Duck monoplane & He70, yellow : hybrid aircraft/animals e.a.

[steelpillow]

 
Why are all my best ideas already taken?

[ericr]

it's a pleasure 

[Rheged]

As somebody once wrote to radio 4, "I prefer listening to the radio over watching TV, because the pictures are so much better".

Agreed!! 

[ericr]

I eagerly await the piston engined Su-22.

it was this comment about my single-engine Do338 that got me there :
eventually the fromt engine of the 1/48 Dornier was too large for the nose of the 1/72 Su-22,
so I found an alternative in a CL215 engine ; the other one will find a use sometime ...

[PR19_Kit]

MAGIC! 

The  World's ONLY swing wing piston engined aircraft! 

[zenrat]

...The  World's ONLY swing wing piston engined aircraft! 

Is that a challenge?

Looks great Eric.

[ericr]

thanks !

Is that a challenge?

why not ? a GB ?

[steelpillow]

This is actually the Sukhoi Su-12 long-range air-sea rescue type which went into service with the Soviet Navy. It carried a range of payloads such as dinghy, medical, food, water and radio packs. All these were in short supply and so it dropped only the one/s necessary. The order of release could not be predicted, so to maintain the lateral balance of a narrow airframe these were distributed along its centreline. The swing-wing solved two problems: adjusting the centre of lift to maintain balance when supplies were dropped, and allowing a lower-powered engine to be used for carrier operations, thus usefully extending its range. It served for almost twenty years, between around 1950 and 1970.
The Su-12 designation originated in a failed late-WWII reconnaissance design but, as was Sukhoi's habit, was re-used for the later requirement. Also originally a reconnaissance plane, the Navy re-purposed it before its first flight due to the supply problems with rescue equipment. It was during this phase of development that its straight wing was given variable sweep.
Pavel Sukhoi's design bureau later developed its long and narrow airframe into the more familiar Su-17 jet fighter-bomber. The rescue variant was only withdrawn from service when military exercises showed that it was too easily mistaken for the fighter-bomber and was a sitting duck for enemy attackers.
Thank you Eric for uncovering this forgotten minor masterpiece of the cold war, to which countless Sovet air- and seamen must have owed their lives.

[Tophe]

Congratulations: one more marvel!
(And steelpillow is right: the red bright color is perfect for an air-sea rescue plane)

[ericr]

thanks a lot for the backing story !
I like to be inspiring, it inspires me 

[McColm]

Great build and backstory 

[ericr]

 

[ericr]

got those two kits together ... they both have a charm,
and called for a kind of swap ...

[Tophe]

Gorgeous!

[PR19_Kit]

I can already imagine the opposite version, a twin finned Superfreighter with a rotor!