Colin W

Main undercarriage now set and wings level with all 4 wheels on the ground! Dolly wheels next.

Since it's taken @Corsairfoxfouruncle a few years to get this underway I think I should do more than a single quick build. So following on from my Curtiss RX-3-2 I have obtained the kit for my favourite of the Schneider racers, the Macchi 72. This unique machine used 2 engines in tandem to increase the power with each driving a separate propeller in a contrarotating set up. This matches the Fairey Gannet and the Cessna 0-2 as twin engine aircraft retaining the non asymetric single eingine layout. While a couple examples for the others I think this was unique to the Macchi. I was privaleged to have the opportunity to visit the excellent Italian Airforce museum in Rome a few years ago where all the Scheneider racers are togather in a single gallery. Great stuff! Here she is. The kit from SMER is quite old but the only real issue is that the twin propellers are handed to spin in the same rotation! This will require a bit of attention. Here's the contents of the box. The parts have quite a bit of flash and ejector pin marks, especially inside the floats and fuselage so needed a good sanding down on the mating surfaces..... This wont be a blitz build like the Curtiss, I'll take my time with this one. To be continued....

Many thanks @Marlin. I hadnt interpreted it that way but it makes sense. Armed with Marlins expertise I have now fitted the main bicycle landing gear using my trusty jig. As I was working on this I dropped it upside down and it landed on the canopy. Fortunately I had taped a coverover the canopy to protect it from such an event. When I peled off the tape the copy was OK but the painting had all flaked off and came away with the tape. This is easily replaced but demonstrates how thin the plastic is! Decals and dolly wheels next

Hi, did you manage to work out how the front undercarriage works? The assembly drawing is meaningless as the depicted hydraulic ram is shown connected to both front and rear. If you figured it out then I'd appreciate if you could share a picture of your build or the image you used. Thanks.

These old Airfix kits take a bit of work but I'm sure you'll have a good model at the end.

Lots more slow progress. As noted above these limited production kits need a lot of tidying up and when the aim is a natural metal finish then a LOT of tidying up is needed. I did find a picture of one actually painted silver but this was in a museum so decided I should go with the NMF. I did several rounds of fill sand and paint Halfords grey then used a couple of rounds with silver paint before deciding it was good enough and putting on the Alclad. This is mainly Aluminium but with steel around the engines and duralumin for the darker wing section. No decal provided for the Tricolour rudder so I painted this while the other parts were masked.

I decided to use some heavy weaponry to drill the hole for mounting the model to the stand. Best done before the wings added.

Hi, This is kit number 48008 and the newest kit is the Super Mystere number 48230. Scalemates says it was a 2001 release so 22 years in the stash!

I missed this as it's a bit early in the year to think about next years builds but I'm sure I'll be joining in this.

While the Vatour languishes after another coat of silver, filler, sanding and grey, the X-15 is rocketing ahead. Fuselage joined, cockpit cover assembled and fitted and upper and lower fins attached. Not too much to this so it might get finished first.

I'll support this. I have a few planes (BAC111, Catalina, B-25) and cars (Toyta Celica, E Type Jag, etc) to fit the bill. Count me in!

Several applications of bog later its ready for a coat of Halfords grey. A few bits need some more attention but getting there fast!

Rather than start with the cockpit like normal people I decided to start with the display stand. Inside the fuselage I have fitted the nose gear bay door closed. I backed it up with some plasic to prevent it keep falling through. Rocket exhaust and a block of wood epoxied into the rear to give me something to drill into for the stand. I'm actually surprised about how big this is. I saw the real thing during a visit to Wright Patterson and really remember the cockpit was low enough to look in a bit like a Vampire. This convinced me it was a small plane but I didn't appreciate how long it is.

My 2nd contribution to this GB is a real Boom Boom, the North American X-15-2 research plane. This will keep me occupied while the filler is drying on the Vatour! Most if not all will know this plane and its exploits so no need for more info here. Suffice to say only 3 X-15s were Built with the 2nd being involved in a landing accident early in the program. This plane was rebuilt 28" longer for more fuel capacity and the kit is of this longer plane meaning only #2 can be built from the box. Number 2 was the record breaking plane so the preferred subject. I bought this kit a while ago and think it will fit well here as a Baby Boomer. The kit looks fairly basic although there is a lot of superbly detailed resin. Since the plane dropped its lower fin on landing to reveal a flimsy undercarriage I'll build it in flight. This will avoid most of the resin which is a shame. The actual record of the fastest manned aircraft at Mach 6.7 was made with the plane in a while ablative coating which was designed to melt off the plane as part of the cooling process. I quite like the appeal but think I'll stick to a more traditional black scheme expecially with the very excellent looking decal sheet. Colin

To quote your HS748 build "It just exudes quality ." This is the other end of the spectrum!

