It'll be rude not to!

[kitbasher]

I've raided my box of Spitbits and the general spares box and I have a cunning plan.....
Something close supportish for the British Army 1944/45 made from Italeri, Kopro and Airfix Mk IXs, Eastern Express 'Floatfire', Pegasus Mk 22/24 (and the CMK clone of it) and a mystery guest!   

[Captain Canada]

I guess we don't call you Kitbasher for nothin', eh ? Have fun....and let's see some progress pics !

[kitbasher]

Rethink of the Spitbits to be used folowing a raid on the loft.  Italeri, Kopro Mk IX, Eastern Express 'Floatfire' and mystery guest bits staying, fuselage now courtesy of battered Airfix Mk I acquired from the 'Donate-a-Model table at Telford a couple of years ago.  Still all from the spares box and same subject.   

[kitbasher]

Here's most of the bits to be used.  The old Airfix Mk I will be stripped this weekend, and work will start in earnest will begin probably next wekend.  I think more of the Airfix Spit will be used than originally planned, and less of the Kopro leftovers. 

[sequoiaranger]

Had a silly thought-- take the pieces of EVERY kit of the Spitfire in the same scale and pile them in a heap over a firecracker, light it, and then pick a designated three-foot-square plot in the blast zone and glue together anything that fell in that plot!

Mush for brains you say?  Who, ME?? 

[kitbasher]

A tiny bit of progress today - paint stripping and further chopping will have to wait until I get back from hols.   

[kitbasher]

OK, playmates.  The Airfix Spitfire has now been duly stripped and with the Profiles GB Borat out of the way (see http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,20428.msg305161.html#msg305161) some serious chopping can commence!

More to follow.   

[Mossie]

Intriguing.....

[kitbasher]

OK, here's the plan (can we extend the GB by 2 weeks, please??!!).
It's going to be an autogyro gunship.  Outer wing sections from a scrapped Italeri Spit IXc (what a rubbish kit!) have been slapped together to form a rotor mast (the rotors themselves are courtesy of a long lost (and never finished) Airfix Whirlwind HAS.22).  The front end will stay as per the model but will have the carb intake , prop and exhausrts from a Kopro Mk IX fitted.
The tail end (including tailplanes) will be modded in the stylee of a Cierva autogiro (eg that at Hendon).
Meanwhile the wings from the Airfix Spit have been chopped and will be refitted.  These will carry rockets and possibly cannon.
Undercarriage will be fixed, and I envisage something more in tune with an AH-64.
Canopy courtesy of the scrapped Italeri Mk IX.

To be called a 'Westland Warlock' to reflect Westland's real WW2 role as a Spitfire maintenance/Seafire constuction contractor, their connections with Cierva (eg http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/cierva_c-29.php), and of course their eventual emergence as a mator helicopter company.

[Brian da Basher]

My hat's off to you kitbasher! This project is so delightful that I can't stop smiling. Thank you for making my morning. I'll be watching with great interest!

Brian da Basher

[pyro-manic]

Now that I like!

[kitbasher]

This is going together surprisingly quickly at the moment, what with the exhausts, wings, carb intake, radiator, tailwheel and oil cooler attached in just a few minutes.  Mind you, plenty filling and sanding to be done, and tailplanes to be made and fitted.  I think I've sussed how to best fit the main undercarriage.
Rotor blades have just been placed to give an idea of what the finished item may look like.  And they do clear the prop!
Colours?  Overall dark earth and dark green in the fashion of the contempraneous Air Observation Post Austers.

[Brian da Basher]

That enormous rotor is the cherry on top, kitbasher!

Brian da Basher

[Mossie]

A SpitDyne!  Or a RotoFire???  Great stuff!

[Weaver]

Oh nice one! 

I'll be watching this with interest, because one of the things on my unfeasibly long To Do list is a very similar conversion of an Airacobra.....