Fairey Rotodyne

[rickshaw]

Thought I'd already shared this one with you in this thread, but apparently not... Here's my take on a production Rotodyne for the RAAF, designated the Crocodile HC.1.

Saltie or Johnstonis? 

Aboriginal dialects have many words for the two difference species of Crocadilus which inhabit Australia.  Here are a few:

Baru/Baaru  (Gumatj - not specified)
Pinchi  (unknown - Salt Water)
Bilngkumu   (Ku Ku Yalanji - not specified)
Kambara  (unknown - not specified)

[raafif]

yet another Rotordyne -- this time in 1/144th scale by Anigrand.

Scroll to the bottom of page ....
http://www.hyperscale.com/2011/reviews/kits/anigrandaa2097reviewpb_1.htm

[Stargazer]

Thought I'd already shared this one with you in this thread, but apparently not... Here's my take on a production Rotodyne for the RAAF, designated the Crocodile HC.1.

Saltie or Johnstonis? 

The idea was that CROCODILE sounded like ROTODYNE!!!

Aboriginal dialects have many words for the two difference species of Crocadilus which inhabit Australia.  Here are a few:

Baru/Baaru  (Gumatj - not specified)
Pinchi  (unknown - Salt Water)
Bilngkumu   (Ku Ku Yalanji - not specified)
Kambara  (unknown - not specified)

I doubt that "Bilngkumu" would be a very good name for a military helo (after all, you've GOT to be able to pronounce it!). However, "Kambara" DOES sound pretty good, even if it sounds more African than Australian to me!

[rickshaw]

Thought I'd already shared this one with you in this thread, but apparently not... Here's my take on a production Rotodyne for the RAAF, designated the Crocodile HC.1.

Saltie or Johnstonis? 

The idea was that CROCODILE sounded like ROTODYNE!!!

It does?   

Aboriginal dialects have many words for the two difference species of Crocadilus which inhabit Australia.  Here are a few:

Baru/Baaru  (Gumatj - not specified)
Pinchi  (unknown - Salt Water)
Bilngkumu   (Ku Ku Yalanji - not specified)
Kambara  (unknown - not specified)

I doubt that "Bilngkumu" would be a very good name for a military helo (after all, you've GOT to be able to pronounce it!). However, "Kambara" DOES sound pretty good, even if it sounds more African than Australian to me!

"Bilngkumu" isn't hard to pronounce IMO.  Sounds fairly normal to me as an Aussie.  Ditto for "Kambara".   When you have to twist your tongue around such gems as "Coonabarabran" or "Ozenkadnook" or "Bong Bong" or "Xantippe" (which is actually a Greek name - the wife of Socrates).   

[XE521]

In reply to 'Reply #62' from apophenia

apophenia wrote:
I've found the range/makes of Rotodyne kits confusing. Here's my attempt at de-muddling. Anyone have additions, kit details, or corrections?

Listed by moulds. An asterisk denotes that this model is part of my collection.

Airfix  1/72:
Type 2 (GB) *. Boxart line drawing. Model no. 482
Type 3 (GB) *. Red line, Roy Cross artwork. Model no. 482
Type 4 (GB) *. Blue logo, Roy Cross artwork. Model no. 482
Type 11 (GB) *.  Lage box, Roy Cross artwork. Model no. 04002
Plasty (D). Depicted in the Plasty catalogue with clam shell doors open, the Lincoln model didn't have this function . Up to date I can find no evidence that this model was ever issued. Same problem occurs, of depicted but not issued models, with many other companies resulting in collecters, such as myself, to frantically seek mythical models.    If this model was ever issued it would have been bagged and not boxed as were the other Airfix models of this era.

Anigrand 1/144:
Anigrand (HK) * 1/144. Only available as 1 of 3 bonus kits with the 1/144 scale Raytheon Sentinel R.1. resin kit.  Boxart is for the Sentinel, model no.AA-4057   

Coopexim (P) were and still are a central export agency and not a manufacturer. If they ever sold the Rotodyne then it would have been the Ruch model, boxed or bagged with their logo. To date I have found no written, or photographic, evidence to support the existance of this mythical kit

Frog 1/72:
Frog (GB) *  Model silver plastic, stand black plastic.
Tri-Ang (F) *  Model white plastic, stand silver plasic. Model no. C. 358 P. (Made in France). Boxart as per Frog, but with text in French.
It is assumed that the moulds were lost at sea on route to NZ.

