Aeronut

Talking to the kit’s designer at Telford he mentioned that that part is a jig for removing part of the fuselage deck to allow the tailplane with the anti spin strokes to be fitted.

That looks nice. It may even force me to dig out the Impact Edwardians from the stash to go with it.

Skis, it’ll be floats next (Hopefully). In fact, with a new engine (Salmson?) there are also a whole bunch of colourful French options available.

Nicely done, I hope my attempt is as good. Just one small observation. Mini Art's instruction show the control column being fixed to the rear cockpit's instrument panel, you've left it hanging clear. I appreciate its counter intuitive but Mini Art are correct. The following is the procedure for take-off taken from the C30 Owners Manual I own. Note line 8 STARTING UP PREPARATORY TO “TAKING OFF.” NORMAL CONDITIONS. 1. Head into wind. 2. Set fore and aft bias gear about 2/3rds down. 3. Pull wheel brake handle well up. 4. Open throttle slightly. 5. Release rotor brake. 6. Move short handle (i.e. same as rotor brake) towards seat and slowly ease it up. Finally pull it up as far as it will go, otherwise the clutch will slip 7. Slowly open throttle. 8. When motor rev. counter shows 120 r.p.m. release catch holding stick, so that the stick is free, still keep fully forward. At this stage check engine and rotor speed at ratio of 8:1 (engine 960 – rotor 120). This shows the clutch is fully in. 9. Continue opening throttle slowly until rotor shows 180 r.p.m. (In little or no wind rotor r.p.m. can be increased to 200 or 210. 10. Move left hand to “quick release” lever just forward of the throttle lever and depress inwards and push forward through the gate on the quadrant. Both clutch and wheel brakes are then thrown off together. 11. Open throttle fully and ease stick back when an air speed of from 25 to 35 m.p.h. is reached. During the “take-off” keep a firm pressure on the right pedal of rudder bar as the machine tends to turn left. 12. When clear of ground ease stick forward and climb at about 50-55 m.p.h.

My thoughts exactly. I do the occasional guided tour at an aircraft museum and we have a display about S F Cody and his pioneering work in aviation. There are several photos of his aircraft which if studied closely are all different in some small detail. It transpires that not only was he developing an aircraft, but he was also teaching himself to fly at the same time, with the result that each flight would likely result in some minor prang that needed the aircraft rebuilt. Each rebuild would also likely involve a certain amount of design improvement resulting in a case of 'never the same aircraft twice'. I'm going to be following this one. Who could resist a steam winch on wheels?

For me the Seabee will always be associated with Roger Moore as 007 running in onto the beach in "The man with the Golden gun". It was such as waste to torch it.

Seven parts! Don't you just love over engineered kits. 🤣

The Pullman may not have got anywhere near to Stonehenge but it will surprise most people (and some archaeologists) just how close a railway came to the stones. RAF Stonehenge was surved by a spur of the Larkhill military railway with the buffers only a few hundred yards from the stones.

The Hadrians for Sicily were shipped to North Africa in crates and were then assembled by the British Glider pilots who had never seen them before, let alone put them together or flown them. One Hadrian (carrying cargo) was towed across the Atlantic in stages from Canada to the UK, but the idea was deemed too risky for other attempts. BTW In 1944 the UK possessed the ability to parachute a Jeep, 6 pounder anti-tank gun and its crew from a Halifax, ie the same load as could be carried in a Horsa towed by a Halifax.

Maybe the crew could be part of the (yet to be announced) V bomber support vehicle set. Comprising crew running as for a scramble with one at the foot of the ladder , one foot on bottom rung. Houchin, tug and tow bar, Matador Blue Steel transporter/loader, Cpl snowdrop plus airdog.

My Log book says it was September 19 1988. Hercules Mk 1 XV191. Load was 58 (sim 29) Para with equipment, 2 x 1900lb Wedge plus 2 x 150 lb door bundles. Boscombe to Newcastle (via Otterburn DZ) 10:25 to 12:10 , 1:45 hrs. Pilot F/Lt Jackson. My duty was Flight Test Observer. Ye Gods, was it really 31 years ago.

