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1/72 Special Hobby Skua Mystery parts


AltcarBoB

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Nearly finished the construction of a Blackburn Skua, I have got to the last page of the instructions and spotted two mystery parts that just appear with no part number and they are definitely not on any of the sprues. They fit into two dimples on the underside of the fuselage and look like pipes. They are located under the fuel tanks I wonder if they could be fuel dump pipes or overflow pipes. The top drawing shows the two dimples ringed in red and the next drawing the two mystery parts appear with no explanation

 

50014290186_d170c5fc16_b.jpgIMG_20200616_235813424 by Stuart, on Flickr

 

You can see the two dimples just slightly forward and to the sides of the bomb recess

50014291601_661bf3b7fe_b.jpgIMG_20200616_235851535 by Stuart, on Flickr

 

I can easily scratchbuild something to fit the two dimples but not sure if they are pipes or catapult hooks or something similar.

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I guess they down scaled it from their 1/48 kit as looking at the larger kits instructions there are 2 parts (D18) that fit into those dimples.

 

Don't think they are catapult spools as they are located further back on the fuselage, so given the location fuel dump pipes seems like a good shout.

 

H

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They would be catapult spools. I don't know if the Skuas had fuel dumping capabilities. Its only required if an aircraft couldn't return 'overweight'. The size of what you have circled in the photo is too big for a vent. With two on either side Its definitely catapult spools. 

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The two small etched circles low on the fuselage are for picking up the rear supports of the accelerator.  (not known as a catapult in those days), the two spools shown (rather like a pair of castors) are indeed for the forward pair of pick-ups.  In the RN system of the day the aircraft was raised into flight attitude by these four connections, thus being quite a slow process and not often used.

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Filed up a couple of hooks catches things that look roughly like the hooks catches things in @dogsbody photo. I used the brass etch sprue that came with the kit it was nice thin and soft to cut and file easily.

 

50015982371_faa83930d1_c.jpgIMG_20200617_134211839 by Stuart, on Flickr

 

and fitted

 

50015454348_638aa5e611_c.jpgIMG_20200617_135406670 by Stuart, on Flickr

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40 minutes ago, ejboyd5 said:

Neat interpretation, but how did the bridle disengage from a closed spool/hook?

I learned a lot about catapults from this RN instructional film:

 

By the way, the style of the fin flash on K5773 is interesting.

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There is a picture in the MMP book on the Blackburn ROC & Skua by Matthew Willis on page 115 that shows and describes the catapult attachment points under the centre section of the fuselage. The picture shown by @dogsbody seems to back this up as correct. The book implies that the Skua was the first British aircraft designed with these features from the beginning.

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Which assumes a very late introduction of the accelerator (HMS Ark Royal) which may well be true, and that all the launches from Battleships and cruisers used a slightly different system.  Also possible, given that they were floatplanes and flying boats.

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2 hours ago, Mick4350 said:

The book implies that the Skua was the first British aircraft designed with these features from the beginning.

 

51 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

Which assumes a very late introduction of the accelerator (HMS Ark Royal) which may well be true, and that all the launches from Battleships and cruisers used a slightly different system.  Also possible, given that they were floatplanes and flying boats.

I think it means it was the first British carrier aircraft designed with these features from the beginning.

Underlines emphasize my point: it takes some care to engineer a "first".

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