Is it a bird, is it a plane, no, it's a Haffner Rotorbuggy. 1/35

[Head in the clouds.]

When I first saw this at SMW a couple of years ago it fitted my remit of prototypes and research aircraft and I had to have it.

In 1942, Austrian Raoul Haffner started work on the Rotorbuggy at the British Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment (AFEE) in an attempt to give airborne forces mobility upon landing . It probably goes without saying but flight testing was not entirely successful, initially being pulled airborne by vehicles then by a Whitley bomber, this was when the problems arose. The disturbed air created by the Whitley exhausted the pilot who was fitting to keep control, the control column was whipping around the cockpit with the pilot hanging on for dear life. Other tests included placing concrete ballast in with the pilot to simulate a warfighting load and then being dropped from 2.35 meters. The jeeps did well but the poor test pilot, although uninjured was severely shook up.

More problems arose and were fixed, my kit having the latter tail design, but just as they were getting there and making it work, the plug was pulled. Undaunted Haffner proposed the RotaTank, blimey, that would be frightening😱

 

The base kit is a Tamiya 1/35 Willy's Jeep mated with the MKModels resin conversion in 1/35. The conversion comes with nice workable resin, vac formed canopy and paint masks, but no decals. There are many small shafts, rods and pulleys that need to be removed from their respective casting blocks,these form the cumbersome control system in the cockpit for the rotor blades which measure 18" when assembled.

The key to finishing this kit is patience, lots of it, as the instructions are only 4 photographs of the partly assembled kit and good quality pics of this jeep/buggy/helicopter/autogyro 🤪 are rare indeed, and amazingly, this ground/air vehicle is preserved at the Museum of Army Flying. However, there is always a caveat, this is I believe is a replica so treat what you see with a little caution.

The hardest part of this conversion is the canopy, you get two and may very well need them. The plastic is very thin and needs a lot of artistic licence to make it fit, in an attempt to stiffen it up I fitted a complete framework to the inside of the canopy from Evergreen plastic strip and it just about worked

The instructions would have you paint the underside in yellow but I could find no indication on any of the blurry pics that this was the case, the opposite apply to the rotor blades, the instructions say black overall but on some pics you can just make out an area on each which is white or yellow, seeing as all things whirly have yellow tips I went for yellow. Another little issue with the blades cropped up at the end, when fixing them together if you overlap the tabs and fix both the leading edges of the blades will be on the same plane. With some filler this is overcome and is hardly noticeable.

This was also the first time I painted on the markings, very enjoyable but you do need to keep your concentration but the result is much better than decals.

One other thing, the entire front end of the Tamiya Jeep is filled with lead, this kit just screamed tailsitter so don't forget it if you build this model.

This kit nearly ended up on the shelf of doom but with my Three Kings build floundering I needed a mojo booster so I picked this. It worked. Although a tricky kit I did enjoy the build and will now add it to my collection.

Hope you like it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AltcarBoB]

Imagine seeing your next piloting job for the first time. I would probably volunteer for something safer like Bomb Disposal on the spot.

[RMCS]

Fantastic 

[Alan P]

That's like a bad hallucination after a night on the jungle juice, which I suspect Haffner may have imbibed 😂😂😂

 

Excellent modelling though, a seamless conversion and bravo for getting it to sit on its front wheels 👏👏👏

[Head in the clouds.]

16 hours ago, AltcarBoB said:

Imagine seeing your next piloting job for the first time. I would probably volunteer for something safer like Bomb Disposal on the spot.

And to go back for a second or third flight, now that is bravery!

 

10 hours ago, RMCS said:

Fantastic 

Thankyou

 

31 minutes ago, Alan P said:

bravo for getting it to sit on its front wheels

Thanks.

Lead,lead and more lead, enough for a church roof, the back wheels are a perfect pivot point so I could take no chances.

[Bill.B]

Excellent job! 

[Head in the clouds.]

Thanks Bill, it nearly didn't get finished so I am pleased with the final result.

[Hewy]

 I like it, thats Quality,i didn't  know there was an aftermarket resin add on of this abomination ,

Be handy to beat the rush hour traffic that, athough a tiny bit dangerous for other road users

[Spitfire31]

Fantastic! And thought provoking…

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

[Head in the clouds.]

