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On March 14 1960 SAS Boeing 707 en route from New York to Stockholm with refueling stop in London Gatwick was struck by lightning and lost power in three of four engines. The pilots issued "MayDay" and attempted successful emergency water landing in Baltic Sea in proximity of USSR territorial waters, all passengers and crew were eventually picked up by Soviet coast guard and emergency vessels but the plane sunk and was written off as a hull loss. By that time the only Soviet long range civil type was turboprop Tu-114 derived from Tu-95 bomber. Although being comfortable and reliable the type cruise speed was about Mach 0.71. The development of faster Il-62 was in its early stages therefore the opportunity to study one of the most advanced western types to speed up development was too good to miss. The plane was quickly and secretly salvaged from the bed of relatively shallow Baltic Sea and transferred to Yakovlev design bureau for studying. In September 1960 during the meeting in the Ministry of Aviation Industry Yakovlev mentioned that his bureau could deliver long range jet ariliner prototype based on reverse engineered 707 quicker and cheaper than Ilyushin that had given a green light for copying of 707 as Yak-62 as Il-62 competitor. Indeed, Yak-62 has made its first flight in July 1961 and after completion of state trials was recommended for mass production that begun in late 1962. Although based on 707 design Yak-62 was not its 100% copy - it was redesigned to comply with Soviet standards, dimensions and manufacturing process that made it 8% heavier than original 707. Soviets decided not to copy RR Convays but use four Kuznetsov NK-9 engines that had similar characteristics but were slightly more fuel hungry. Visually Yak-62 had different nose (early versions even had glass navigator cabin instead of radar), fuselage length, wing profile, cabin window layout, engine pylons and nacelles. Yak-62 was intended solely for internal use and served long haul routes such as Moscow-Khabarovsk and Moscow-Vladivostok. Unlike Tu-114 and later Il-62 Yak-62 was not considered as "achievement of Socialism" and therefore was not offered for export on international exhibitions. Its western ancestry was the reason of its quick withdrawal from service - although appreciated by passengers and crews alike all 34 of produced machines were replaced by Il-62 in just 15 years. I once bought a lot on e-bay that contained three airliners I truly wanted to build one day but the fourth was Airfix 707. I'm not a big fan of the type and this "WhatIf GB" is perhaps the only chance for it to be built

Having a break from painting (a wall not the plastic) I glanced at the stash and thought " why have I 3 biplanes and 2 Parsols when I hate rigging?"...and thus the story begins... Would it be sacrilege to wiff with a Matchbox Walrus? Probably not thanks to the Revell re-issue, albeit without the multicolored plastic we all love so dearly. ok so ideas now began to form in my crazy mind... Turn this: into this: From Turning to Burning. Or maybe this: Monoplane it (although Supermarine already beat me to this with the Seagull) Or a simpler: Just drop the rigging, and repaint in a new scheme wether alternative warbird or civi. Of course there other whacky options: 'gunship' - rockets, torpedos, turrets etc 'electric' - long before the EKA-3, predating the F3D-2Q, and making even the TBM-3Q seem positively modern. '2000' - well if Dornier can modernise their WW2 vintage boats... 'racer' - didn't a Walrus do a lap at Reno? Not looking like this... ...and I'm sure there more! Some things would be hampered by the rather bare stores box, others by the skill box - but nothing by the 'outside the box'

I don't of I will be allowed thsi one, but I will try. In around 1988 the Iraqi Air Force was looking at buying some Tornado F3s and were almost about to buy them, but it was then revealed that the British Government does not sell to countries that are at war wwhich Iraq was with Iran. But what if the Iraqis were allowed this purchase? I will be using the Hasegawa kit and some Linden Hill decals and the rest is a bit fluid at the moment. The Kit. The Decals

Hi, Relative newbie here so apologies if this has been asked before, I did a search for Tucano and nothing similar turned up - at least on the first 2-3 pages of results I'm about to start on one of these - the 1/72 Airfix jobbie, but I fancy something different. I was reading the Wikipedia page about the Tucano (Shorts) version and noted the debate about using them in a close support role and not just as a trainer. I know the UK ones are not fitted with hardpoints and so are unsuitable, but others are. e.g. Hardpoint locations seem to be clear here (not the Shorts version I know) : So I plan to build a what-if version - i.e. an RAF/Shorts version with added hardpoints and in military colours - probably borrowed from a Typhoon. The scenario would be some kind of situation involving ground forces requiring close air support to be provided rapidly. Tucanos, probably with additional tanks (would a centre hardpoint be suitable) would be able to loiter for long periods and answer demands as and when they came up. My questions are 1) how should I build the hardpoints (I've not done much scratch building but keen to learn), and/or what load-out or detailing kits would suit this type of idea (I'm noting the NATO type units at Hannants but they seem "large" for a small aircraft) ? I'm also tempted (just maybe no) to use WW2 style rockets, I have a few left over from various Mosquitos I've built as pathfinders or night-fighters. Also comments welcome, I'm sure this is just barmy. ;-)

