Non-railway modelling

[railroadbill]

1 hour ago, Johann Marsbar said:

 

Seeing the mention of the other kits they made, I realised I've got an unmade one of their kits for a Hawker Fury sitting up in the loft somewhere!

Got an unmade Airfix 1:48th Fury in the loft...(perhaps they are the same mouldings!! Probably not.)  Fairey Flycatcher would be an unusual model. H'mm...

 

Bit of web surfing and found a reference on Scalemates site that Lindberg issued the Flycatcher and Fury in the same box as late as 2017, so those moulds have done very well if the kits are almost current (in the US).

 

 

[railroadbill]

 

One more Inpact model.  1:48th scale Avro Triplane.

 

 

 

Revving up for take off!

 

This was made around 1966 when the kit was released....must have boxed the model up ok a long time ago because it's survived various moves over the years. There have been various interesting models on this thread that have been built years ago  so here's another oldie. (Er, 57 years (gulp!) so the plastic, glue etc. has lasted well).

Edited April 5, 2023 by railroadbill

[johndon]

The TB2 and 4 diorama is finished...

 

 

John

[Barry Ten]

There's only one word for that ...

 

F.A.B.

[Johann Marsbar]

Work on the Reichspost Open Blitz bus (top of previous page..) has been held up a while but has now started again. 

I needed to source items like a driver and passengers to put inside it, and, given the scarcity of such things (being non-military items in 1/35) I went in search of some likely candidates in my loft. 

A good 50 years ago, I bought the 1/32 Airfix B Type bus kit and constructed it as the WW1 troop transport version - the model in question long having been thrown out. However, I put the civillian passengers, driver & conductor from that kit to good use for the grandstand on my Airfix motor racing set-up, and they were still in the loft with the rest of the motor racing stuff!

Their clothing is about 20 years out of date, but as they are inside the vehicle, they aren't going to be that noticeable.

I also sorted out the seating and reduced the "crammed in" spacing of the military version to something more normal for a passenger bus.  Add one proper 1/35 Wehrmacht squaddie reading a paper on the back seat and it now looks like this.....

 

[johndon]

The Ta183 is almost finished:

 

 

and I've started on the next model, a KDA-1 (Q-2A) FIREBEE drone from the 1950s, primed and ready for seam work:

 

 

John

 

 

 

[Barry Ten]

1 hour ago, johndon said:

 

 

 

 

and I've started on the next model, a KDA-1 (Q-2A) FIREBEE drone from the 1950s, primed and ready for seam work:

 

 

John

 

 

 

 

It's as if they said to the designer, can you make it a bit more Gerry Anderson?

[railroadbill]

On 24/04/2023 at 16:41, Barry Ten said:

 

It's as if they said to the designer, can you make it a bit more Gerry Anderson?

If it had a couple of rows of cabin windows, dark blue flashes and "transatlantic hypersonic airlines" lettering it would be perfect to be rescued by thunderbird 2 after the inevitable mishap....

Actually it is a very sci fi design!

[johndon]

3 hours ago, railroadbill said:

If it had a couple of rows of cabin windows, dark blue flashes and "transatlantic hypersonic airlines" lettering it would be perfect to be rescued by thunderbird 2 after the inevitable mishap....

Actually it is a very sci fi design!

 

That's not a bad idea, the kit comes with parts for two drones and I was wondering what to do with the other one...

[D6150]

Here's a wee contribution from me. Heller Mk16e Spitfire, the first time I've ever made a spitfire model... 

 

This is a postwar aircraft, SL546, 8W-E, which flew with 612 Squadron from RAF Dyce in the very early 1950's. I thought this makes an interesting contrast to the usual WW2 camouflage colour schemes. 612 squadron switched to Vampire jets in 1951/52.

 

RAF Dyce closed in 1957, but is now Aberdeen International Airport. 

 

Heller kit possibly showing it's age a little, fit could be better, and the plastic has a slightly rubbery feel. However the shape seems pretty good to my non-expert eye. My first attempt at a silver or natural metal finish.

