1/48 - Fairey Delta FD.2 by Dora Wings - test build+sprues - release in 2025 ?

[Homebee]

After the 1/72nd kit (thread) Dora Wings is to release a 1/48th Fairey Delta FD.2 - ref. ?

Source: https://www.facebook.com/dorawingsofficial/posts/pfbid0h9GAuc8Sm5X6ZkjLdNC1VGD3V6q7rtidn34LF8rq5f1EEZUE1CHp3sNTFVsN5yg1l

Test build

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

V.P.

 

Edited May 7 by Homebee

[speedy]

8 hours ago, Homebee said:

After the 1/72nd kit (thread) Dora Wings is to release a 1/48th Fairey Delta FD.2 - ref. ?

Source: https://www.facebook.com/dorawingsofficial/posts/pfbid0h9GAuc8Sm5X6ZkjLdNC1VGD3V6q7rtidn34LF8rq5f1EEZUE1CHp3sNTFVsN5yg1l

Test build

 

 

 

 

 

V.P.

 

H, some of your photos are not displaying.

[Middo]

Interesting. I've been following the threads on this for some years - 8 to be precise!

 

 

The Fairey Delta 2 was the first jet aircraft to exceed 1,000 miles per hour (1,600 km/h) in level flight. On 10 March 1956, it set a new world speed record of 1,132 mph (1,822 km/h), exceeding the previous official record by 310 mph (500 km/h). The Delta 2 held the absolute World Air Speed Record for over a year.

Edited May 7 by Middo

[wellsprop]

This is a welcome surprise

[Homebee]

Sprues pics

Source: https://www.facebook.com/dorawingsofficial/posts/pfbid0HHThPbt9PYeiYKrvxqmAKHbmCJxWgGLQ9rB3CnPpbT9YXFeNmCDxQXFggFx887GKl

 

 

V.P.

Edited May 7 by Homebee

[mahavelona]

Ooooooo! Sign me up

[Ad-4N]

Always thought the production designers for the Planet of the Apes movie were looking at this bird when they drew Charlton Heston’s spaceship.  You know, the one in Lake Powell.

[2996 Victor]

EXCELLENT!!! 

[Sabrejet]

Looks lovely. But strange too. We now have very competent kits in the two main scales of an aircraft which had a production run of two.

 

Yet still the Convair L-13, an aircraft of which more than 300 were built, post-war and served with the USAF, US Army and Air National Guard as well as countless civilian aircraft with a number of different engine configurations and even crop-dusters and float-equipped variants, has never been kitted in any medium, in any scale.

 

And yes I am a tad biased, but still...

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Convair-L-13-Unacclaimed-Duncan-Curtis/dp/B0BW2C6LJX/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1VN0W5V4EVE47&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.O0pTFalypj6TyCmy_zRQjQ.JKbSzuTlslmZg3LUqe6ZoqrjQeIAYP8lS9tt--HKKMw&dib_tag=se&keywords=convair+l-13&qid=1746863619&sprefix=convair+l-13%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-1

[cmatthewbacon]

… ‘cos of course, any manufacturer wanting to make and sell kits profitably is going to produce something which even its cheerleader calls “unloved and unacclaimed”… 😉

 

I’m really happy to see the FD.2 in 1/48. Because I’m of a generation that had a FROG one as a kid, read about it in second hand Eagle annuals and Roy Cross books, bought “Empire of the Clouds”… and now when I build the odd aircraft model wants to do it in 1/48. I doubt I’m alone, and I hope for Dora Wings’ sake I’m not…

best,

M.

[Graham Boak]

Not strange at all.  One design at the cutting edge of technology that set the World Air Speed Record way above its predecessors, the other a very ordinary everyday light aircraft used only in the US of the kind that exists everywhere in large numbers and never inspires interest in the buyers.  Manufacturers are well aware that buyers, in commercially interesting numbers, are only interested in the military, airliners, and the "flashier" types.

 

The L-13 might be a suitable subject for a US limited run company, were such things viable at all.  (If the prices of kits continue to rise, such things may yet happen...) Given the range of subjects produced by companies such as AZ, or in the past Special Hobby, it is possible that it may have been considered, or might yet if it is suggested to them.

[Sabrejet]

And the Loire 210, Short Sealand or Short Scion? It's easy to make similar sweeping statements about these already kitted types. The L-13 served. Knowledge of the type would also show that it's not 'very ordinary' or a 'light aircraft'. And with a choice of flat-six and radial engines and even a biplane version. Mmm. 

 

The question wasn't about who might do it but about why no-one has.

[Dave Swindell]

6 hours ago, Sabrejet said:

Yet still the Convair L-13, an aircraft of which more than 300 were built, post-war and served with the USAF, US Army and Air National Guard as well as countless civilian aircraft with a number of different engine configurations and even crop-dusters and float-equipped variants, has never been kitted in any medium, in any scale.

Not true, Skyleada in 1:19 in 1953 and Ace Whitman in 1:27 in 1951 did the L-13 balsa flying models, rubber powered free flight I suspect.

As static scale models I suspect you're right though.

