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High Speed Flying Boat- Flight magazine 1930 project


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(Caveat: this is not a new build, it is actually ten years old, a time when my scratching was quite less developed. I am posting here this as an illustrative aside on a conversation we are having on another thread I posted, in order not to clutter things there, and hoping that perhaps somebody may have a glimpse and smile)

 

Original text as it was published ten years ago -somewhere else- follows:

 

The quest for Speed has originated a plethora of beautiful shapes, dazzling prototypes, unique machines with the single purpose of combining lots of power with a polished, streamlined, efficient, lean airframe.

The object of this article was just a study, a proposal on the subject by W.G. Carter published in the “Aircraft Engineer” supplement of Flight Magazine of September 1930.

This racer was supposed to use two Napier Lions in a tandem configuration, thus canceling the dreaded torque effects that made these super-powered machines hard to control especially during take-off runs. Of course the tremendous heat delivered by the power plants needed a huge radiating surface – these were water-cooled engines – that had to be spread over almost every surface. The oil radiators were placed on the model in the lower surfaces of the engine gondola, while the water radiators were represented by colored decals in several areas, depicting the aluminum “skin” type radiator also used, for example, in the Supermarine S.6.

Construction

The model is based on the 3–view given in the second page of the above-mentioned article. With extremely attractive lines this proposed machine was conceived to embody the state of the art of the trade for the time. Since this design was just a study, there is no really detail to talk about, so for example radiators surfaces location, cockpit interior and colors are speculative. A trolley was also devised to help exhibit the model. The tiny canopy was vacuformed in my psychedelic Mattel contraption.

In-progress images will tell the story of the building development, while shots of the finished model will give an idea of the refined concept and gleaming beauty of this 1930 study on marrying horsepower with elegance and efficiency.

Ingredients:

One float – modified – from the Aeroclub generic floats vacformed sheet. One seat from a long ago forgotten kit, reversed and modified. A Napier Lion metal casting also from Aeroclub. Several aluminum tubes, wires and liberal use of styrene sheet and rod. Home made decals. Completing the ingredients list are Argentinian Yerba Mate, putty, a modicum of predisposition towards sanding, and a couple of Fellini’s DVDs for the breaks.

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Edited by Moa
to correct typo
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Excellent!  Those Speedbirds are really starting to get their claws in me.  Especially the Macchi Castoldi types.

 

Thanks for posting.

 

Dennis

Edited by DMC
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Excellent work! That looks really plausible for the time. Great finish too.

 

Reminds me of this similarly unbuilt proposal for the same race - which I only stumbled on recently - by Dornier:

 

Dornier

 

 

 

 

 

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5 hours ago, Courageous said:

Looks like another build for Moa, and one I'd love to watch. 

 

Stuart

Well, Stuart, here is the thing. Models of project planes are fun, but weird is sometimes closer to home, and real. I made a few:

 

Rocheville Arctic Tern:

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Eldred Fliers Dream:

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Mc Gaffey AV8 Aviate

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And I have made much weirder than these, believe me, but the ones posted above are more or less on the line of that seaplane style-wise.

Oh, the hidden wonders of aviation.

 

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Moa, beautifil or even more that just beautiful set of builds! Could you name those species just for education purposes?

Regards

J-W

 

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9 hours ago, JWM said:

Moa, beautifil or even more that just beautiful set of builds! Could you name those species just for education purposes?

Regards

J-W

Hi J-W

Their names are at the beginning of each series of images.

4 hours ago, alancmlaird said:

8 1/2 (Fellini reference !

😉

3 hours ago, Uncle Pete said:

I bet you inspire a lot of experiments.

😉

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5 hours ago, Moa said:

Hi J-W

Their names are at the beginning of each series of images.

Thanks, somehow I have not notice them...

I admire your technique.

Have you considered that one? ;)

f121-2.jpg

Regards

J-W

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2 minutes ago, JWM said:

Have you considered that one? ;)

f121-2.jpg

So Many times J-W that you have no idea.

I have spent years researching the variants (two, three and four engines) and different registrations, printed the plans to scale, cut some patterns, made the list of parts and somehow stopped there. I have seen models of this one that, if valiant and worth of an applause, were not precisely accurate in many regards. The day I build it, I want it to be memorable.

But wait, may be Heller will release a kit of it???

😉

It is quite a chunk of model even in 1/72. The fuselage and ancillaries are a piece o' cake. The wing, to be represented properly, is another story.

Motive for a thread on itself this one is, so we'll live perhaps here.

Cheers

 

 

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