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Aeronut

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Everything posted by Aeronut

  1. That makes this thread all the more important, as it will have to replace all those 'wish list' slips Airfix hands out at Telford (only to ignore my suggestions).
  2. A select group of people in Margate and China. 🙂
  3. I do wish the next time they travel down the A303 they would make the short detour and visit Middle Wallop and just see how popular the Scout helicopter is with the kids visiting the museum. The current mould is too far gone (based on the last one I bought) to reappear as a 'Classic', and a new tool is needed in 72, 48 or 24, I wont mind. On the other hand the Beaver is a no brainer for the Classic range. If they did visit I would personally hope they got the inspiration to produce an accurate assault glider (Hotspur, Hadrian, Horsa, Hamilcar) as there isn't a truly accurate one in any scale. Of course you can't have a glider without a tug and so the Hector, Master III, Albemarle, Stirling IV and Halifax are added to the wish list. The Dakota just needs the tow point added, how about an additional sprue with the US parapack fairings and/or the RAF bomb slips and stores containers for a true Airborne Forces Dak. Airfix produced their Jeep with the airdrop Crash Pans, so where is the Hastings to hang it from? There is just one other thing I hope Airfix would do................. Please ignore what I wish for, my stash is already too large.
  4. I've always wondered just how much information the Hornby/Airfix/Corgi/Scalextric designers share? After all the dimensions of the subject are identical whether the model will be in plastic or zinc so the research must be shareable. Is the choice of subject in an individual range purely based personal whim of the design team or what some sales manager thinks the customers of a particular range want? Why do they think a 1:48 Brisfit will sell in the Corgi range and not Airfix. And finally as someone who grew up with the railways of South Manchester at the bottom of the garden, why does Hornby ignore the LNWR?
  5. I was happy to help, which is a standing offer to anyone building Britain's WW2 gliders.
  6. I've watched that combination from my office window. I may be tempted.
  7. The RAF Museum has been contemplating reducing their holding. The Shackleton may g on loan to Woodford but it could also be 'gifted' ie ownership transfered. Museum rules are complicated and just giving items away to anybody or selling them is not on these days. I have asked my local aircraft museum if they would put in a bid for gifting from the RAFM for the first aircraft I carried a passenger in (its been in store at RAF Stafford for over 30 years), so I could buy it off them, but I got short shrift from the curator.
  8. The Shackleton will go to Woodford, The Avro 504 to Stow Maries, The P1 and Avro 707 to Old Sarum. The Oka to Pima! The Rapide, Avian, Roe Triplane and Bensen Wallace autogyro to Hooton Park. That leaves the Belvedere, Trident nose and some smaller items looking for homes. If there are any TV production companies looking there's a TV series in all this.
  9. I take it that Airfix will not have corrected the lack of fabric on the bomb bay roof/cabin floor for this release? (the one time a part could have been improved by being covered in flash) 😉
  10. Airfix's first attempt (1956) at a bf 109 was so rotund in the fuselage it looked as if someone had attached wings to Herman Goring.
  11. Well he's telling you porkies. The film's Technical advisor Air Cmdr. Wheeler wrote a book about choosing, building and flying the replicas titled Building Aeroplanes for 'Those Magnificent Men'. On the subject of the Triplane's control system he wrote: "Being a triplane the multiplicity of the wire bracing members was considerable but the principle was the same as for a biplane. The chief complication in the wing structure arose from the very ingenious method for providing wing-warping whereby the outer portion of the rear spars on the two top planes were definitely hinged to allow for the warp distortion without depending on the elasticity of the wooden spar, as was the then practice for wing warping".
  12. The Avro Triplane replica at Shuttle worth uses wing warping for roll control as per the original. If you look at a photo of it you will notice that the outer most interplane struts on the upper to mid wing have no cross bracing, thus allowing the wing tips to be warped.
  13. Are you sure about that? XG502 at Middle Wallop has the square knock out panels in the bulged rear doors and although painted in the Brown and Green scheme she wore at Suez you can still make out the position of the Blue cheatline she wore during her time with the RAF Northolt Communications flight.
