Hybrid - Finished Symphony

[The Wooksta!]

Finally, after being in my mind since 2009 and in build since mid 2013, The Hybrid is *finally* done.



I'll try to get some better photos taken soon.

Photo by Rob Sullivan IPMS Tyneside.


Thread named after a track by Welsh Nu skool Breaks band Hybrid.  Finished Symphony was released in 1999 after several years in development.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuWAO9QSG2Y

[zenrat]

Not being cogniscent of the nuances of the Lanc/Linc/Shack etc family I am not quite sure what you have done but is is certainly a good looking plane well put together.

[The Rat]

Ohmigawd that's a beauty. And yes, more pictures would be great. 

[63cpe]

Woooooowie! That's great!
The kind of hybrid u really like.

Is it composed of a Lancaster (Aft fuselage and tail), Lincoln (frontal Dome) and Shackleton (Wings and engines)? Must have cost you a lot of elbow grease to smooth it all out.

Of note are the late Lancaster vertical tails. Terrific details!

Congrats on finishing!

David aka 63cpe

[loupgarou]

I don't know why, but I have always liked the Shackleton engine nacelles (power eggs ?).
Beutiful result!

[The Wooksta!]

 Time to 'fess up, I guess!  It caught out quite a few when it was unveiled at my club on Monday gone.  AND I had a "proper" Shackleton on the table at the same time.

The idea was for a developed 'Special' capable of carrying the larger bombs - particularly 'Grand Slam' - over longer distances with more power and with better armament.  So has the deeper bomb doors as standard,  it's up engined with Griffons complete with contraprops, the RAE designed nose used by the Lincoln (a similar nose is on one of the wind tunnel models for the Windsor and the drawings for the Vickers 1000 tone Scheme C on the front of the first edition of Tony Buttler's BSP: Vol 3), and the rest of the late Lancaster mods - Lincoln rudders and wheels, Martin mid upper, Village Inn and the FN82 tail turret.

It's a real mish mash of a model bits wise. Base Revell Lancaster B.I/III, Paragon Lincoln nose, Martin turret from an Airfix B26, Village Inn from the Hasegawa Lancaster (all of them have that part as a standard piece on the sprues), nacelles, props and engines from the Frog/Novo Shackleton (probably a Revell boxing as I got a load of them really cheap years ago) and the FN82 tail turret from the current Airfix Lancaster.  That really needs some frame lines.  The bomb doors are from the old Matchbox Lancaster - none of the bulged ones I had at the time fitted but I can explain that away - along with the anomalous H2S radome - when I write up the back story properly.  The scheme is post war but was to have been used operationally had the war continued.  617 Sqn is an ideal choice for a user, but I tend not to go for the more obvious squadrons these days - I prefer subtlety over the more obvious front line users - so if it was being done now, I'd go for something like 44 (Rhodesia) Sqn just to be awkward.

There was another two started at the same time.  One was to be a post war test drop ship with a shape of a Blue Danube underneath, possibly with Centaurus engines and the mid upper from an Airfix Shackleton.  Not sure about the other, possibly 9 Sqn in the far east dropping Grand Slams on hydro electric plants in Korea against the Japanese.

Elbow grease?  Getting the nose blended in was a bit of a pain so I resorted to P38 car body filler (much easier to use than Milliput but far more odourous!), but the worst bit was the engine nacelles - I had to get the Frog bits to fit a different wing and go round the u/c mounts.  A great deal of surgery against thick plastic went on there.  IIRC, the nacelles for the other two are done.

Incidentally, here's the Shackleton I mentioned earlier.

[NARSES2]

That does look nice Lee 

[The Wooksta!]

It's also one in the eye, if not the clems, of those who accuse me of "not doing 'proper' what ifs". I have some advice for said people regarding sex and travel.

Plus it's getting some comments over on Britmodeller, where it's caused some confusion over quite what it is. That's the essence of a perfect whiff.  I put it up in the normal RFI section - sorry, mate, but I haven't fought and pushed for over twenty five years to advance our genre to be ghettoized.

[NARSES2]

"not doing 'proper' what ifs".

And what's the definition of that when it's home ?

We are if nothing else a broad church in my view 

[The Wooksta!]

The accusation has been levelled by some on this very board.  I know who said individuals are and I'm not naming names but I have a long memory and I can bear a grudge for a long time.

[PR19_Kit]

That looks a splendid piece of work Lee, excellent stuff. 

I like the 'mix and match' nature of all the add-on bits, and they're all pukka Avro too. 

[andrewj]

Lovely concept and execution , a great bit of what-if modelling. I saw the confusion this one caused on Britmodeller , some great reactions there, until the "reality" set in.  Reminds me of the chap who approached the stand at a show and insisted he'd flown one of the what-ifs in his younger days .

Andrew

[dwomby]

I really like the idea and execution.  Way better than the sum of its parts!

David