What's on the workbench!

[McColm]

Sunday 29th July 2018

Just been dry testing the 1/72 Italeri
Y/XB-35 on the 1/72 B-52G and vacform  RB/B-36 Peacekeeper.
There's a better fit on the B-52 than the
B-36. Which lead me testing the B-52G wings on the B-36. Not quite the YB-60 but with a raid in the various spare parts bins a British alternative could be built.
The wouldn't be any interior detail but would use the landing gear from the B-52 and engines on pylons.

[McColm]

Monday 30th July 2018

The Shorts Stilton Mk1
Disaster has struck the CMK Avro York resin conversion kit, next door neighbor's cat had a fight with it and the cat won, strange that it didn't attack any of the other builds.
Parts recovered is the tail section which now sits proudly on the Airfix Shorts Stirling. The engines and main landing gear are from the Airfix Lancaster B.II.
A slight change in the original concept is leaning towards an armed AEW without the tail turret. More parts from the Lancaster B.II will be used.

The Fairey Sovereign
Parts have been adapted from the fuselage of the Airfix Rotodyne and spare parts bins.
At first glance it appears to be a Bell/Boeing Chinook civvie variant with camshell rear doors, quad turbo engines and long-range fuel tanks.
I need to sort out the landing gear and rotors. Some puty is needed for the gaps.

1/24 Revell Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II
The rear is a convertible with the closed cab of the driver. My first attempt was a Ute which might still happen. The hood/bonnet has been glued in place, so has the grill but the Spirit of Ecstasy has flown away.

The BatPlane
Still working on changing it to something that Professor Dumbledore would have used whilst at Hogwarts. Maybe a different paint scheme. Or a raid in the various spare parts bins.

[TheChronicOne]

Fascinating;  gotta love some BAT ANTICS. 

[McColm]

Friday 3rd August 2018

Been working on an idea of kitbashing the Curtiss C-46 Commando with the Italeri 1/72 Northrop XB-35 Flying Wing.
Project Curtiss Raven.
The upper and front section of the Commando now forms a new fuselage on the XB-35. The main section was cut so this fits snuggly. The rest of the XB-35 follows the instructions. Just as the AMT kit there's gaps around the wing joints and front end.
I did toy with the engines from the Italeri 1/72 B-52G placing them above the fuselage but they look much better under the wings. I haven't used the wing pylons provided due to the ground clearance.
I used the B-52 wing as a template and with some bluetac stuck them on . I'm going to use all eight engines for this build.
The vertical tail fin comes from the Cammett BAe Nimrod AEW.3 resign set with the rotodome off the Grumman E-2 Hawkeye.
After getting glue on the C-46 canopy, I found the bomb aimers glazed part from the Airfix Valiant, which sits neatly on the upper fuselage.
I added the main landing gear, struts and all.
The Curtiss Raven AEW.1 looks very similar to the Convair proposal for a Flying Wing an alternative to the B-36 Peacemaker with the extended nose and wide cockpit canopy.
I haven't added the gun turrets to the wings as I'm using them on the Revell Avro Shackleton GR.2. The bomb bay doors are from a Airfix Avro Shackleton MR.2 kit. There's a millimeter gap at both ends.
The next stage is PSR.
There's several builds that also require PSR. Which reminds me to buy some eyelet hooks and invisible thread so I will be able to hang them out of the way when finished.
The paint scheme could be based on something the Vulcan bombers wore.

[McColm]

Sunday 5th August 2018

Curtiss Raven AEW.1
There's been an engine change, I'm now using the cowlings from the 1/72 Monogram Convair B-36 Peacemaker. These fit very well on the upper wing, they have been roughly cut and glued in place. The propeller spinners make very good jet exhaust pipes. This keeping the eight turbojets in pairs .

As for the Short Stilton, this has now got the Rolls-Royce Griffin engines installed.

[McColm]

Tuesday 7th August 2018

The day has finally come to get out the two pack filler/puty.
Whilst contemplating which one to start on first my thoughts turned to the various plastic 1/24 VW T1 Samba bus kits supplied by Revell.
With so many real world examples either constructed in a shed with a set of spanners and a hammer to those commission built creations.
I've seen various Snail campervans, that I thought of building one myself. This will probably be used as a scale model for when I build or buy the real thing. Most have re-used caravans and bolted them to the chassis, just leaving the VW cab. Although this does give you a wider platform, I was thinking of extending the design above the cab and keeping the same width as the van.

