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By Henry Tenby, copyright 2020

As a collector of professional aircraft display models for more than thirty years, I have been an admirer of the fabulously accurate and beautiful aircraft models made by Amsterdam based Bob Dros of Bel-Air Models for a very long time.

His models are painstakingly made from solid clear perspex. This is a very difficult material to work with which results in very time consuming builds. But the models are highly realistic and feature clear windows which makes them something of a unique offering in the world of high end aircraft display models.

An introduction to Bob Dros by fellow model collector Ed Van Rooijen resulted in the amazing opportunity to visit Bob Dros at his home, library and workshop in Amsterdam, where Bob ever so kindly allowed the visit to be filmed, which is presented here as a series of seven videos. In these videos Bob Dros explains the background as to how became interested in making models of aircraft, and why he chose to work in the demanding model making medium of solid perspex.

Most of Bob’s models cover the period between World War 1 and World War 2, and focus on the transport aircraft of this area of development of the early years of the airline industry. Of course he also made models or aircraft and airliners of the post war years too. All of Bob’s models were and are special custom consignments by demanding collectors from all over the world. It typically takes a few months for a model to be built as they are all built from highly accurate plans, from scratch, and in many cases Bob has developed the plans himself using a variety of sources. His goal is to build the most accurate model possible.

Please feel free to visit Bob’s models and learn more about his perspex model building efforts at www.bel-air-models.com