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De Havilland T.K.4 racer, 1/72 (kitbash / "total conversion" of an old Airfix Chipmunk with some 1/144 World War II fighter bits)


Sabre_days

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Okay...this constitutes going out on a limb for me, as I have no prior completed kitbashed or scratchbuilt models, but I wanted to give it a try.

 

Searching the possibilities for De Havilland aircraft online, I happened upon the T.K.4 racer, built by students in the apprenticeship program at the de Havilland Technical School in 1937. During a two month flying career it placed ninth in the King's Cup Race before being lost in a fatal accident while R. J. Waight was practising for an attempt on the 100 km class record.

 

I have a bit of a soft spot for interwar "Golden Age" air racers, and the T.K.4 was a very attractive little machine...I also recalled that I had first heard of it when I stumbled upon an old scale drawing from the January 1951 Aeromodeller over at Solid Model Memories about four years ago. After digging up the drawing and printing it out to 1:72 scale, a couple things struck me: First, being Gipsy Major-powered, its cowling looked a fair bit like other aircraft with the same powerplant, which aren't hard to come by. Second, the wings looked very World War II fighter-ish, only about half the size...hmm...about half the size...

 

If nothing else, trying to kitbash the T.K.4 from spare parts struck me as much less daunting than trying to scratchbuild a DH.93 Don or DH.10 Amiens (or attempting to cobble a Don together from some unearthly mixture of Anson, Fulmar and Blenheim or Beaufort parts).

 

So, here's the current gameplan: Cowling, propeller and forward fuselage from the old Airfix Chipmunk kit, wings from an Arii 1:144 P-40N, aft fuselage from a Minicraft / Crown 1:144 P-47D, empennage either cut down from the Chipmunk or scratchbuilt from sheet styrene and the back end of the Chipmunk canopy turned around 180 degrees and cut down as needed (the original plan was to use part of a backwards Eduard Spitfire XVI bubble canopy and the early flat centre section from an Airfix Spitfire I, but I think this might be easier and truer to the original's shape). Undercarriage to be determined, but may have to be scratchbuilt or heavily modified. If I can manage to turn this into an airplane-shaped object recognizable as a replica of the original by the end of this GB, I will be very happy...

 

The basic ingredients:

 

DH%20TK4%201_zpst1y7l2h6.jpg

Edited by Sabre_days
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22 hours ago, gingerbob said:

You're mad!  Carry on, old chap.

 

The thought that I must be crazy definitely crossed my mind too! Will do.

 

13 hours ago, DAG058 said:

I'll put up a chair for this one!

 

Thanks! I have to admit part of my reasoning behind entering this was that making it part of a GB and posting a build thread would help motivate me to get it done. Even with the remarkable variety of limited run and resin kits these days, there are still quite a few aircraft I'd like to model that simply don't seem to ever be available in kit form...have to take the plunge into kitbashing and scratchbuilding at some point.

 

12 hours ago, Greg in OK said:

Oh this looks like a GREAT project!!

 

Here is some info on the whole TK series...

 

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2104214-de-Havilland-Aeronautical-Technical-School-de-Havilland-T-K-1-2-4-5

 

Greg in OK

 

Thanks, and thanks for the link!

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Following this with interest it should be a nice little plane.

                                                                                      Andy

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What a cracking choice of subject! Good luck with getting the various parts together as they look to be a good set of shapes to start with.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone! Today I started modifying the P-40 wings by removing the guns and gear fairings from the leading edges. I'll get a "before" pic shortly before I start work on adjusting the planform, filling the old gear wells and hollowing out the new ones, but it is pretty amazing how close it is to begin with.

 

The fuselage, on the other hand, has proven a bit more problematic. On Monday, in a fit of enthusiasm, I lopped off the forward fuselage of the Chipmunk and the tail section of the P-47, but after test fitting prior to grafting them together, there are a number of stumbling blocks. First and foremost, the Chipmunk fuselage is simply too wide (there's a sentence you don't read very often!)...on top of that, the P-47 tail section is a bit on the narrow side. Add to that some outline issues with the Chipmunk cowling in profile (too deep, too short and too curved on top) and I'm beginning to think a purely scratchbuilt fuselage (or at least almost purely scratchbuilt...the prop and the face of the Chipmunk cowling should be usable with a little reworking) is the way to go.

Edited by Sabre_days
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  • 3 weeks later...

How are you getting on with this one? Sounds as if the fuselage will be as much work either way be it scratch-built or mix and match from the various bits.

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