 

Thanks 

Ken 

 

 

[railroadbill]

 

 

 

Avro Shackleton MR Mk3 Phase 3 1:72nd scale from the later Revell kit.  This was a lockdown project although I'd started it before that!  Kept getting held up by issues like "what colour were they really?"  - (I found some photos I'd taken of a preserved Shackleton at Duxford outside in sunshine where it looked pale blue from one angle and dark grey the other side...).   Sprayed with Tamiya XF-54 in the end, Flory washes then mostly removed which brought out panel lines and rivets, and Citadel "purity seal" matt vanish from aerosol  as final finish.  The red-white-red propeller tips were a fiddle, I also lost an aileron which turned up in the garage workbench, but all holdups now out the way!

Now finished at last, and by posting these pics I won't be tempted to do anything else to it!

 

 

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by railroadbill

[johndon]

With the addition of two of the missiles and a very simple base, the Ta183 is finished...

 

[railroadbill]

16 hours ago, johndon said:

With the addition of two of the missiles and a very simple base, the Ta183 is finished...

 

Looks very good, also the swept back wings and tail of this proposed design don't look that diferent from the later KDA-1 (Q-2A) FIREBEE drone model you're building so maybe the aerodynamic  research was captured and applied later by the US?  Could mean the "Ta 183" would have flown ok as the drone worked....

Edited May 3, 2023 by railroadbill

[TT-Pete]

10 minutes ago, railroadbill said:

Looks very good, also the swept back wings and tail of this proposed design don't look that diferent from the later KDA-1 (Q-2A) FIREBEE drone model you're building so maybe the aerodynamic  research was captured and applied later by the US?  Could mean the "Ta 183" would have flown ok....

 

After the war the designer Kurt Tank (where the "Ta" designation comes from) went to Argentina and further developed the design as the "IAe Pulqui II". The Russians on the other hand claim that the very similar MIG 15 was an entirely indigenous design and not in any way influenced by the Ta 183. Yeah, right.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_Ta_183

 

[johndon]

A couple more shots of the 183, that's five aircraft in a row I've built now, perhaps it's time I got back to railways!!

 

 

 

John

 

[johndon]

On 01/05/2023 at 14:52, railroadbill said:

 

 

 

Avro Shackleton MR Mk3 Phase 3 1:72nd scale from the later Revell kit.  This was a lockdown project although I'd started it before that!  Kept getting held up by issues like "what colour were they really?"  - (I found some photos I'd taken of a preserved Shackleton at Duxford outside in sunshine where it looked pale blue from one angle and dark grey the other side...).   Sprayed with Tamiya XF-54 in the end, Flory washes then mostly removed which brought out panel lines and rivets, and Citadel "purity seal" matt vanish from aerosol  as final finish.  The red-white-red propeller tips were a fiddle, I also lost an aileron which turned up in the garage workbench, but all holdups now out the way!

Now finished at last, and by posting these pics I won't be tempted to do anything else to it!

 

 

 

 

Lovely work, an aircraft I've always wanted to build as my dad flew back from Libya in one when he was in the airforce.

[railroadbill]

21 hours ago, johndon said:

 

Lovely work, an aircraft I've always wanted to build as my dad flew back from Libya in one when he was in the airforce.

Your dad would have had an interesting flight!  I rather like Shackletons, when I was young we went on holiday to Cornwall at a time when these were still flying and I remember them lumbering along the coast. My intention is to hang the model over one end of the loft layout, as a memory of that.  Went to the Morayvia aircraft museum near Lossiemouth pre Covid with a friend who had moved to Scotland, very good museum and they had quite a few models including Shackletons on display so this was influenced by that visit as well.

Many years ago I went to a talk by someone who had flown them and he said the worse part was the risk of going high-tone deaf due to the noise level....

[railroadbill]

21 hours ago, johndon said:

A couple more shots of the 183, that's five aircraft in a row I've built now, perhaps it's time I got back to railways!!

 

 

 

John

 

 

That cockpit detail is really good, plus ace finish as well. Very matt.

 

On 03/05/2023 at 15:43, TT-Pete said:

 

After the war the designer Kurt Tank (where the "Ta" designation comes from) went to Argentina and further developed the design as the "IAe Pulqui II". The Russians on the other hand claim that the very similar MIG 15 was an entirely indigenous design and not in any way influenced by the Ta 183. Yeah, right.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_Ta_183

 

 

Interesting article, one thing mentioned was that the SAAB 29 Tunnan fighter also used German swept wing research, obtained from Switzerland whence some German engineers had fled....

