Aircraft of the PDRV - zenrat's flying circus

[zenrat]

As I may have said somewhere here the Moskito seems to be developing a life of it's own and keeps evolving.
My original plan was anti ship strike aircraft armed with rockets. and TV guided bombs.  But then I thought how about a flying boat gunship?

[ericr]

As I may have said somewhere here the Moskito seems to be developing a life of it's own and keeps evolving.
My original plan was anti ship strike aircraft armed with rockets. and TV guided bombs.  But then I thought how about a flying boat gunship?

that is quite a bold move indeed!
it should become something big 

[PR19_Kit]

That looks like a jet powered Fleet Shadower without the props. 

[Captain Canada]

That's wild ! Sure a far cry from your original concept eh ?

[ericr]

That's wild ! Sure a far cry from your original concept eh ?

serendipity rules !

[Weaver]

Splendid stuff: that Moskito will end up as a spaceship or a submarine yet....

Seeing the inline engines without their radiators gives the impression of jet nacelles, an effect you don't get with most radial engine nacelles because they're too short. I know jets arn't the obejctive here, but its a snippet of information worth filing away for future reference...


The colour scheme on the Skyraider reminded me of some of the late and much missed Sequoiaranger's builds. Craig was very interested in alternative cammo schemes for use over island environments, and he came up with some corkers:

http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,22837.0.html

http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,25601.15.html

http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,31309.15.html

[kerick]

With these paint schemes its really not about the camo effect. Its about making the enemy pilots gape in amazement until they fly into the ground!

[zenrat]

I've always been fascinated by alternate camo.  Sequoiaranger's are excellent.
I've always thought that if you make then artistic enough the enemy pilot will still be thinking "oh that's pretty, I like the juxtaposition of light and sha..." as he's shot down.
Now where's my street directory.  If I scan the page for Mount Martha and then print it onto decal paper I can have my house on one wing of the Moskito and the beach on the other...
A few weeks ago I was sitting on the South bank of the Murray studying the New South Wales hills and working out what colours to use for a border patrol scheme.  And i've also been thinking about a Western Australia  Red Sand & Scrub Scheme.
The defining factor for both of these will be the presence of lots of individual bushes and trees which of course from the air look like dots meaning the camo will bear a suspicious resemblance to Aboriginal dot paintings...

Weaver - i'm modifying the nacelles to represent a re-engining with turboprops.  I've dropped the axis of the props to put the air intake above them and cut the rear ends off to allow fitting of exhausts (which will be made from sawn off biros).

[Weaver]

Excellent choice on the turboprops...

The first profile I ever did on here was a "Cheshire Air Force" fighter, and one of the first comments about it was that it was too bright. I did some pics of that against aerial photos of Cheshire and it really wasn't: crops are often pale green and fallow fields sandy browns.

You made a point earlier about the false economy of using cheap and nasty kits that are "cheap enough for whiffery" and then spending all your time fighting the underlying kit instead of making the whiff. boy do I ever sympathise with that! I'd say 50% of my whiffs have suffered from that in one form or another. There's a natural tendency not to "butcher" a rare kit, but that gets extended to "nice" kits that aren't rare and I wonder whether we don't do ourselves an injustice sometimes: is whifferey a lower class of modelling that doesn't deserve "nice" kits? 

[ericr]

You made a point earlier about the false economy of using cheap and nasty kits that are "cheap enough for whiffery" and then spending all your time fighting the underlying kit instead of making the whiff. boy do I ever sympathise with that! I'd say 50% of my whiffs have suffered from that in one form or another. There's a natural tendency not to "butcher" a rare kit, but that gets extended to "nice" kits that aren't rare and I wonder whether we don't do ourselves an injustice sometimes: is whifferey a lower class of modelling that doesn't deserve "nice" kits? 

that's right : whiffing deserves appropriate kits, whatever rarity.
I think I floatplanized quite a few quite rare kits ...

[kerick]

You made a point earlier about the false economy of using cheap and nasty kits that are "cheap enough for whiffery" and then spending all your time fighting the underlying kit instead of making the whiff. boy do I ever sympathise with that! I'd say 50% of my whiffs have suffered from that in one form or another. There's a natural tendency not to "butcher" a rare kit, but that gets extended to "nice" kits that aren't rare and I wonder whether we don't do ourselves an injustice sometimes: is whifferey a lower class of modelling that doesn't deserve "nice" kits? 

Speaking for myself, its just as much about the family budget. New kits are quite far down the list these days.
It also depends on what a person is building. If its far enough removed from reality it really doesn't matter as much as something with just minor changes.

that's right : whiffing deserves appropriate kits, whatever rarity.
I think I floatplanized quite a few quite rare kits ...

[ericr]

You made a point earlier about the false economy of using cheap and nasty kits that are "cheap enough for whiffery" and then spending all your time fighting the underlying kit instead of making the whiff. boy do I ever sympathise with that! I'd say 50% of my whiffs have suffered from that in one form or another. There's a natural tendency not to "butcher" a rare kit, but that gets extended to "nice" kits that aren't rare and I wonder whether we don't do ourselves an injustice sometimes: is whifferey a lower class of modelling that doesn't deserve "nice" kits? 

Speaking for myself, its just as much about the family budget. New kits are quite far down the list these days.
It also depends on what a person is building. If its far enough removed from reality it really doesn't matter as much as something with just minor changes.

that's right : whiffing deserves appropriate kits, whatever rarity.
I think I floatplanized quite a few quite rare kits ...

actually I also like to use cheap kits, but sometimes I also take a less cheap kit and bash it all the same 

[zenrat]

The crappy kits comment was directed at the Heller Skyraider with it's deformed tail and the Airfix (nee MPM) Moskito with it's lack of fit.
But I must admit that with the better kits i've acquired since I found myself more drawn to paint whiffs rather than complete hack jobs.
The next 2 off the bench will be (almost) paint only - a Swordfish float plane (Airfix new tool) and an Arado Ar 196 (Airfix old but not too crappy).
I have also got an Airfix DH88 which I have some radical ideas for.  Problem is it's such a beautiful graceful aircraft i'm tempted to just build it as is.

[Gondor]

I have also got an Airfix DH88 which I have some radical ideas for.  Problem is it's such a beautiful graceful aircraft i'm tempted to just build it as is.

Why not buy a second kit then you can build one as is and then do what you want with the second one?

Gondor

[zenrat]

A very sensible suggestion Gondor.  Especially as Hobby Link Japan is selling them really really cheap...