Some Quite Shiny Aeroplanes....
These are from kits, and a later period than my usual. They are all (save one) machines that were not painted, but left with the metal bare. They are all in 1/72 scale (six feet to the inch) and to replicate their bare metal finish, are covered in aluminum foil, affixed by a glue similar to that used for setting gold leaf.
This is a Curtiss AT-9 advanced trainer at Williams Field, Arizona, in the summer of 1942. The machine was used to train aspiring pilots to fly 'hot' twin-engined aircraft, particularly, at Williams, the P-38 Lightning. This AT-9 crashed owing to engine failure on May 27, 1943. It's pilot, one John M. Proos, took successfully to his parachute and survived.
This a Seversky P-35, with the 94th Pursuit Squadron at Selfridge Field outside Detroit in 1938. This was the first modern all-metal single seat pursuit purchased by the Army Air Corps.
This is a Curtiss YP-37 of the 8th Pursuit Group Headquarters Flight at Langley Field in Virginia, early in 1940. The machine was more a test-bed for fitting a General Electric turbo-supercharger to an Allison motor than a serious attempt at producing a fighting machine. The combination proved unworkable in the early form attempted.
This is a Dewoitine D.501 of the 1st Eskadrile of the Lithuanian Military Aviation, early in 1939. A dozen of these French machines, acquired in 1937, comprised half the fighter strength of Lithuania's military when Hitler annexed Memel, and Stalin invaded the country.
This is a Navy Fighter Type S A8V1 of the 12th Kokutai, Imperial Japanese Navy, at Nanking in 1939. It is a two-seat export version of the Seversky P-35, twenty of which were sold clandestinely to Japan, and served as fast reconnaissance machines over China. This was the sole example of U.S. equipment ever purchased by Japan and used on combat operations.
This is a B-17D of the 50th Reconnaissance Squadron at Hickam Field, Hawaii, early in the summer of 1941. As was most of the Army Air Corps at Pearl Harbor, aircraft of this unit were caught on the ground and demolished on December 7, 1941.
This last features some paint over the foil surface, but bare metal is still a good portion of its appearance.
This is a Type 1 Army Fighter, or Ki-43, dubbed 'Peregrine Falcon' in Japan, and known to U.S. Forces as 'Oscar'. It was flown by Sgt. Maj. Kyushiro Ohtake of the 25th Sentai, who was the sole member of his unit to survive WWII, though he died in 1951 of the lingering effects of wounds received over Seoul two days before Japan surrender. The Japanese Army Air Force camouflaged machines in the field by daubing green paint in various patterns on the unpainted machines sent out to front-line units.
Hope you have enjoyed the display!
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Like a Frank Lloyd Write building.
The lowest grade 'dollar store' stuff is best for the purpose, especially when there are curves and fairings to be foiled over.
While it is a striking beast, a Lightning is not a likely project for me. I have a Twin Mustang on the shelf, and may one day get to that.
My principle interest is older machines....
This is a Breguet U1 'afinne' of Escadrille BR17 in Alsace in September 1914, flown by Sgt. France Vaurin. Breguet's 'single spar' biplanes were about the oddest things that flew even in the pioneer days. This is scratch-built, no one would ever dream of trying to market a kit of this thing....
You would never see me set foot inside a single-spar biplane! “Sturdy” is not the first word that comes to mind - one had to be a brave loon to entrust their life to such a contraption.
A twin Mustang would be even cooler than a Lightning! But I can see that the earlier era would hold more fascination for a detail man like yourself - before all the sleek aerodynamics and flush rivets took over.
So are those radiators on either side of the front fuselage in the BR17 or are those the box lunches for the in-flight meal? 
Even today, I couldn't come close to what you've done.
Indeed, rather than Rydell, it's Revell as you point out. That being said, after Googling a bit, I think it was actually a Monogram B-52 (circa 1979) that I put together as a kid.
