Martin Baker Fighters

[Weaver]

The only problem with that is that you can't land a contra-prop on a carrier before the invention of the angled deck. If a single prop goes into the barrier it bends back and then it stops. If a contra-prop goes into the barrier, the front blades bend back until they hit the back blades, then it explodes....

Really?

Perhaps the Fleet Air Arm should have known that before they tried to land their Seafire 47s, Wyverns, Gannets and Sturgeons on their straight deck carriers......  

Pretty sure that's what it says in BSP-3, but I havn't got it in front of me so I may have got the wrong end of the stick. Perhaps it's an added risk rather than a deal-breaker?

Okay, well egg on my face here: I went through BSP-3 last night and couldn't find this stuff anywhere...

I know I didn't dream it though: I either read or was told on here or Secret Projects that contra-props were dangerous with barriers. I distinctly remember it because it came as a disappointment to me, seeming as it did to rule a number of ideas I had. Damned if I can find where it is/was now though.......

[Kerrillc]

Hello Gents

I have been reading the Martin Baker fighter article and I started thinking about what alternative plans the Air Ministry might have had to improve the MB2, so I started playing about with a line drawing of the original MB2 and wondered what it might have looked like if the next variant had a retractable undercarriage and two 20mm cannons in each wing as the Air Ministry postulated. The oil cooler would have had to be moved perhaps into the wing.

But I think the MB2 or the 2B still look exceptional.

Any thoughts folks?

Cheers

Kerrill

[The Wooksta!]

There were legitimate plans for one with retractable u/c.  There's a line drawing in the Morgan/Shacklady book on the Spitfire.  It's more like the Stormovik.

[GTX]

Some nice and interesting photos of the Martin Baker Aircraft here.  Two teasers:




Regards,

Greg

[pyro-manic]

Superb! Nice find indeed.

[Maverick]

Euan & I collaborated on a run of MB.2 profiles & backstory a couple of years ago.  Don't know if the thread is still here but the profiles are on my photobucket pages.  These included 'developed' machines with bubble canopies & retractable U/C.

Regards,

Mav

[The Wooksta!]

You'll need something to support it.  Beautifully cast it may be, but that u/c WILL sag under the weight of the prop.  I have one in a box somewhere in just such a condition.

[kitnut617]

I think there must be something missing in the mixing ratio of the white metal, I have a Sharkit XP-47J u/c which did that too.  Ren did send me a replacement set but that set collapsed too after only a couple of months.  In the end I got some white metal P-47 u/c legs from High Planes in Oz and they are more like the Aeroclub white metal in hardness.  I did my MB5 u/c using a set of these legs too.

[tomo pauk]

Hello, people,

Just wonder whether there is a model of the MB.2 featuring retractable U/C, and/or Merlin engine (looking sorta Fiat G.55 perhaps)? Version with Taurus engine?

[PR19_Kit]

Unlikely.

Even if there's a kit of a standard MB2 the chance of anyone going to the expense of cutting moulds for a Whiffed version sounds wildly improbable.

But that's why we're here, and you too............ 

[tomo pauk]

I'm the 'small change', or 'penny packet' (not sure what is the current proper term) in modelling - my only success so far was the real world Spitfire V, finished in plastic but not painted.

[Gondor]

Both Manga and Planet Models make 1/72 kits of the MB2

Scroll down to the end of this search to see them https://www.hannants.co.uk/search/index.php?adv=1&product_category_id=&product_division_id=&manufacturer_id=&product_type_id=all_aircraft_kits&code=&scale_id=956&keyword_search=Martin+Baker+MB+2&setPerPage=25&sort=0&search_direction=0&save_search_name=&save_search=

Gondor

[The Wooksta!]

Magna's is now discontinued, along with the rest of the range due to Martin Gomm retiring.  The moulds may get picked up, possibly not, so get it whilst you can.

The old Pegasus and Skybirds kits do appear here and there though.

[Weaver]

Presumably if the MB.5 had entered service it would have been given a name. Any thoughts on what it might be?

[The Wooksta!]

Uncle Frank called it Valiant.  There was a story in a Victor annual with something that looked similar, and they called it the Rapier