ceramic flying boats: March 2015

The Ceramic Flying Boats!

These ceramic flying boats are constructed from Opal stoneware clay, using a combination of cookie-cutting, moulding and carving to create the clay components.

clay components for Sikorsky S42s

The templates for the components are based on accurate plans of each aircraft, but some components need to be 'interpreted' to respect the properties of the clay. Ceramic struggles with very fine detail and so these boats are not highly accurate scale models - they're faithful ceramic interpretations of the original aircraft.

example of plans for Mayo composite aircraft from rcgroups.com

Once assembled, the boats air-dried for several days, shrinking 10% as the clay dries out. Once dry, the boats are fired in a kiln to a temperature of over 900° C in order to bisque (harden) the clay. The smallest air bubble in the clay will explode to boat during bisque firing!

boats during glazing and finishing

Once they survive the bisque firing, the boats are then glazed using a selection of Vision, Botz and Scarva glazes. Glazes are coloured glasses in water-based suspensions. The glazes are painted onto the boats using fine nylon brushes. Each glaze colour needs to be painted onto the boat three times, and some glazes chemically react (badly) with other glazes! Once glazing is finished, the boats are re-fired, this time to a temperature exceeding 1,000° C. If they survive the second firing, the boats are detail-finished in enamel paint, and then packed for sale.

It takes hours to design, construct, glaze and finish each of these ceramic flying boats. These boats are not toys and will break if dropped or if handled roughly! Fine ceramic details like props and tail pieces are especially vulnerable.

If you take care of your ceramic flying boat, it should last for thousands of years!

ceramicflyingboats@gmail.com

http://ceramicflyingboats.blogspot.ie/

http://www.flyingboatmuseum.com/

Mayo plan from http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2092376

Boeing B.314. 1939. U.S.A.

Boeing B.314.

The Boeing B.314 inaugurated the first regular transatlantic passenger and mail services from mid-1939, operated by Pan American World Airways. Twelve aircraft were constructed in total and the B.314 was the largest civil aircraft in the world. The aircraft could carry up to 74 daytime passengers, or 40 passengers in a night flight configuration. Boeing B.314s operated across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans throughout World War Two. Three B.314s were operated by BOAC and carried Winston Churchill on many intercontinental flights.

There is a life-size 314 mockup at the Foynes Flying Boat Museum, Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland. The Foynes museum is at the site of the original transatlantic flying-boat terminus.

This is a ceramic collectable, rather than a fully accurate scale model. Warning - this is not a toy – the ceramic is fragile and will break on impact! Smaller components like props and tail surfaces will break if handled roughly. Completely handmade and glazed in Ireland. Hand finished in enamel.

ceramicflyingboats@gmail.com

http://ceramicflyingboats.blogspot.ie/

http://www.flyingboatmuseum.com/

Vought Sikorsky VS44. 1942. U.S.A.

Vought Sikorsky VS44

American Export Airlines ordered three of these flying boats to fly ‘as far as possible, as fast as possible and with the greatest possible cargo’. Sikorsky based their design on the U.S. Navy’s XPBS-1 reconnaissance aircraft. All three VS44s were requisitioned by the U.S. Navy for the duration of World War Two, though they were operated in American Export colours, with civilian crews, thereby being able to access neutral countries such as Spain, Portugal and Ireland. The aircraft held many records, could carry cargo and passengers non-stop for more than 5,000 miles (8,000 km) in certain configurations and made the fastest non-stop flight between Europe and New York, having taken off in Foynes, Ireland.

Only NC-41881 ‘Excambian’ survived the war. It is preserved today in NEAM in New England, U.S.A..

'Excambian' in NEAM, New England

ceramicflyingboats@gmail.com

http://ceramicflyingboats.blogspot.ie/

http://www.flyingboatmuseum.com/

http://www.neam.org

Mayo Composite. 1938. United Kingdom

This piggyback aircraft project was devised by the technical chief of Imperial Airways, R. H. Mayo, as a way to transport cargo (especially mail) across long intercontinental routes. Both aircraft were built by Short Brothers in Rochester. The larger S.21 Maia was based on Shorts successful S.23 c-class Empire flying boat, whilst the smaller S.20 Mercury was designed to carry cargo for distances up to 6,000 miles (9,700 km).

The Mayo composite made its first attempt at a commercial flight across the north Atlantic on July 21^st 1938, taking off from Foynes in Ireland. The Mercury landed in Boucherville (Montreal) in Canada after a flight of 20 hours and 20 minutes, carrying 600lb (272kg) of freight and mail. After a series of experimental flights, both aircraft were destroyed during World War Two.