Tony, are you doing your Mk 3 with the ramp up or down? I only ask because (and you probably know this) the K model had a different cargo floor to all other Hercules ever built. IIRC you were a para on one of my Mk3 increased AUM para wedge trial at Boscombe, so I understand if you want to build it ramp up. Speedy in post #52 mentioned Pete James as a Boscombe photographer. He was the ‘toggie’ In the chase Harvard when it flew through the parachutes of a JATE heavy drop; it was the loudest bang I’ve heard that didn’t involved explosives! I was on the range and watched it in horror, and in apparent slow motion. Now for a gross recollection. At Boscombe we had a loadmaster with a ‘sick’ sense of humour. When we passengers in the cargo hold, he would get me to walk past the holding a ‘used’ sick bag which I’d hand to him. He’d open it, and after taking a tea spoon out of his flying suit he would start to eat. This would prompt the passengers to use previously unused sick bags for their intended purpose. (You paras use to pee into them as well). This excellent jape worked best when we used tinned cream of vegetable soup. 🤢🤮 😈🤪😇

One wonders what they were smoking? Hafner’s Rotatank proposal also suggested that the tank’s gun could be used for defence whilst airborne. Mind you Hafner had form, his Rotachute design was always intended to allow the pilot to use a Bren gun in flight. The Baynes Torpedo carrier idea wasn’t unique either Hafner had suggested a rotaplanes version of a miniature submarine or an airborne lifeboat. - They gave him a Jeep to prove his idea.

It existed and flew, so not a 'What if' as such.

I don’t think I gave you much opertunity to talk at Wallop as I was in full tour guide mode during your visit. 😊

Experimentally only on Whitley, Horsa and Hamilcar. Pods of 3 inch solid fuel rockets under the wings of the Whitley and Hamilcar and mounted on the undercarriage of tha Horsa. Incidentaly, Hafner proposed the Rotatank would need two tugs. A Halifax to tow the Rotatank and a Dakota to tow the Halifax!

There was at least one dealer at SMW who was selling the Turbine Islander, so I can report that there is an additional sprue for the engines, propellers and drop tanks plus some of the military lumps and bumps. Two bulged windows are provided in vac form and there is an additional brass fret for antenna, wing fences and rear fuselage avionics hatch. Bad news is that, as I feared, the engines haven't been reduced in width.

The frightening bit is those beefy looking frames are hollow box section. There was very little aluminium alloy used on the Hamilcar. The vast majority of metal used was 1/8 inch thick stainless steel plate used in laminations at the corners of the frames and wing joints. These plates were held to the wooden structure with hollow mild steel studs and nuts which look for all the world like short lengths of conduit. If anyone is wondering how the tank got out (Tony’s excellent model shows how big that first step was) the Pilot’s Notes describe how the undercarriage could be ‘raised’ after landing by releasing the pressure in the oleo struts which allowed the fuselage to lower itself to the ground.

Is it too late for Airfix's Telford team to leave the Vulcan at Margate and bring another 2020 new release along just to keep the surprise going? I'd love to see all your eager faces waiting to see which mark it is, what engines it has and whether there's a full bomb bay only to have the 1:48 Hampden announced. 😄

Oddly enough no, I am not in any of the photos and so I retain that air of mystery. 😂

There’s a business opportunity for CEd then, what with Thomas Cook going belly up there is an opening for a guided tour operator.

Both are good museums. At Filton the light show on the outside of Concorde is excellent and the museum does an excellent job at describing Bristol's part in aviation history. Middle Wallop benefits from being on an active military airfield (just so long as you visit on a weekday) and the museum had a refit last winter with some new (old) aircraft coming on display. I'm biased towards Middle Wallop, but I would be, I work there. However, Wallop is in the middle of nowhere and Bristol Aerospace is within walking distance of Cribs Causeway shopping centre so Mrs Hutch may like a two venue day out.

Concordes, they're all over the place. Don't forget the ones at Brooklands, East Fortune or Manchester Airport, where they are open to the public. There's also one at Heathrow being used by British Airways as a storage shed!

Ok I now know who to look out for on Sunday at Wallop (what order are you doing Old Sarum and Wallop in?). BTW The quickest route between the two is over Porton Down but you could always go via Salisbury to look at its famous 123 metre high spire - just don't touch any discarded perfume bottles. 😉

I’d be happy if Airfix’s CAD software understood the concept of sliding fit (with a tolerance for a layer of paint) instead of giving us an interference fit on the bulkheads and internals all the time.