kit

This is an original Airfix kit, not a Minicraft re-issue. I first made it over 40 years ago. It had got very dilapidated, and not liking to throw models away, I decided to rebuild it, which turned out to be far more difficult than I had thought. When I first made it, I did a lot of experimenting with silver paint on it (brushed, of course), and in the process destroyed most of the elaborate surface detail. All the old paint was removed, and poor joints were re-made good by filing and filling before re-scribing all the detail, a long and quite difficult job. Broken propeller blades were replaced (the props still spin) and the model repainted to to-day's standards. The decals were bought from Minicraft (thanks, Sharon) for $6. I'm quite pleased with the result.

The 314A's main claim as a pioneer is that it operated the first regular transatlantic passenger service by aeroplane.