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Those Magnificent Martians In Their Flying Machines


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I was chatting to @general melchett the other day and the subject of the old Inpact kits based on the film "Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines" came up. The film follows the adventures of a number of competitors in the 1910 London to Paris air race. The race is fictional but is closely based on the 1910 Daily Mail  London to Manchester race. Our beloved General became quite nostalgic and misty eyed as he recalled how, as a newly commissioned General, in early middle age, he followed every aspect of the race. He even recalled how Baldrick, carried away by events, entered the race, strapped a pair of wings made from the feathers of the oozlem bird to his elbows (or was it his rear end? You can never be sure with Baldrick.), swallowed several cans of curried baked beans, along with ten pints of his Old Scrotum beer and took of for Manchester. What happened next is a bit confused but it would seem that there were a series of loud and very smelly explosions, Baldrick shot up in the air, disappeared up his own backside, much in the manner of the aforementioned bird and was next seen climbing out of the sewage farm adjacent to Brooklands. By all accounts he smelt better for his unscheduled dunking. Doubtless the General who was present at the time, can provide us with a more detailed explanation as to what occurred.

 

The upshot of all this was that I ended up tracking down a Pyro boxing of the Inpact Boxkite, along with some Gaspatch spoked wheels and a Small Stuff engine. I built this kit about twenty or so years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it and it will be interesting to see what I can do with it all these years later. It is good job that I quite like doing rigging! I think the first jobs will be to lose the overdone fabric effect on the flying surfaces and to fill a number of ejector pin marks that are very prominent. It will then be time to start drilling dozens of tiny holes to take the actual rigging. More of which later.

 

I'm not too sure how much I will get done before the weekend as I have a very full on few days with MVS duties but I am very much looking forward to this build.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Martian 👽

 

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19 minutes ago, dnl42 said:

I am very much looking forward to this! 

 

Particularly with this being your second go, you already know where the dragons dwell... 

Thanks DNL, I think this time round it will be easier as I am that much more experienced and there are now better materials available. The real key to this type of build is planning what to do and when before starting plastic worrying.

 

Martian 

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Ohhh I must follow this I even found what looks like some old pictures of the General and Baldrick before that infamous episode.

 

Count me in

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How brilliant!!!! I was contemplating a scratch attempt a few projects down the line. Will be heading to The Shuttleworth Collection in a week or two. If there are any particular detail shots you would like I will see what I can do.

 

Following with great interest. 

 

Richie

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I built the same Life-Like boxing a couple of years ago (t'was on CBK SIG table at SMW 2019) and found the plastic to be awful and short shot in places, unlike the nice tan plastic that Inpact used. A fun and challenging kit nontheless. Mine was OOB so will be nice to see one tarted up with some goodies.

Edited by JamesP
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6 hours ago, Fishbed said:

you are as mad as the pilots who flew these things!

 

Tim

Tim, you have long since turned stating the bleeding obvious into an art form!

 

Martian 👽 (Does what it says on the tin or in this case, what it says on his ranking)

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Hoo Boy- I beat @Corsairfoxfouruncle to a front row seat! So glad to see the Tentacled One is back in action, and in fine form, too! Sounds like Ol' Baldrick was the first to make use of an afterburner- snark, snark! M- does the Inpact kit come with a Stuart Whitman figure? Will be watching your WIP with great interest, as  along with the Great Race, this was one of my very favorite slapstick comedy films!

Mike

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Lovely! I’ve got one in the stash so I will be taking notes. I built the Bleriot a few Christmases ago and really enjoyed it.

 

If you are going to try for the see-through effects of the translucent covering there could be a lot of masking in your future…

 

Regards,

Adrian

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Ooh yes!  More kite than box, I’d say - but 100% respect for anyone who got airborne in anything like that.  And who builds one, obvs.

 

I believe this rare photo shows Baldrick during an early test of the Sailor-Strides version of the system you describe:

51014312590_21205c8946_z.jpg

 

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On 21/06/2021 at 15:41, Brandy said:

Ooh, I'm in!

Providing Baldrick is not allowed anywhere near.....

 

Ian

I will ask the General to see what he can do. I certainly don't need the scent of "L'Eau de Baldrick "any where near my 6 x 6 foot modelling room, even with the extractor fan turned on. I am given to understand that the General bought some of this, fortunately rare, perfume for Lady Melchett's last birthday. She is still having treatment!

