In a previous post on the 1920s French-made Auto-Cycle kits I mistakenly mention that the kit parts were made of aluminum, steel and rubber. A reader emailed and corrected me, he said there were plastic parts used in these kits- but what kind of plastic?
He is looking to repair the airplane below. In the attached images, body panels and wings appear to be acrylic but plastics available during the 1920s were pretty much restricted to Celluloid and Bakelite, neither material being available in the bright and translucent colours shown here, so it is a bit of a mystery. Of course we can't discount the possibility that someone has replaced the parts with more recently developed plastics in the past 90 or so years...
Catalin plastic was made in bright colors that were somewhat translucent.
ReplyDeletetranslucent colored shellac records had been around for quite a while by the 20s. Could these parts be shellac like an early record?
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've seen, Catalin was used more in blocks rather than thin sheets but it could be. You're right about the material used for records- and although somewhat fragile, certainly were serviceable in thin sheets. Thanks for the input!
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