2 hours ago, Hewy said:

Be handy to beat the rush hour traffic that, athough a tiny bit dangerous for other road users

Yes, the rather large rotor whipping round will cause a problem or two.

 

1 hour ago, Spitfire31 said:

Fantastic! And thought provoking…

Thank you.

There is actually a drawing somewhere of his proposed RotaTank, that does blow your mind.

[Aeronut]

Quote

There is actually a drawing somewhere of his proposed RotaTank, that does blow your mind.

The Rotatank proposal was for Valentine which would have been towed by a Halifax which in turn would be towed by a Dakota! 

I have a copy of Hafner's proposal document along with the reports on the Rotachute and Rotabuggy, and I 'Bore for England' about Hafner when I give guided tours of the Army Flying Museum.

Having proved his Rotaplane concept with the Rotachute Hafner wanted to go large and suggested that an Airborne Lifeboat, two-man submarine or a tank should be next, the authorities gave him a Jeep to experiment with.

In developing the Rotabuggy Hafner built a rotor test rig mounted on a vehicle too heavy to take off or roll over if the vibration got too much - a Diamond T wrecker. The Rotabuggy report has one photograph and a drawing of this vehicle, just enough to allow a model to be built, - its been on my shelf of doom for a year or two.

[Head in the clouds.]

3 hours ago, Aeronut said:

The Rotatank proposal was for Valentine which would have been towed by a Halifax which in turn would be towed by a Dakota! 

I have a copy of Hafner's proposal document along with the reports on the Rotachute and Rotabuggy, and I 'Bore for England' about Hafner when I give guided tours of the Army Flying Museum.

Having proved his Rotaplane concept with the Rotachute Hafner wanted to go large and suggested that an Airborne Lifeboat, two-man submarine or a tank should be next, the authorities gave him a Jeep to experiment with.

In developing the Rotabuggy Hafner built a rotor test rig mounted on a vehicle too heavy to take off or roll over if the vibration got too much - a Diamond T wrecker. The Rotabuggy report has one photograph and a drawing of this vehicle, just enough to allow a model to be built, - its been on my shelf of doom for a year or two.

Very interesting, he sounded like a chap with much going on in his head and if I understand correctly he actually managed to iron out most of the issues with the Rotabuggy. I think with the advent of the Hamilcar glider and the D Day landings it rendered his ideas redundant for an airborne tank.

Thanks for the post.

[Aeronut]

5 hours ago, Head in the clouds. said:

Very interesting, he sounded like a chap with much going on in his head and if I understand correctly he actually managed to iron out most of the issues with the Rotabuggy. I think with the advent of the Hamilcar glider and the D Day landings it rendered his ideas redundant for an airborne tank.

Thanks for the post.

Interestingly the official Rotabuggy report does not cover the final (and only circuit flown) flight which was also the fastest the Rotabuggy ever flew and probably the slowest a Whitley ever did a circuit at. The vibrations from the rotor were such that the Rotabuggy pilot had become physically exhausted fighting the vibration in the  controls.  Unsurprisingly it was endex for the Rotabuggy, D-day and Market Garden had happened and the gliders had done the job, even dropping Jeeps by parachute for the SAS had been successful and there was no need for the Rotabuggy. Also Hafner had been approached by a number of aircraft companies interested in his ideas for helicopters which could explain the lack of the last flight in the report which occurred after Hafner had written the report and left the AFEE for Bristol Aircraft.

Hafner was indeed a man with much going on in his head and this is exemplified by the calculations for the Rotachute which he did during the 13 months that he was interred on the Isle of Man as an enemy alien, having been born in Austria.

I did say I bore for England on the subject didn't I. 

[Shorty84]

Didn't know a conversion kit exists. Despite not being an easy build it came out great 👍

 

Cheers

Markus

[Head in the clouds.]

11 hours ago, Aeronut said:

I did say I bore for England on the subject didn't I. 

Not on my count Aeronut, good info is hard to come by and the internet can often be contradictory or sparse at best so please carry on if you wish. I find it fascinating, especially when unfamiliar names like Raoul Haffner are introduced to a wider audience.

[Head in the clouds.]

On 4/3/2020 at 12:20 AM, Shorty84 said:

Didn't know a conversion kit exists. Despite not being an easy build it came out great

Thank you Markus, it was up there with the hardest of builds thus far.