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Latécoère L.A.T.8 1921, scratchbuild 1/72


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This small early French airliner is now completed, it was among the firsts to provide restroom facilities for its passengers.
It serviced a line that went from France to North Africa stopping on the way in Spain.
It shows that undeniable charm of these pioneers, a bit ungainly but well-proportioned, that make them so attractive. Typical of many designs of the time, the cockpit (and pilot) are located in the aft fuselage exposed to the elements, while passengers traveled in relative comfort in an enclosed and fairly well-appointed cabin. It provided service for a time, but did not reach the popularity or production of other later Latécoère designs that will make themselves and their pilots famous, most notably in South America. Nevertheless, and considering that this was 1921, it its no doubt among the harbingers of the typical small airliner designs that would follow.

 

 The WiP can be visited here:

 

 

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8 hours ago, invidia said:

Great looking model. I bet landing was fun, the view from cockpit isn't great and is that the exhaust pipe running past the cockpit!!! 

I was going to say much the same things. I would not have liked to have been he pilot with the exhaust that close but maybe it kept him warm.

Do we have any idea of a typical flight duration?

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8 hours ago, invidia said:

and is that the exhaust pipe running past the cockpit!!! 

Strangely enough it is. This plane as commented in the WiP had three exhaust pipe configurations, and this one seemed to be the only one that put the fumes past the pilot, who as we see is almost riding on the fin.

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Beautiful and extremely interesting model Moa. I have only ever seen models of the sometimes extraordinary and stylish Latécoère flying boats. This is elegant in its way but I am glad you didn't opt for the ungainly looking vertical exhaust system shown in one or two of the photographs!

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

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1 hour ago, Baldy said:

Beautiful and extremely interesting model Moa. I have only ever seen models of the sometimes extraordinary and stylish Latécoère flying boats. This is elegant in its way but I am glad you didn't opt for the ungainly looking vertical exhaust system shown in one or two of the photographs!

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

Thanks Malcolm

I am afraid I must confess that I felt tempted by those chimney stacks, which are irresistibly steampunk.

Yet a different diagonal exhaust reaching the top wing was associated with a an earlier triangular fin, in an interesting visual rhythm.

The Latécoère flying boat I posted here some time ago (a much later machine) also had a land version (that operated in Argentina. May be one day...):

 

There are other, earlier, outstandingly strange Latécoère machines (and you can see the LAT8 just to the right and at the bottom of the three-engine LAT4, a much bigger passenger prospect):

Lat%C3%A9co%C3%A8re_4_Le_G%C3%A9nie_Civi

 

A so-called Latécoère 14 or 16, although there were other Latécoère so named too (later ones). It's almost brutal:

late14-1.jpg

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

Scratch built! 1/72 scale! Biplane with rigging! Wonderful paint! Excellent diorama and the figures are superb! One again I'm amazed and in awe!

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That’s really nice, Claudio, and the finish looks great. A typically esoteric Laté; I sometimes think that French designers of that period were in competition with each other to come up with the most outlandish shape that could actually do the job. Whatever their inspiration, though, it resulted in plenty of very interesting subjects. 👍

Jon

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7 hours ago, Jonners said:

That’s really nice, Claudio, and the finish looks great. A typically esoteric Laté; I sometimes think that French designers of that period were in competition with each other to come up with the most outlandish shape that could actually do the job. Whatever their inspiration, though, it resulted in plenty of very interesting subjects. 👍

Jon

Thanks Jon

I agree 😋😉

I love the French designs of the period, especially because they are visually-challenging 😁 My scratchbuild dream is a FarmanJabiru.

I have to say, though, that British designs can sometimes be equally...how shall I put it...interesting.

Cheers

 

 

 

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