Pirates!

[The Rat]

What about the 'victims'?  Airliners with gun turrets?  Or CANNON?!?!?

Actually I can't see airborne pirates going after airliners. If you shoot them down you have no salvage or booty, and if you want to force them down your hide-out needs to have one honkin' great runway. Better to intimidate surface vessels and act as scouts.

[Radish]

My suggestion is PAINT the skull and crossed bones......spray the background white, draw the outline with a pencil and fillin with black. That's what I did (admitedly very hurried) on my Do-18  

[Mossie]

That's the idea, intimidation!  Pirates used to intimidate ships into giving up their booty, a full blown battle was often avoided unless absolutley nesecary, you had a good chance of getting killed yourself.  The clever ones would treat the ones that surrendered well, the ones that fought not so well.  Sent out a clear message to the other merchants.

Since we're living in a nautical world, most airliners would be flying boats.  Civil Sunderlands, Catalina's, Empire Flying Boats, Boeing Clippers, Grumman Ducks, C-47C's or A380's with planing hulls   , so you've got the whole atlantic to use as a runway.  If they don't land, shoot the scurvy dogs down, loot what's left, leave the survivors to the will of Davy Jones!  The pirates fighters could act on their own, or as a band with larger transports or surface vessels.

My method for intimidation would be to have a huge Jolly Roger or similar on the underside of the aircraft.  Convince them your freindly, until your too close for them to escape, then flash the underside at them, putting on the frightners.  The airborne equivalent of raising the Black Flag.  Let them sh*t themselves, wait for them to land, loot their gear, if not, prepare for battle!

Simon.

[Daryl J.]

I had thought that the aircraft would target the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous:

Sailboats,
Yachts,
Cruise lines,
Coastal tourist towns




and would pursue the treasure that my cousin, Anton Smith of Norway, tried to salvage off the coast of Equador: the La Capitana Jesus Maria, hence the ''Almost Lighter than Air Buccaneership".   Google the La Capitana Jesus Maria and Anton Smith for a rather interesting read.   Mom's held a coin or two from the little work that actually got done.


Serious undertones, but then again really good fiction has that.

And, RallyModeler---that Pirate Scheme is so on!   VF-84 decals should work great!


My aircraft so far:  (1/48) Ryan STM, Travel Air Mystery Ship (modified), PZL-24 (modified), Hanriot HD.2 on floats----others (possibly from the Corrugated Clan) to follow, some of which will be land based.   The 'Almost Lighter than Air machine will be scratch built out of a styrofoam core and Magic Sculp.  Oh....the MPM Reichenburg V.1 will have a roll too.   :ar:

If merged with the Porco Rosso idea somewhat, The Hero flew an aircraft from The Other Side and Donald Curtiss, the villain, flew a Yank-made machine.    That opens doors up conceptually as to who is ''good'' and who is ''bad''.


:ar:  :ar:  :ar:      
Daryl J.

[Radish]

  Brilliant    

[Radish]

I love the idea of big airships......they are very big though!!

In reality, they'd be a waste of time....but buggar reality.
Just build.

Will Trumpeter do a 1/48th Zeppelin I wonder?

I reckon it could be built in 1/72nd but the size!!!!!!!
And transporting the beast!!!
Wheels and tow it?  

[Daryl J.]

Yep---parasite to be the R3C-x.   The STM to be revenue generation machines bringing in recreational chemistry or recreational herbology to the Snow Birds in Key West, FLA (as in elderly Americans fleeing the winter....not the fantastic Canadian air show team).

The ''Almost Lighter Than Air" ship likely will be a gas bag of collapsible design, therefore easy to hide, and easy to transport.    The parasites to be in a bomb bay like feature and carried internally.    That's the rigid structure part along with wings, engines, and gondola.    Silly idea?  You bet!!!!    Think very early dirigible.


Gotta go back to work....


Daryl J.

[Matt_S]

Okay, I have an idea:

A pirate Bf-109, used to provide support to amphibious raiding aircraft and/or boats.

I was visualizing a heavily weathered aircraft (with some paint patches here and there), with a wing, rudder, and other pieces taken from derelict planes to keep this one airworthy.  


Matt B)  

[cthulhu77]

Okay, I have an idea:

A pirate Bf-109, used to provide support to amphibious raiding aircraft and/or boats.

I was visualizing a heavily weathered aircraft (with some paint patches here and there), with a wing, rudder, and other pieces taken from derelict planes to keep this one airworthy.  


Matt B)

How about a WF-109?  Floats and all, baby!

[Daryl J.]