19 hours ago, RichieW said:

How brilliant!!!! I was contemplating a scratch attempt a few projects down the line. Will be heading to The Shuttleworth Collection in a week or two. If there are any particular detail shots you would like I will see what I can do.

 

Following with great interest. 

 

Richie

Thanks Richie, some shots of the control runs, especially those going to the rudder and elevator would be most helpful.

15 hours ago, 72modeler said:

Hoo Boy- I beat @Corsairfoxfouruncle to a front row seat! So glad to see the Tentacled One is back in action, and in fine form, too! Sounds like Ol' Baldrick was the first to make use of an afterburner- snark, snark! M- does the Inpact kit come with a Stuart Whitman figure? Will be watching your WIP with great interest, as  along with the Great Race, this was one of my very favorite slapstick comedy films!

Mike

The kit does come with a pilot figure so I might see what I can do with it, I might even try and knock a Sarah Miles figure together.

6 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Lovely! I’ve got one in the stash so I will be taking notes. I built the Bleriot a few Christmases ago and really enjoyed it.

 

If you are going to try for the see-through effects of the translucent covering there could be a lot of masking in your future…

 

Regards,

Adrian

Thanks Adrian, copious quantities of Tamiya's finest were purchased a few days ago.

6 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Ooh yes!  More kite than box, I’d say - but 100% respect for anyone who got airborne in anything like that.  And who builds one, obvs.

 

I believe this rare photo shows Baldrick during an early test of the Sailor-Strides version of the system you describe:

51014312590_21205c8946_z.jpg

 

I thought that but having looked at the picture more closely, I have my doubts as the sailors don't seem to either be holding their noses or throwing up. I wonder what Edwardian sick bags, Royal Navy personnel for the use of, looked like?

3 hours ago, roginoz said:

More like testing the General's battle bloomers for strength and size...........

 

Excellent project, @Martian, following, and looking forward to the banter........

 

Cheers.........Rog

I think the banter is assured Rog. The "Usual Suspects" seem to be queuing up already. 

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Well, despite the abuse I'm happy to see that you got around to building this one old sausage. Just as well you enjoy rigging...the decals should be with you soon(ish).

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Doubtless the General who was present at the time, can provide us with a more detailed explanation as to what occurred.

No, no, you have it mostly right, you just missed the part where he had a near fatal run-in with Gert Frobe's character, Count Manfred Von Holstein......some misunderstanding involving a carrier pigeon, a stein of Bavarian Alt-Königs-Flugzcrotumm Pilsener, two HB pencils, a pair of used service underpants and a particularly well-honed pickelhaube....poor chap could barely walk straight for a week (Baldrick, not the Colonel, who merely sauntered off in search of an opponent to balloon-duel with).

 

 

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Ohhh I must follow this I even found what looks like some old pictures of the General and Baldrick before that infamous episode.

 

Well I must say, Terry Thomas did a reasonable job of portraying me in my heyday, although somewhat restrained and overly kind to his batman...talking of which, Sykes as Baldrick was totally miscast, far too good looking, eloquent and well-heeled, hardly a 'two-legged badger wrapped in a curtain'. 

 

I do remember seeing Neil Williams flying the Shuttleworth Collection's Boxkite over the family pile back in the late sixties (he'd 'taken off/been blown over' from Hatfield) and seem to recall the thing shimmying around all over the place, every time a gust of wind hit it. Of it he said : 'On first acquaintance one is reluctant to believe that the contraption can actually fly. It doesn't look like an aeroplane, with its forward booms and foreplane, balanced by the triple rudder and double tailplane, surrounding the pusher propeller. It has a tangled forest of struts, spars, wires and turnbuckles. common sense says it cannot fly.'

 

Will follow with interest...(at a safe distance). 

 

 

 

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6 minutes ago, Martian said:

Thanks Richie, some shots of the control runs, especially those going to the rudder and elevator would be most helpful.

No problem, hopefully it will be conveniently place in the hangar. Should be visiting next week.

 

Richie

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9 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

I believe this rare photo shows Baldrick during an early test of the Sailor-Strides version of the system you describe:

So that's where they  got the idea for the Yankee seat extraction system for the USN and USAF Skyraiders! :giggle:

Mike

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