Airfix blenheim -flaps up or down on the ground?

[PaulR]

Hallo there,

Really what it says on the title! I am building the new Airfix Blenheim IV; would the flaps have been left deployed on the the ground, or up as per the Spitfire? Any comments gratefully received.

Paul

[Wez]

A quick search on Google shows them to be up in most cases, so that would appear to be the norm, however, it's your model so it's your choice.

Wez

[dalea]

Gills closed too. Everything was zipped up before you went to the mess.

[A30_737_AEW&C]

I was considering the question posed by PaulR also. Then I thought about it. Appropriate check-list actions by the pilot (in the case of the Blenheim) should have been to 'stow' the items when they were no longer needed (i.e. after landing). Also, I imagine the engine cowl flaps were only required to be 'open' on the ground while taxiing or doing engine runs to facilitate cooling of the engine.

So if modelling your Blenheim parked, flaps (wing and cowl) are 'all tucked away', while if taxiing (out/in), 'let 'em all hang out'

[Work In Progress]

Flaps up when parked or for taxying. If you are using them for take-off (which under a lot of circs you don't, on a Blenheim) then you only lower them as part of vital actions immedlately before entering the active runway for departure. Having used them for landing, you raise the flaps after coming to a complete halt on the landing run.

And, yes, cowl flaps generally open for taxiing, but you close the cowl flaps after shutdown.

Useless Blenheim fact of the day: the hydraulic system only has the capacity to power any one of the flaps OR the undercarriage OR the turret at any one time. Not two or more at once.

Edited January 18, 2015 by Work In Progress

[Graham Boak]

Linked digression: The SB2C Helldiver had enough hydraulic power to unfold the wings or retract the undercarriage (I don't know about the flaps). So there was a lock to fix the wings in the down position before take-off. Otherwise....

[alex]

well, some navy airplanes proved they can fly with the wings folded up... but I doubt a helldiver was one of them!

Alex

[Tbolt]

Gills closed too. Everything was zipped up before you went to the mess.

Of course you could say the same about a lot of aircraft, but how many of us model aircraft with the canopy open?

If you want to show any aircraft in a certain way, as long as it's not physically impossible or wrong because it's in a diorama that proves it shouldn't be that way, then I say pose it how you want.

If you want to show what a Blenhiem looks with the flaps down, then put them down, if you are building a few though, I would just do it on one model, so it didn't look like the norm.

[Graham Boak]

If you are modelling it for competition, then it will not matter whether they are up or down because you will be marked on modelling ability not accuracy.

If you are modelling in a diorama, in some attempt at context, then flaps should be up unless you have ground crew working on it or have the aircraft at the end of the runway with all crewmen present.

If you are just modelling it as an aircraft, for yourself, then do what you like. It's a bit of a shame to waste the toolmaker's effort.

[dalea]

Gills on mine are open because I didn't check before I glued. Future ones I'll know.

[Selwyn]

Of course you could say the same about a lot of aircraft, but how many of us model aircraft with the canopy open?

If you want to show any aircraft in a certain way, as long as it's not physically impossible or wrong because it's in a diorama that proves it shouldn't be that way, then I say pose it how you want.

If you want to show what a Blenhiem looks with the flaps down, then put them down, if you are building a few though, I would just do it on one model, so it didn't look like the norm.

I model most of my aircraft with the canopy open In a diorama.When on the ground this is the norm. You normally only close them when its windy or raining.

Selwyn

[Tbolt]

I model most of my aircraft with the canopy open In a diorama.When on the ground this is the norm. You normally only close them when its windy or raining.

Selwyn

I wouldn't say open is the norm, I think it depends on many factors - what aircraft, what Airforce, the local climate etc, but generally I would say once the aircraft is parked up and left the canopy would be closed. But if you have the canopy open on your model it's usually because you want to show the cockpit off, just like if you leave the engine cowls off, to show the engine, having the flaps down is no different.

[Tbolt]

Gills on mine are open because I didn't check before I glued. Future ones I'll know.

