What's on the workbench!

[McColm]

Thursday 16th August 2019

With the delivery of the 1/72 Revell F-117A  Shadowhawk the B-58 Hustler would change it's shape,  as mentioned before the upper fuselage structure has been removed but I have kept the nose cone.  In it's place is the F-117A without the wings. The tail fins have been glued on.  The Revell model is more toyish than the real F-117 especially around the jet engine air intakes and the jet exhaust system.
The Roden 1/72 An-12 Cub is now known as the Phoenix which has the Grumman E-2 Hawkeye rotodome,  Avro Shackleton outer engines mounted under the wings with C-130 propellers and the lower fuselage of the Grumman Albatross.
I'm working on the Airfix Fairey Rotodyne and the Italeri  ACH-47  Chinook,  which seems to be going a little too well.

[TheChronicOne]

Snazzy! That's a pretty cool idea using the 117 like that. Pretty inspiring! Has my mind churning now on how to utilize one.

[McColm]

Snazzy! That's a pretty cool idea using the 117 like that. Pretty inspiring! Has my mind churning now on how to utilize one.

The original plan was my interpretation of the Convair  King Fish which was in competition with the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.  The King Fish has a similar layout to that of the F-117 of is that where they got the styling clues from?

[TheChronicOne]

I see what you mean, they are quite similar in appearance in many ways.

[McColm]

Saturday 17th August 2019

I think that I have missed a day, probably catching up on my sleep from the overnight National Express coach journey from Falmouth Cornwall to London.
I have made a school boy mistake in fitting the main landing gear for the Airfix Fairey Rotodyne the wrong way round. Meaning the ground clearance is slightly lower,  to compensate for this I will add a tail bumper or an arrestor hook. I'm building this straight from the box apart from the machine gun that fits on the nose of the ACH-47 Chinook Gunship. I'll probably get one of the weapons sets 'air to ground 'and see if any thing fits,  if not the Rotodyne AEW.1 or maritime version.
Also on Mondays shopping list is puty and filler.
Disaster avoided as I found my 1/72 Sanger vacform Antonov An-12 Cub,  yes it's secondhand and the previous owner did start separating the parts. The clear vacform canopy does fit and covers any gaps,  the white metal landing gear and wheels do stick together after using superglue although they look crude. Just need to mask out the canopy for painting when attached to the Phoenix.
Another two boxes arrived this afternoon both in 1/72 scale and both from Revell; Avro Lancaster B.III and the Avro Shackleton MR.3 (old kit). I'll see if the parts are interchangeable as I have always wanted to build a  Merlin powered Shackleton with a rear turret painted in Bomber Command colours. The rest of the parts will be used on the Avro York and future builds.

[McColm]

Sunday 18th August 2019

Due to my error in building the Airfix Rotodyne I shall have this in hover mode lifting a LandRover. The chains will help disguise the clear pole.
I think that I will call the Lancaster Shackleton kitbash the Avro Merlin. The rear of the Lancaster up to the bomb bay doors has been cut off and glued on to the Shackleton MR.3 model,  fuselage glazing, nose landing gear and cockpit inserted.  Bomb bay doors,  wings,  both fuselage sides glued  together and the rounded wingtips are also attached. The bomb bay doors are in the open position.

[McColm]

Monday 2nd September 2019

I think that I have found the purpose of my six engined tailless Avro Shackleton,  by adding the resin Eeryie AEW boom to the upper fuselage.  This could be used as a flying testbed. I think that I have some Swedish decals but that three coloured paint scheme could be a bit tricky.  I will see if anyone does a paint mask.
Yes there is,  it's for the  1/72 Saab Viggen.

[PR19_Kit]

I'm not too sure if the Martin SeaMaster was ever considered as a Gunship,  with the parts from the 1/72 ESCI/ERTL  Lockheed AC-130H Spectre II might be worth a kitbash.

Hardly! 

Its sole intended purpose was as a nuclear strike bomber or minelayer. It was cancelled before anything else was considered.

[McColm]

Monday 16th September 2019

Well I think that I have surpassed myself this time,  the white metal landing gear in the 1/72 Sanger An 12 Cub kit fits the Mach2 Martin SeaMaster.  Whilst the Roden An-12 renamed the Phoenix AEW. 1 now has the main landing gear from the Airfix BAe Nimrod,  the Rolls-Royce Griffon engines have been removed. I'm toying with other engines.
The Heliplane has got the rotors from the Revell Mil Mi-26 Halo. These are super glued and will dry out left over night.
I'm going to ditch the idea of the Gunship for the SeaMaster for now and just concentrate on the other two builds.

[McColm]

Saturday 21st September 2019

The Lockheed Heliplane now has the rotors from the Airfix Rotodyne kit,  I still need to add the nose wheel landing gear and give it a colour scheme with the appropriate decals.