Lincoln 1/144:
Lincoln (HK) * Model no.117
Kader (HK) * Box a fraction longer and higher than the Lincoln, own boxart. Model no.3918 (Instuctions and transfers identical to Lincoln's).
IM (USA/HK) *. Not boxed, with header. Model no. Series D #16. Instuctions and transfers identical to Lincoln's. Information that has been supplied is that the kit was produced in HK and shipped to the US. Other info I have found in the IN is the kit was produced in the US. I have no confirmation as to which info is correct.
Plasty (D). Boxart same as Lincoln, box size?. Model no. 1164 no.8

Revell 1/78:
Revell (D) * (Classic). Large box, higher than original US issue. Model no.00013
Revell (GB) *. Small box, boxart is Rotodyne with Tower Bridge in the background. Model no.H-185 as apposed to H-185:198 on US model
Revell (USA) *. Large box, model no. H-185:198
Revell/Marusan (J). Large box, same boxart as USA model, but with Marusan logo on botom (and top?) side(s). Model no. not known. Photograph available.
Heller (F). Produced and bagged in USA then boxed (small), with Heller boxart, in France. Instructions marked H-185.
Lincoln (NZ) *. Same boxart as per USA issue less the "Official Master Modeller Kit" badge on box top and end sides. Model No. H-185 as apposed to H-185:198 on US model. This is the only model produced in a dark grey plastic. Transfers and instuctions marked "Printed in USA".

Ruch 1/72:
Ruch (P) *. Copy of airfix model (but not identical). Bagged with header.  Model no. WI-1 P-715.

Shed 1/200:
Shed (GB) *. White metal and brass. No box art. Limited production of 500.

Siku 1/250:
Siku (D) *. 1959-1964. My box is marked F 20 a, not F20/F20a

Curios:

IPMS 1/33:
IPMS (A) * . A card, not plastic card, model from IMPS, I always thought that IMPS stood for International PLASTIC Modeler's Society.  At 1/33 it's gonna be BIG.

MINISTERSTWA OBRONY NARODOWEJ (Scale not yet known):
Ministry of Nation Defence (P)*. A card model. A card model from the Ministry of Nation Defence If anyone can figure this one out please let me know. 

The reference to a 1/96 scale model by Kitnut617 is intriguing,  this is the first and only time it has been brought to my attention. Where can I view this post?

Any correction or additional information concerning this theme will be gratefully accepted.

Hope this is of some help.

Karl.

[sandiego89]

Welcome Karl, you may have a rotydyne disorder.....it is ok, we all have afflictions of some sort here.....Nice collection!
 

[raafif]

shame that 1/33rd scale one is in card -- I'd go for a 1/32nd injection-plastic one with full interior
       I wouldn't touch a big-scale Chinook, Buggerhawk or Huey with a barge-pole tho, Yuk!!

[XE521]

@ sandiego89.

Karl, you may have a rotydyne disorder

I think you're right   , been at it since 64 after seening the test rig at Boscome Down when I was there. Pity I never saw it in real life, but I was too far up north at the time and couldn't make to the show. Did see the TSR2's maiden though.

@ raafif.

If you find one I'll buy it off you for double the price.   

[PR19_Kit]

I think you're right   , been at it since 64 after seening the test rig at Boscome Down when I was there. Pity I never saw it in real life, but I was too far up north at the time and couldn't make to the show.

Being that 'too far north' wouldn't have prevented you from HEARING the darn thing though, I suspect the noise was audible over the entire UK land mass........

[rickshaw]

I think you're right   , been at it since 64 after seening the test rig at Boscome Down when I was there. Pity I never saw it in real life, but I was too far up north at the time and couldn't make to the show.

Being that 'too far north' wouldn't have prevented you from HEARING the darn thing though, I suspect the noise was audible over the entire UK land mass........

Come now, sure you're not exaggerating a little?  According to the book on the Rotodyne it was no louder than the DC-8 airliner which was in regular service into the UK at the time.   Personally, I suspect that if the Rotodyne was to have entered military service, noise wouldn't have been a major concern for the users.  They'd just have been issued a pair of earmuffs and an extra pair of underpants...   

[PR19_Kit]

Come now, sure you're not exaggerating a little?  According to the book on the Rotodyne it was no louder than the DC-8 airliner which was in regular service into the UK at the time.   Personally, I suspect that if the Rotodyne was to have entered military service, noise wouldn't have been a major concern for the users.  They'd just have been issued a pair of earmuffs and an extra pair of underpants...   

