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Wheels Up or Down - What's your opinion?


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Wheels up for me as the finished models get hung on the ceiling.

I like the idea of removing the props and filling the spinner - no more yellow tips! I might try that sometime, soon.

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I just thought of something for those that scratch build their own display bases.  If you stagger the height of the rods on your model builds, you could potentially save on shelf space.  Essentially, the base itself and not wingspan, determines how close together they sit on the shelf.

 

regards,

Jack

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Most of my models have been built wheels down but now that I've almost run out of space I'm starting to do some wheels up and I'll hang them from the ceiling when I get round to it, especially if it's a duplicate of a type I already have (Lightning, Vampire). I'd rather have them wheels down so I can look at them more easily. 

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Mixed bag here. I prefer gear up, but adopt a pragmatic 'inclusions vs non' triage decision with each kit build. These days, it's frequently more expensive to go gear up having to source and supply a display stand seperately, plus seated pilot/& aircrew if considered necessary 'model in flight' display inclusions.

 

I don't ceiling hang, so display stand sourcing and silly pricing per single unit when available is a PITA. Suitable nationality IMP 1/48 aftermarket pilots and aircrew sculpted in flying poses similarly generally.  

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12 hours ago, 3DStewart said:

Do you think nose wheel equipped aircraft that generally sit on the ground in the same attitude as level flight look more graceful than tail draggers, and so wheels down covers both approaches?

 

I don't. I built the HK Models 1/32 Do335 last year, wheels down, and it looks distinctly ungainly on what is quite a tall undercarriage. I'm sure, like most aircraft, it would look much more svelte with the wheels up, but it would need a very substantial stand and quite a bit of work to achieve this. In this case I also chose to pose the model with some panels open to show both the rather nice engines, something obviously not possible in flight.

I think the same would apply to most tricycle undercarriage aircraft. I've built several Me 262s, all wheels down, but might consider one wheels up at some time.

 

At the end of the day it's a personal choice and I understand why some don't want to hide the wheel wells and undercarriage detail, or the cockpit detail with the addition of a pilot. For me, at 1/32, the pilot can be a detail in himself and most aircraft do look better in flight. I would say about one on eight of my models are built wheels up and it certainly helps to maximise my limited display space :)

 

Cheers

 

Steve

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UP. Unless of course there is fixed undercarriage. I have an original 1/48 Tamiya Lancaster built in the late seventies. Dad wanted wheels up since that's how he spent most of his time in the real one. As a kid I built wheels down but definitely prefer wheels up on a stand.

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10 minutes ago, klunker said:

UP. Unless of course there is fixed undercarriage. I have an original 1/48 Tamiya Lancaster built in the late seventies. Dad wanted wheels up since that's how he spent most of his time in the real one. As a kid I built wheels down but definitely prefer wheels up on a stand.

Dad sounds like quite a guy!!!

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I've always built u/c down, mainly because as  kid my family lived in rented houses. Saying that I usually had room outside to make a complete battlefield, including an airfield or two (a village or three as well as a fortified positions for infantry and artillery) and would leave my aircraft sitting outside.:evil_laugh: The Axis always lost in the end.

 

Being slightly on the short side I could never reach the ceiling anyway.

 

I still do wheels down now.:)

 

DennisTheBear

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1 hour ago, DennisTheBear said:

Being slightly on the short side I could never reach the ceiling anyway.

DennisTheBear

Did you never consider bouncing on the bed with a very sharp drawing pin at the ready - waiting to reach the ceiling :lol:

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It strikes me that wheels up or wheels down is like blonde or brunette - we all have our personal preferences. And long may it be so.

 

Nigel

(married to a blonde for 27 years - that's my preference).

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Above = true. Surprisingly, I've noted that it's one subject that frequently arouses vehement advocation or defence of personal predilection.

