AZ Models

[The Wooksta!]

AZ have also announced a Hornet F1.



Central Fighter Establishment markings?  That's a first for Hornets.

And an F4 too.  They really are out to bankrupt me...



Four kits and I'll have to have two of each one for the spare markings...

God help my wallet when Eduard do early Merlin Spitfires in 72nd...

[chrisonord]

Were the Wirlwinds used in the 50's? If so I might just  get one to  keep my  griffon out  seahorses  company.
Chris

[PR19_Kit]

That looks very promising, I may get a couple. 

[The Wooksta!]

The Whirlwind was out of service by 1944 and scrap before the end of the war.

[chrisonord]

The Whirlwind was out of service by 1944 and scrap before the end of the war.

That's a  shame, but in wiffworld, it could be a different story
Chris

[The Wooksta!]

Only if you change the engines - Peregrine was a dead end, especially as Rolls Royce had to put the engineers to work building more Merlins than fixing the problems with that and the Vulture.

[chrisonord]

Only if you change the engines - Peregrine was a dead end, especially as Rolls Royce had to put the engineers to work building more Merlins than fixing the problems with that and the Vulture.

So not  too impossible to do then...?
Could be worth a coat of looking at  as a future  build  possibly.
Chris

[Weaver]

Only if you change the engines - Peregrine was a dead end, especially as Rolls Royce had to put the engineers to work building more Merlins than fixing the problems with that and the Vulture.

So not  too impossible to do then...?
Could be worth a coat of looking at  as a future  build  possibly.
Chris

The Whirlwind was very closely tailored around the Peregrine, so if you swapped them for much heavier Merlins, you'd need a longer fuselage for balance. The gun setup was sub-optimal too, so you'd be better putting the barrels underneath the cockpit and the ammo tanks behind, and oh look: you've got a magnesium Hornet...

Actually, maybe that's not a bad alt.history rationale: RAF issues a requirement for a twin-Merlin fighter, Westland offers an enlarged Whirlwind, De Havilland offers a slimmed-down Mosquito, and they meet in the middle so perfectly that the RAF ends up buying both on the grounds that neither factory has enough capacity to build as many as they want.

[Scotaidh]

Only if you change the engines - Peregrine was a dead end, especially as Rolls Royce had to put the engineers to work building more Merlins than fixing the problems with that and the Vulture.

So not  too impossible to do then...?
Could be worth a coat of looking at  as a future  build  possibly.
Chris

The Whirlwind was very closely tailored around the Peregrine, so if you swapped them for much heavier Merlins, you'd need a longer fuselage for balance. The gun setup was sub-optimal too, so you'd be better putting the barrels underneath the cockpit and the ammo tanks behind, and oh look: you've got a magnesium Hornet...

Actually, maybe that's not a bad alt.history rationale: RAF issues a requirement for a twin-Merlin fighter, Westland offers an enlarged Whirlwind, De Havilland offers a slimmed-down Mosquito, and they meet in the middle so perfectly that the RAF ends up buying both on the grounds that neither factory has enough capacity to build as many as they want.

And the Whirlwind MkII is better able to be upgraded to turboprop engines, on the grounds that even magnesium is less heat-sensitive than wood ... oh, wait - it might not be.  Is there an industrial chemist in the house?

[chrisonord]

Hmm, the plot thickens. 
Or I could just  get a hornet  and reduce the  faff, and perhaps do something different with it.
Chris

[The Wooksta!]

Other than change the markings, there's little that you should do, because the Hornet - especially the F.3 - was as close as you can get to piston engine perfection.

Other than the Spitfire, it's my favorite aircraft of all time and it's the one aircraft I have the most kits of.

[chrisonord]

Other than change the markings, there's little that you should do, because the Hornet - especially the F.3 - was as close as you can get to piston engine perfection.

Other than the Spitfire, it's my favorite aircraft of all time and it's the one aircraft I have the most kits of.

I had a bit of a think about what to do with a hornet, either  navalize it or fit it out for anti shipping  work. Rockets on the wings and a large  caliber  gun in the lower  fuselage, similar to the  mosquito variant. Or do that as a navy aircraft.

[Gondor]

And the Whirlwind MkII is better able to be upgraded to turboprop engines, on the grounds that even magnesium is less heat-sensitive than wood ... oh, wait - it might not be.  Is there an industrial chemist in the house?

I'm not an Industrial Chemist but a little look on Wikipedia reminded me of Chemistry class as school where the teacher took some Magnesium out of a jar with some oil in it and put some into a container of water so we could watch it burn! 

Gondor

[The Wooksta!]

Already navalised (Sea Hornet) and both Hornet and Sea Hornet were equipped for rockets from the get go.


Anti shipping? It's a high performance fighter and both the RAF and the Navy had anti shipping aircraft coming out of their ears or at the prototype stage (Mosquito, Beaufighter, Brigand for RAF and Barracuda, Spearfish, Firebrand, Firecrest, Wyvern and Sturgeon, Firefly at a stretch, for the Navy).  The RAF got out of the anti shipping game in '47.

Highball.  I've seen a drawing and a speculative one but the 72nd conversion bits are too wide to fit comfortably in a Hornet, even with with the cannons removed.  And I tried ALL of the available kits.   I did hang a torpedo under one, albeit with two cannons removed.  Might be some photos somewhere...

Personally, I'd just change the markings - Australia and Canada looked at it, the former quite deeply and if Australia gets it, no doubt New Zealand do too.  Argentinian pilots test flew it and Argentina was impressed enough to have a copy built (the IAe Namcu). Or anyone who had Beaufighters or Mosquitoes.  Just changing the markings alone gives you plenty of possible options if you go by that criteria, some of them quite unusual (offhand Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Holland (looked at Mosquito), Portugal, Turkey, Isreal, Czechoslovakia, Dominican Republic, China (Chang's lot), Pakistan (did have Brigands so it's a stretch), France, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Sweden).

[chrisonord]

Cheers Lee,
I want it to be part of my alternative RAF and Navy aircraft  theme,  so if I do get one  it it could possibly be a  target  tug. I have an old airfix meteor  lined up for that job too
Chris