The Old Kit GB - Finished Builds

[proditor]

Land Speed Record Contenders. Lots more pics and construction thread here: http://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,42837.0.html

[tigercat]

[kerick]

Voting is going to be really tough.....again!
Its a good problem to have.

[TheChronicOne]

I cobbled together the write up for this.. I hope it makes sense.  Hastily done, not that thoroughly researched, and I'm no writer.     

"1972 in Whif-World and the United States Air Force decided to try something new by slapping some SEA camo on some U-2 Spyplanes, adding some missiles and weapons systems, and sending them into the fray as search and destroy interceptor units. The newly designated F/U-2 planes were christened "HAWK" for "High Altitude War Kite." Two methods of deployment were used on F/U-2 sorties. In one, the planes would loiter low over the jungle until called upon to spring a trap on approaching MiGs. When the call came through for an intercept, the planes would use their insane lift and climbing abilities to rapidly reach high altitude, acquire target, launch, and immediately turn for safer skies. In another, the planes would simply remain aloft in excess of 60,000' in typical Combat Air Patrol fashion.

The "new" planes were fitted with a revolutionary weapons system utilizing a combined target acquisition and tracking system, T.A.L.O.N. (Big thanks to Raff35 for coming up with this glorious acronym) , or Tactically Air Launched Object Neutralization. This system made use of both command guidance using the AN/APQ-109 radar along with an infra red homing sensor placed in the nose of modified AIM-7 Sparrow missiles. "

Our own Weaver came up with this design (although I settled on which radar to use, the ALQ 109, after some quick research. I hope that works.. if not, blame me for that one. LOL) , so I'll let him explain:

"Command Guidance with IR Terminal Homing.

The missile has an IR homing head concealed beneath a jettison-able nose cone, and command guidance receiver. Both of these systems are small, light and cheap. The aircraft tracks the target and fires the missile. During most of the flight, the aircraft's radar operates in Track-While-Scan mode, keeping a rough check on the position of the target and the missile, while sending the latter guidance commands. This has the added advantage that there's no 'lock-on' to alert the target to the fact that they're being shot at. When the missile gets within two miles of the target, it jettisons it's nose cone, which has been shielding the IR seeker head from heating up to now, and homes in by infra-red. "

The program had a varying amount of success but accounted for more than two dozen downed aircraft and proved to be a psychological nightmare for enemy pilots wondering just when and where a HAWK would either spring from the jungle or strike from above like a true predator, without warning. "


I want to thank all my "advisers" that helped along the way and made this into a community effort. Y'all kept me in line when I wanted to do things that were just outlandish and provided a ton of invaluable advice, technical info, and things of that nature that have combined to make this much, much better than if I had done it alone :

sandiego89
kerick
snowtrooper  (transfers, thanks again bro! all worked great but the slime lights had to be omitted)
JayBee
PR19_Kit (wing length oversight committee, sole member)
Weaver
RAFF-35

Thanks, folks! Lots of others have stopped by at some point or other to be supportive, and I may have forgotten something here, I hope not, but thank you all as well.

Now... where to put this thing?!



Edit:  Forgot the build page link.   http://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,42895.0.html         (And thanks for the below, David/63!!  )

[63cpe]

Wooooowwww, you've done great! what a looker! she's gorgeous!

Outstanding job! love it!

David

[63cpe]

Ok, with just 2,5 hours left is sent in my contribution to the Old Kit GB..........

It took quite a while, due to set back of the chemical sort (filler not being compatible to paint, sanding all off and start all over again). But nevertheless: Here goes.

International Harvester Transall:

IMG_3861 by David Dunnebier, on Flickr

International Harvester was a producer of usually agricultural machinery like Balers, Combines and Tractors but also made utility vehicles. So why didn't they produce cropdusters? Let's face it; at that time all cropdusters were based on surplus WW2 aircraft like Avengers, Stearman etc. These models were cheap to operate but could spray less per run and where less efficient. The need for a more modern, efficient cropduster was clear as the mass mechanization after the second world war was at it's peak in the early fifties. This was not only the case in the US, but also for Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. IH (International Harvester) were in the midst of the agricultural business, jet power was new and had a great future ahead. So, what if IH did respond to the research of the National Flying farmers association and develop a cropduster, in cooperation with Westinghouse and a former Boeing and Lockheed Aeronautical Engineer?