  14. The following passage is part of an RAE Technical Note report from September 1943. A comparison of three production Spitfires with Spitfire EN 964 (modified at the Royal Aircraft Establishment} was made recently. These three aircraft were selected as representative of current production at each of the three main Spitfire production firms. Visual and flight test comparisons of equipment and quality of finish were made. It was pointed out that the aircraft from Westland Aircraft Ltd., (Spitfire EF644) was considerably below the standard of finish of the other aircraft. It was later discovered that, this aircraft had been selected during a period of change over to different finishing processes. Another aircraft EF731 has therefore been selected from more recent production at Westland Aircraft Ltd., and this note gives visual and flight test comparisons similar to those adopted in Ref. l. Build standard and quality of finish had effects on performance and this report shows that it was taken seriously. As a modeller the following passages also make me smile. The leading edge 'crack' has been very carefully filled and rubbed down, but slight ridges can be detected along certain sections of the span on the port wing. The leading edge is somewhat flattened where the, curvature should be greatest, The slight depressions formed by the countersunk rivets have been well filled. This aircraft has desert camouflage on the upper surfaces and sky blue undersurfaces. The quality of the paintwork is of an exceptionally high standard for a production Spitfire. The paint has been very carefully applied, The rubbing down has been done thoroughly and there are no roughnesses or ridges, even at the edges of the identification roundels. The smooth finish on EF731 is considered to be up to the standard of EN946, The fitting of the panels on the wing surfaces is very good. All panels lie flush with the wing surfaces and the gaps at the joints are very small, The riveting on the fuselage is fairly good. The inspection doors fit fairly well but the one on the starboard side projects slightly above the fuselage surface. The paintwork is of the same high standard as on the wing surfaces. As we modellers say "There is a prototype for everything".
  15. I was a Civilian Instructor on the staff of 612 VGS and we used to take our Vigilants to RIAT for display (and against all the rules of RIAT, letting kids sit in them). I was talking to parents whilst the Staff Cadets showed their kiddies the aircraft when I was approached by an RAF Wing Commander who said " Hello Sir you taught me to fly" I had to admit I didn't remember him as he was one of many for me whilst I was the only one for him.
  16. Anyone got any photos of the ground crew winding up the engine's inertia starter? those hand holds would be useful in stopping them falling off the wing.
  17. If it was fabric covered and had a single main wheel and looks like my avatar it was a Venture. If it was plastic with two mainwheels it was a Vigilant - both had versions of the VW engine.
  18. During my time testing airdrop loads I spent a lot of time in a Hercules looking backwards over the ramp and I had to force myself to remember my left was starboard and vice versa. Where it got really confusing was the Boat system I helped develop which exited the aircraft bow first so that the port gunwale was on the starboard side of the aircraft with the boat's stern facing the aircraft's forward bulkhead. Of course to us on board the aircraft the boat would appear to accelerate in the correct orientation as it left the aircraft when of course it was being decelerated by the extractor parachute. Port and starboard? It just depends on which way you are looking. 😉
  19. Jed, Thanks for the confirmation on the interior silver/patchwork interior green even though I still can't convince myself that the crew compartment is that colour based on the photos I have. When it comes to the cockpit fittings things get complicated. The manufacturing drawing I have for the interim Mk I to Mk II shows a rudder bar yet the MK II AP illustration of the front cockpit shows rudder slides (of a different style) and a straight stick but the canopy is the original small one usually associated with the Mk I but also used on the early Mk II. When did the slides replace the rudder bar or is this simply a Mk I / Mk II issue and did the slides change during the life of the Mk II? The AP describes how the instrument and control fits changed between early and late Mk II and again for the Mk III. I notice that whilst the kit is meant to be a Mk II the second 'V' lever for the flaps is provided yet that was a Mk III fit only, if the AP is to be believed (No complaints as it'll make building a Mk III easier). All this proves that the Hotspur is a difficult aircraft for kit manufacturers and 'armchair critics' alike to research and get right.
  20. I thought that too Jed. I wonder what colour they've gone for for the interior? The rear fuselage at Wallop was Silver and the colour photos I've seen of the cockpit show the canopy frame to be silver also, whilst the black and white shots of the passenger cabin suggest that was unpainted/unvarnished wood. I'd put money on Interior Green being used sparingly as on the Horsa and Hamilcar. Anyone close to Dumfries who can have a look inside the cockpit section in the museum?
  21. I might have to follow your lead as I have this strange desire to modify one into a model of Ken Wallace's first autogyro G-APUD.
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