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Vildebeest reference


593jones

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With the forthcoming release of the Vildebeest, I've just seen this for sale on ebay, AP1439 1939 maintenance manual on CD. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Could be useful for anyone wanting to superdetail the kit.

Note, I have no connection with the seller.

Dave

Edited by 593jones
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I posted it to a modelling friend of mine wo intends to do a Contrail one in 48 scale soon!

Cheers, Nico

Nico. Tell your mate he will be better off scratch-building a Vildebeest rather than trying to use that bl**dy horrible 'thing' from Contrail! :sick:

I have one I tried to build, and gave up! The upper half of the top wing doesn't even match the lower half in shape/span/chord and that's only the start of the problems!

Let's all start chanting together, "Please, can we have a decent 1:48 Vildebeest/Vincent"

Resin, vac or injection, as long as it's accurate!!!!!!

Cheers,

Pete M.

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Nico. Tell your mate he will be better off scratch-building a Vildebeest rather than trying to use that bl**dy horrible 'thing' from Contrail! :sick:

I have one I tried to build, and gave up! The upper half of the top wing doesn't even match the lower half in shape/span/chord and that's only the start of the problems!

Let's all start chanting together, "Please, can we have a decent 1:48 Vildebeest/Vincent"

Resin, vac or injection, as long as it's accurate!!!!!!

Cheers,

Pete M.

Az have a Vildebeest 111 in 1/72 listed in their 2011 catalogue though it is not available yet .

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Nico. Tell your mate he will be better off scratch-building a Vildebeest rather than trying to use that bl**dy horrible 'thing' from Contrail! :sick:

I have one I tried to build, and gave up! The upper half of the top wing doesn't even match the lower half in shape/span/chord and that's only the start of the problems!

Let's all start chanting together, "Please, can we have a decent 1:48 Vildebeest/Vincent"

Resin, vac or injection, as long as it's accurate!!!!!!

Cheers,

Pete M.

I don't think that will stop him.

Cheers, Nico

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I don't think that will stop him.

Cheers, Nico

I have purchased a copy of the CD and my advice is don't bother. It's not competently scanned and from a scale modellers point of view it is in my opinion quite useless. It's completely devoid of dimensional detail, cockpit detail, engine and propeller detail and the little there is, is devoted to detail that's for the most hidden or useless for modelling purposes.

John

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  • 2 weeks later...

Pete,

Thanks for sharing those great pics. At risk of sounding ungrateful (which I'm certainly not!!), could you please add a few amplifying remarks so those uninitiated to a Vincent's intimate internals can understand what we're looking at?

Again, thanks so much for sharing - I'm really looking forward to the next installment.

Cheers,

Mark

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Pete,

Thanks for sharing those great pics. At risk of sounding ungrateful (which I'm certainly not!!), could you please add a few amplifying remarks so those uninitiated to a Vincent's intimate internals can understand what we're looking at?

Again, thanks so much for sharing - I'm really looking forward to the next installment.

Cheers,

Mark

Hi Mark. Yes, I should have put in some captions, but was trying to just get them up as soon as possible! :blush:

I'll add some to them over the weekend. The Hind and Oxford pics are not far off being ready to post.

Cheers,

Pete M. :beer:

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Ooh you little tease. Oxfords as well? You know how to turn a guy's head!

Hi Mark. Captions now added to my Vincent walkaround, and 'Oxbox' and Hind soon to follow.

I'm sending all these in a larger format to Petr Buchar of CMR in the Czech Republic who will then pass them on to various manufacturers there - they should help MPM get their upcoming 1:48 Oxford correct, and may be jog someone there into doing a 1:48 Vildebeest/Vincent!

Cheers,

Pete M. :beer:

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Hi Pete,

Thanks for taking the time to add the captions. 'Fraid I have another dumb question. The bomb aimer's position on the Vincent doesn't quite match the only clear pic I have of the equivalent area on the Vildebeest (Linky).

Do you know whether the bomb aimer's position on the Vildebeest was different from that on the Vincent? Note the Vincent seems to have a mushroom-shaped opening in the lower fuselage whereas the Vildebeest (in my pic) just has the mushroom cap while the stem of the mushroom is covered over. Now, it could be that the "mushroom cap" was open to the elements while the "mushroom stem" was glazed which, with weathering and the poor image quality, could appear similar to a panel over that part of the position.

Any ideas? Am I making sense or have I eaten too many funny mushrooms?

Many thanks,

Mark

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Hi Pete,

Thanks for taking the time to add the captions. 'Fraid I have another dumb question. The bomb aimer's position on the Vincent doesn't quite match the only clear pic I have of the equivalent area on the Vildebeest (Linky).

Do you know whether the bomb aimer's position on the Vildebeest was different from that on the Vincent? Note the Vincent seems to have a mushroom-shaped opening in the lower fuselage whereas the Vildebeest (in my pic) just has the mushroom cap while the stem of the mushroom is covered over. Now, it could be that the "mushroom cap" was open to the elements while the "mushroom stem" was glazed which, with weathering and the poor image quality, could appear similar to a panel over that part of the position.

Any ideas? Am I making sense or have I eaten too many funny mushrooms?

Many thanks,

Mark

Hi Mark. Sorry about my belated reply to your question, but I've been 'head down-bottom up' over the past week or so, working on my website and processing more of those photos! :violin:

From what I saw, there doesn't seem to be any hatch or fittings for one to cover the rear of the 'mushroom' but it may have a panel that's yet to be fitted. The complete area here is wide open, but I would have thought there would have been some kind of floor or pad for the bomb aimer to use!

I'll get in touch with the Subritzskis and see if they can provide an answer for us.

