TC`s build thread.

[Tophe]

this is how she looks at the moment on her `legs`.

She looks pretty

[GTX]

Looking good.

Regards,

Greg

[tc2324]

Cheers guys. 

Todays update. Put the decals in place tonight prior to applying a mat coat of varnish and then the weathering. Up next is the joyous task of masking the canopy..... 

[Tophe]

Looking good (confirmed)!

[tc2324]

A couple of shots of the finished model. This is an export night fighter for the Polish AF around 1951. The backstory will explain all.

[Tophe]

  (if it is exported, I want to import some!)

[Stargazer]

Wow! Makes me think of a French version now, with SFERMA engines...

[AXU]

Hi Tc,looks very interesting...I hope you will post more pictures of this model!
Good job ! 
Alex

[tc2324]

Cheers chaps. Finished this one now so enjoy the article below.  (Should kill a few minutes at the office anyway..... )

Avia S-TB-92

New light has been cast on a little known project taken up by the Czech aviation company Avia. Details are sketchy at best with regards to the technology used, however the report below outlines the basic information released today that has survived for the last 60 years.

During the war the Germans had set up a number of assembly plants in Czechoslovakia for the of the production Messerschmitt Me 262. When the war ended the manufacturing infrastructure had remained intact and production could start up again for the new owners by the 27th February 1945.

The first Avia S 92.1 was assembled at Letnany Research Institute in 1945 (PL-01), with the air frame coming from Avia and the engines from the repair works in Malesice (the Junkers Jumo 004 now called the M-04).

The S 92's first flight was on the 27/09/46, with Avia's chief pilot Antonin Kraus in control. That same year on December 10th the CS 92 took to the air for the first time.
Delivery of the first S 92 to the Czech air force was on 42/6/1948. With twelve being made in all, nine S 92 and three CS 92 equipping the 5th Fighter Flight. In 1951 due to the problems encountered with the Jumo engine all production was discontinued.

However the airframe was still a sound design and the engineers at Avia looked at various ways that would keep the production line in place.

They looked at creating a night fighter for export to the various Warsaw Pact countries. It`s new purpose was to engage the Lincolns and B-29`s that were expected to make any future attack on the Soviet empire at night. However, it was well known that one of the issues with the Jet fighter from the war was it`s closing speed to the target. The pilot had little time to line up the aircrafts weapons on target before he had to pull away to avoid a collison. One idea floated around was to retro fit the aircraft with turbo prop powerplants. This way the fighter could keep some of it`s speed qualities while at the same time be slow enough to engage the target. By the end of 1951 the new Avia S-TB-92 was ready for flight testing and Poland had already shown an interest to licence build the type. The new fighter incorporated two unknown turbo prop powerplants as well as a basic search radar believed to be based on captured German designs. In January 1952 the first of these new aircraft was flown to an airfield near Warsaw for trails. Over the next four months the new fighter now in Polish markings undertook a varied flight test regime with night time intercepts on other Polish aircraft with excellent results.

By now however the new Mig 15 was starting to come on line and distributed between the various Pact nations. Added to this that NATO was starting to introduce new Jet bombers, the days of the turbo prop Avia were numbered. The last confirmed flight of the Avia S-TB-92 was on the 5th June 1952 for it`s ferry flight back to Czechoslovakia where it is reported to have been scrapped by the end of the year.

All was not losed for Avia however as they now looked forward to making way for new up to date aircraft and were given a license to make the Mig 15 and all the S-TB-92 facilities were broken up.

The only known photo`s of the type were taken two days before the project was cancelled and the aircraft sent home.

[NARSES2]

Stunner 

[Tophe]

Great presentation!

[GTX]

 

[pyro-manic]

Not a huge fan of the 262, but that looks pretty good, I must say.

[tc2324]

  guys. Glad you liked the 262.

Now for my next project. I know Kit, (PR 19), wanted to know what I had planned for the remains of the Privateer kit so here it is....,

AC4 Y-4 Night Reaper

I was looking to get an AC-130 kit and `whif` it, but then it struck me that I had the remains of the Privateer kit.



With that long slung fuselage, big access doors for the heavy weapons and smaller windows you can cut out for the smaller weapons, it seemed the perfect platform to transform it into the grandaddy of the AC-47 and great grandaddy of the AC-130. Going to make this as if it were used in the Korean war which means a night time operations scheme, (black to you and I), and as seen below I have started on the simple bits `out the box`below. Thats the easy bit. The hard part is that I will need to scratch build the weapons and weapon compartments. Might be fun...??

[tc2324]

Here`s todays work. First I assembled the engines and now just need to apply the decals and they are complete.



Next I cut the holes for the weapons and removed the doors from the transport version of the Privateer. Need to smooth them off and have kept the doors as I may have these fitted as open. Not made my mind up on that one yet.



Next up was the weapons themselves. Went straight to the spares box and had a rumage. First up I used the guns from the rear turret on a Lancaster and the rear turret of a B-52.



Then I took the base of the Lanc`s rear turret and the tailplane from the Fw 154. After a bit I came up with a quadrulple .50 Cal gun platform which will be pointing out of the rear doors.





Next I worked on get the `heavy` stuff. Had a couple of Stuka 37mm Anti tank guns knocking around which I will turn into 30mm Borfors. Used a cockpit base and a couple of clipped sprues to get the angle I needed and then tried them out for size.





Loads more to do, but I`m really enjoying this one so far.