1914 Republic of Texas Battle Flyer 1

[sotoolslinger]

I cleaned up my modeling table today in preparation for starting another project

I went through the stash box from Scalefest 2008 fully intending to start either the twin engined Helldiver or one of the Shiden projects ,these two models ran into each other

LaGG's have always looked cool to me but the I-16 has always pissed me off. that little blunt nose is the crappiest looking thing ever >:(and it always looked like a bi plane with no upper wing.... I'll teach it to not look right
The cutting begins

Sorry I didn't take more in progress pictures  but it was really sticking a lot of really tiny parts together. I stole the wings off the LaGG

Also the rudder and tail planes

The rest just sort of came from the junk pile. It needed an engine and I wanted it to look primitive so the radial off a P-61


The prop came off the Skyrocket (you know what happened to that)

The SPATS(I'm looking at you BdaB) are cut off wheels, Evergreen and putty

I had a .50 and a .30 from various rear gunners positions and a double ammo feed from the much scavenged P-61

I wish I had taken pictures before I put the top wing on


With the constant threats of incursions from the US and Mexico since the 2nd Texas Declaration of Independance  in 1868 and the looming war in Europe the Texicans decided that they had better get on the ball and upgrade their military hardware.
The longstanding alliance with Russia was reinforced and one of the advantages for The Republic was the famous Russian airplane designer Brion DaBbasherski. With the vaunted airframe builders input Toolslinger Engine works built the first twin row 18 cylinder radial engine utilised on an aircraft. This engine developed nearly 800 horsepower and gave the plane the amazing speed of nearly 200 mph.
The airframe utilized a wooden frame with metal skinning and eliminated all  exterior cable rigging by having a removable upper wing center section  where all tension cabling came together in a centralized turnbuckle matrix.  Due to the terrible terrain in the Republic which encompassed many areas formerly owned by Mexico and the US the landing gear was constructed to be especially robust. 

[Brian da Basher]

Toolslinger, that's sooooo cool it hurts! I really like the "mech" look those struts give to this bird! Biplaning it like that is a stroke of genius, not to mention adding those awesome spats!

I'll be looking forward to seeing more!!

Brian da Basher

P.S. Here's a Republic of Texas roundel I came up with a while back:

[K5054NZ]

Very very very very cool! Just looks right!  That new centresection is sheer brilliance, howd you do that?! I'll be watching this one with great interest!

You DON'T like the I-16? Come to NZ and watch one fly, you'll soon be converted! *thrice times viewer of I-16s in the flesh*

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Man, do you ever pause for breath ??

Ian

[sotoolslinger]

ItheHG paraphrased from Jessie Ventura "I ain't got time to breath"
K#'sNZ I just don't like the way the nose looks on the Polikarpov. I know it was an excellent aircraft in reality.I know you have seen my other builds so you will understand that reality means nothing to me
I also was just looking for an excuse to have a big honkin exposed radial sticking out of something

[ysi_maniac]

Absolutely COOL looking

[sotoolslinger]

Initial use of the BF-1 by Texican mercenaries in the service of their German allies proved that the initial installation of 1 .28 cal and 1 .36 caliber machine gun synchronized to fire through the prop arc was fine for shooting down British and American planes .

And the aircraft was a match for any thing in the air as to manuverability and speed but for attacking ground targets ,especially the new armored "tanks" and "barrels" as well as the problem of the huge new armed airships, heavier weapons would be required.
The wings were further reinforced to handle more weight during heavy air combat.


New heavy machine guns were developed in conjunction with Brenneke  and the aircraft were armed with 2 10 mm machine guns on the outer wings


Each gun was mounted on an adjustable mounting and fed by its own armored 300 round belt feed

[John Howling Mouse]

Awesome job so far, STS.  Love the various weapons ideas.  But you really had me going for a second there when you were describing what you wanted to do to the stubby little I-16.  Here is a screen-print from a page of my Project List:

[sotoolslinger]

That's right Yelling Vermin I read your mind  Soon I'll have all your good ideas  Of course I won't be able to actually execute them Actually I have no plans for any cowling at all on this one . I wanted the most primitve look I could get on this one so I plan on just using wire behind the engine to look like the exhaust pipes feeding back to the ports (I'm gonna need smaller tweezers)

[DaFROG]

bwa hahhahaha

I love the interplane struts looks like some kind of rock drilling machinery tripod mount (especially with the machinguns).
Sure all the hydraulic looking bits of the struts aren't there to flap the upper wing?

[cthulhu77]

*jaw hits the floor*

Beyond cool.  This is a fantastic project, totally love the wing guns.

[Eddie M.]

I saw this about 0445 this morning before work, and was stunned into inaction. I couldn't think of anything to say, but now I will say that is a sweet idea it's coming together just as I suspected it would. Surprising. I really enjoy that.
   Eddie

[sotoolslinger]

Thanks ya'll, The engine installation was kinda boring

With nothing behind it it just didn't look real

So I detailed it with wire to represent exhaust pipes



Looks a little busier now Also of course PSR

[sotoolslinger]

Sorry those pictures Sucked 
Here are slightly less sucko ones



I guess I'm gonna have to paint that before it shows up well

[sotoolslinger]

I have been building models for 30 + years .I know better than this but I just had to show off what a brilliant kitbasher I am
What I am is a huge dumbarse.
Why did I put this entire highly complex model completely together with absolutely no consideration as to finishwork
I did it because I am a turkey

Look at all those effin struts

The spats are hard enough to file and carve to shape around all those frakkin things sticking out

Look at that dang mess , its gonna take hours with microfiles to get that looking presentable