By LINDA KELLETT

C-S-E News Staff

ST. JOHNSVILLE — Simulating flight, a meticulously assembled model of a Bleriot XI aircraft hung gracefully above the lobby of the St. Johnsville Junior/Senior High School last week.

St. Johnsville resident Lee Arduini, an 89-year-old World War II veteran with a nearly lifelong passion for model building, and his grandson, Chris, another model aficionado from St. Johnsville, noted the original aircraft was the first to complete a flight across the English Channel, in 1909. It also served as the first plane to be used in war, flown by the Italians during World War I.

Surrounding the model, which was handcrafted with loving attention to detail, were a half dozen life-size murals depicting scenes from various wars from our nation’s past: the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the first and second World Wars, Vietnam, and the most recent conflicts in the Middle East.

Each was designed and painted by nearly a dozen St. Johnsville juniors and seniors under the direction of art teacher Sara Thibodeau during last year’s enrichment project. Among the artists were current seniors Alex Hart, Brandon Campione, Mackenzie Ferguson, Josiah Millington and Andrew Wheelock and recent graduates Ben Bergen, Shelby Doyle, Charles Nugent and Brittany VanAvery, Thibodeau noted.

A final work, representing the Korean War, will be added at a future date.

Other anticipated additions to the memorial installation in the lobby are a plaque; student-made benches, designed and crafted by this year’s senior high enrichment students under the direction of teacher David Talaba; and an old fountain that high school Principal Greg Sova said was located in the building.

Either an open house or a reception will be held late this fall or early this winter.

That’s according to district Superintendent Laura Campione, who on Tuesday talked about the way the project came together.

She said the Arduinis did a presentation at the elementary school around Thanksgiving, when the students acknowledged veterans like Lee for their service.

Campione, who talked about her uncle (a Green Beret and medic who served in Vietnam), said the other servicemen present “talked about their lives during the war and the hardships they and their families went through.”

Chris Arduini also brought in artifacts for the presentation, after which Campione asked if the plane could be hung in the D.H. Robbins school lobby.

Before that could happen, however, she assumed the superintendent’s position and moved up to the high school, where she saw the high school students’ murals and asked to have them placed in the lobby.

Over the summer, Campione was asked if the school would still like the model.

“Once we found out about the memorial project, we decided to hang in here,” Chris Arduini said about the high school installation.

Hart said the mural project took place during the 2011-2012 enrichment class.

Brandon Campione said, “The original idea was to paint one mural, then we decided to paint a mural for each war.”

Thibodeau guided the students as they researched, designed and painted the murals, an undertaking that took the whole year. “We worked about four hours a week,” one of the students estimated. “We tried to have the colors relate to the time period.”

Consequently, the sepia color of parchment was used for the Revolutionary War mural, black and white for the Civil War and World Wars, and full color for Vietnam and the wars in the Middle East.

Hart, who worked on the Vietnam War mural, said, “We learned about the major battles of the war. The Tet Offensive was probably the biggest one” in that conflict, he said.

Sova said the students kept the project “pretty secret in the art room.” The first time he saw the finished paintings was the last week of school, he said.

Chris Arduini, whose daughter, Meadow, is currently in fifth grade at the elementary school, said the model aircraft currently exhibited in the junior/senior high school lobby was built from scratch, out of the same or similar materials as the original, and is capable of flight. For the purpose of display, the engine was removed from the model in the school.

Because his grandfather goes to Florida in the winter, Chris said it took two years to complete the aircraft, which was originally built for the Air Museum in Scotia.

Lee Arduini said the model in the school lobby is the biggest one he’s made so far. “That was a challenge,” he said, noting that he worked on it every day or every other day as time allowed — and when he wasn’t fishing, his other passion.

An anti-aircraft gunner during World War II, Lee said he’s been around planes most of his life.

His grandson, Chris, “flies [the models], and I fix them up after he cracks them up,” he joked.

Lee said he was glad the model is hanging in the lobby for people to enjoy.

“At least I know it’ll be there for a while,” he added.