Spartan Arrow

[rossm]

Does anyone have good drawings of the Spartan Arrow please? I've found some in the Putnam volume on Saunders and Saro aircraft (Spartan were closely linked to them) but they are quite small and need to be enlarged.

 

Also the usual colours for the Arrow - most photos of Arrows and other Spartan biplanes seem to show overall silver or white with a dark fuselage?

 

I know it's an obscure aircraft so any help appreciated.

[CarLos]

I don't think you will get any better drawing than the one in the Putnam book. About the colours - G-ABWP appears darker in b&w photos than it is in reality (assuming that it is the same blue!)

 

Interesting aircraft. Are you planning a model?

 

 

 

 

[rossm]

14 minutes ago, CarLos said:

I don't think you will get any better drawing than the one in the Putnam book. About the colours - G-ABWP appears darker in b&w photos than it is in reality (assuming that it is the same blue!)

 

Interesting aircraft. Are you planning a model?

 

 

I'm wondering if I can hack one out of a Gipsy Moth and no more than one other kit - the one I'm planning is G-ABOB which had a Gipsy engine. I'll have to scale up the putnam drawings to 1/72 and do some comparisons to kits.

[CarLos]

At least the wing profile is completely different. Spartans had a symmetrical wing profile.

[rossm]

4 hours ago, CarLos said:

At least the wing profile is completely different. Spartans had a symmetrical wing profile.

If I can get some bones to modify I'll be happy to give it a go but my only attempt at scratch building a wing ended up in the bin.

[Tripod]

The original Simmonds Spartan had a symmetrical wing section; the later models didn't. I have hacked a ratty old ex-Frog DH60 into a Spartan Arrow. The fuselage is a bit wider than the Moth, so I just cut out the side view in plasticard and stuck bits of Moth onto it to build up the shape and give me two open cockpits, then added filler and did a bit of sanding. Great fun! The wings were scratch-built using the old thin-plasticard-over-shaped-balsa method. This has the advantage that if you make a mess of it you have wasted a 6 inch by half inch bit of thin balsa and a small bit of thin plasticard.

 

It was a long time ago and I can't remember where the plans came from. Sorry.

[rossm]

12 hours ago, Tripod said:

The original Simmonds Spartan had a symmetrical wing section; the later models didn't. I have hacked a ratty old ex-Frog DH60 into a Spartan Arrow. The fuselage is a bit wider than the Moth, so I just cut out the side view in plasticard and stuck bits of Moth onto it to build up the shape and give me two open cockpits, then added filler and did a bit of sanding. Great fun! The wings were scratch-built using the old thin-plasticard-over-shaped-balsa method. This has the advantage that if you make a mess of it you have wasted a 6 inch by half inch bit of thin balsa and a small bit of thin plasticard.

 

It was a long time ago and I can't remember where the plans came from. Sorry.

 

That sounds like the sort of thing I hoped was possible but if I'm lucky it may be possible to use the Moth wings and add a bit at the tips, still need to enlarge the plans to check the chord.

 

Seems like silver with a blue fuselage was the standard factory finish?

[derekS]

An outfit called Sarik Hobbies has the old Aeromodeller plans,which includes the

Spartan Arrow.

Plan No.  3022 to 1/72 and 1/48.

 

HTH.

Derek S

 

 

[rossm]

Fitting a Gipsy Moth wing to the enlarged Putnam plan suggests cutting off the wingtips and reversing them front to back will be close enough so I'll need to lengthen and widen the fuselage and make new tail surfaces and that "should" result in something resembling an Arrow.