Vickers Wellesley B(PR)III

[jcf]

Very cool Kit. 

BTW on the metal-wing Viking airliners, the inboard wing structure retained the geodetic
construction of its Wellington parent, Vickers covered it with aluminum sheet rather than fabric.
So on your delta-wing geodetic attacker you could say it has a metal-skinned geodetic structure
and suggest the underlying structure with paint.

[RussC]

Nice build! 

[PR19_Kit]

Just a question: Those dark "footprint" marks on the wings; did the Wellesley have specific foot-points for walking on the wings, rather than a path?

Old Wombat,

I think back in those days they used the footprint marks rather than the 'No Step' areas common today. Of course with a fabric covered geodetic wing you REALLY needed to be careful where you walked or you'd easily go right through! As far as I can see those footprints run along the top of the geodetic structure beams that are immediately outboard of the landing gear bay boxes.

JCF,

That's a good reminder about the aluminium covered wing of the Viking/Valetta, thanks. I've even flown in a Valetta and didn't know about the wings until the Flight Engineer told me it used the same wing structure as a Wellington. I may give that a try, sometime in the next five years anyway. 

[Old Wombat]

Thanks, Kit!

[flappydaffy]

looks like an olden days eurohawk  nice work 

[PR19_Kit]

Wellesley B(PR)III Update 2

Recent researches into the Wellesley B(PR)III's history has thrown up yet another anomaly in the aircraft's history. All known photos of the B(PR)IIIs have shown them with their engines running and until now it's been assumed that the aircraft used the propellers previously fitted to the Hurricanes from which their engines were obtained.

However some new information gleaned from papers in the National Records Office concerning the RAF's use of the Suez Canal Zone airfield at Fayid indicates that the long winged Wellesleys were fitted with four bladed propellers, not the three bladed Hurricane units. Lists of spare parts transferred to Fayid with the last four B(PR)IIIs do not show any three bladed propellers and only list three four bladed units. Tracing the serial nos. from these items would indicate that they originated from Spitfire IX stocks, although no photographic evidence has been uncovered as yet.

===============================================

Actually I managed to break off one of the prop blades and it refused to be glued back on again.  I didn't have another one spare, so the search was on for an alternative. No suitably sized 3-bladers were immediately available so I tried a few 4-bladers instead and the Spit Mk IX prop looked to be close. I tried both a KP IX and a Heller XVI prop and the Heller version had a slightly less pointed spinner and a slightly  larger back plate so that got the nod.

A short assembly session, followed by some ultra-fiddly PSR and then a quick paint job and we had V 3.0 of this model!

[sequoiaranger]

 

[Gondor]

I wonder what the rev 4 version will look like 

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

I wonder what the rev 4 version will look like 

I may extend the wings a bit............ 

[JayBee]

I wonder what the rev 4 version will look like 

I may extend the wings a bit............ 

Eeek! 

[Gondor]

I wonder what the rev 4 version will look like 

I may extend the wings a bit............ 

Perhaps you will have to add outrigger wheels if you extend the wings much further, but then such a move would rather limit operations to fairly to very wide runways, but then again, with the amount of lift generated by the wings it may be able to take of across the runway instead 

Gondor

[sequoiaranger]

>Perhaps you will have to add outrigger wheels if you extend the wings much further,<

Ya mean, like this?:

[Dizzyfugu]

I wonder what the rev 4 version will look like 

Gondor

A contraprop...? 

Nive build, BTW. The Wellesley is so unique in itself, like what you made from it (both concerning contrcution and livery). 

[PR19_Kit]

At the Yate Show we had a mini-SIG just for Wellesleys, the B(PR)III, OGL's pink PRII and Richard's seaplane version! 

There's something emminently Whiffable about the Welleslley.

[Mossie]

To randomly quote from Toy Story, that's an impressive wingspan you've got there!

How do you get it through doors???