IMG_3864 by David Dunnebier, on Flickr

Enter John W. Thorpe, Aeronautical engineer who just drawn up the FL-23 for Fletcher Aviation. He was asked by IH to design a large jetpowered cropduster to be cheap and efficient in use, able to spray an swath of land 60 meters wide and 15 kilometers long in 15 minutes, Good low-speed flight characteristics, even with a heavy load, calling for a high-lift wing and STOL abilities and easy to maintained by un/low skilled personnel. IH earlier tried to team up with Fred Weick, also aeronautical engineer, but the preferred working for Piper on the Ag-1 predecessor of the Piper Pawnee.

So, Thorpe designed the basic layout consisting off a fully glazed cockpit for pilot and navigator/trimmer in a practical twin boom, low wing and center fuselage pod design with a fixed tricycle undercarriage. The Westinghouse J-34 would be mounted on the pod just like the He-162. It did resemble the Weick W-1A although it had a low wing and was off all aluminum, cantilever construction.

IMG_3865 by David Dunnebier, on Flickr

Thorpe was very much involved in Fletcher Aviation and didn't really have the time to work on the IH project and the FL-23 Defender at the same time. So IH took the basic design and formed a project team with former Aeronca (Aeronca stopped building General Aviation planes in Middletown, Ohio in 1951) employees to develop the Thorpe designs into the IH Transall. This revised version had a double-decker, sesquiplane layout with hopper tanks between the upper and lower wings. The wings had an unusually thick (thickness/chord 21%), constant chord wing, fitted with full span slotted flaps and slot-lip ailerons. The twin booms were moved high on the hopper tanks and the fuselage was lengthened to accommodate a larger tank. The tanks could either hold liquid or dry bulk materials. The fuselage tank could also be removed (slid-out) of the fuselage and being used as cargo hold.

IMG_3868 by David Dunnebier, on Flickr

The first prototype was built in 1952 at the IH plant at Louisville, KY and made it's maidenflight in October 1953. Soon the Transall proved to be underpowered with the J34 engine so the bigger J46 was ordered. The prototype was adapted to accept the bigger J46 and was extensively tested during 1954. While the J46 and provided sufficient power it was not as economical to run as expected nor was it easy to maintain. So, major requirements were not met and couldn't be met at that time. Only the prototype was built and tested. To IH it was a big disappointment for such a promising concept and it came at huge costs!

During 1955 the US Chemical Corps contracted Zenrat Industries as third party to test new herbicides (later known as the rainbow herbicides) sprayed by aircraft over land as the US Chemical Corps didn't have any aircraft themselves. US airforce wasn't able to free up freighters as they understood how dangerous the to be tested herbicides were.  Zenrat Industries had no aircraft either, but was very much motivated to deliver the services and started looking for a suitable aircraft, big enough to carry a large load in it's tanks. Soon they found the IH Transall readily available, although some maintance was needed to get the Transall in flyable condition.

But it never came to testing these herbicides, the CIA had a more urgent need to live test chemical solutions over populated area's in the vicinity of area 51. In 1955 Area 51 or Groom Lake was chosen as test site for the U-2 (article 341). So Zenrat Industries took the IH Transall to Groom Lake and was used for spraying herbicides over the sagebrush in the vicinity of Groom Lake. When more sophisticated and less harmfull solutions came available during 1959-1960 and these substances were assessed to be suitable for full scale testing the Transall was used to spray different sets off chemical solutions over populated area's like Alamo, Mercury, Sugar Bunker, Beatty and Goldfield, NV. These solutions later became known as Chem Trails. During the Oxcart and Tagboard programs the Transall was used as a mind control craft as sightings of testplanes were too frequent. CIA rationed: If secrecy had to be maintained these chemical mind control had to be used. Operations continued during the sixties as programs were developed at Groom Lake, but seemed to have been stopped in 1970 most likely caused by changed ethical morale and public opinion. The fate of the IH Transall is yet unknown. Possibly it was destroyed in the early 1970. It might as well still be around as the chemical solutions used could be highly toxic just like the C-123 used to spray Agent Orange in Operation Ranch hand.

IMG_3870 by David Dunnebier, on Flickr

IMG_3871 by David Dunnebier, on Flickr

IMG_3873 by David Dunnebier, on Flickr

IMG_3875 by David Dunnebier, on Flickr

IMG_3877 by David Dunnebier, on Flickr

For the complete album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jetsonsspecial/albums/72157673414703343/with/31327670304/

It still has got to be weathered and i'll take better pictures in spring, when it's less cold and slippery in the garden....

A huge "Thank You!" to Zenrat for the decals!
Hope you'll like it.

David

[kitbasher]

Well done to all who have completed builds.

The thread is now locked and the poll will be launched in the next few days (probably during the evening of 10 January 2017 (UK time)).

Regards,

The Mods.