[Sabrejet]

1 hour ago, Dave Swindell said:

Not true, Skyleada in 1:19 in 1953 and Ace Whitman in 1:27 in 1951 did the L-13 balsa flying models, rubber powered free flight I suspect.

As static scale models I suspect you're right though.

 

Flying models are beyond the scope of this site, so the 'not kitted' still applies. Though I'd be please to be proven wrong.

[cmatthewbacon]

Well, that book cover looks as though some decent drawings of the L-13 exist (though I note that they aren't in either my two volumes of Paul Matt drawings, or the Wylam volume, which cover quite a lot of relatively less well-known aircraft with a view to people building scale models of them, so you've got to think that just _perhaps_ the demand was limited even in period. But anyone who wants to essay a 3D-printed model to satiate the pent-up passion of legions of bereft L-13 fans has probably got something to work from.

 

And if the question is "why no one has", then you don't have to read much beyond the book "sales pitch": "The Convair L-13 liaison aircraft registers barely a blip on anyone's radar; it was not a great success during its military career and never got the chance to prove its potential. Expensive, delayed and flawed, it could well have become a punctuation mark of a footnote in some obscure history. But somehow, three-hundred or more were built, and despite a less-than-stellar career with the armed forces, the type gained a new lease of life in civilian hands. [and despite a poor safety record, a surprising number still exist]" Words to stir the heart of any kit manufacturer's product development director, I'm sure you'll agree...

 

best,

M.

[Phoenix44]

10 hours ago, Sabrejet said:

Looks lovely. But strange too. We now have very competent kits in the two main scales of an aircraft which had a production run of two.

 

Yet still the Convair L-13, an aircraft of which more than 300 were built, post-war and served with the USAF, US Army and Air National Guard as well as countless civilian aircraft with a number of different engine configurations and even crop-dusters and float-equipped variants, has never been kitted in any medium, in any scale.

 

And yes I am a tad biased, but still...

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Convair-L-13-Unacclaimed-Duncan-Curtis/dp/B0BW2C6LJX/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1VN0W5V4EVE47&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.O0pTFalypj6TyCmy_zRQjQ.JKbSzuTlslmZg3LUqe6ZoqrjQeIAYP8lS9tt--HKKMw&dib_tag=se&keywords=convair+l-13&qid=1746863619&sprefix=convair+l-13%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-1

Strange when one looks utterly amazing and the other...

 

Each to his own but I'm probably buying 2 Deltas and would probably give away a kit of an L-13 if I got it for free! 

[hopkp]

9 minutes ago, Phoenix44 said:

Each to his own but I'm probably buying 2 Deltas and would probably give away a kit of an L-13 if I got it for free! 

Ditto.....and I wouldn’t even have taken the free L-13 in the first place!

[Sabrejet]

I think the point of my original comment has been lost. And hopefully we can sometimes extend our preferences to "different/esoteric". It shouldn't be about looks or there would be no takers for Barracuda or A-10 kits.

[cmatthewbacon]

It’s tough being a kit maker. On the one hand, if you’re a true enthusiast for a slightly left-field type, put in hours of research and design work, create a spectacularly detailed large scale model that can be 3D printed so that other enthusiasts can also build one based on your work, people then ask why it can’t be cheaper. And on the other hand, you tool up a high quality kit of a record-breaking and somewhat iconic British aircraft in a mainstream scale at a relatively affordable price, and people question why it isn’t a different aircraft…

 

Thank you for putting up with us, Team Dora and Team Airscale!

best,

M.

[matti64]

On 5/10/2025 at 7:41 PM, Phoenix44 said:

Strange when one looks utterly amazing and the other...

 

Each to his own but I'm probably buying 2 Deltas and would probably give away a kit of an L-13 if I got it for free! 

I thought that the Convair L-13 had been kitted by AMP?

 

[2996 Victor]

Can we get this back on topic, please?

[wellsprop]

14 hours ago, 2996 Victor said:

Can we get this back on topic, please?

 

Yes please.

 

If anyone need some inspiration, here's the artwork for the 1/72 kit  https://www.artstation.com/artwork/lD844O (link and credit to Eugeny Knupfer)

 

[cmatthewbacon]

I wonder if Dora or an aftermarket company like, say, Aerocraft might come along with a conversion to build the BAC 221, the test aircraft for the Concorde wing? There are some pretty significant changes beyond just the wing shape, so it would be a substantial set, but it is an equally good looking and significant aircraft…

best,

M.

[Work In Progress]

aren't we pretty much in "complete new kit" territory there?

 

[Ali62]

3 hours ago, cmatthewbacon said:

I wonder if Dora or an aftermarket company like, say, Aerocraft might come along with a conversion to build the BAC 221, the test aircraft for the Concorde wing? There are some pretty significant changes beyond just the wing shape, so it would be a substantial set, but it is an equally good looking and significant aircraft…

best,

M.

 

26 minutes ago, Work In Progress said:

aren't we pretty much in "complete new kit" territory there?

 

Complete new kit would be needed I think, and not the easiest of shapes to get correct.