Aeronut

Rumour has it that they have been left to the after market etch brass suppliers with the choice of empty or filled. 😉

I'll admit they seem (are) a little overscale, more ship yard than aircraft but the Chipmunk is a very 'Rivetty' aircraft and the texture is needed as a smooth Chipmunk would be equally wrong. However I may be slightly biased as I get to fondle (OK clean) two Chipmunks on a regular basis and all those rivets are part of the sensation.

The Historic Army Aircraft Flight's Facebook page has a comprehensive photo walk round of their Chipmunk WD325 taken during its Major Servicing. Plenty of close up and personal shots of an aircraft still very much as it was in service, taken by a modeller with the modeller in mind.

I think he's looking at the upstairs window of his home wondering about how long it takes for the wife to get ready for a drive.

This build is turning into a job application for Strictly Come Dancing costume department. Just how many sequins will it have when finished? 😁

Better than those modellers and kit manufacturers who think flush rivets are best replicated by lines of rivet holes without any rivets in them.

A socially distanced state funeral is going to be something of a challenge.

Anyone interested in the Scout (or Beaver, Skeeter, Sioux and Auster 1 and 9) should look up the Historic Army Aircraft Flight o Facebook as they post lots of photos taken during the maintenance carried out on these aircraft with the intention of assisting modellers.

I have a friend who was an RCT Air Despatcher in the 60's and he could have been one of those chaps doing sport parachuting as he was on the British team sometime about then. He often tells us of the time when he would make his own steerable canopy by experimenting with which panel to cut out of a second hand X type chute, and as each parachute was personal to the jumper who modified it they painted their surnames on the pack. My friend's used to cause some odd looks as his surname is Angel.

Amy Flying Museum, Middle Wallop. 17th May. Wallop Wings and Wheels (Fly in and Vintage Cars) 3rd July

One of the two captured Argentinian Huey is still on display at the Museum of Army Flying, Middle Wallop - and its still wearing its covering of Dulux brilliant white emulsion. You could be lucky on a visit to Wallop to see ZH816 fly as she is currently the resident 212.

Schrodinger's race car?

My father, who as an officer in the 51st Highland Division was a passenger in one of these vehicles during Operation Totalize. He never referred to them as Kangaroos, they were always 'de-frocked Priests'. And no he never made any comment about what colour they were painted.

During my research into the Hafner Rotachute I came across a report of the development of the rotor system in model form during early 1941. This was attached to the starboard interplane struts of an Overstrand and the accompanying BW photos tend to concentrate on the rotor. However, it is possible to see that the upper surface of the Overstrand's wing were camouflaged. What colour the underside was is harder to figure, if it were a model I'd say it was 'overly weathered'. PM me an e-mail address if you'd like copies.

Interesting break down of parts. Two choices of main undercarriage leg, Flight/ground, pity the wheels are flight only. Thankfully the seat base seen in the CAD images is just a separate cushion, which those of us who have waddled out to the Chippie wearing a seat parachute would never recognise. Main canopy break down is interesting and appreciated, and I see that a jig to assemble it (part 27) is provided. I can't wait, I think building more than the two I already have on order may have to be considered.

Here's a thought. Could that seat back pad fold forward onto the seat cushion? I would provide a metal step and a smoother path up/down the slide to the rear cabin - Its the way I'd design it.

Has anyone offered up the Airfix Shackleton wings to their Lancaster fuselage? AVROs didn't like wasting tooling (my grandfather modified Manchester wing jigs into those for the Lancaster). The Shackleton's wings were those from the Lincoln but with Griffon engines replacing Merlins. The same basic wing structure was also used by Armstrong Whitworth on the Argosy.

The hardness of a ground surface can be measured on a scale called the California Bearing Ratio (CBR) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_bearing_ratio and an aircraft specification can expect to contain a CBR number relating to the surface to be operated from and therefore affect the design of the undercarriage. The A400M CBR number requested by the Germans was somewhat on the soft side, think Russian Steppes in the spring thaw, hence the joke. I must point out that this was the original specification, many parts of which were altered during contract discussions either by the nations buying (budgetary reasons) or by Airbus (couldn't/wouldn't be able to meet it with their design).

When the A400M specification was being finalised it was the Germans that specified the level of soft field operations. The level was such that the Boscombe Down expert turned to the French delegates and said "They're planning on invading Russia again." 🙂

I was actually on that committee, the problem was Airbus, who had no idea about how military transports operated, thought they knew better than the committee.

I'm no expert on the rigging of WW1 aircraft but the rigging of the RE8 and Brisfit ailerons looks a bit suspect?

I've been a long time volunteer at the Army Flying museum and have researched the Hafner rotaplanes on display there including Hafner's personal papers in the archive. As a result I can 'bore for England' about Hafner and his designs. Firstly that's a nicely built model. However, the setting would be impossible. The early Rotachute had no (other than a weighted and hinged keel beam) solid structure behind the pilot, it was merely a bag of balloon fabric that filled with air and so supporting the tail with a trestle would have been impossible (but acceptable using modeller's licence). Being an Austrian Hafner was interned at the start of WW2 despite working with Shorts on two helicopter designs for the Royal Navy. He had many British friends (including Lord Brabazon) working for his release and British citizenship. When he was released in October 40 he went straight to RAF Ringway forming the rotary section of the Central Landing Establishment. Hafner's MI5 file for this time contains a letter I find hilarious, its from the senior policeman holding Hafner's passport, addressed to the Home Office complaining about the lack of access he has to an Enemy Alien under his control, as he (the policeman) doesn't have the necessary security clearance to enter the RAF base. The Rotachute is an important step in aviation as it was evaluated and developed by Igor Bensen and as such has a bigger claim to being the forerunner of modern gyro planes than any of the Cierva designs.

The only problem I had at my vaccination hub in the local leisure centre was getting use to being around such a large number of people. Comes from being on lockdown as a singly in a small village. I might need counselling to get round SMW in 2022.

I have one of those electro explosive parachute releases if you ever feel the need to rig that dinghy for airdrop.

Thanks for that link to Wiki, its the first time I've seen an entry that I could add to. It makes no mention of the consideration given to equipping the Airborne Forces with the Smith Gun. One of the wartime reports I have describes the trials at the AFEE to drop drop the Smith Gun and Limber by parachute from the then favoured parachuting aircraft, the Wellington. All was not fine with this idea, the Gun and Limber had to have one wheel removed and strapped to the remaining part just to fit in the bomb bay resulting in unwanted reassembly on the DZ. However, the killer for the project was the fact that the guns parachute canopies struck the underside of the aircraft as they deployed damaging the fuselage battens and fabric. The Wiki entry also mentions that the gun was removed from RAF Regiment service in 1943 yet in early 1944 a Hamilcar crashed at Tarrant Rushton hitting two Nissen huts, the wing and rear fuselage came to rest on a stock pile of Smith guns. This crash is more famous for the fact that the glider's load of a Tetrarch ended up 20 feet or so in front of the glider having broken its restraints and shot out through the nose.