SABCA (Focke Wulf) Flitzer F-Mk.4

Spey_Phantom · December 13, 2008, 01:57:53 PM

as im going to be having a lot of free time over the next few weeks (or even month with this economic crisis effecting my jobhunting)
i thought i might as well give the stash a bit of cleaning, i have 2 revell Focke Wulf Flitzers so i decided to get work started on 1, and save the other one for the COIN or sovietize GB

i think im gonna do her up in Belgian colors or maybe something else, so im gonna think about that tomorrow

so got work started by taking a saw and cut the canopy in half, yes, she will be build with an open canopy

so what else ive done tonight, putting together the cockpit (parts of it)

the painted the pilots seat (decided to give it a leather seat)

the rest is for tomorrow, as my workbench wat taken away from me by my cat Pol, who really, really likes to watch Garfield

ChernayaAkula · December 13, 2008, 03:59:47 PM

Belgian Red Devils! Belgian Red Devils! Belgian Red Devils! Belgian Red Devils! Belgian Red Devils! Belgian Red Devils! Belgian Red Devils! Belgian Red Devils! Belgian Red Devils! Belgian Red Devils!

You know you want to! It'd look awesome!

And don't let your cat watch too much Garfiled! He'll demand Lasagna for dinner one day!

Geoff · December 13, 2008, 04:18:56 PM

My cat Tai is a double of your Pol!

cthulhu77 · December 13, 2008, 05:33:28 PM

*chuckle* great cat pic !

Love the leather seats...looks like something Rat would sit in !

Weaver · December 13, 2008, 06:31:59 PM

Like it - funnily enough, I'm about to start painting leather seats in my Super Magister (it's actually authentic in that case).

Hint - test-fit the cockpitto BOTH fuselage halves BEFORE you put glue on anything! The one on my Ghost Flitzer needed quite a bit of shaving down on the sides of the floor/side consoles to get it to fit.

Spey_Phantom · December 14, 2008, 04:41:29 AM

been working on the cockpit, the panels were painted last night, (before the cat came

)
so today, slapped on the decals for the instrument panel.

also i found a decal for the safety belts, witch i had left over from the academy Spitfire Mk XIVc.
after some cutting it fitted perfectly

so, fitting both fuselage halves together, the cockpit fitted nicely, but there was a huge problem with the front wheel bay, it didnt fit to good, the gap was so big, the gleu didnt cover it, so time to bring out the putty

ater the putty has dried, im gonna sand it of a little and re-engrave the panel lines with a knife.

this afternoon, im gonna start working on the wings, painting the inside landing gear bays

noxioux · December 14, 2008, 10:21:45 AM

The interior's looking pretty sharp. I love those belts. Are they tape or PE?

Spey_Phantom · December 14, 2008, 10:43:28 AM

Quote from: noxioux on December 14, 2008, 10:21:45 AM
The interior's looking pretty sharp. I love those belts. Are they tape or PE?

the belts are decals, leftover from a spitfire

Quote from: ChernayaAkula on December 13, 2008, 03:59:47 PM
Belgian Red Devils! Belgian Red Devils! Belgian Red Devils! Belgian Red Devils! Belgian Red Devils! Belgian Red Devils! Belgian Red Devils! Belgian Red Devils! Belgian Red Devils! Belgian Red Devils!
You know you want to! It'd look awesome!

And don't let your cat watch too much Garfiled! He'll demand Lasagna for dinner one day!

ive got another flitzer in the stash, i guess that one ig gonna become a Red Devil

ChernayaAkula · December 14, 2008, 05:23:46 PM

Nice progress!

May start one of those sometime soon, too. 1950s West German Bundesluftwaffe with JG71 Richthofen markings and AIM-9Bs.

Quote from: Nils on December 14, 2008, 10:43:28 AM<...>
ive got another flitzer in the stash, i guess that one ig gonna become a Red Devil

So the subtle suggestion worked? Great!

Weaver · December 15, 2008, 09:46:42 AM

Nice one! I had to notch the sill to accomodate the top of the seat on mine.

Next thing: check the fit of the canopy and adjust it NOW, before paint.

Spey_Phantom · December 15, 2008, 10:12:14 AM

she's finished

, and ive changed the name from the topic.

