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Classic Airframes Lockheed Hudson III, 113(BR), RCAF - New photo's for April 30th


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Maybe I'm just a glutten for punishment, but I'm starting a 1/48 Classic Airframes Lockheed Hudson III, to be finished as LM*L, 113(BR) Sqdn, RCAF, which scored the RCAF's first U-Boat kill.

Right off the hop, I knew about the split elevator problem, instead of the correct one piece elevator. What I didn't know until now was that CA had molded ALL of the fight controls scalloped out  as though they were fabric covered instead of the correct metal!  Should be an interesting challenge!

 

kit

 

 

Aviaeology's excellent decals set "First kill Hudsons"

 

kit decals

 

Edited by Tail-Dragon
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Great subject,.... I have one lined up too and I know another Britmodeller has one lined up to be a PRU aurcraft too. OzMods do some nice resin bits,.... a new tailplane and an opened bomb bay,.... I have the latter and it is very nice indeed.

 http://www.ozmods-kits.com/ozmods-conversions-upgrades-148

 

Good luck mate,

                         Tony

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Thanks, I usually do not do open bomb bays, as I feel it spoils the lines of the aircraft. And as for the tail, the plastic is SO thick, that I'm just going to correct and rescribe the tail feathers. A couple of things that really stand out on first inspection - the total lack of wheel well details (time for some scratchbuilding), and the truly horrid props! The later is an easy fix, a little research tells me that the Mk III was fitted with Hamilton Standard HS 23E50-285 hub and 6379A blades of 10'6" diameter. As it happens, this seems to be the prop incorrectly issued with the Revell Ventura (which I have as spares)!

One other thing I noticed is the tiny tail wheel - it looks more like 1/72 scale!  Just a quick glance at the photographs shows the diameter of the tail wheel should be roughly the same as the horizontal length of the cabin windows (not scientific, I know)

15111628811_5491aa91ba_o

 

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I've started on the Hudson by replacing the almost cartoonish props on the kit with spares from the Revell Ventura - looks to be the correct type for RCAF Hudsons !

I've also replaced the poorly molded resin engines (Cyclones) with Quickboost's B-17 Cyclones - just slight trimming required.

engines - 1

 

Next up is the nacelle's and wheel wells, first the lower portion of the well ...

 

Wheel well - 1

 

Wheel well - 2

 

while I was at it, I cut down a spare Beaufighter tail wheel to replace the severely undersized kit tail wheel.

If I thought this was going to be a quick and simple build, I was mistaken!

 

Colin

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Good idea re the props , I wonder if they will be okay for a MK1  too, will look at that.   I like the U/C bays work too.   I was cleaning up all the resin bits and didn't think the engines were too bad as have finely moulded pushrod tubes moulded on too.  Great start. 

Chris

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9 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

   I was cleaning up all the resin bits and didn't think the engines were too bad as have finely moulded pushrod tubes moulded on too.  Great start. 

Chris

You were lucky with the engines. Mine were full of gaps, a big smear of resin obscuring part of one crankcase, and chunks of silicon mold imbedded in one cylinder. I would think the props would work, (they are the exact diameter needed) just add the kit spinners.

I've started work on the tail, and will post photo's when it's more complete.

Did you notice the all fabric control surfaces? What were they thinking?

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9 minutes ago, Tail-Dragon said:

You were lucky with the engines. Mine were full of gaps, a big smear of resin obscuring part of one crankcase, and chunks of silicon mold imbedded in one cylinder. I would think the props would work, (they are the exact diameter needed) just add the kit spinners.

I've started work on the tail, and will post photo's when it's more complete.

Did you notice the all fabric control surfaces? What were they thinking?

 

Thanks Tail-Dragon,  yes I think I have been lucky there with the engines and thanks for the prop info.

Yes I did see the fabric effects, luckily I have the OZmods tail plane correction set, which is very nice.  I admire what you are going to do with yours though.  Really looking forward to this build after seeing what you did with your Beaufighter. 

Chris 

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2 hours ago, Tail-Dragon said:

I've started on the Hudson by replacing the almost cartoonish props on the kit with spares from the Revell Ventura

They may need to be made smaller as the Ventura had a lot more power than the Hudson.

 

Will

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1 hour ago, Scimitar F1 said:

They may need to be made smaller as the Ventura had a lot more power than the Hudson.

 

Actually, the props supplied for the Ventura were wrong for a wartime Ventura. They should be the wide 'paddle blade' props to absorb the increased HP.

My research tells me that the Hudson Mk III was fitted with Hamilton Standard HS 23E50-285 hub and 6379A blades of 10'6" diameter.  The Ventura props scale out to a perfect 10'6"

Now for the curious part. While the props from the Ventura scale out correctly, the kit props are undersized (adding to their odd look)  If there is a conflict, either the Hudson is too fat, or CA molded the engines to close to the fuselage - time will tell.  If I do have to trim the props, it's not that big a deal.

a064302-v8

 

Edited by Tail-Dragon
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2 minutes ago, Scimitar F1 said:

Sounds like a plan - I have one of these to build as well! I think someone does Ventura props as well

You know what the problem will be, aftermarket Ventura props will be the "paddle bladed" type! (file this under 'you can never win!')

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4 minutes ago, Tail-Dragon said:

You know what the problem will be, aftermarket Ventura props will be the "paddle bladed" type! (file this under 'you can never win!')

Use them on the Vent and the kit Ventura props for the Hudson

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Nice project, it reminds me that I have a good few of the Classic Airframes kits in the depths of the stash, maybe one day I'll get round to them.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

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I'm tackling this in subassemblies, first was the tail assembly.  It's been thinned, fabric scalloping removed, rescribed, and the center section of the aft fuselage removed, and installed, built up and faired in with the elevator. the adjoining section of fuselage was thinned to receive the elevator.

tail1

 

tail2

 

next was the nacelles and wheel wells. Classic Airframes had not scalloped out the exhaust channel, or given any wheel well details, so out came the x-acto ...

Wheel well - 3

 

 

Wheel well - 4

 

Once I'm finished with the landing gear, I'll move on to the outboard wing slots.

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and now another bundle of snakes!  The Hudson has a dihedral of 6 degrees on each wing (lower surface), so I made a spar to keep the dihedral correct (this was suggested on another build that I followed - I can't remember who suggested it, but it's a good idea)

 

wing 1

 

I'm afraid I don't know the identity of  the person who did this drawing, but I thank him!

Hudson%20Spar%20Mod

 

... this meant that the way the gear attached, it would be splayed out 6 degrees also, so some shimming was required (the shim is also tapered to the rear to accommodate the curve of the airfoil)...

 

wing 2

 

... and that meant that the gear now interfered with the nacelle because it now leaned in, in relation to the wing, so the mount holes have to be 'dragged' outboard ...

wing 3

 

... to get the gear legs to be perpendicular to the ground (as they should be)

wing 4

 

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Nacelle's and wheel well's are almost ready for paint. I decided to split the gear leg in order to add the gear after the nacelle. Makes life a lot easier, especially adding the small tri-angular plate and the leg cover.

Wheel well - 5

 

P3262464

 

Edited by Tail-Dragon
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You are really going the extra mile with this one mate,..... the wheel well detail is excellent and the wing spar is inspired. Will you be scratching the Wireless Ops position behind the pilot? I have some pics etc which may help,.... from Hudson`s and Ventura`s.

Cheers

           Tony

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