Not much, but I think I'm on a short list of one on here who actually HAS been subjected to the 'dyne's racket when landing and taking off. That's one reason why I've had surgery to replace the bones in one ear and have a hearing aid in the other!

[XE521]

With reference to the 'dyne's racket'.

Quote from David Gibbings Rotodyne Digital Book Pages 26/27

It should be noted that, on the two occasions the Rotodyne flew into Battersea heliport, which is situated less than 1 Km from Westminster, with an approach path which entailed light-up adjacent to the Houses of Parliament.
The whole operation passed unnoticed by the general public and the noise levels on Westminster Bridge, directly under light up, could not be measured above the London traffic noise.

[Mossie]

Those arguments apply for normal operation, but IIRC Kit got very up close & personal.  I know he's mentoned his story before, but he might be persuaded to go over it again for newer members?

[PR19_Kit]

OK, but stop twisting my arm please....... 

In the mid 50s I lived at RAF Benson, which was my Dad's last station before he retired from the RAF. We lived in Married Quarters at the west end of the camp, and there was an access road running right alongside our house that went past the scrap dump and ended up a crash  gate right next door to E hangar, where the RNVR Sqdns were based. Directly opposite their hangar was a BIG tree, and I spent a large amount of my free time perched up in this tree, from which I got a superb view of the flying activities.

Fairey had been testing the 'dyne from their own airfield at White Waltham but the noise of the early tip jets was so excrutiating that the general populace petitioned Fairey to do the tests elsewhere. Apparently RAF family's hearing was considered to be expendible, so they moved the tests at Benson! I would go down to my tree every evening after returning from school, or all day if I'd had an 'asthma attack'.  From there I got a great view of the 'dyne on the ground as they used the 06-24 runway as their main test area and it was the closest to my tree.

The tests they were doing involved the relight procedure when returning from normal flight so the 'dyne would make a VTO from the runway, convert to normal flight and head off to the southwest. On it's return from the same direction they'd spin up the main rotor and make a vertical landing, hang around for a bit with the engines running, and then do it all again. This went on for some weeks, and one thing that was always apparent was I could hear the tip jets light off long before I could see the aircraft! It must have been some miles away, toward Wallingford, at the time so what they thought there beggars belief!

At that time the tip jet noise level was UN-BELIEVABLE, it started off with a hiss as they pumped the air through the blades, then gave a hefty WHUMPH as the jets ignited, and that was followed by an ever increasingly loud roar as they throttled the rotor up to full speed and power.

Benson at the time was a ferry station and we had every type of RAF aircraft passing through there, en route to foreign parts, and the 'dyne was FAR louder than anything else I'd heard, and more painfull too.

I've got David Gibbings book, indeed I think I may have posted its existance on this thread some time ago, and he mentions the Benson tests in there. These predated the Battersea flights by some time, and so the tip jets were still of the early type.

Believe me, they were LOUD!

[alertken]

Noise was a factor in MoA discontinuing funding in 1962, but not decisive.

Dr.Bennett's heliplane concept at Cierva came with him and his team to Fairey in 1945, funded 9/47 as FB-1 Gyrodyne, modified 12/53 as Jet Gyrodyne/tipjets. That was a proof-of-concept for an MoS Spec for a vertical battlefield replenisher - son-of-assault gliders, and the cause for MoS funding of (to be) Rotodyne. BEAC's notions of downtown heli-ports were unfunded puff.

After flirting, firstly with free US MSP C-119F then with DHC-4 Cariboux, kit for the Rapid Deployment Force was TwinPin + Belvedere. Feel free to ascribe evil to Westland, who by 1961 had in their quiver jostling for effort alongside Rotodyne: a Boeing-Vertol 107 licence for the line which became Chinook; Sikorsky licences for S.56, which flew as Westminster, and for S.61, to be Sea Kings galore and endless; and a site, Weston, which came with a sweetener order for 26 Belvederes. Kaman had taken a licence from Fairey for Rotodyne, anticipating a larger Tyne-variant. Overload. By 1962 focus was overdue, then-WG/BV.107, Westminster, Rotodyne and enhanced Belvederes lost out: who is to say that a real market was lost? The DHC-line did the same job more economically, yet Dash Seven was a business disaster.