Heather Kay Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 Miles M.9 Master MkI N7576/F N7576 was part of the station flight at RAF Tern Hill, Shropshire, in September 1939. The aircraft was then operated by No 8 Flying Training School, RAF Montrose, Forfarshire, in the spring of 1940. As the RAF began to take delivery of its first high speed monoplane fighters in the mid-1930s it became clear a trainer would be needed that provided similar performance characteristics. FG Miles designed a low-wing monoplane trainer around the 745hp Rolls-Royce Kestrel XVI inline engine, as used in the Hawker Fury and Hart biplanes. The new trainer, of exceptionally clean design, was named Kestrel after the engine. Miles presented the design to the Air Ministry, but it was initially rejected. Miles pressed on with the design as a private venture. The Kestrel first flew in June 1937, and proved to have a top speed about 20mph slower than the brand new Hawker Hurricane – which had an engine of higher power! Eventually, circumstances meant the Air Ministry turned to Miles for the new design. A specification was drawn up for a development of the Kestrel, to be named the M.9 Master. The £2 million contract was, at the time, the largest ever awarded by the Air Ministry for a training aircraft. Numerous changes were made to the design, including the fitting of a derated Kestrel engine, meaning the Master MkI was some 70mph slower than the original Kestrel design. Nevertheless, it was still the best training aircraft of its day, and featured handling characteristics similar to those of the Hurricane and Spitfire. The Master was of wooden construction, covered with plywood. The rear cockpit was the instructor’s position, and featured a seat that could be raised to give a better view ahead over the trainee pilot in the front. A hinged panel was interconnected with the seat-raising mechanism to provide a windscreen for the instructor. A number of MkIs were converted to a single-seat configuration and equipped with six 0.303in Browning machine guns during the summer of 1940. Intended for use in dire emergency the M.24 Modified Masters, however, were never used in anger. Production numbers of the various Master types are interesting. Some 900 MkIs were ordered. MkII production totalled 1,748, and the MkIII came to 602. The Pavla kit, being a short-run production, threw several curve balls at me. I added some extra little details around the nose, opened the belly radiator flap, added wingtip navigation and landing lights, and titivated the cockpit areas to better match the real thing as seen in various photos. The vacuum formed canopy had been slightly squashed at some point in its two-decade-odd shelf life, and I managed to completely ruin it in my attempts to correct it. The model then sat on the Shelf of Doom, waiting for a bright idea of how to fix such a problem as spare parts for a kit long out of production. An expensive solution appeared in the form of another unbuilt Pavla kit, so I could at least finish what I’d started. I’m not sure what to do with another Master kit, so it lives in the stash for now. Perhaps I could make an M.24... The propeller and exhausts came from the Bits Box – probably a scrapped Magna MkI. I made brass rod replacements for the undercarriage retraction struts. The original transfers had suffered over the years and fell apart on contact with water. I scanned the spare copy, and drew stencils so I could paint the main national markings, and make my own serial numbers and code letters. The model is painted with Precision Trainer Yellow enamel, then brush painted with Humbrol and Revell acrylics for the camouflage. The WIP thread, intermingled with a build of an Avro Tutor, can be found here: 39 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beard Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 That looks splendid and, having watched your trials and tribulations in the WiP thread, I imagine you're happy to have finished it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keith in the uk Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 Another cracker there Heather , i followed your WIP and know how much work you put into it , the canopy being a bit of a nightmare however the end result was well worth the effort , super job . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in a shed Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 Very interesting subject and a super result from the Pavla kit. I always like to see a few support vehicles in the final presentation as well. Lovely job. Pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gondor44 Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 Great job on the build @Heather Kay pity that you called Angus Forfarshire as it changed back to Angus in 1928. Gondor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted January 14 Author Share Posted January 14 2 minutes ago, Gondor44 said: Great job on the build @Heather Kay pity that you called Angus Forfarshire as it changed back to Angus in 1928. Gondor Eep. I was following what the Wikipedia said. I shall stand corrected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gondor44 Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 2 minutes ago, Heather Kay said: Eep. I was following what the Wikipedia said. I shall stand corrected. I used Google and I won't remind you you, about it, much Gondor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted January 14 Author Share Posted January 14 1 minute ago, Gondor44 said: I used Google https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Montrose#Second_World_War Quote Royal Air Force Montrose or more simply RAF Montrose is a former Royal Air Force station in Forfarshire (now more commonly called Angus) in Scotland. It became the first operational military aerodrome to be established in the United Kingdom on 26 February 1913. That’s just confusing. I think I’ll leave it until I can verify one way or t'other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gondor44 Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 2 minutes ago, Heather Kay said: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Montrose#Second_World_War That’s just confusing. I think I’ll leave it until I can verify one way or t'other. Looks like my source is related to yours Heather, just the details differ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus,_Scotland It's not good when one source disagrees with itself Gondor 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWM Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 Very nice result indeed! Once (~20 years ago) I did Pavla Master I together with Frog Master III, which I corrected following the drawings from Miles Airplane "bible" book (including diminishing of the fuselage depth). I used the second canopy from Pavla for this modified Frog... Do you consider similar work? With this more smooth fuselage in Frog kit they can stay one next to other looking like a variants of the same project...Mine are not that nice as yours but the second Pavla canopy can be this way usefull... Here is photo Regards J-W 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted January 14 Author Share Posted January 14 14 minutes ago, JWM said: I used the second canopy from Pavla for this modified Frog... That’s an excellent idea. I don’t plan to make a MkIII, as I don’t think there were many in service during the year. I have done a conversion of the Frog MkIII to a MkII, though. I recall doing many of the same modifications you made to the fuselage. I also recall having an absolute nightmare with the canopy! There’s a theme developing! Heres the MkII in the Frog Squad GB gallery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
825 Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 Marvellous job as usual Heather. Really looks the part. Well done in overcoming the challenges that Pavla set for you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now