[McColm]

Just an observation the Amodel Piaggio P.180 Avanti and my kitbashed Curtiss Raven have a similar stance apart from the engines and wings. This wasn't intentional.
Not was putting the T-tail and wings from the 1/96 Lindberg HP Victor on the Heller Sud Caravelle as this looks a bit like the H.P.97.

[McColm]

Tuesday 14th August 2018

Having given the 1/72 B-36 a wash in the bath, I realized that this would need a serious restoration.
However I have the fuselage halves from the Contrail Convair B-36D in the stash and decided to transfer parts over to the vacform kit.
The cockpit just needed a clean , whereas the underneath part has been improved by adding the interior AEW consoles from the Airfix Avro Shackleton MR.2. Other parts of the Monogram fuselage have been adapted to firm up the vacform fuselage halves.
Additional windows will be added.
As to the wings, well the ones that came with the Spares or Repair that I bought secondhand are beyond repair. However the wings from the Italeri B-52G and the wingbox sections can be used to form my version of the XB-60 Goal Keeper.
Or the Convair  Goal Keeper MR.1A.

[McColm]

Thursday 16th August 2018

The Lockheed Starliner has changed and has a new resin nose, I used the glazing from the Airfix Valiant to form the new cockpit and kept the name Starlight.
I still haven't made up my mind if it will be a troop transporter or tanker. Probably both.

There's been slight work done on the Wyton AEW ex KC:97 on the engines.
Work continues at a leisurely pace.

[McColm]

Friday 17th August 2018

It can be so frustrating waiting for one model kit to appear on certain secondhand online shops, then 3 appear all at once and you don't have the beer tokens to buy any until pay day.
I'm trying to downsize, but I have an idea to stretch the fuselage of 1/72 B-36D /RB Peacemaker.
It would make a great front loader.

[McColm]

Saturday 18th August 2018

Just had a thought about the Convair B-36 bomber, why not put the propellers at the front Instead of the rear?

[TheChronicOne]

Do it!!!!   

I never was a fan of the "backwards" propellers to be honest.

[PR19_Kit]

Just had a thought about the Convair B-36 bomber, why not put the propellers at the front Instead of the rear?

IIRC Convair planned to do just that with the later versions, which only had four, but four BIG engines.

[McColm]

Sunday 19th August 2018

Thanks for your messages, I'm thinking down the lines of the Tu-95/142 Bear for the engines or something along those lines.
It's very rare that you get a cheap 1/72 kit on eBay for less than £80.
Just had an idea, move the spinners to the front of the engine intakes. There must be a plastic tube/rod that is the same diameter as the shaft or raid my spares bin.
I think I'll see if the engines from the 1/72 X/YB-35 can be used.

Meanwhile work continues on the Convair Goal Keeper, as I have cut out the wing hubs and inserted the wings from the Italeri B-52G. Well the upper halves and the wing spars.
I'll need to cut the forward section past the new wings to get a better fit.
Another decision is to use the clear vacform cockpit canopy as this let's more light in so you can see the interior detail. I've gone for the solid nose. I have added parts from the Monogram rear fuselage to reinforce the vacform fuselage halves.
There's a new tail from the Italeri kit as well.

[sandiego89]

Just had a thought about the Convair B-36 bomber, why not put the propellers at the front Instead of the rear?

IIRC Convair planned to do just that with the later versions, which only had four, but four BIG engines.

The proposed B-36C had the six 43670 piston engines with six tractor (pulling) propellers ahead of the wing.  But these Variable Discharge Engines with their large turbosupercharger required a configuration change.  The 4360's were kept in the same mounting position on the aft part of the wing, but were turned around so the shaft came out the front and a 10 foot shaft would go through the wing to the props. 



The proposed turbo prop was with 4 engines.  4 Curtis wright XT35 in the 5,000hp class. 



Source, Magnesium Overcast by Jenkins, Dennis.  Pages 46, 57