From the largest to the smallest model built in 1/72 or pre-built

McColm · August 19, 2011, 12:39:52 PM

Hi,
I've just opened a job lot of mixed scrap/pre-built 1/72 aircraft models. Got them from EBay and now I know why they were so cheap. No wheels or glazed canopies!!!

The smallest model is the Cessna L-19/O-1 Bird Dog and the next in line a Britten Norman Islander/Defender.

The largest kit I built was a Heller E-3A before the cleaner got hold of it- gone to the recycling bin in the sky.
So this would leave the BAe Nimrod AEW & Refueling Tanker- Transport (aka Nimmet) stretched version 20 inches long, which is undergoing it's paint and decal stage ( same length as the E-3A fuselage, without the in-flight refueling probe or M.A.D. boom added).

The largest model in the box is a 1/48 Mirage IIIC minus its glazed cockpit, and undercarriage. The wings will be removed and blended into my 1/72 F-117s' fuselage at a later date.

What are your smallest and largest 1/72 builds?

Ed S · August 19, 2011, 12:49:51 PM

In progress, I have a GeeBee R1 racer and a B-52D both in 1/72 scale, both RW. Easily the biggest and smallest so far.
For actual built models, the biggest (in 1/72) is a B-1B and the smallest, a Yak-23. And in my stash and unstarted, I have an LS Bede 5. I don't think there is any 1/72 aircraft model any smaller than that.

Ed

PR19_Kit · August 19, 2011, 02:14:18 PM

Like Ed says, the LS BD-5 double kit just has to be the smallest. I've built the jet version, the BD-5J and it's TINY! The prop version is larger as it has longer wings, and I'm building mine as the prototype with the V tail.

As for the largest, I have a B-36 in build, as a GRB-36J with an RF-84K clasped underneath it, but it's been part done for some years yet. (Haven't a clue where to put the thing when it IS built!) Unless someone does a kit of the Hughes HK-1 Hercules the Monogram B-36 and the recent A Model Brabazon have to be the largest ones available.

pyro-manic · August 19, 2011, 02:15:54 PM

Isn't there a vacform HK-1 available?

Smallest is probably an Albatros D.III, then a Hawker Fury and a Caudron C.714.
My largest so far is a (currently part-built) FBC-1 Flying Leopard (Chinese bomber), which isn't really that impressive, along with my Canadian F-111. I've got a couple of big-ish kits in the stash - Vulcan, Victor, Nimrod, Constellation, Badger, Bear - and I have a couple of monster mecha models in 1:100 scale - the largest is about a foot high and weighs a lot.

I don't have the space to build or display large models, as my flat is tiny and full of stuff.

lenny100 · August 19, 2011, 03:03:41 PM

my smallest is a SE5 scout in 1/72 and my largest in 1/72 scale or any in a type 26 future surface combat warship, which is over 6 feet in length

chrisonord · August 19, 2011, 03:17:13 PM

My smallest built kit must be one of my Ah-6 night foxes, biggest kit built is one of my TU-22M Backfires, biggest unbuilt kit TU-95. In the loft however is a scratch built from wood U-25 in aprox 1/35th scale, its over 5 foot long and weighs a ton as it is R/C.
Chris.

kitnut617 · August 19, 2011, 05:47:30 PM

The largest 1/72 kit I have is my Lockheed C-5 Galaxy (vacuform) followed closely by two 1/72 Boeing 747's, but these aren't built yet.

Here you can just make out a Bede BD5 in the bottom right corner

Here's one of the 747's over the C-5 plans (and yes --those are my size 9's before anyone wants to make a smart-alec remark)

The 747 compared to the Nimrod

The smallest I have which is half built are the four Bede BD-5's which I'm doing as a flight of Snowbirds.

The Bede's compared to a 1/72 Spitfire wing (the Bede is 1/72 scale)

I have a number of other large 1/72 aircraft, four B-36's, eight B-52's among them

kitnut617 · August 19, 2011, 05:55:54 PM

Quote from: pyro-manic on August 19, 2011, 02:15:54 PM
Isn't there a vacform HK-1 available?

Yes, Herrill's Execuform do a 1/72 HK-1 Alun, gonna get one as soon as my financial situation gets better. There used to be another outfit called HeavyKits that did one too, actually 25 were made and sold. The owner though has closed his shop now.

Litvyak · August 19, 2011, 07:19:04 PM

Yous have me beaten both on smallest and largest - my smallest is a CT-114 Tutor, largest is a CP-140 Aurora (in progress). But I have a Heller 707 on the way, which I think will be bigger than the Aurora...

McColm · August 19, 2011, 08:46:50 PM

The 707 is about twice the size of the CP-140 kit. However before my E-3A was trashed I did a dry run with a Nimrod cockpit section and a Atlantique nose section both fit with a little filler to plug the gaps, thats if you cut the nose radome off. And the tail section of the Nimrod kit will fit the rear end if the vertical fin needs replacing or if you want to build a maritime version with a M.A.D. boom.
Just remember the wing span is massive.

Thanks for the advice about the B-1B.

JayBee · August 20, 2011, 01:03:05 AM

Quote from: PR19_Kit on August 19, 2011, 02:14:18 PM
Like Ed says, the LS BD-5 double kit just has to be the smallest. I've built the jet version, the BD-5J and it's TINY! The prop version is larger as it has longer wings, and I'm building mine as the prototype with the V tail.

Kit,

If you are building the prototype it had the original short wing of 14 foot 3 inches compared to the jet's 17 foot span.

PR19_Kit · August 20, 2011, 10:22:16 AM

Quote from: JayBee on August 20, 2011, 01:03:05 AM
If you are building the prototype it had the original short wing of 14 foot 3 inches compared to the jet's 17 foot span.

I didn't know that Jim.

My reference article, showing pics of the V tailed prototype, says it could be flown like a motor glider with its '.....long high aspect ratio wings...', so I guess they modified it at some stage or another. Do you know if it always had the V tail or was that modified later too?

beowulf · August 21, 2011, 06:29:21 AM

if your talking only aircraft not afv's then smallest would be Me163, biggest would be an F4 although theres an old Canberra in the stash..........i tend not to build large aircraft since i simply dont have the room to display them

The Big Gimper · August 21, 2011, 06:35:48 AM

Hmmmm ......

Smallest overall is my MPM J8M1 Shusui and largest is XB-70 for length and YB-49 for width/surface area.

Carl

Green Dragon · August 21, 2011, 10:59:18 AM

Smallest kit is either a Scottish Aviation Bulldog, Albatross D.III or OH-6A cayuse, they haven't survived long enough to put them together for a comparison! Only the OH-6A is around at the mo.
Largest, though unbuilt are a B-52H, several X/Y/B-35's and YB-49's, a Super Connie and an XB-70.
Smallest non-kit model I did was a scratchbash armed microlight using landing gear bits from an Airfix Whirlwind helo and the cockpit tub from the F-80 Shooting Star. Largest scratchbash in 72nd was a Millenium Falcon-oid-ish freighter starship that was about 30 inches long and around 22 wide. All that's left are the kit parts that I stuck to the mostly cardboard body including a fully scratched cockpit because a mate sat on it!.

Paul Harrison