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Shagbat! Mr Mitchell's other design classic...


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The picture above of the Walrus launch,

(Not that I know anything about camera's, but)

Would that have been a fairly quick shutter speed?

I just love thinking that it looks like it's launching by anti gravity.

 

And, of the other two I posted, Matey sitting on the upper wing,

quite unconcerned about the prop whirring away behind him!

http://retrowar.tumblr.com/post/167841672050/supermarine-walrus

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"Matey sitting on the upper wing" was required every time the Walrus taxied under the falls to be hoisted back inboard - whatever the weather.  As you say, with the engine very much still running; must have been pretty terrifying!

 

Those of you who watched my Sea King build might remember this bit (Alclad Primer & Microfiller, partly to check the seams, but also in preparation for a Duraluminium layer on which to base a fairly heavily-chipped camouflage scheme.  Some more artistic license to be shown here; AA5A herself doesn't look too bad in the only picture I have, but by 1944 many second line aircraft were looking decidedly shabby - so mine will be toward the shabby end of the spectrum.

26930766979_ae8109698a_c.jpg

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8 hours ago, longshanks said:

Read my school reports ....

Must try harder

 

Kev

My school reports read more like a horror story but then I hated school with a passion!

 

Martian the Unrepentant

 

 

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50 minutes ago, heloman1 said:

Oh Crisp, what were you thinking when you started this build? The Seafire looked exquisite and now you've gone all retro!

Easy; my Dad flew (in) this aircraft.  Warning: his log book also contains Swordfish, Albacore and LOTS of Barracuda.  Sleek and sexy is not on the menu!

 

Besides, I do have a Seafire 47 being built in parallel!

 

[But oh yes, a Whirly please, Airfix!]

 

 

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If that outbreak of black was a bit sudden for you all, while I had the old Harder & Steenbeck flashed up I did some other stuff too:

38706673331_041a070f51_c.jpg

 

The lighting makes some of that look rather odd; it's OK to the naked eye (and only a base coat anyway).

 

More soon

 

Crisp

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11 minutes ago, Martian Hale said:

My school reports read more like a horror story but the I hated school with a passion!

 

Martian the Unrepentant

 

 

Martin, I didn't hate school but I just didn't understand it, the reason for being there. I would hav happily palid intghe rghubarb fields behibnd our home. Nobody ever told me why (the reaon) I should be there and what I was supposed to be learing...

Teachers, what were they doing??? was it sheletered employment for the deft?

 

Colin

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I've been watching this quietly from the sidelines and have to say it looks like a stunning build. I  hope that one day I can build models to a similar standard. And hats off to Airfix too for the engineering of this, and their latest generation of kits.

 

I've also followed the YouTube links and boy, were those fliers courageous, your dad and his pals included. Especially as the plane resembles more of a contraption than an aircraft. It's difficult to believe that Mitchell drew it, and the Spitfire, within three years or so of each another. One has the aerodynamic properties of a house brick with a pusher radial and the other is a sleek machine with a powerful in-line unit. I realise they both had completely different purposes but even so...

 

Anyway, this is a lovely-looking build and I'm following it with real interest. :smile:

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Thanks for the kind comments, everyone.  I’m loving this build, but you kind of guessed that, I think!

 

Horses for courses, Timmas; Mitchell knew exactly what he was doing - and remember that both he and Supermarine had made their name with flying boats and amphibians; it was the Spitfire that was the outlier, not the Walrus.  The Walrus needed to be seriously strong (the stresses from catapulting & water ops must have been enormous), have good endurance (a known weakness of the Spitfire family throughout its entire development) and be a Swiss Army Knife type which could do lots of things.  The things that look quirky to modern eyes were all done for a reason: pusher configuration to minimise the risk of water hitting the airscrew (which could easily wreck the prop, engine or both); engine mounted high up for same reason (so no advantage in making it a monoplane); amphibian to maximise versatility in an aircraft designed principally to operate from cruisers (where hangar and deck space necessitated tight folded dimensions).

