Rocheville Arctic Tern amphibian-1932, 1/72 scratch-built

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

A build from 12 years ago:

 

Beauty is sometimes a hidden quality that only needs just the right eyes to be discovered.
Motive, on the other hand, may remain forever hidden when you think about the rationales that supported the creation of certain flying things.
In any case, how can anybody resist the charm and flair of winged wonders like this one.
The more you enter into the strange lands of esoteric designs, the less information is likely to easily appear. In this particular case there were no plans or three views, just a very few images available upon which you should muster enough building steam to arrive to a safe landing, which, be it said, wasn’t the case with the real plane.
The Arctic Tern was a special-purpose plane created in 1932 to provide a photo platform to survey Alaskan regions, intended to be used by Shell in its explorations.
As far as we know, it was really used to scare the pilot, passengers and bystanders, not to mention the occasional real arctic tern.
Besides the pilot, cruelly semi-exposed to the elements, two enclosed positions were provided on top of the floats, with forward-leaping windscreens a la Fokker F.10s or earlier Boeing 247s.
The real plane’s original wing was donated by a Lockheed Sirius, the tail by a Vega, being the engine a Wasp of imprecise denomination.
The design unavoidably evokes the Savoia Marchetti S.55 and specially the Bleriot 125, among various other beautiful flying creatures.
The model at a glance:
Starting from the photos a drawing was sketched as a truly optimistic base for the ensuing construction. The floats came from a Sword Beech Staggerwing, which were slightly broadened with a sandwiched styrene sheet and later re-contoured. The front of the structures on top of the floats came from modified left over pants of the Matchbox Heyford. The engine, prop, main wheels and struts are from Aeroclub. Everything else was pretty much squeezed-out from the Fifth Dimension, including the Sculpey-made “upper” fuselage.
 

I really do enjoy making these strange creatures of wonder, it feels like touching the unknown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[John Aero]

There is so little to go on and you certainly have an eye for translating a little into a lot. A bit loaves and fishes.

I'm waiting for the time when we nod sagely at Moa's latest revelation... and then he says April fool...

 

To me this plane is just an exercise in moving parasitic drag around.

 

John.. with admiration.

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

4 minutes ago, John Aero said:

A bit loaves and fishes.

Ex ungue leonem, John

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

7 minutes ago, John Aero said:

To me this plane is just an exercise in moving parasitic drag around.

 

John.. with admiration.

The way I see it, John, is a mastering of aerodynamics:

THREE planes sharing ONE wing.

Cheers

[noelh]

At this point I think your models should be in a sticky. It really should be a gallery.

Edited February 6, 2019 by noelh

[Courageous]

 

Stuart

[pheonix]

You have a real ability to discover and then model the extraordinary and unusual. What does it matter if some of your dimensions or shapes are not quite right? To ressuscitate these types is an artform in its own right: that you do so with such skill is a gift to the rest of us. Thanks.

 

P

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

21 minutes ago, noelh said:

At this point I think your models should be in a sticky.

???😳

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

54 minutes ago, John Aero said:

There is so little to go on and you certainly have an eye for translating a little into a lot.

Not so little, actually. We have the known dimensions as a reference of the Lockheed Sirius wing and Vega tail components.

 

 

 

 

https://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/MasonDavid/4382L.htm

 

 

 

 

[Wlad]

Wow, I imagined the pilot sitting much lower in that cockpit. This plane is much smaller than I thought. Definitely summer use only in Alaska.

 

Great build.

Wlad

[jeaton01]

It looks almost as if the floats were detachable. One wonders how it might fare in a sideslip.

 

But a gorgeous piece of modeling.

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

1 minute ago, jeaton01 said:

It looks almost as if the floats were detachable. One wonders how it might fare in a sideslip.

 

But a gorgeous piece of modeling.

My only concern is that they are beautiful 

🤩

[jeaton01]

Next you'll try to sell me a bridge in Brooklyn!

[Wlad]

Depending on the sideslip it could end up rolling inverted. That fin looks mighty small compared to the side area ahead of it and below the centre of gravity, and not enough dihedral to help lift the wing in a sideslip.

[stevehnz]

I'm put out I hadn't spotted this the first time around, too much of a hurry skimming through the new posts list maybe? I came upon reference to this while googling info on the Lindbergh's Sirius recently & thought, there's one for Moa, darn, missed the boat by 12 years, though only 3 weeks in Britmodeller terms.

Its a cracking job of yet another weird if not wonderful aeroplane.

Steve.

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

6 hours ago, stevehnz said:

I'm put out I hadn't spotted this the first time around, too much of a hurry skimming through the new posts list maybe? I came upon reference to this while googling info on the Lindbergh's Sirius recently & thought, there's one for Moa, darn, missed the boat by 12 years, though only 3 weeks in Britmodeller terms.

Its a cracking job of yet another weird if not wonderful aeroplane.

Steve.

You are as usual very kind Steve.

Glad you enjoyed it.

Cheers

 

[Jeff Oliveira]

That is weird and wonderful. It looks like something out of an early 1930s comic book and it was a real airplane!  Another masterpiece from you. Love your work. So different, fascinating, and well executed.

[Des]

On 2/6/2019 at 8:54 PM, fjaweijfopi4j48 said:

A build from 12 years ago:

 

Beauty is sometimes a hidden quality that only needs just the right eyes to be discovered .  . . . . . I really do enjoy making these strange creatures of wonder, it feels like touching the unknown.

 

I had never come across this aircraft nor its manufacturer until I was researching another subject today that took me to a PDF of a 1973 US aircraft magazine which included the second part of an article on EMSCO and the Rocheville designs and I wondered if anyone had ever modelled one and then found your build.

 

Belated congratulations on your imagination and skill in planning , building and finishing such a beautiful model of this very eye-catching aircraft.