Hi Guys, I will build the Hobbycraft Do-17Z with some different radial engines and will give it a coat of dutch paint. I started a conversion on the Hobbycraft kit a couple of years ago to make it into a Do-215. I was stuck with the engines and luckely ICM came to the rescue with a new kit. The Do-17 have just the engines removed and the rest is still to be done. The story behind it is : The Netherlands wanted to buy the Dornier Do-215 export model, but didn't liked the inline DB-601 engines. Because they wanted to have as much the same as the rest of their fleet to keep a easy maintenance they went for the P&W R1830 Twin Wasp engines with 1200 hp. This was the same engine as they wanted to put in the Douglas DB-8A-3N. That they wanted to purchase from the US. They purchased a 100 Dornier Do-17D's. 50 as a bomber version and 50 with a sollid nose with 1 20 mm cannon and 4 .50's as a heavy fighterbomber. The bombers were deliverd without the engines in the first months of 1939 and the fighter bombers in the spring of 1939. The engines were deliverd from the US also at the start of 1939 and placed on the planes by Fokker. The first bomber was ready in Juni 1939. Photo's will follow later. Cheers,

Operation Trebuchet Revell 1/72 RAF Typhoon 1990 saw the Middle East at the brink of war. Saddam Hussain had invaded Kuwait and declared it Iraq's 19th province. After a tense three months, a US led diplomatic envoy managed to talk Hussain back from the brink of all-out war. A long and bloody Gulf War was averted through diplomatic, rather than military action. But it was not without its price. Iraq faced heavy economic sanctions. The Iraqi government counteracted this by promoting policies which encouraged a more isolated and insular state. Sixteen years later and the trade restrictions on Iraq had placed a huge strain on the country both socially and economically. Furthermore, over the years Saddam had succeeded in enriching Uranium in secret mountain laboratories for the purposes of creating a short-range nuclear missile, although at the time it was not established whether he had successfully weaponised it. Hussain, backed into a corner by his people and the international community began lashing out to his nearest neighbours. The long years of isolation had made Iraq strong and fiercely independent. First, Saddam succeeded in re-taking Kuwait and began threatening Israel with his new nuclear arsenal. The world was held to ransom, a belligerant and jumpy dictator had his finger on a hair trigger. In a secret emergency meeting, NATO and the United Nations voted unreservedly for military action against Iraq before a potential nuclear attack was launched. In March 2006 B2 bombers based at USAF bases in the UK took off to instigate a first strike on Saddam's nuclear facilities. Luckily, they were successful destroying 78% of their targets buried deep in the mountains and paved the way for the ground invasion. As it transpires, Iraq had developed a ballistic missile capable of hitting targets as far away as Austria. Although the missile was unable to carry a nuclear warhead, liberating forces discovered a plan to use the missile to launch a dirty-bomb attack on an unnamed city. Following the initial invasion, the Iraqi Republican Guard faced heavy losses, causing them to disperse an retreat to towns and cities across Iraq. Baghdad and other large cities became fortresses, under siege from coalition troops. Over the first two months it appeared that little ground was being made and the number of civilian lives lost increased by the day. The RAF, who now have squadrons based in Saudi Arabia and recently liberated Kuwait, instigated "Operation Trebuchet". The objective: to start a 72hour barrage of continuous unrelenting air strikes on military targets across Iraq with the view to levelling the remaining military resistance and end the multiple sieges across the country. It was the perfect opportunity to test the mettle of the relatively new Typhoon in a ground attack role. The kit, a 1/72 Revell Eurofighter Typhoon will depict one of the machines involved in this fictional operation being re-armed and readied for the next sortie. I'll be using some aftermarket, so far I've identified the Eduard PE set but this might grow as the kit gets built. I'm hoping to have a play around with the camouflage and insignia as I am a big fan of some of the nose art of aircraft used in the "real" Gulf War. The desert pink will feature, but I may also play around with this to offer a unique what-if twist. For those of you who have seen my previous builds, I'll be using my traditional 6x6 bathroom tile as a base with some sort of diorama involved, possibly even another in-flight... We'll see. It begins....