My understanding is the Vincent and Vildebeest airframes were basically identical after the first production batch of Vildebeest, the main difference being the fitting of the torpedo mounting crutches to the Vildebeest (which were removed from the RNZAF aircraft). Many of ours are shown carrying a long range fuel tank under the fuselage, so there must have been further structural 'bits' in this area.

Cheers,

Pete M. :beer:

Edited by Pete M.
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No worries, Pete. I only checked the website 25 times daily looking for your response...is the guilt trip working??? :whistle:

It would be great if the Subritzskis could shed some light on this area, particularly since the upcoming 1/72 kit doesn't seem to reproduce the bomb aimers hole/window.

Cheers,

Mark

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And hot off the rumour mill....

I received this from Petr Buchar of CMR in response to sending him those Vincent pictures. No hint of when it's likely to see production, but YESSSS!!!

Ahoj Peter, I visuited my friends at MPm Ltd. two days ago. I have talked to Fred Riedel - MPM Production manager who was very much excited abiout the photos you are just sharing with me!

They just released a model of the Vickers Vildebeest in 1:72 scale (Azur kit) and he told me their plan is to produce the Vildebeest in 1:48 scale too! :yahoo:

Do you think that you could find for us some good photos showing the cockpit interior details - these images are very important for them to see details better for their 1:48 scale model.

You write you will still some some Vicker Vildebeest images - so we are very much eager to see them

They also plan to produce the model of the Vickers Vin¨cent - so Fred was very much happy to hear what images I have already got on the Vincent from you!

Now I'll have to speed things up, and find those photos! Anyone here got anything?????

Cheers,

Pete M. :beer:

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Wotcha Pete!

A 1/48th scale Vildebeest? And there was much rejoicing!!! :frantic::bounce::cheers: (at least until Mrs H finds out about it...that plus the upcoming 1/48th Oxford!).

Interesting that the test shots of the Azur 1/72nd scale kit don't seem to show any bomb aimer window in the lower forward fuselage. I hope this has been corrected (or, more importantly, will be corrected on the 1/48th version).

Did you have any joy with the Vincent restorers on the design and installation of the bomb aiming window?

Cheers,

Mark

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It's been rumoured a few times before and I got pretty much the same email but, even though it's of no personal interest, I'll believe the 1/48 one when I see it - one should not expect everything that is announced. Some annoucements are made just to discourage the competition.

I have sent them some interior pictures, sourced from the RNZAF Museum, quite a while ago.

And hot off the rumour mill.... 1/48....

Now I'll have to speed things up, and find those photos! Anyone here got anything?????

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Wotcha Pete!

A 1/48th scale Vildebeest? And there was much rejoicing!!! :frantic::bounce::cheers: (at least until Mrs H finds out about it...that plus the upcoming 1/48th Oxford!).

Interesting that the test shots of the Azur 1/72nd scale kit don't seem to show any bomb aimer window in the lower forward fuselage. I hope this has been corrected (or, more importantly, will be corrected on the 1/48th version).

Did you have any joy with the Vincent restorers on the design and installation of the bomb aiming window?

Cheers,

Mark

Hi Mark. Nowt back from them as yet, but I understand they may be out of NZ at the present time!

Cheers,

Pete M. :beer:

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It's been rumoured a few times before and I got pretty much the same email but, even though it's of no personal interest, I'll believe the 1/48 one when I see it - one should not expect everything that is announced. Some annoucements are made just to discourage the competition.

I have sent them some interior pictures, sourced from the RNZAF Museum, quite a while ago.

Hi Ed. Any info I've had in the past via Petr has usually been pretty well spot-on, as all the Czech companies seem to collaborate very closely.

I suspect this project may have advanced up the list somewhat from the reaction Petr said he had received from Fred regarding my photos.

I'd certainly be interested in a copy of those interior photos for my own files, as I was going to send a message to Matthew at the Museum to see what they had down there!

Cheers,

Pete M. :beer:

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  • 4 weeks later...
Wotcha Pete!

A 1/48th scale Vildebeest? And there was much rejoicing!!! :frantic::bounce::cheers: (at least until Mrs H finds out about it...that plus the upcoming 1/48th Oxford!).

Interesting that the test shots of the Azur 1/72nd scale kit don't seem to show any bomb aimer window in the lower forward fuselage. I hope this has been corrected (or, more importantly, will be corrected on the 1/48th version).

Did you have any joy with the Vincent restorers on the design and installation of the bomb aiming window?

Cheers,

Mark

Hi Mark. I'm still waiting to get out to Dairy Flat and see what the lads out there have.

In the meantime, I've received some more Vildebeest material including two cut-aways (from Pilot press and Aeroplane Monthly) and a poorly scanned copy of the AP for the Vildebeest from 1934.

From the two cut-aways, it appears to have a 'roller blind' type panel that opens under the bomb aimers position.

Attached are a couple of scrap views from these two.

PP-cutaway.jpg

AM-cutaway1-.jpg

If you would like some very large full versions of these, mail me off forum, and I'll give you the addy for them.

Also a couple of not very good scans from an older Aeroplane Monthly showing the bomb aimers position, and the radio operators position.

vbb.jpg

vbr.jpg

These are apparently attributed to the RAF Museum files. I'm hoping to find some better versions of these two.

The hunt continues!

Cheers,

Pete M. :beer:

P.s. Should hopefully get those Oxbox files into the reference folder before too much longer!!!

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Thanks Pete. Those are some useful pics but, as you say, better quality is always appreciated. I'll link the other 'Beest thread in the WWII-period forum to your post so we can start joining things up a tad more. I posted a pic there of a bomb sight drawing which looks an awful lot like the bomb aimer's position of a Vildebeest.

Thanks again and wishing you "good hunting" for any additional info.

Cheers,

Mark

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