Seahawk Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 "I`d love to model a Shark Mk.III with the enclosed canopy, does anybody do an after market one?" Quick answer Tony ... yes ... kinda. Pavla does a vac canopy for a Mitsubishi Ki 30 Anne (Hannant's stock no. PAVV72089). It's intended for the AZ kit, but when I saw a photo of it, it's appearance screamed "RCAF Shark" to me. All it appears to need is the removal of the rear-most frame to open the back. I've yet to order one for myself, but eventually intend to, as I also have the Modelcraft edition of the Blackburn (RCAF) Shark. If anyone tries to use this canopy, please feel free to relay your findings on it's compatibility... I'd really like to know. Scott Hot tip! X 2 re tipping us all off if it works or not. Wonder if there's an Ann canopy in my Falcon Clearvax collection... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 As Martin says, just the subject matter makes it cool and the cockpit detailing you've added is superb. I just wish we had this and the Fairey III family in 1/48 scale. Hear, hear! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 (edited) Ooh! I just remembered I had these drawings. I should have posted them sooner but I suffer from CRS: Can't Remember S#%&! Chris Edited September 4, 2015 by dogsbody 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 Great drawings! Thanks for sharing with us! Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudioN Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 Thank you for sharing these fine drawings. About the Mk. III Shark: - closed cockpit - three-bladed propeller - engine? I see some profiles show a narrow-chord cowling. I take this to be for Pegasus-engined machines? British Mk.IIIs seem to all have the long-chord cowling, but the Pegasus engine is indicated in Sturtivant "FAA aircraft" series of books. I'm rather confused about this, any help? Claudio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWM Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 Hi, engine? I see some profiles show a narrow-chord cowling. I take this to be for Pegasus-engined machines? British Mk.IIIs seem to all have the long-chord cowling, but the Pegasus engine is indicated in Sturtivant "FAA aircraft" series of books. It was Pegasus as I know. Really it looks from the drawings that chord of Towdend ring was different in Canadian and British Shark (less then I mm in scale of my display)- can it be just an mistake by different origin of drawings? Or simly - the mistake? Pavla does a vac canopy for a Mitsubishi Ki 30 Anne (Hannant's stock no. PAVV72089). It's intended for the AZ kit, but when I saw a photo of it, it's appearance screamed "RCAF Shark" to me. All it appears to need is the removal of the rear-most frame to open the back. I've yet to order one for myself, but eventually intend to, as I also have the Modelcraft edition of the Blackburn (RCAF) Shark. If anyone tries to use this canopy, please feel free to relay your findings on it's compatibility... I'd really like to know. Regarding Ki-30 Ann canopy - ther is one important difference which is difficult to correct in vacu canopy (easier in injected) - the back slope of rear part of windscreen. Ann has it is perpendicular to base, whereas in case of Shark MKIII there is an angle different then 90 deg... BTW - I found interesting photo of Shark with 3-blade prop and Tiger engine: http://www.dave-cushman.net/aircraft/non_swiftpics.html And here is Mk III with details of propeller in Bristol engine nicely seen. The prop is the same as above one. BTW(2) more drawings here: http://www.airwar.ru/other/draw2/shark_mk.html Cheers J-W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousAA72 Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 I've never really taken much notice of this aircraft previously, but have to say what an interesting looking machine! Look forward to seeing this one progress... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 At the moment I am halfway through building a Frog version of this, I will be be putting wheels on mine. The moulding of the dark blue plastic is very good, does not seem to be any warpage, did not go overboard with detailing my cockpit, however seeing this build I should have tried harder, watching the progress with great interest. Robin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 Some intel on RCAF Sharks: http://www.canadianwings.com/Aircraft/aircraftDetail.php?SHARK-61 Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 (edited) A small section of the drawing JWM posted, cleaned up a little and resized. and from the drawing I posted above: Chris Edited September 5, 2015 by dogsbody 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 Great work so far Adrian, The cockpit work looks faboulous. I will follow with interest, I too have one in the stash to do, will do mine with wheels and open pit. Keep up the good work All the bestChris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 Not only is the build interesting but this thread has become valuable for all the bits of Shark reference material that has come out of the woodwork. Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntPhillips Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 Not only is the build interesting but this thread has become valuable for all the bits of Shark reference material that has come out of the woodwork. Martin That's Britmodeller's forte, there are so many members with expert knowledge and references tucked away, you can ask a simple question about a particular subject and it quite often expands into an depth discussion about multiple aspects of that subject. Long may it continue. Ant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 (edited) Scott and Seahawk, Cheers for the info about the canopy,...deffo worth a try! Dogsbody- Aren`t the following drawings thise from Carl Vincent`s book about the Shark in RCAF service, which were drawn by George Hopp??? Ooh! I just remembered I had these drawings. I should have posted them sooner but I suffer from CRS: Can't Remember S#%&!Chris If so credit where credit is due I say,........and surely its the least we can do to explain where the drawings came from as it obviously took a long time to get them looking so good?. I think that they were recently `gifted' to IPMS Canada? Cheers Tony Edited September 6, 2015 by tonyot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 I have no idea who drew them - but they are undeniably beautiful drawings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 Yes, Tony, I got them from that IPMS Canada offer back in 2012. The following information is posted on their forum. FREE BLACKBURN SHARK Drawings to IPMS Canada Members Courtesy of Carl Vincent, Terry Higgins and the good folks at Aviaeology (www.aviaeology.com), IPMS Canada’s Special Products Division has come into possession of about 100 copies of detailed Blackburn Shark drawings. These drawings were recently discovered in a Belgian warehouse, carefully hidden under a pile of Afrika Korps pith helmets. The black line artwork drawing consists of one, 16” x 20” sheet, printed both sides and contains George Hopp's finely detailed 1/48 scale three-view drawings of the Shark variants used by Canada. They were originally included in 1974’s acclaimed (and now rare) Carl Vincent book, The Blackburn Shark (Canada's Wings Vol. 1), and this limited supply represents the last remnants from that time. Shark enthusiasts will be happy to learn that Carl is currently working on an updated, colour profile endowed re-edition of his long out of print Shark book. Chris 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 Ha! Just did a GOOGLE search on that book and ordered one from http://www.abebooks.co.uk/ Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted September 7, 2015 Author Share Posted September 7, 2015 Hello again, Wow! Quite a lot of information and plans. There are some pretty good plans in the Canadian Wings book. Both that and Flight magazine provide a number of excellent pictures and plans (many of which are available on the web, either in the Flight Global archive or elsewhere), including the only pictures of the cockpit that I have ever seen. My Putnam book on Blackburn is not particularly helpful in giving details: "The mark II had some structural changes..." Well, typically for me, once the cockpit is done everything gets slower! I've been doing quite a lot of research, trying to get a grip on a number of small details. For instance: [if TL;DR, skip this list!!] * I've not seen a picture of the rear observer's windscreen anywhere. Does it exist? Is it retractable? (Leave it off) * Does the observers cockpit have a coaming, which seems to be visible at a light line in some photos (Not mine) * Is there a windmill generator on the right hand side of the fuselage, just a pylon or nothing (Pylon only for mine) * Did the aircraft actually carry its front gun (still can't tell. may leave it off) * How many of the 10 rigging lines actually existed on my example (Still can't decide) * The cowling joints are actually above the centre line, not where Frog put them to help the moulding (will do) * The tailplane is missing some trim tabs (done) * There are some aileron hinges and cranks to be added (done) * The rudder has a control horn and control lines running out of the rear fuselage decking (horn done so far) * There are three standard bomb racks and one small bomb carrier under each wing (I'm showing the mountings only) * There are some lights and flare holders at the end of the wings (not sure what I'm going to add) * There are two types of oil cooler for the Canadian examples, and they are omitted on some of the profiles shown above * The example on the cover of Canadian Wings shows "N" struts under the tailplane (not mine) With some builds I just get overwhelmed