How about Rustall as a usable product?   :ar:  :ar:  :ar:  With a thinned overspray of original colors it might make things have a very decent patina.     I've thought of putting that on the ANT-5, I-1 (I-400), and Junkers D.1.    

FWIW, A-model do the fanciful Bf-109W in 1/72.  It might save some steps in the conversion and work.    


Also, does anyone know the size of Maquette's R-100 airship in 1/500 scale?  Or other brands that released the kit?   I'm looking for approximately that shape for the ''Almost Lighter than Air Ship" and am having problems locating an acceptable starting point from whence to modifly.    The Hindenburg kit from Revell is about the size I'd like but the shape is so readily recognizable that I've stricken it from the usablilty list.  (Thanks for any info here btw)




Daryl J.

[PolluxDeltaSeven]

Pirate GB???
I LOVE THAT IDEA!! In fact, I really thought during this summer of such a GB!!


Seriously, as GTX remembered few posts ago, I already created 2 topics about modern pirates in Comoros just one year ago, mainly in order to learn how to use Photoshop...
And this summer, I went to... Comoros!!! And I learned A LOT about Pirates in the East Africa Area, it was very interresting!! I already write pages of backstories etc etc... and I just told to Archibald on MSN that building Pirate's fighters will be one of my hobby project of the year...

So, if a group build is finally created, I'll be in, of course!!



For the ideas of modern pirate's planes, we could imagine some seaplane gunships, based on those Canadair and Beriev beautiful planes!! Or even some little jet trainer converted as light attack and fighter aircrafts (L-59, Alpha Jet, MB-326 etc etc...)

But we could also imagine pirates having their own build fighters!! How??
In the backstory I'm currently working on, I imagined that the Republic of Libertalia had existed and STILL existed!!
Libertalia is a legendary Republic which could have been created by a French pirate named Misson and is Italian comrade on the North of Madagascar...
If such a country succeeded in keeping its integrity through the centuries, it could be still here, and even had developped its own aircraft industry!
Oh, it wont be Rafale or Super Hornet, but something like little trainer/attack planes, maybe seaplanes...
It's not very important, it's just fun to imagine totally new aircrafts!! (but more difficult to build, I admit!)

[Daryl J.]

OK....how about 1/72 as the base scale although not necessarily an absolute.  That way a maximal # of aircraft and boats and, if necessary armor are available for either re-paints or chop-shop customization and scale jumping.   I'd thought of scale jumping the Travel Air Mystery Ship into some sort of Spatted 1/72 Air Pirate.

Personally, I have a number of 1/48 aircraft designated for something like this and do hope to build them.


That's very cool to get some actual Pirate history for one's self.    B)     Just down the street from where I work are a series of tunnels (perhaps even still used in the narcotics trade) for Shanghai'ing people nearly a century ago, later used for bootlegging and the like.   It does add a certain, well, savor to the neighborhood.

Comoros link:  https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbo...ok/geos/cn.html

[jcf]

OK....how about 1/72 as the base scale although not necessarily an absolute.  That way a maximal # of aircraft and boats and, if necessary armor are available for either re-paints or chop-shop customization and scale jumping.   I'd thought of scale jumping the Travel Air Mystery Ship into some sort of Spatted 1/72 Air Pirate.

Personally, I have a number of 1/48 aircraft designated for something like this and do hope to build them.


Very cool to get some actual Pirate history for one's self.    B)     Just down the street from where I work are a series of tunnels (perhaps even still used) for Shanghai'ing people nearly a century ago, later used for bootlegging and the like.   It does add a certain, well, savor to the neighborhood.

Comoros link:  https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbo...ok/geos/cn.html

Hi Daryl,
are you familiar with the German Linke-Hoffman R II bomber of WWI?

The aircraft had four coupled Mercedes engines driving a single prop (the prop is evidently still the biggest ever made) it was a very pretty aircraft that looked like a single engined  fighter.



Reisenflugzeug

So turning the Mystery Ship into a multi-engined, single prop Pirate machine would be a natural.

Now you've gone and inspired me to turn my 1/48th Eduard Roland Walfisch into a 1/72nd scale bomber.

Cheers, Jon

[Daryl J.]

Jon,

No I've never heard of many of these.     Fine Scale Modeler had a how-to article on that large biplane floatplane some years back; I just never knew what the aircraft was.   Thanks!

This fella could have an interesting role too in an upengined, modified form:
http://www.geocities.com/hjunkers/ju_j2_a1.htm




Daryl J.

[Daryl J.]

Can't believe it's been a year!  


Daryl J.