Heroic Failures of Group Building

puddingwrestler · December 28, 2009, 08:29:46 PM

I've been responsible for various 'ugliest' and 'worst' thread on the forum in the past - ugliest planes, worst just about anything which involved engineering or electronics etc etc...
So how about a worst of GB?
Build anything you consider to be a heroic failure - possibly the worst plane ever flown, the worst boat ever floated, or the worst car eve to clog up our roads. Bonus points obviously go to anyone who can think up a backstory which makes the thing good, and to anyone who refuses to allow the total lack of kits on things like LIghtburn Zetas, Ladas, and SInclair C5s stand in their way.
Of course, there are a fair number of kits of such 'wrost of' subjects; AMT issued a Ford Edsel simply because it has such a 'worst car' reputation, many aviation failures have been kitted to keep up with the insatiable demand for more and more model planes, and I'm sure there are some kits of other terrible things out there.

philp · December 29, 2009, 11:58:19 AM

Quote from: Overkiller on December 29, 2009, 12:50:50 AM
Easy!

Take some milliput, roll it into thin, twig like shapes. Paint the shapes pooh brown, and place into a bowl...

Hey presto! Model Twiglets (yeugh! Pfftewee!), the greatest failure of all time

Duncan

Ugh, don't remind me. I tried one a couple years ago and think the thing still hasn't passed.

Interesting idea Owen. Especially since some "failures" were well regarded by others. Thinking of the Buffalo which the Finns used so well and the Airacobra which the Russians liked.

The Rat · December 29, 2009, 01:21:59 PM

Failures, eh? Well, I've got the Meikraft Vought Pirate in the stash, and almost anything else with a Westinhouse engine could apply to this build!

The Me-163 might qualify(?) as well, it probably killed more pilots by blowing up than it took in combat.

Quote from: Overkiller on December 29, 2009, 12:50:50 AMTwiglets (yeugh! Pfftewee!), the greatest failure of all time

My wife bought me a big tub of them the other day as a late Christmas prezzie, chomped down on a load last night and had the worst case of the trots I've had in ages. I may have found something else which upsets my delicate intestinal tract. Damn, if it were anything other than those Heavenly morsels...

philp · December 29, 2009, 01:33:46 PM

Also, when I saw the title for this thread, thought you were talking about how I can never seem to finish a model for a Group Build, even when the build was my idea

Taiidantomcat · December 29, 2009, 02:24:43 PM

Quote from: philp on December 29, 2009, 01:33:46 PM
Also, when I saw the title for this thread, thought you were talking about how I can never seem to finish a model for a Group Build, even when the build was my idea

I thought the same thing

All my GB entires have been failures so far

Captain Canada · December 29, 2009, 02:26:12 PM

When is a kit of the CVF coming out ?

Mossie · December 29, 2009, 03:01:23 PM

Thought of one for a while now, taking the Fairey Battle & making it worse! The Fairey Battle would have had 'must try harder' written in it's school report, although sometimes you can try harder & just fail all the more spectacularly! The Battle had one Merlin engine, when it really needed two & sticking one on each wing would have required a whole redesign. So, you stick another one in the nose instead. Except it probably wouldn't have worked. The Bolkhvitinov S tried just this approach & it didn't work either. It might have looked tempting at the time, but was doomed to failure.

It might actually give me an opportunity to build my beloved Rotodyne. It was a heroic failure, but more due to political shenanigans than the design itself.

puddingwrestler · December 29, 2009, 03:09:05 PM

Why not put the second merlin in the tail ala the dornier Pfiell - now that is just the kind of crazy engineering that makes for heroic failure!

Mossie · December 29, 2009, 03:35:54 PM

That might actually make it work better! Can't have that can we...?!?!?

puddingwrestler · December 30, 2009, 03:15:27 AM

Yes, but due to the immense weight of fitting two merlins, it'd be much heavier - so smaller engines would naturally be fitted... perhaps ford flat-head V8s or Chevy Stove-Bolt sixes (yup, I only know car engines - it'sd all those hot rod magazines I read in my youth.)

kitbasher · December 30, 2009, 03:23:10 AM

Quote from: Mossie on December 29, 2009, 03:01:23 PM
The Battle had one Merlin engine, when it really needed two & sticking one on each wing would have required a whole redesign.

Wot? like http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,21075.msg340144.html#msg340144?

Mossie · December 30, 2009, 10:56:01 AM

I remember that one, exactly as the Battle should have been!

puddingwrestler · December 30, 2009, 01:29:18 PM

Well, there in lies a question.
Could it have worked?
Did it involve enourmous cost over runs?
Did it destroy any careers?
Did the project go on for years without getting anywhere at all?

Any of those situations would count as a heroic failure. If it was merely canceled due to beuracratic stupidity (the infamous white paper which said planes where obsolete and the RAF only needed guided missiles) or because it lost out in a competition to another project, then it is not a failure.
For it to be a heroic failure, the final porduct must be terrible or something catestrophic must go wrong to cancel the project.

PR19_Kit · December 30, 2009, 01:51:24 PM

Quote from: puddingwrestler on December 30, 2009, 01:29:18 PM
Did the project go on for years without getting anywhere at all?

The Nimrod AEW's a shoe-in then...........

Brian da Basher · December 30, 2009, 05:00:14 PM

Quote from: puddingwrestler on December 30, 2009, 01:29:18 PM
Well, there in lies a question.
Could it have worked?
Did it involve enourmous cost over runs?
Did it destroy any careers?
Did the project go on for years without getting anywhere at all?

This describes a lot of GB projects. We had a Phoenix GB a while back for unfinished GB projects. At one point, the proposed Phoenix GB timeframe was eight years.

Oh, wait, you're not talking about GB projects that were never completed but criteria for a new GB idea.

D'oh!

Brian da Basher