with research, choices and detail, others I just slap 'em together and have a good time. This is the first sort. But I've made some progress over the weekend: The seat belts look a lot better from above at actual size... No more cockpit pics, I promise! Fuselage took a little clamping! I gave the tailplane a bit of droop. Unfortunately I didn't put the stick forward in the cockpit, but I can live with that. There is a fair amount of flash to clean up on the parts, this being Frogspawn, albeit one of the better ones. I more or less halved the thickness of the little wind generator tripod, and cleaned flash from the end of the tailplane struts furthest from the sprue attachment point. There are some short-shot parts too. I spent lots of time filling and trimming all the wing-strut joints because the struts are really blobby at the ends. I also spent some time scraping them down to make them parallel-sided. Some of them bulge in the middle - that might be OK for Greek temple columns but it doesn't work for me! I've tried to straighten them too, but I think the plastic just relaxes back... Here are the tailplane struts in position. Three out of the four are too short, although it doesn't show too well here. I think this is a problem from the original mould as if it were a short shot, I wouldn't get flash at the end of the strut! Note the arrestor hook is located in its hole at the rear of the fuselage but doesn't reach the fairings. Not sure whether this is a Frogspawn short shot issue or not because there is no flash to help me decide. Slightly less boringly, I have filled in the slots for the bombs and added bomb rack attachment points, and added hinges and cranks for the ailerons. I had some stretched sprue that was appropriately thin (and long enough!) to make the tailplane struts. Notice the "N" brace under the tailplane on this one. Rudder control horn and tailplane trim tab mechanism are done. Some Halfords rattle can grey primer dispensed in the garden on a sunny afternoon. There is still some smoothing and touching up to do on the port wing, which is the one that launched this kit onto the shelf of doom all those years ago. The reason why one strut out of the four fitted under the tailplane was because the port rear fuselage locating hole was at a different level to all the others. I filled it in and drilled a new symmetrical hole. Arrester hook still too short. Top surfaces weren't too bad (apart from the spray primer runs!). On builds like this I need a list.The exhausts are very nice, as is the undercarriage with separate tailwheel and cradle. I've tarted up the gun mounting with some stretched sprue. The stick on the sprue just below the mounting is actually a very short shot machine gun! No wonder I couldn't find it... Well, it's coming along. I feel I'm over the worst now, apart from the wing fold, centre section, painting and decalling! Thanks for looking, Adrian 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted September 15, 2015 Author Share Posted September 15, 2015 (edited) Hello All, More work on the Shark, which is inching towards the finish line! The arrester hook now has a hook tip added, and will be mounted with thinner and longer arms from stretched sprue. The Modelcraft part is a short shot, as the original Frog kit is the right length. I've removed the big lugs that hold the folding wings in place and replaced them with wire. I then filled in the slots in the wings and detailed the surfaces according to photos: And finally up on its legs! The front struts are made out of brass wire to provide a solid reference point for mounting the centre section. I will fair the top ends of the struts after fixing the top wing. I'm away this week and may go to Duxford at the weekend so this will be taking a break... Thanks for looking, Adrian Edited September 16, 2015 by AdrianMF 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted September 15, 2015 Share Posted September 15, 2015 Great stuff Adrian,love seeing new life breathed into these old kit's. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robvulcan Posted September 15, 2015 Share Posted September 15, 2015 Very nice work. Mate 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWM Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 Looks great and promising 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimHead23 Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 It's coming together beautifully I may have to dig my kit out at this rate. Very inspiring! Regards Jim 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 Adrian, when you are finished the masterpiece, could you be so kind as to post it on the FROG forum? http://www.frogmodelaircraft.co.uk/phpBB3/index.php?sid=4b7bc9d178482caa5e2ca3ca595b6ec4 Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 Looking good! Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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