 

The Navy has always wanted its aircraft to be able to do many things, but in the 30s & 40s they took this to extremes - often resulting in flawed aircraft such as the Skua or Firebrand, where they tried to combine incompatible requirements (fighter and dive bomber / torpedo bomber respectively) - but also producing some versatile classic designs (Walrus, Swordfish).  The Spitfire was designed for one thing and one thing only; to be a supreme interceptor for defence of the homeland (so even poor range wasn’t an issue).  It was such a superb design that it proved capable of adaptation for other things (even the Hurricane was far more limited in development potential) - but that wasn’t the initial plan.

 

You could agrue that the Walrus developed, too; the Sea Otter was not exactly radically different!

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50 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

 

 

And he could design sleek flying floaty things too - S4/5/6 anyone?! :)

 

Keith 

Indeed.  But, sleek or not, them's still flying boats (OK, float planes, to be strictly accurate, since they have no boat hull) - albeit of a somewhat specialist kind!

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17 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

26930766979_ae8109698a_c.jpg

I am most happy to report that inspection this morning shows almost no remedial work to be done on the seams.  This is almost unprecedented in my entire modelling life.

 

More later

 

Crisp

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I know it says much for your modelling but there is a definite step improvement from old Airfix here

 

Well done you lot

 

Sea Otter, that brings back Alan Hall type memories, I can still recall building one of them from the Walrus back in the pre-Milliput days of Airfix Mag

 

Happy days huh

 

Black Walrusses, well if the USN can do it with Catalinas...

 

Just saying

 

She does look very handsome in black

 

H&S airbrushes :(

 

Still, reminds me I have a new Chineser to try out this week

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26 minutes ago, perdu said:

H&S airbrushes :(

Why the face re H&S?  It was my Christmas present to myself a couple of years ago, and I love it to bits.  I have a cheaper Chinese job that I use for bog standard big spraying jobs, but the posh brush is superb for more subtle stuff.

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Ah Crisp my friend, saddo face is because I hear so much good but can't justify having one

 

maybe should withdraw sad face huh?

 

I have so few opportunities to use airbrushes anyway I cannot find enough airbrushing time to get used to it

 

That bloke's Razor is it? 

 

Simply can't do it

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45 minutes ago, perdu said:

Ah Crisp my friend, saddo face is because I hear so much good but can't justify having one

Yes you can. Now repeat after me: "It will improve my finishing and that will make my models better and that will make me happy!" Simples.

 

Martian (Relationship counsellor to the BM massive)

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51 years of experience in this matter has convinced me that she knows what is good for me

 

What is bad for me is spending much time in the garage with airbrushes operating unless at the door

 

With said door open

 

It may have been noticed, winter is coming . "pom tiddle om - pom tiddle om - pom tiddle om - pom tiddle om - pwwwwarrr"

 

Airbrushing is already enough of a luxury, I have to face it

 

 


H&S could even do all the work and cleaning up for me, it still doesn't add up

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This is serious! It seems to me that blatant disobedience is the order of the day. Come on Guys this poor chap is in need of our collective assistance! :grouphug: Ideas please.

 

Concerned of Mars

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45 minutes ago, Martian Hale said:

This is serious! It seems to me that blatant disobedience is the order of the day. Come on Guys this poor chap is in need of our collective assistance! :grouphug: Ideas please.

 

I bought a H&S Ultra 2  in 1 at Telford for 80 quid from Little Cars to replace my two knackered Iwatas - the solo (doesn't have the 0.4 nozzle/needle that you could always get later) is about £60. What's that now, 3 Cheapo rubbish Chinese things that last about 6 months? It doesn't actually clean itself, but it is equally easy to clean as my old much loved Aztek. It uses the same nozzles & needles as more expensive H& S brushes & it's lovely to use, I'm not going to bother repairing my £200 Iwata that I've hardly used. Get your letter to Santa written Bill (& ask for a good electric heater for the garage too & you're sorted!) 

 

Keith

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