Slow progress on this but I managed to get the canopies on over the Easter weekend. The vacformed nose glazing in particular is badly formed and so the useful section finishes at a diameter smaller than the front fuselage. Hmm I extended the nose forwards by 4mm from the inside and shaped that before fitting the glazing. Quite a gap to fill though. The pilots canopy is too big and paper thin. More bog but the glazing is so thin i cant touch it with a sanding stick and its not strong enough to polish out. looks like a lot more work to get this to a silver finish!

Hi, no the paint is Mr Color laquer. No way paint from a can would dry quickly enough. Oh well, you gave us a good laugh!

Following my 1 day build I find myself first in the gallery too. Here is my Testors 2009 boxing of the original 1/48 Hawk R3C-1, first released in 1948 (according to Scalemates). Lt. Jimmy Doolittle flew this Curtiss R3C-2 to victory in the 1925 Schneider Trophy Race with a speed of 232.17 mph. He then set an absolute speed record of 245.7 mph the following day. The real machine hangs today in the Smithsonian in Washington DC. I was lucky enough to see this I built this fairly basic kit in 6 hours in the IPMS Salisbury Flash Mod in March 2024 (Blitz Build) for more details see the build thread here. Not a very photogenic plane so here it is with my other Schneider racers. Colin

So after a full day at the bench yesterday, here is my contribution to the group build. 1/48 Testors (Nee Hawk) original 1948 kit of Jimmy Doolittles' Curtiss RC3-2 Schneider Trophy winner from 1926. 10.01 redy to start. Kit parts, decals, basic tools and spare kit of Airfix's Bond Bug incase I finish early. Others from the IPMS Salisbury all joining in with the days 'FlashMod' or 'Blitz Build' as they are known as here on BM. I started on the fuselage but depite the 'aftermarket' seat from the spares box to replace a pretty sad depiction of Captain Doolittle it asnt very exciting, The first action shot shows the floats assembles and drying in a jig to hold them square. Fuselage assemble and wings added. Some filler needed on the top wing joint otherwise a good fit for a 75 year old kit. White sprayed on as an undercoat for the yellow, cockades and race number masked, yellow orange painted and masking underway. Float assembly needed no filler so was painted directly. I used Bronze instead of copper for the wing radiators since the copper was too dark. Here the bronze is painted and being held in the Apple model holder. Bronze masked which was probable the biggest challenge of the build and ready for the final finish. If i'd known the fit would be so good I'd have painted the wings before assembly. The plane in the museum looks black but the instructions say blue. On the basis that the 'Blackbird' SR-71 is blue I added some blue to the black paint to make a very dark blue. Apple model holder in use again. Painting done and masking tape stripped ready for decals. Decals applied, Floats added and rigging mostly done. 10 mins to go. Build completed. Job done at 4.00. A rainy day well spent! Now home and fitting in the 'Schneider sequence' More pictures in the Gallery Thanks to @Corsairfoxfouruncle for pushing the Golden Years GB and moderating! Colin W PS will my Smer Macchi 72 Arrive from Poland before the end of the GB?

No progress on this yet but it's only a small model so I'm saving it for our Good Friday Flashmod with IPMS Salisbury. The plan is to start and finish the model in 1 sitting so hopefully it will be in the gallery by Easter Monday! Wish me luck...

A great theme and a good idea to join several group builds together. I very thought about it but never managed to. I built the Classic Airframes Hawk 111 in Thai markings a few years ago and it was challenging. Good luck with these 4 and I look forward to seeing them through the year.

Hi @stever219, The red is 16mm from the original tip, 17mm with the anti flutter bars added. This is 1/48 of course. You could also just work off the panel lines using my last picture as a guide. The red goes out from the panel line on the leading edge strip. Glad to help Colin

Ive had an Aifix BAC 111 in my stash for 45 years, ever since I came back from a school ski trip to Italy and my first ever flight. This might tempt me to actually build it!

Great to see you building the 2 side by side. Our models are really the only way to compare some of these planes. I know the guns were the better option but I like the lines of the 94C nose. When you consider how unstable these 1950's planes were at altitude then the rockets make more sense than they appear today. There is a story in the 'B-36 Handbook' of how a B-36 outmanuovered a flight of F-84's which were struggling to reach the B-36's operating height. The B-36 didn't even need its guns to defend itself. The F-84s just dropped out of the sky when manouvering to stay on the bomber and didnt have enough fuel for a 2nd attack.

In something of a record for a FM kit, I have the wings on in less than a month! Having learned to get the fit better and use several layers of filler its not come out too bad so far. More filling and sanding next then rescribing those soon to be lost panel lines.