As mentioned, I was horrible with the plastic cement, and painting was even worse. The best I ever did was a REVELL P-52 Mustang that I painted black before putting on the decals. Didn't look half-bad, but probably not to US military standards either!
I also did a Boeing 747 in green, probably to emulate Calder's Flying Colors for Braniff!
Revell and Monogram merged, but I am not sure when, and kits of both were put under one another's labels when they did. All that survives nowadays, to the best of my knowledge, is a German branch of Revell.
A black Mustang would be striking. I have never built one, but have seen some in Nationalist Chinese markings which intrigue me. As a law-abiding modeler, I have done a sharkmouth P-40, though....
This is a P-40N of the 73 Fighter Squadron at Kwailin in China, in 1944. The Type 1 Army Fighter above was built as a sort of companion to this, as the units often encountered one another.
I must say that I am very impressed with the foil coating on the the other models above too. Something we never thought of as kids. We both moved on to other hobby interests after a few years and a few relocations... when in a military family, downsizing for mobility becomes a frequent ritual and complex hobbies fall by the wayside, sadly.
I have taken up numerous other hobbies over the years and retain the "works" for them in convenient storage containers for easy access. Don't know that I would take up model making again but I do admire the artistry of it and those who embrace it.
Your work is admirable, do carry on, Sir. 
Model autos never appealed to me, but I have seen some very work done with them, and when well finished they can be spectacular.
That collection of Britains is quite a thing to have. Those were the pre-eminent 'toy soldiers', and done to a very high standard.
I had my first after school job at a large hobby shop, which carried a large stock of lead figurines in 54mm, including the Stadden line. For a while those quite eclipsed aircraft for me. I still do one or two on occasion.
This is an English subaltern of the Second Afghan War, a 54mm figure sold by Art Girona as being one of the 66th Foot at Maiwand, where the regiment was cut to pieces in one of the classic defeats England took at times on the Northwest Frontier. It was the closest I could come nowadays to matching an old figure I remembered having done when young, that on a whim I went hunting one night through the inter-tubes to see if I could track one down.
There are sites on the net where modelers gather. There is vastly more information available now, and it is more easily acquired. Usually of you have a question, someone will know the answer, and be happy to share.
Is your collection still intact, Sir? I do hope so. Mine are pretty fragile and I doubt many would survive if we were to move.
Once they put that big vertical tail on the B-17, it ceased to be pleasant to look at. Doubtless it was a better flying machine, and a better fighting aircraft as well. Military aircraft don't have to look good, they just have to function well.
I do find the obscure and out of the way more intrigues my mind. Here are a couple of pictures of a scratch-built model of a machine now quite obscure, but which in its day it was a mainstay of the French Aviation Militaire...
It is a Maurice Farman MF. 11, of Escadrille MF67 at the Battle of Artois in September, 1915. This was the standard French observation machine from October 1914, till the start of 1916, and was built in quite large numbers for the time. The device on the nacelle is a 120cm focal length camera, which served as the unit's 'magnifying glass', to provide detailed pictures of points which smaller cameras had indicated might need a closer look.
I'm a big WWII aviation buff.
My own interest centers more on Great War types, and on the interwar period. This latter does bleed over into the early days of the Second World War.
Here is one which straddled the line neatly, and is shiny to boot, though the shine is a replication of well-maintained aluminum dope, not bare metal....
This is a Gloster Gladiator of No. 33 Sqdn, operating from Ramallah in Mandatory Palestine, early in 1939.
An appalling cock-up....
Some people do excellent models of civil machines, but certainly the modern jetliners hold little charm for me.
The old Vimy 'Commercial' intrigues me, it was the first item resembling a modern airliner just after the Great War.
And there is something teases at me in this photograph...
It would need to be a scratch-build, but there is information out there on the Swallow mailplane.