So i bought a revell ferrari 612 as part of a bulk buy a couple of months ago and honestly I only got it because of the other cars it came with so from then i was stuck for an idea of what to do with this car as i rate it as one of the ugliest ferraris ever made, so ther i am trawling the Web for an idea for an unrelated project and a 612 race car by some make i have never seen before popped up, the there was my solution to my problem and here is what i have done so far today (also please bear in mind I haven't done any modelling for about 3 weeks as we moved house so not every thing is set up as of yet) The box of the world's ugliest car The body with the rear bumper glued on And here is where i have started with the mods And also the bonnet is being changed from stock Also just so i dont forget one of these has been purchased from autosportmodels I am hoping for this to progess quite quickly but i suspect like some of my recent builds this will stall and i will move on to something else Shaun

I started this conversion some time ago (before the Revell kit was announced and released) i spent a lot of time refinishing the fuselage as I kept stuffing it up. Decalling is almost finished, still need to sort out the engines paint wise and add the gear. The decals are from Hawkeye Models, sheet designed by Scott G on a request from me. The tail kangaroos are from their A380 sheet and fit quite well. They just need the tip of the tail trimmed once the decals are dry. Quite happy with how this is turning out Just spent about 40 mins trying to lineup the nose cargo door decals Aarrrggghhhh! Oh that will have to do....

I bought two Italeri C202s and they are such miserably awful kits I almost lost the will to build the second one. This "What If" is the only thing that will get it out of the stash. The starting premise is that the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) continued in its military/governmental role until the present day. The pilots are officers (Knights) of the order and continue to be "Catholic noblemen with at least 16 Quarters of Nobility" - the Order came up with a clever fix to allow its many Americans to join. The Order bought its aircraft from a variety of sources, mainly French, British and Italian at the time. The Order bought 24, deploying them in a single squadron. The pilots of the Order liked the Macchi's speed and agility but were less impressed with the parlous firepower. The Order's maintenance staff were less happy, feeling that the aircraft was greedy of their time and effort - "Like a sports car: a true rich man's toy" as one engineering officer put it. Aircraft of the Order are marked with the red/white SMOM roundel in six positions, and the coat of arms on the tail. Serial numbers in black or white are carried on the lower rear fuselage, with codes in white or light grey on fuselage. The codes are a number/letter format. The number indicates the squadron, the letter the individual aircraft. Spinner colours vary (red, blue, white, yellow) to indicate which flight the aircraft belongs to. No other ID or tactical marks carried – red roundels are sufficient. Colours in this case will be RAF Mid-stone speckling over RAF Light Sand base, with the underside Azure Blue. Given that the pilots are high-ranking nobles, small personal marks, e.g. family coats of arms, are common. Airframe is a standard type, with wing guns fitted. These are French 7.5mm rather than Italian Bredas, but the fitting is the same. The aircraft has an armoured windscreen and cockpit vent. The Italian type radio aerial is replaced with ones like those on the Dewoitine D520, (fixed one above and behind the cockpit, folding ditto below) as the radios were used by the Order at that time were French, as were gunsights.

This will be my first post here at britmodeller but I have been a regular reader for quite some time. As I am Swedish, I am currently (slowly) building up a collection of Swedish airforce models in 1:72. There are quite a few types that have never been made into a model so I started thinking about creating them myself and that leads us to this thread. I am going to try to prove (to myself) the concept of creating the model in a 3D program and then either print it using a 3D printing service or a CNC. I will start by going down the 3D-printing route. This thread will hence be a mix of 3D modelling and traditional building plus painting (I hope it still belongs here). My 3D modelling skills are quite limited so I decided to look for an aircraft with simple lines. I found drawings for a project at SAAB in the 50's, called the SAAB 220 that fitted the bill. It was meant to be a delta winged, 2 engined jet trainer or business jet. The concept eventually turned into the much more conventional SAAB 105 (SK60 in the Swedish airforce) that is still in use in Sweden and Austria. I will shortly post the plans that I will use. Details will have to be improvised and I will use the Saab 105 as a guide for many parts. regards Marten

Hello fellow modellers. This is my first post in RFI, comments welcomed. All brush painted using Humbrol enamels, decals are a mix of the supplied kit ones & Fundecals 1/144 Vulcans. Enjoy the following pictures of surely what should have been instead of what if!

Greetings fellow modellers, I present my what if viper, hope this is the right place for her. Its a great kit (revel), painted using Ford Moondust silver & brush painted with humbrol enamels. Have added some scratch built extras, recce pod underneath, ball turret at rear under engines. Decals are from a lightning. Hope you enjoy, as always comments are greatly welcomed. Thanks for looking Hockeyboy

Two Revell 1/144 P-47Ds strapped together... Built this just as a little "fun" project. £4 for the kits + a little plastic card + some filler + a few hours = A monster of a fighter! I swapped the undercarriage legs, bays and doors over, it would have looked a bit daft having them close together inboard of the fuselage or miles apart. I brush painted the whole thing and decals were a mix of kit and spares box.

