Westland W.36 Wyvern - a jet-powered dragon

kitbasher · January 05, 2013, 06:58:18 AM

So I'm going to be brave and make a start on a 1/72 Westland W.36 Wyvern, inspired by Lenny100's build at Telford and a desire to do some 'Projects Cancelled' for a while.

Posts kick off at http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,1442.0/highlight,w+36+wyvern.html. Pending any further info from Wooksta I have assumed the following about the undercarriage configuration: nosewheel that retracts rewards and rotates flat like an Me309, plus main u/c that's in the same place as the real taildragger Wyvern but not raked forward. The latter is really forced upon me by the use of the long stashed Sign Wyvern (resin copy of the FROG kit), which has solid wings. Otherwise were I using a FROG/NOVO moulding I'd be tempted to cut out and swap the locations of the main u/c bays and dive brakes around, leaving the flaps in their current place.

Now if anyone has a NOVO Wyvern they'd like to swap for the Sign version then I'm happy to exchange. I've scaled up the drawings in BSP Fighters & Bombers 1935-1950 and the FROG/NOVO/Sign Wyvern matches perfectly. I know I could get a second hand Trumpeter Wyvern (I don't want to shell out £20 on a new one) but that seems like cheating! And there's no way I'd chop a CMR kit around - even if I felt the urge to spend £35+ on one!

The Wooksta! · January 05, 2013, 12:03:02 PM

See your PM box. There's a Frog one in the stash with your name on it and I'll cast a TF1 fuselage to go with it tomorrow.

CMR Wyverns are easy to get cheap - I bought one for the princely sum of Four English Pounds in the Kitswap at Telford. One of my few non Plan purchases.

kitbasher · January 05, 2013, 02:18:54 PM

PM inbound Lee.

And I've never seen any CMR kit go for £4!!

Martin H · January 05, 2013, 03:42:45 PM

he struck lucky

The Wooksta! · January 05, 2013, 04:04:16 PM

I missed breakfast to get into the Kit swap early.

I did get a CMR Welkin at 'uddersfield a few years back for £4 too. You just need to be in the right place at the right time.

NARSES2 · January 06, 2013, 02:33:25 AM

Quote from: kitbasher on January 05, 2013, 02:18:54 PM

And I've never seen any CMR kit go for £4!!

Nor I and the Wyvern's are stunning kits.

Thorvic · January 06, 2013, 04:03:30 AM

Quote from: NARSES2 on January 06, 2013, 02:33:25 AM
Quote from: kitbasher on January 05, 2013, 02:18:54 PM

And I've never seen any CMR kit go for £4!!

Nor I and the Wyvern's are stunning kits.

Ah but your not a Kit Ferret like Wooksta is when it comes to shows, he knows where to look and what to look for and generally for a decent price, but always best to catch him early whilst he's looking for his own wish list items. It took him half on hour on the SMW friday to snare the 1/72 HS-748 i was desperatly after !!!.

crudebuteffective · January 06, 2013, 04:41:43 AM

i have a trumpeter 1/72 wyvern kit in my stash that i cant get round to starting for fear of making a mess of it

it is one of those planes that just looks too good

lenny100 · January 06, 2013, 08:25:58 AM

looking forward to your take on what could have been a real world class fighter in the 1950 up with the panther etc.

kitbasher · February 02, 2013, 08:43:05 AM

Well thanks to Wooksta I have a FROG Wyvern that will start to get the W.36 treatment as soon as a couple of Hunters progress further and a Battle and a Val progress are finished.

Captain Canada · February 02, 2013, 09:07:44 AM

Sounds interesting ! When are we going to see some pics ? As of now, I'm off to peruse the WWW in search of said W.36 !

kitbasher · February 02, 2013, 10:19:48 AM

Quote from: Captain Canada on February 02, 2013, 09:07:44 AM
Sounds interesting !

No pressure then! Well I hope I don't disappoint.

Quote from: Captain Canada on February 02, 2013, 09:07:44 AM
When are we going to see some pics ?

As soon as work starts.

Quote from: Captain Canada on February 02, 2013, 09:07:44 AM
As of now, I'm off to peruse the WWW in search of said W.36 !

Unfortunately all I've found is the tiniest side profile. I'm basing the build upon three-view drawing in BSP Fighters & Bombers 1935-1950 that I've enlarged to 1/72 scale. What I could do is scan and post the drawing-possibly tomorrow.

Captain Canada · February 03, 2013, 07:01:43 AM

Sounds good. I saw a photoshop of an echelon formation of jet powered Wyverns, but have no idea if that's what a w.36 is.

kitbasher · February 17, 2013, 03:11:20 AM

Finally got around to scanning the enlarged (to 1/72) BSG plans referred to above. Somewhat different to the photoshopped 'Jet Wyvern' image (which I think appears elsewhere on the forum) which essentially cropped off the contraprop and Python front end.

Note the location of the engine in the plan view. This is why I think the nosewheel has to be locked at the very front of the intake like an F-84 (all varieties) and when retracted rotated to fold flat like an Me309's. Position and length of the nosewheel leg has, when rotated, to take the torpedo into account too.

Gondor · February 17, 2013, 05:16:05 AM

If you look at the side elevation that you show in your post you will notice the small line on the lower fuselage in front of the tail plains. That is the doors to the tail wheel, just the same as in the turbo prop version.

A simple conversion really as in very basic terms all a turbo prop is basically a turbo jet without a propeller and reduction gearing at the front.

Gondor