What's on the workbench!

[TheChronicOne]

The C-118 with Connie-Tail and the rest sounds VERY cool.   

[McColm]

The C-118 with Connie-Tail and the rest sounds VERY cool.   

Got the idea from the Douglas DC-4E, it's a pity that  Douglas didn't adopt to their other airliners.

[McColm]

Progress report on the C-118 Liftmaster.
The triple tail is a good fit and stretches the fuselage longer than the Lockheed Constellation Super G.
I'm replacing the engines with those from the Airfix Avro Shackleton MR.2 kit.
Sort of Southern Star as a opposed to the Canadair Northern Star DC-4..
I did a dry test with the rotodome from the Grumman E-2 Hawkeye and that looks the part.
I might use some other parts from the Shackleton as well on the build.

[McColm]

I've been adding parts to the 1/72 StarFix
HH-3E over a few months which has turned it into a AEW helicopter.
Most of the spare parts are from a Revell Sea King which almost line up with the original model.
Yes the floor plan is wider, and the air filter needs to be trimmed,then there's the glazing. The cockpit canopy doesn't fit either.
So I've had to giggle things around and the landing gear appears to be much longer than the real thing, no wonder that they put a ramp at the back. Sadly this kit doesn't come with one.
The rotating arm for the radar is fitted on the left side of the fuselage whilst the in-flight refueling probe is fitted on the right side of the fuselage.
One thing that I have noticed is that the pilot could rotate the arm from storage to operational mode without the casing scrapping the ground.
I've also fitted the Mk5 radome on the upper fuselage.
The StarFix model doesn't offer the best of details when it comes to the exhaust pipe, I may need to put some sort of filter box over this.
I think Royal Navy colours would look the part or a aircraft research center.

[McColm]

The postman delivered the AMT 1/72
AC-130U this morning.
Looks too good to chop, might add the Harvest Hawk kit and AAR probe. Upgrade the engines as well.

Got another 1/72 Hasegawa Lockheed P-3
Orion, this one has some parts already painted but the propellers are broken, going to go for the Marshall of Cambridge Valkyrie proposal.

As for the 1/72 Hasegawa Shinmiewa PS-1
flying boat, straight ish out of the box.

[McColm]

I managed to find most of the parts from my 1/72 Hasegawa Boeing B-47E.
It's odd that a real world B-47 was chosen to test the engines for the Lockheed S-3A Viking,,whilst the side-by-side seating arrangement on the S-3 does fit in the nose of the aircraft.
I did a dry run with an Airfix S-3B . Which gave me an idea to add the engines from a B-52D making this an 8 engined beast. I've got the FlightPath RB-47H conversion set, so I'll be using those parts as well.
I plan to start this project sometime in the new year.
  Been thinking about the wings , I'm sure that the Matchbox/ Revell HP Victor wings would fit, as well as the T-tail.
The Airfix Avro Vulcan is a better fit, which means that I can still use the resin parts from the Flightpath set.

[McColm]

Ideas;
I suppose that the Avro Shackleton in Canadian decals wouldn't look too out of place, but in USNavy colours for the period would be a head turner. I might be tempted to change the engines to the ones used on the Lockheed Neptune.
A four engined Neptune with Griffons.

Micro camper vans based on saloon cars. This has been built in the "real world", I haven't seen any in 1/24 or 1/25 yet. So I was thinking of building a few of my own.
Past experience has taught me that, just cutting the roof off to create an open top roadster and filling in the rear door to extend the front doors doesn't always work.
There are a few resin cast bodies on eBay that could be used.

[McColm]

Been thinking of this Whiff for quite some time.
The Avro Shackleton AEW.3 was proposed but due to cost efficiency the Shackleton MR.2 was chosen.
Due to ground clearance I'm moving the radome that usually fits under the chin on the Mk2 to fit on the upper fuselage. Parts from the Revell AEW.2 kit will also be used.
The Revell Mk2 will be painted in Lancaster colour scheme and turned into a bomber with upper gun turrets.

[McColm]

I once built a 1/72 de Havilland Condor and posted the pictures on facebook. Although it wasn't quite finished most of the parts were recycled. However I now have the parts to build a 1/144 scale model using a Revell Boeing E-3A as the donor kit as the rotodome is being used on the 1/144 Boeing 747-100 with 1/97 HP Victor wings known as the Sentinel.
The wings from the Revell 1/72 HP Victor fit rather well on the Hasegawa Shinmiewa PS-1 flying boat although I might have made a mistake by not gluing the new wings to the upper shoulder instead of the lower shoulder, just needs a bit of boxing in to avoid the large gap towards the rear.
Eric the Viking looks well with its two new side sponsons.
Note to self- don't use too much filler in one place.

[63cpe]

Ha, got a filler melt-down situation??

[TheChronicOne]

US Navy Shack.....     

[McColm]

I was thinking of an evaluation aircraft up against the Neptune.
Well I'm on leave until the 13th December, so I might have something finished.
Whether it's good enough to be put into one of the competitions on this forum, would be a great Christmas present.

[TheChronicOne]

That sounds like a glorious plan but good luck because we all know the Neptune is a sweet, sweet NAVY bird.      

I'm sure your project will be well enough to not only join but win some competitions around here! We just gotta up your picture game a lil bit. 

[63cpe]

Yesss, we want pictures! You're have very interesting plans and I'm very interested what it all looks like.

[McColm]

Thanks Guys