Article @ IPMS-Stockholm

The story (a bit naive ) The list of A380 orders contains one entry that does not follow the pattern - it is an order for VIP transport built to private specification. As it was recently revealed, the order came from one of oil rich monarchies where serious civil unrest has been reported recently. The monarch has eventually fled the country leaving Airbus with almost complete hull. As it was mentioned before, the hull was built to private specification similar to 747-200M combi - aft part of the body converted to cargo compartment with large door to accommodate monarch's Rolls-Royce and guard SUVs. With abrupt cancellation of the order Airbus had to find a new buyer. Surprisingly the only bid came from the international talent management company that suggested to use it as a "touring bus" for musicians of highest calibre. Indeed, the layout of the plane provided luxury accommodation for artists and road crew as well as spacious cargo bay for stage equipment. The modified specification even included the rehearsal room. Using a single plane would simplify logistics and save money for the company. With the new contract secured Airbus completed the plane in just 8 months and delivered A380-800C ( C for Combi ) in late 2014. It first was used in famous Dream Theater 2015 "Galactic Tour". I started this kit very long ago but quickly lost interest. I tried to complete it in A380 STGB http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234917647-pins-what-if/ eventually it occupied so much space in my workshop so I made myself to complete it. At first I wanted to make "Big Four", then Queensryche (mostly because of Triryche logo) but it is DT after all.

Hi all, Well I've spent my summer holiday (I'm in 6th form so I have a summer holiday ) recovering from an operation so I can't do anything particularly active other than walking. As you can imagine, being a teen, I get bored being sat at home (yes, yes, I know I should be making models!). Anyway... this is the result of my mind wandering into what-ifery... I hope someone finds these at least vaguely interesting First up is a Spitfire Mk I with bubble canopy As well as a Tigermoth fitted with a 345hp Armstrong Siddley Cheetah radial engine. These two are in a previous topic of mine. They are based roughly around Alex Henshaw's idea of moving rear the cockpit on the PR Spits... I'll probably do a couple more tomorrow... Ben.

Many countries used the Mustang after world war 2, even the USA. I bought an Airfix quick build P-51D but want to do it in a post-WW2 scheme with standard decals that I dont have to order or make. Please, any suggestions would be welcome. Btw I was thinking Navy (US or UK) and COIN aircraft (US or UK). Thanks

RA1 Watchkeeper ASTOR/AEW As austerity starts to bite, the Royal Air Force realise that it would be advantageous to combine roles and retire both the E3 and Sentinel aircraft. Their replacement - the Watchkeeper. This aircraft is equipped with synthetic apperture radar, airborne surveillance radar and an advanced optics suite. It is flown by a crew of 6: 2 pilots, 1 mission commander (and optical systems operator), battlefield radar mapping officer, airborne radar operator, and signals intel/electronic warfare officer. The crew are seated in comfort in "assisted exit" seats and the aircraft has an endurance of up to 14 hours before refuelling (or 20 with ferry pods attached) and a cruising speed of 300kts. It is capable of carrying stores on external hardpoints including fuel, electronic warfare pods, or - for targets of opportunity, a small number of offensive stores including bombs and missiles. The aircraft features a large moving map and a multiple integrated sensor suite - allowing the mission commander to make real time decisions on the battlefield. This is a fully integrated and multi capable ISTAR asset, using the latest computing and radar technology - truly a leap forward. The aircraft is expected to make its first flight late in 2013... Pictures of the prototype below.... Needless to say - this is really a spares box raider!!! Lots of filler, lots of bits and bobs and a bit of experimentation. I've tried to be as realistic as possible - still, for example, have to sort some cooling intakes for the radar systems.. Quite a bit of filling and sanding still to do, and quite a few aerials still to add (similar to those on top of the P8 Poseidon). I've scribed a door behind the seats in the cockpit, and there are 4 remaining glazed windows for the crew. Unfortunately, I managed to sand across one of them - any advice on how to make it right again happily received!!! It will be painted in a similar scheme to the RAF Sentinel, though I haven't decided what stores I'm going to place under the wings yet. It will use an F111 front gear, with a modified DO228 rear undercarriage with double wheels. Hope to finish this soon, but with 2 young children, a wife, and a busy real life flying schedule - watch this space.....!! Any comments, criticisms, and advice will be most welcome!

This is a "what if" project converting a vinyl M.a.K walker into a Wermacht Gun Carrier. The bits and pieces were all from the spares box and the main cost was the primer paint. .