I wouldn't worry, if you model is wrong, then so are all these

Edited January 18, 2015 by Tbolt

[AWFK10]

Flaps up when parked or for taxying. If you are using them for take-off (which under a lot of circs you don't, on a Blenheim) then you only lower them as part of vital actions immedlately before entering the active runway for departure. Having used them for landing, you raise the flaps after coming to a complete halt on the landing run.

And, yes, cowl flaps generally open for taxiing, but you close the cowl flaps after shutdown.

Useless Blenheim fact of the day: the hydraulic system only has the capacity to power any one of the flaps OR the undercarriage OR the turret at any one time. Not two or more at once.

There was only one hydraulic pump and one generator, both (on the Mk 1) driven by the port engine.. So if that failed, both hydraulic and electrical systems were lost.

[dalea]

Thanks Tbolt. I knew there was a reason

[Paul J]

I like the top photo in the above post(13). You can see that one or two turrets are up and others retracted. So another thing to decide on with the multitude of things one can do with the Airfix Blenheim.

I also like the third image down. Shows quite clearly the blast plate and shallow gun pack on a Mk.1!! And the cut out gills for the fitment at wing root close to nacelles plus what looks like narrow yellow bring to roundel and the external small bomb carrier/racks.

As for my two I've built, the Mk.1 has flaps down and gils open turret up! The Mk.IV or Bolingbroke finished recently gills closed, flaps down turret up. All because its how I wanted them and 'cos I can.

[Graham Boak]

Time to yell BINGO or whatever you do when something very rare appears. Well spotted. The fitment at the wing root close to the nacelles is part of the AI radar array. That's a night fighter photo that has avoided censorship. Probably because the nose aerial is missing, although you can see the hole for the mounting. Plus I think that's a mounting for another aerial above the wing. I noticed the "towel rail" aerial below the fuselage but thought little of it: however this isn't common on Blenheims either so was it part of the night fighter kit that has escaped comment before now?

L1285? I wonder if there was anything special about her? First conversion or something similar?

Edited January 19, 2015 by Graham Boak

[Paul J]

Ah! Those radar fitments are whats included with the extra cowling gill parts in the IVf kit then! Another few extra parts for the spares box thanks to Airfix.

Also, in the pic with the 'UX' coded Blenheims the clear under nose gun mount is clearly visible. Parts that are also included in the kit.

[GrzeM]

I guess that L1285 is a training plane. It's got narrow yellow roundel ring on the fuselage.

And day camouflage. Maybe even yellow undersurfaces? And this bomb rack. Quite strange set.

Anybody's got another photo of her? I wonder if it has a turret or not.

BTW, I have a photo of turretless Blenheim IV, it is 1943 personal transport plane of general Anders, commander of 2nd Polish Corps in Africa.

[Graham Boak]

L1285 seems to have been a normal service Blenheim, initially with 90 Sq before moving successively to 234, 23 and 604 squadrons before passing to 2nd line service with 7 Blind Approach Training Fight and then 13 OTU. A yellow narrow ring was not uncommon when this was first introduced because of lack of space, but that doesn't seem to be the case here so perhaps this is the aircraft late in its career with a C1 roundel and most of the AI equipment removed? The light undersides could be an indication of this, but it could equally be Sky in a 1940 day fighter scheme. It doesn't appear to be the later Day Fighter scheme, not least because of the lack of a fuselage band.

It just looks to be in a bit too good condition for an old tired airframe. There are however faint signs of overpainted code letters on the fuselage - maybe. KG? RO? RO is 29 Sq, which did operate Blenheim Mk.IFs but not this one. Unless someone reads the serial differently?

Notes: Flaps up, windows shut, props dressed, but elevators down. Prettied for the photograph? There's another non-standard aerial on the canopy.

[Paul J]

BTW, I have a photo of turretless Blenheim IV, it is 1943 personal transport plane of general Anders, commander of 2nd Polish Corps in Africa.

General Anders was my dads boss in Italy later on.

BTW: NOTICE the side windows of the UX coded Blenheim Iv in top photo....NO BLISTERs a la Airfix!! And the Finnish one in the pic below it.

Another edit: The codes on the Mk.1 L1285 could be red???