[Johann Marsbar]

On 03/05/2023 at 15:43, TT-Pete said:

 

After the war the designer Kurt Tank (where the "Ta" designation comes from) went to Argentina and further developed the design as the "IAe Pulqui II". The Russians on the other hand claim that the very similar MIG 15 was an entirely indigenous design and not in any way influenced by the Ta 183. Yeah, right.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_Ta_183

 

 

A couple of the Pulqui designs are preserved in the Air Museum at Moron in Buenos Aires......

 

 

 

...along with some more familar looking aircraft.....

 

[Flying Pig]

On 03/05/2023 at 15:43, TT-Pete said:

The Russians on the other hand claim that the very similar MIG 15 was an entirely indigenous design and not in any way influenced by the Ta 183. Yeah, right.

 

 

It may well not have been influenced by the Ta 183 per se, just by the German swept wing research which was used by every nation that gained access to it.  It isn't a particularly unusual layout for the time: the Sabre is not dissimilar.

[Erichill16]

Another influential design of the time was the Messerschmitt Me1101 and was used in the development of the Bell X-5 and I’ve read somewhere the Sabre.

[railroadbill]

This has made me spend too much time on the internet, but here's some more on this....it does lead on to complicated stories from these references!

 

As the war ended, the UK Fedden mission, the US Operation Lusty,   Russian and French missions searched for advanced German equipment like jet aircraft and research facilities. (Eric "Winkle" Brown's excellent book "Wings on my sleeve"  has a lot on finding and testing German aircraft at the end of the war).

 

This all further led to Operation Paperclip (US)  Operation Osoaviakhim (Russia)  and similar British and French  operations which were to "aquire" German scientists and engineers who'd worked on nuclear weapons, rockets, and advanced aviation such as turbojet engines and swept wings. This is by no means an exhaustive list, there were a lot of other technologies involved.

This led to the US and Russia having thousands of top German engineers and scientists working for them.  (The British and French not so very much).  This all came from agreements about German post war reparations at the Yalta conference.

(If you google Operation Epsilon or Farm Hall there's a lot about the British program to learn about  German nuclear weapon development).

 

So when we see both the Sabre and MIG 15 have wings swept back at 38 degrees it's due to design inputs from similar designers and data...

Messerschmitt P.1112.   Woldemar Voight,  (head of the Me design staff) who worked on the Me 262, also worked on this also never built  tail-less design.  He ended up working for Chance Vought in the States.  One of his first designs was the F7U Cutlass which has a lot of similarity to the P.1112 design.

[johndon]

Decided that, rather than go back to railways, I'd go back to the monster that is the 1/200 scale USS Iowa that I started some time ago.  Progress stalled when there was a bit of a disaster with the aftermarket deck which, despite my best efforts, bubbled up very badly.

 

 

As a result, I lost a bit of interest in it but decided this week to have a go at sorting it out and, armed with a scalpel and some super glue, it now looks like this, a couple of small bumps to sort but it is a vast improvement:

 

 

Getting back to it has also reminded me how insanely small some of the photo etch is, like this piece which a few second after this photo was taken pinged out of the tweezers never to be seen again 😁

 

 

John

 

[Erichill16]

When I visit the IPMS event at Telford, I’m always in awe of the quality of the maritime models even though it’s aircraft that I particularly interested in. I think the photo etched parts make more of a difference to ship models than any other, I’m thinking of gun barrels, railings  and radar masts.

[D6150]

An old ESCI F100 D kit I'm in the process of putting together, for my second shot at a natural metal finish. Wish me luck. 

 

This will hopefully be finished as serial 52817 of the 48th TFW at Lakenheath in 1969. The real aircraft is scattered over a fairly wide area on Peters Hill in SE Aberdeenshire, where it crashed in August '69. Fortunately the pilot ejected after the engine failed. Probably scared the hell out of the Grouse population....

 

Very impressed with the Esci kit, excellent detail for it's age, and the plastic seems higher quality than a lot of more modern kits. 

 

Thanks 

 

Ken