WHIFS found while Google-ing

[dumaniac]

nice - very nice

[Dizzyfugu]

The clipped/square wing tips suit the 335 well.

[Captain Canada]

Very slick !

[Madoc]

I've always enjoyed the "Air Racer WhIfs" genre.  Taking warbirds and re-envisioning them as high speed civilian air racing craft is appealing on lots of levels.  Aside from looking damn great, the implied backstory of them is always ever so much better than the reality.  That is, there'd be no way such machines could exist in our world with its world wars and thus there could not have been such things in the realm that produced these creations.

Yes, I know the Unlimited Class of racing aircraft is dominated by warbirds - but only those of the Allies.  In the late 40s, once the US economy had sufficiently changed back from the war, the air racing took up again and there was at least one competitor who tried entering with his war surplus German fighter.  I forget which one it was but I'm thinking a FW-190.  He would've been flying alongside the war surplus Mustangs and Corsairs and Airacobras.  But the folks running the race would have none of it so there never was any civilian German air racers using Luftwaffe birds.

Thus the concept of this aircraft even existing in this form is very appealing indeed.  A few years back an IPMS chapter had a group build with a "post war Schneider Cup" theme and the breadth of those creations was stunning.  And it had the same sort of appeal for the same reasons.

Nicely done!

[CANSO]

TOPHE WILL LIKE THIS :

More here.

[ericr]

TOPHE WILL LIKE THIS :

and he will not be the only one ! 

it takes a bit of looking before one sees what it can be

[kerick]

Looks so cool!
Lighter parts, hair clips, horizontal stab from an A-10, car spoiler, what else can you see?

[PR19_Kit]

..... what else can you see?

LOTS of prop blades! 

[jcf]

Yes, I know the Unlimited Class of racing aircraft is dominated by warbirds - but only those of the Allies.  In the late 40s, once the US economy had sufficiently changed back from the war, the air racing took up again and there was at least one competitor who tried entering with his war surplus German fighter.  I forget which one it was but I'm thinking a FW-190.  He would've been flying alongside the war surplus Mustangs and Corsairs and Airacobras.  But the folks running the race would have none of it so there never was any civilian German air racers using Luftwaffe birds.

You're probably thinking of the oft repeated, yet undocumented, claim that Howard Hughes wanted to enter
an Me 262 in the Bendix and Thompson Trophy Jet Races, in either 1946, '47 or '48, the story is always fuzzy
as to year, but that evil Hap Arnold put the kibosh on it because it would beat the P-80A's and embarass the USAAF.
The problem is that there is absolutely no evidence of that ever happening, just a story that has been repeated in
various av-minded magazines and modeling magazines since at least the '60s. Now in 1946 the Hughes Aircraft Company
did indeed clean-up and get functioning one of the captured 262s on for the USAAF and it was used in a limited
series of tests against the XP-80 and/or an early production P-80, they evidently only got a total of around 6 flying hours
because of problems with the Jumo 004 engines, whichis as to be expected. Whiles the Hughes Company, did the
work, Hughes himself never actually owned the aircraft.
Also no way in hell would the Jumos have been reliable enough for either the cross-country Bendix - from Van Nuys, California
to Cleveland, Ohio or the Thompson (300  miles, 10 laps of a 30 mile course), in the first case the distance and time would
have killed the Jumos, in the second the stress of full throttle at low altitude for the whole length of the race would have
done the same.

[kerick]

I imagine it would have been quite a trick to find a German fighter still in decent flyable shape after the war was over. Then get it from Europe back to the US.

[Captain Canada]

That twin lighter is a great idea ! I'll start the fire and the BBQ with mine 

[Dizzyfugu]

Looks so cool!
Lighter parts, hair clips, horizontal stab from an A-10, car spoiler, what else can you see?

Here's another creative use of lighters - on a Ma.K. inspired resin short run kit from LoveLoveGarden from Japan:



More here: http://lovelovegardenheel.blog50.fc2.com/

[Tophe]

TOPHE WILL LIKE THIS :

Yes, I do  Thanks!

[Dizzyfugu]

Stumbled upon this neat Monogram F-19 conversion:

[Captain Canada]

That is pretty neat. Fire Faux