Air Modeller Issue 47

I was advised to make a Wingnut Wings kit because as you'll see, the Wingnut Wings kits are simply stunning! The assembly is so easy that it is quite disconcerting, the adjustments are devilishly precise and the boxes are so full there is just no room to swing a cat! From among the many possible choices from the range, I decided that the famous fighter RAF SE.5A 'Hisso' powered by a V8 Hispano Suiza was worth a go. As soon as I opened the box, I understood I was in the presence of a true gem! In spite of the very high level of details, I used a few additional tricks, especially with the dedicated Eduard photoetch set and with the flat 'aerodynamic' rigging lines chosen from in RB Production's catalogue, which are essential to recreate an exact copy of a SE.5A. Lets get deal now with the assembly: it starts with some minor work concerning the inside of the fuselage. In the first phase, I replaced the internal rigging, once the painting was done, with stretched plastic wires which bring much more depth and realism. Another enhancement was the seat cushion, which was reworked with an additional layer of two-part putty.

download

Air Modeller Issue 46

The Lynx helicopter was developed in the late sixties by Westland with the participation of Aerospatiale. The prototype flew for the first time in 1971. The initial customers were the Royal Navy with orders of 75 HAS 2 and the Army with a 100 AH 1 ordered. The design was an instant success and was exported to 14 countries. The Lynx is almost exclusively used in the naval role and operated by such important customers as the German, the Dutch, Norwegian, French and Danish Navy. The later has used their Airframes over the guaranteed 7000 hours and were the first to be put through an extensive overhaul,
which included the exchange of the whole airframe and a major avionic and engine update program including the addition of the new Blade design with the broad tips, the BERP (British Experimental Rotor Program) this is a development between Westland Aircraft Helicopter Division and the Royal Aircraft Establishment. This latest addition greatly improved the Helicopters lifting and manoeuvrability performance and enhanced the speed significantly. The Lynx set a speed world record for helicopters in 1986 with a specially prepared machine reaching over 400 km/h, which still stands to this day.

download

Air Modeller Issue 45

A composition based in a forrest or in a hangar had been done, I wanted something different but had to take into account the huge size of the aircraft at this scale. The inspriration came when I was shown one of these aircraft having crash-landed in a river in Norway ... and what caught my attention was the shallow depth of the river, the glass was not broken in the nose of the aircraft and only minimal damage was done to the wings. I did some research and found that a considerable number of these aircraft had to make forced landings in this country, some with relatively little damage, I didn't hesitate to get down to work. The diorama was to represent an aircraft operating in this area which has had a failure of its left engine and had to make a forced landing. The crew members have been able to evacuate the aircraft (one has succumbed) and they've managed to alert an Army car that was in the area with the use of distress flares. The wooden boat in the corner and the car are included for their interest and enrich the composition.

download

Air Modeller Issue 44

The Trumpeter has undertaken for a number of years now, a new journey into the world of larger scale aircraft kits in 1:32 and 1:24. It is fair to say that most of these models are great, but there are greater difficulties associated with their construction and their storage! I wanted to accept this challenge and to see if once the modelling work was completed, if it was possible to get close to a convincing level of realism in 1:32 scale. To do so I built the A-10 Warthog A, one of the earlier releases in the Trumpeter 1:32 range. The model is enormous, but it has many flaws, reminding me in some ways the old Tamiya kit in 1:48. As I said, the larger scale places greater demands on the modeller with details that may not be obvious in 1:72 being very obvious in 1:32. The biggest problem areas of the kit are the cockpit, and the canopy. The rest of the model can be considered reasonably accurate. Before I started building the model, I spent time in various internet searches, gaining wide variety of pictures, for the subject in question.

download

Air Modeller Issue 43

This series of modern twin engined aircraft included the Potez 63-11 reconnaissance version and the Potez 630, 631 and 633 fighter and bomber versions, however the variant I have chosen to build here is the Potez 63-11 reconnaissance version which has a massive, extensively glazed nose as its main identifying feature. The main parts of the kit are made from relatively soft medium grey, plastic, the engines and small details are moulded from Polyurethane resin and these are supplemented by a small photo-etched sheet, including seat belts and small surface details. Unfortunately, the instrument panel is not provided on the photoetched sheet. The surface of the kit has finely engraved recessed panel lines which seem to correspond with available drawings, but given that the plane was of all metal construction, except for the moving control surfaces, I decided to add a number of rivet lines to augment the existing surface detail.

download

Air Modeller Issue 42

The impulse to build this model came during a meeting with Colonel Petr Uruba in December 2007 when he was the guest of a modelling competition in Prague. This charming and modest man, a pilot with 311 Squadron, engagingly narrated his experiences from World War II and the postwar period, including the sad and shameful story after 1948. This year, the Communist coup took place and he along with other heroes, fighting for the freedom of their country in WWII, were imprisoned and sent to labour camps and prisons where shamefully, many of them did not survive the hardship. They eventually had their honour restored however not until late in life after 1989[]when Czechoslovakia returned to a democratic system. The Prague competition was one of the last chances to meet Colonel Petr Uruba as he sadly died in March 2009 at the age 92. He flew with the RAF as a bomber pilot and as Captain of Wellington Mk.1 C, registration code KX-T,L7842. This aircraft was flown on the fateful night 2nd June 1941, when owing to technical failures coupled with the inexperience of the navigator, the crew landed at Flers airport in occupied France. After they realised their mistake, they tried to take off again but failed and the crew spent the rest of the war as prisonors of war in Germany. One of his crew, Arnost Valenta, died before the end of the war, shot whilst trying to escape from the camp at Sagan in 1944. Their undamaged Wellington KX-T was evaluated by the Luftwaffe at Rechlin after an application of German national insignias and yellow on the bottom surfaces.

download