Back History

After the liberation of Belgium and the fall of the 3rd Reich. both the US, British, russians and swedes obtained many nazi aviation designs. as the allies took home most of the data and designes obtained from german factories, many of those designes were canned as they didnt seem realisable. in 1946 Belgium wanted to restart its own indigeniuos aviation industry and it wanted to create a new fighter for the newly re-formed Belgian Air Force.

the Air Force was equiped with older equipment it had recieved from its allies, such as spitfires, mosquito's and T-6D's. the only aircraft bieng in production after the war was the Stampe & Vertongen SV-4B, a 2-seat biplane trainer for the BAF. however, most of the equipment it got donated was in a verry bad state, and more the 55% was not operational due to shortage of spares. .

new and modern aircraft were required to get the Air Force back on its feet. SABCA reviewed a design for a single engine fighter from data that was orriginally rejected by its allies. it was a similar proposal for a new fighter for the Luftwaffe, offered by Focke Wulf, named the "Flitzer". it was designed to be mass produced, easy to fly and maintainable fighter.

SABCA took the design into production, and only 3 months later on March 5 1947, the Flitzer took to the air. one problem was the engine, the BMW 003 engines were no longer, so SABCA integrated a De Havilland Goblin 3 engine.
the Belgian Air Force was verry impressed by the performance of the aircraft, and said they found the fighter they were looking for. a total of 160 Flitzer F-Mk.1's and 40 T-Mk.2's were ordered and all were delivered to the BAF by 1949, equiping 10 squadrons, 2 of witch were based on Basis Kamina in the belgian Congo. it was also the first belgian fighter to be exported, over 500 were exported to India, France, West-Germany and Brasil. to promote the fighter on the export market, the Belgian Air Force equiped a new display team with 9 Flitzer Mk.1's, the Red Devils.

after a series of improvements, in 1951 SABCA tolled out the NF.3, a radar equiped 2-seat night fighter version of the T.2 of witch 24 were ordered by the Belgian Air Force. also, another new version was rolled out the same moment, the F-Mk.4. it featured a number of improvements, such as external weapon pylons to carry the new AIM-9B Sidewinder, matra SNEB rockets and Bombs. also after years of development, with help from czechoslovakia's AVIA, SABCA also managed to create a reverse engineered version of the BMW003 engine that was in the original design and even performed better then the original. the BAF ordered 100 F.4's and modified 50 F.1's to the new standard.
the Flitzer continued service up until 1962, when they were finally replaced by the EE Lightning F.55.

the Model

the model is revell's 1/72 Focke Wulf Flitzer, the weapon pylons are leftovers from an airfix islander, SNEB rocket pods are leftovers from an airfix Hunter FGA.9 kit. i decided to paint it in the same metallic color as the Belgian Meteor F.8 fleet.
the decals are custom made (except the finflash and underwing roundels) and were orriginally intended for a Realworld F-84E (except the serials, they were ment for a Me109). and i added some dayglo orange to improve visibility. for the top of the wings, i choose the old style roundel with the big fat black cirkel as i really like those better then the orriginal

this model pictures a Flitzer F-Mk.4, painted up in the marking of the 2nd "La Cométe" Squadron, 2nd Tactical Wing from Florennes AB.

AND im gonna start work on the Red Devils plane soon

Weaver · December 15, 2008, 11:13:59 AM

Nice one Nils - you beat me to it! Mind you, since I totally forgot that you were building it canopy open anyway.....

Small point of note, if I may: you appear to have left one cannon barrel off and not painted the other one! I don't blame you for not fitting the pitot boom though: I've knocked the bloody thing off mine so much that I'm sick of it!

Nice colour scheme

Silver and orange go really well, don't they? I like contrasting high-vis canopy rails too, but havn't been able to justify them so far.....

Spey_Phantom · December 15, 2008, 11:43:17 AM

i knocked of the gun twice during progress

so i now removed that other 1 to, i guess she will be fine with only 2 guns in the nose

Rafael · December 15, 2008, 05:03:48 PM

Beautiful airplane, Nils!!!

That metal finish is very reminiscent of the epoch and the backstory is very interesting. Great subject and execution!!!

Rafa

Weaver · December 15, 2008, 06:45:37 PM

Fair enough, Nils. Something that occured to me on the way home: why not fit a refuelling probe in one of the cannon positions? Maybe the Flitzer's short range proved to be a pain when deploying Mk.Is to the Congo, so they fitted a probe on the Mk.4 in place of one wing gun, and removed the other one to save weight. After all, with pylons and Sidewinders, it's not like it was losing overall firepower.

Here's another idea: how about a carrier version? You have other projects based around the concept of very small Belgian aircraft carriers, so maybe navalised Flitzers were their first air group? It would need a hook, of course, and since the wing isn't that big, how about an extended nosewheel leg like the F-4K, to increase AoA on take-off?