Blackburn Blackburn - 1/72? 1/48? 1/32? 3D printed? Aircraft in Miniature

[wellsprop]

Straight from social media

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/848474938507986/permalink/4694038133951628/

[John Thompson]

 

[Learstang]

1/72nd scale and 3-D printed. And available from Hannants.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

[Homebee]

- ref. RR72001 - Blackburn Blackburn II - 3D printed

Hannants link : https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/RR72001

 

Thanks wellsprop

 

 

 

 

V.P.

Edited August 23, 2021 by Homebee

[John Thompson]

 Laugh though we may, the superiority of the Blackburn design can be seen by comparing it with the contemporary Avro Bison:

 

Note Blackburn's more elegant cockpit access design solution of insetting the steps sleekly flush with the sides of the fuselage, contrasted with Avro's afterthought of a drag-inducing ladder. Not that drag seems like it was much of a consideration - for their intended role, these aircraft were probably considered "good" because they could hover like a kite against a strong-enough headwind. "Turn the ship around - he's stuck up there..."

 

John

[Hub Plott]

I'll buy on in 1/48! I have a thing for ugly, ungainly and unusual aircraft, especially when they had a decent service career.

[Patrik]

Arrived mid this week, I have not had a chance to take and post some photos until now.

The content of the box is rich and the level of the detail amazing, have a look at the engine or the interior parts. Instructions are very detailed and in my opinion foolproof. Decals look unusable to me. Not that I care about cutting them out of the sheet, but the pale blue-grey of the roundels is discouraging.

The dreaded raster is indeed there, mostly on the biggest parts. I will make some tests and let us see later, how it looks under a few layers of colour. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to the build, which I plan to start right after the Vincent I am building now. It is going to be exciting new experience, I guess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mr T]

Thanks for the pictures Patrik, they are most useful. Can't make up my mind about this. I messed around with Contrail kit decades ago before putting it back in the stash and quite tempting. The roundels are a bit of a disappointment, but not a deal breaker. 

[Trenton guy]

Not an expert but I’m not sure the rounded blue is wrong. Seems that I heard that the standard color changed over time and that it was lighter in earlier times. Any experts out there.

[Neil Lambess]

In theory it should be lighter blue

[Graham Boak]

I think the roundel colours look fine: usual qualification "on my monitor anyway."

[Patrik]

1 hour ago, Graham Boak said:

I think the roundel colours look fine: usual qualification "on my monitor anyway."

I am afraid the photography is unfortunately misleading. The blue is more on the grey side. I will scan one roundel over the weekend and post it here. However, as said by @MrT above, the decals are not a deal breaker, for sure not for me.

[Chuck1945]

In such an involved printing with kit parts such as interior tubing and all the necessary printing structures, the next technological step would be the ability to print parts in one color and support structures in another 😛

 

Gotta admit I’m tempted; I have the Contrail vac but know I’ll never build it.

[Patrik]

On 9/14/2021 at 7:06 PM, Patrik said:

I am afraid the photography is unfortunately misleading. The blue is more on the grey side. I will scan one roundel over the weekend and post it here. However, as said by @MrT above, the decals are not a deal breaker, for sure not for me.

The decals once again, this time scanned. On my screen, the tones seem to be just about the same as on the decals, though in reality, the colours are actually not that dull. Notwithstanding the decals, the kit is indeed an engineering wonder.

 

[Paul Thompson]

Patrik,

 

FWIW, and at least on my monitor, that looks very like the blue shade used by Airfix on the dogfight double boxing of their BE2C. Usually I come across the oft repeated (but debunked decades ago by amongst others Modeldecal) view that WW1 and between the wars RFC and RAF used a lighter blue in the national markings than later. IIRC the perception was based on orthochrome film giving a much lighter rendering of blue than actually used, leading to misinterpretation by more modern viewers. But the grey introduction is even more puzzling, as if trying to approximate the interpretation of French Blue which used to be common (see older Blue Rider decals if that's a mystrerious statement, then compare to the much brighter and less grey versions from Copper State, Gaspatch and Eduard currently available).

 

Paul.

[Madoc]

"Avro Bison."

 

Wow.  I didn't think it possible for another aircraft to be out there which made the Blackburn Blackburn look... graceful... in comparison.  Thanks to the Avro Bison, I was wrong...

[LN-KEH]

Hannants has sold out the first production run, so there is certainly a demand for little known aesthetically challenged aircraft in 1/72.

[Britman]

Would love to see Roden get into this period.

 

Keith