 

IDK why manufacturers can't just cater to both OOTB? Surely a mould for a single style stand universal to all kits within scale can't be that expensive to tool and include the couple of pieces of IM plastic within each kit?

 

Similarly with seated pilot figures as an inclusion, appreciating that where supplied OOTB, they are sprue inclusive kit specific. Kudos here to Tamiya in 1/48. Zvezda too :wub: , with an especial two thumbs up to Hasegawa for including them in 1/32 but thumbs down for absurdly continuing to universally absent them in 1/48?!! Unlike the plethora of fine affordable IM aftermarket figures for 1/35 armour from Dragon - Gen 2 especially, MiniArt, Masterbox and even Tamiya and Zvezda, there just isn't much in the way of IM 1/48 or 1/32 aftermarket seated WW II pilot figures generally, let alone nationality or period. Kudos to Modelkasten for their reasonably priced and well distributed generic six figure 1/48 Japanese period set which includes five IJN/IJA pilots, three of whom are seated.

 

I put it down to companies having done their prior market research which has revealed today's purchasing demographic majority priorities influencing buying decisions for add to stash, many of which will remain unbuilt including moi here, are internal detail with 'everything hanging off and down'. Even though that isn't me, I understand that. I really do.

 

What puzzles me however, is that for the so miniscule outlay as the be inconsequential to tooling or manufacturing cost, but significant value adding feature from my perspective, why they don't just include a display stand OOTB and keep everyone happy?

 

Crazily, some like Zvezda do make stands (hooray) as an aftermarket accessory, which are unavailable locally in my country nor easily or affordably accessible by the single boxed etail buy online (boo). Academy's which are better distributed are similarly just crazily priced for a simple plastic stand. Airfix similarly locally, where SLD induced unavailability is even richer than their pricing. 

 

Whine over. Now for some tasty cheese. Mmmmm... imported Italian made Gorgonzola Dolce.

 

All that said, Tamiya seem to be maintaining their pleasing figures included direction in 1/48 exampled in their December 2016 release new mould 1/48 Ki-61. Keeping with tradition, no display stand (boo), but, keeping with tradition a quality sculpted seated pilot figure included (hooray), slide moulded (?) detail inside and out (like Zvezda and Dragon armour, preferable to photo etch where executed well IMV), plus a new value adding feature of including paint masks (hooray). I'm betting obsessing internal detail lovers will be drooling with appreciation of the fuselage clearview option. 

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Models built in my youth usually had wheels up and when one propeller blade came to grief the rest were removed too. It always appeared more realistic that way anyway but it was a step too far to cut them off from the start...

 

These days, it's tempting to revert to wheels-up due to the increasing complexity of undercarriages and the growing use of butt joints.

 

John.

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Most definitely down. 

I agree with the points made by Shane. To my mind models don't look right on stands and as I need to put them somewhere to store having them stand on their own two legs, as it were, make my life easier and I don't get quite so many breakages.

Having said that MikeMaben's 262 does look the business.

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I've found myself adding more "in flight" over the last few years. A combination of (re)building old kits from my youth and their lack of details in the wells. Still less than 10%, but it's growing. At least one from each type-model will be in flight as it's a great contrast to sitting on the ground all dirtied up. How to display the prop is still something I'm working on, I've done the prop-blur and the kit prop but not yet tried the clear disk or a clean spinner; perhaps this year?

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I came to the decision to remove the blades and just do a clean spinner on in flight models after watching the piston engine fighters at shows like Flying Legends go zooming past. I realised that for 99.9% of the time I couldn't see the propeller disc/blades at all.

Cheers

Steve

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I do most of my aircraft on the ground wheels down but on occasion I like to do aircraft in flight.

 

I built this Airfix 109 in flight a few years ago for a Battle of Britain Group build and added a small motor to get the prop spinning. It presented its own challenges but I really enjoyed the build

 

BofB109E043.jpg

 

 

Currently building an English Electric Lightning in flight

 

Regards,

 

Mark

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