Some time ago I posted pictures from my grandfather's photo album. From the sequence, this would have been in the late 1930s and my Dad was likely among the boys towards the tail of the plane:
The pictures immediately following the airplane pics are of the Chicago World's Fair in 1933 (also known as the Century of Progress) so I don't know if thee airfield photos were close to their home in Central Florida or possibly somewhere near Chicago. Grandfather had to report to the management of the company he worked for in Chicago once a year and the family often combined their vacation with that trip.
That is a very nice picture. Looking at it, I would expect it was taken in Florida. The markings on the tail indicate this was an aircraft of the 9th Bomber Group (B for bomber, I for 9th), and possibly the aircraft flown by the squadron leader of the 1st Bombardment Squadron (each group had an HQ Flight, allotted numbers 1 through 10, each of the group's three squadrons got a block of 30, running 11 to 40, 41 to 70, 71 to 100). Squadron leaders usually took the first or last number in their unit's block, and I suspect a 1st Squadron leader would have a hard time resisting the first number as his choice. The 9th Bomb Group operated on the east coast, so a Florida location seems most likely for the picture, and the time would be between 1936 and 1938.
The aircraft is a Martin B-10, probably a production B-10B. It is a significant aeroplane, as being the first modern bomber employed in the Army Air Corps, and faster than most Army fighters when it first came into service. It is a favorite of mine, and I did a model of the early trials version, which was first employed during an interesting passage when Air Mail contracts were taken over (in 1934) by the Army. It handled the trans-continental routes, from Oakland to Newark and vice versa.
The fuselage and nacelles of the airplane in your grandfather's picture would have been a deep, slightly grey-toned blue, rather then the olive drab on my model. The paint scheme employed by the Army was altered in the middle of 1934. The wings and tail would have been the same orange-tinged yellow.
I returned to modeling after a 40 year layoff myself a couple of years ago. Mostly cars and military ground vehicles so far. Aircraft are intimidating, with their seams needing filling and all the masking for the paint. I got sucked back in by a nice hobby shop owner down in AZ who posts YouTube videos. Andy's Hobby Headquarters, if you are interested. He also started a FB group, The Mediocre Modelers Group, where folks would love to have you share your work. Stop on by, sometime, it's a friendly crowd!
I have a lot of respect for armor modelers, the suggestions of wear and tear that their models often feature can give a striking impression of a real object shrunk down in size. Most people who try and weather aircraft do way too much of it. Often armor modeling blends over into doing figures, which is a high art indeed.
I may contact the gentleman you reference. I am quite low on EZ-Line, an elastic material I employ for rigging. It has been a while since had to acquire any, and if I do start up again, it will probably be on this stalled project, which would require quite bit of the stuff...
This is what I had begun a few years back to attempt replicating: 'El Sonora', a Martin Flyer employed during 1913 and 1914 by Gen. Obregon in the Mexican revolution:
Are you familiar with the Wingnut Wings model brand? They specialize in WW I planes, and have a high reputation for accuracy, as well as overall quality. They are owned by Peter Jackson, of Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movie fame, and are a New Zealand company. Rigging, of ships, or aircraft, is not anything I'll be having a go at anytime soon, but I do like a bit of dirt and rust on my models. Andy does have an online business he just started last year https://andyshhq.com and here is one I use https://www.scalehobbyist.com/index.php
Less costly, and takes up less space on a shelf. Easier for the detail-minded to let a few things go, too. If I worked in 1/32, I am afraid I could not be satisfied unless the instrument dials could be read....
Here is one more fairly shiny subject....
It is a Mitsubishi Type 96 Carrier Fighter, of the 14th Kokutai at Nanking in March, 1938, flown by one P/O Tetsuzo Iwamoto. It is not bare metal, but foil painted over with silver lacquer --- the Japanese Navy applied aluminum lacquer to its otherwise unpainted machines, to protect the metal against corrosion from sea salt and spray. Tetsuzo Iwamoto is a reputed 'ace' pilot with a long career, but is somewhat controversial --- a man who claims five victories in his first air combat draws a jaundiced eye from some, myself included.
