Zenrat's Flying Circus

[zenrat]

Obvious comment: "Wow..." 

Glued the undercarriage on today.  It hasn't improved its looks.

[NARSES2]

Is it still going to be a 2 seater ?

As a single seater it would fit in very nicely with some of the other mid 1930's fighter proposals 

[ericr]

the Lysander-like cockpit looks even more like a greenhouse without the high wings

[Librarian]

With spats she'll start looking like a smoother Ki-15.

Needs a companion....Hawker Hodgesargh .

I still remember my Dad blowing himself off a stepladder with a powerdrill. He's still got the steel bit...1cm diameter with a hole punched through it by the electric 'bang'.

[zenrat]

It'll remain a two seater.  That green house is too majestic to cut down.  It's like a flying Crystal Palace.
I may try and craft a 1/72 pot plant for the greenhouse.
How about an Avro Lancre?  I have plans for a Revell Lanc which will need a name...

I still have the screwdriver I used.  It only has half a tip.
I also have interesting small melted patterns on my wedding ring from another incident involving a motorcycle battery and a spanner.

[NARSES2]

It'll remain a two seater.  That green house is too majestic to cut down.  It's like a flying Crystal Palace.
I may try and craft a 1/72 pot plant for the greenhouse.
How about an Avro Lancre?  I have plans for a Revell Lanc which will need a name...

Who aren't exactly flying at the moment  Indeed in danger of being downed 

As for the Avro Lancre ? Was it proceeded by the Avro Ankh twin engine bomber ? 

[Weaver]

It'll remain a two seater.  That green house is too majestic to cut down.  It's like a flying Crystal Palace.
I may try and craft a 1/72 pot plant for the greenhouse.
How about an Avro Lancre?  I have plans for a Revell Lanc which will need a name...

Who aren't exactly flying at the moment  Indeed in danger of being downed 

As for the Avro Lancre ? Was it proceeded by the Avro Ankh twin engine bomber ? 

You could make the Avro Ankh an amphibian with very little effort. It wouldn't need floats to land on the river Ankh, just corrosion-proof bush-tires...

You'd need a Martin Morpork to go with it....

[Weaver]

I also have interesting small melted patterns on my wedding ring from another incident involving a motorcycle battery and a spanner.

For a couple of days I thought I was going to have 'WMB' stamped on my forehead following a misunderstanding involving a compressed fork spring and an R80 fork top cap...

[zenrat]

Ouch.

[zenrat]

The Wowhawk is almost ready for some colour.  Although I may scratch up some bomb racks and a crutch before I do that.  It'll be in RAF desert camo like my Fulmar.  I've built it with dive brakes extended  so will be mounting it on a stand aimed at the ground.  I may even try knocking up a "turning" prop disc for it.

PSR continues on the executive prop Beaufighter.  The wings are a seriously bad fit.

The Heller Vampire (did I mention i'd started one?) is now in one large piece.  It's getting the 60lb rockets from the Beaufighter (which is a RW fitment - maybe not those specific racks or rockets but there were rocket armed Vampires).  I haven't decided on the user yet and need to research camo schemes to pick a good one.

There's also the usual plethora of car builds on the go plus i've resumed work on the armoured dozer.

[zenrat]

Any of you built the Heller/Airfix Vampire?
How did you get enough weight in the nose?
I've crammed it into every available space and it still might tail sit.
When I build the second one I may fill the front of the wings as well.
I wasn't going to put a pilot into this but I think I might install a white metal one to add more ballast.
Other than weight issues it's now ready for a few smears of filler followed by paint.  Still not decided on the scheme.  I had thought Finnish or Swedish until I found they actually used them (mostly in silver though - so a modern Finnish scheme is still on the cards).  I do have some East German decals in the folder and for some reason you rarely see East German builds.
This scheme I like.


Slightly frustrated by the slowness of progress on the snowballing Beau i've pulled an Airfix Cessna Bird Dog out of the stash.  I'm was working on the principle that the smaller the model the quicker the build.
And then I found this picture.

Its an SIAI Marchetti SM 1019 which is basically a Bird Dog with a Turboprop.
Turbirdo Dog?
Burbo Dog?
Dog Turb?

[NARSES2]

I've built the Marivox boxing of the Airfix/Heller Vampire (which has parts for a Mk I) and I managed to get enough lead in the nose of that for it to sit on it's wheels, but I think I may have had to put some lead shot in front of the wheel bays ?

The Marivox kit is for a Swedish Mk I and that is in camoflage

[PR19_Kit]

File some flats on the bottom of the mainwheel tyres, that gives you just enough CG tolerance to get it to sit up properly.

[zenrat]

Thanks guys.
It's right on the cusp as it is and canopy, undercarriage & rockets all add weight forward so i'm hopeful.
Fingers crossed eh.

No modelling today.  After finishing work I spent the rest of the day screwing sheets of 4mm ply to the garage rafters.  As the washer & dryer are out there Mrs z wants a ceiling out there to stop the rain of grit that comes down from the tiled roof.  We took a leaf out of Dexter's book and lined it with plastic but I used black and it made it really dark.  I'll be painting the new one white so as to reflect as much light back down as possible.

[Weaver]

Remember, weight doesn't have to be in the nose, it just has to be in front of the main wheels. Can you put something behind the cockpit rear bulkhead?