Whereas the Rotodyne Gunship has four rotor blades taken from the
ACH-47 Chinook kit, I also added the contra-rotating propellers from a Novo  Avro Shackleton MR.3 kit

[McColm]

Monday 7th  October 2019

The 1/72 Grumman ES2F-1 Tracker based on the Hasegawa/Minicraft model kit flies. The kitbash now has the rotodome from the E-2C Hawkeye fitted to the vertical tail fin and a pair of contra-rotating propellers from the Avro Shackleton,  it still retains its maritime patrol equipment.  Just needs PSR and repainting.

Meanwhile more testing is going on with the  Rotodyne Gunship. The rotors have been changed and now has 3 blades from a V-22 Osprey.

My idea of using the wings from the North American  Vigilante fitted to the Airfix F-111A  has worked  and will become a reconnaissance platform.

[McColm]

Monday 4th November 2019

I have two weeks leave,  it's not a good start as I have a chesty cough which means more time spent on my builds.
I might get something finished for the GB build or at least finished so you all can see what I have been doing this year.
The return of the de Haviland Condor will be next having seen a few photos on my Facebook page has got me thinking about how to reduce my spares boxes.
Other news on the job front is that I am now at the Southbank centre up by the Shell Tower on the construction site which is next to the London Eye, old County Hall, but spend Wednesdays down in Erith Kent for Batt Cables who incidentally supply the electric cable for the construction site.
If you haven't been to Leake Street which is under the arches of Waterloo Station then you are missing a treat if you are interested in street art. There's a few commercial vehicles in the adjacent car park which look as if they started life as a London Black Taxi that have had their body work removed and a new one bolted on.
It looks to me as if JK Rowling got her inspiration from Leake Street for Nocturne Alley, well check it out after dark 

Just had a brainwave and added the engines from the Avro Yorktown to the Airfix Lockheed Super G Constellation. Well I don't think the Constellation ever flew with Rolls-Royce Merlins or that the Avro York had the engines from the Lockheed Constellation fitted but the crossover seems to work. 

[TheChronicOne]

Two weeks?? Not bad, brotha!!! Have fun building!

[McColm]

Monday 4th November 2019
Part 2
The Merlin engines are from the David J.Parkins conversion set for the Avro Lincoln B.Mk.1/2.
I have also added a radome to the underside of the forward fuselage which came from the Revell Avro Shackleton AEW. 2 kit and a FLIR pod in the nose  cone. The flying boom does fit with a bit of persuading to the rear of the fuselage,  I'm also going to use parts from the Academy KC-97G model for this project. The designation will change to the MC-121 Super Star as a multi-task Constellation.

[McColm]

Tuesday 5th November 2019
A BAe Systems  spokesperson told waiting reporters that the entire fleet of BAe Celestial aircraft have been withdrawn from service as a precaution due to cracks found on the starboard wing. The Celestial is a favourite among pilots in civilian and the military as it combines the ease of a fighter aircraft with the smoothest of an airliner.  Several upgrades have kept the Celestial in the public eye,  notably the winglets for better fuel efficiency and the larger APU in the tail. The last overhaul included the change of engines to the same ones fitted to the Eurofighter.
The Royal Air Force was granted a licence to fly the Celestial at 100feet for maritime patrol and in the bombing role. The Royal Flight has three V.V.I.P. aircraft at it's disposal,  these are regularly serviced and no cracks have been discovered.
An extension period of the Lockheed MC-121K Super Star which was put back into service to provide maritime patrol
/anti-submarine surveillance when the BAe Nimrod MRA.4 was cancelled has been given until all of the Boeing P-8 Poseidon aircraft are operational .
The MC-121K was intended as a refuelling tanker for the Avro Lincoln and in haste fitted with four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines,  two underwing hose & drogue pods. These were latter fitted with a pair of jetpods to keep pace with the V Bombers.
The Mk2s were fitted with Alison T-56 turboprop engines and had the extra flying boom added,  seeing service with the USNavy who returned them when the Lockheed C-130 entered service,  these carried on flying to replace the Lincoln in the maritime surveillance role and had the Avro Shackleton MR. 2 interior fit with the APS/AN-20 radome. Once the BAe Nimrod entered service these were withdrawn and used in the AEW role until the Boeing E-3D had entered service. By then the flying hours had been exhausted and the only ones left in airworthy condition were the Mk1s.
Three were maintained in the refuelling role whilst the other 9 carried out maritime operations.

The Avro Yorktown is undergoing a refurbishment to change it back to the Super Liberator (C.MkXII). The wider body Liberator/Privateer was flown by the Royal Canadian Air Force in the transport and maritime patrol roles.