Zenrat's Flying Circus

[PR19_Kit]

For one fleeting moment you had me thinking of a souped up Defiant performing the same role, but then I thought "how the hell would you soup it up ?"

Stick a Griffon or a Sabre in it?

The Griffon may work better, and didn't someone here do one of those a while back?

[jcf]

Learnt something new today.  P-61s were used to shoot down V1s.  Some of them flying from Ford in Sussex (which later saw Wyvern operations).

Now that's interesting, but I can see where the turret armament would be useful. With the V.1 flying nice and steady the gunner has a chance to line it up. For one fleeting moment you had me thinking of a souped up Defiant performing the same role, but then I thought "how the hell would you soup it up ?"

I know Ford quite well and always think it should be in Essex when I hear the name. Whatever happens never mention that to the inhabitants though, they'd have a fit 

The first P-61 victory was against a V-1, 422nd NFS Green Bats, which was an early user of the P-61A,
their first machines were without the turret.

Fom Wikipedia:
"In England, the 422d NFS finally received their first P-61s in late June, and began flying operational missions
over England in mid-July. These aircraft arrived without dorsal turrets, so the squadron's gunners were reassigned
to another NFS that was to continue flying the P-70. The first P-61 engagement in the European Theater occurred
on 15 July when a P-61 piloted by Lieutenant Herman Ernst was directed to intercept a V-1 "Buzz Bomb." Diving
from above and behind to match the V-1's 350 mph (560 km/h) speed, the P-61's plastic rear cone imploded under
the pressure and the attack was aborted. The tail cones failed on several early P-61A models before this problem
was corrected. On 16 July, Lieutenant Ernst was again directed to attack a V-1 and, this time, was successful, giving
the 422nd NFS and the European Theater its first P-61 kill."

[zenrat]

I found extracts from "Black Widow Units of World War 2" by Warren Thompson.

It states "Like the 422nd the 425th's aircraft were devoid of top turrets which left an empty gunner's compartment - this was subsequently occupied by the R/O's after the unit had received permission to move them forwards from the rear compartment to the gunner's station, which was immediately behind the pilot.  This shift would work out well for it brought the two crewmen into closer proximity with each other.  Such an arrangement had been shown to increase crew effectiveness in the Mosquito."


I did a lot on the 222 today.  It's almost finished.  Stowage is painted and attached.  It just needs the turret top cages fitted and some black wash.

[zenrat]

Mitchell, SkyCabRaider and Star Farrier are all undergoing PSR and i'm fed up with it.
However, I have got a shot coat of primer on the Analogue and it looks pretty good.  It might need some minor filling but I should now be able to move onto reproducing the engraved detail i've obliterated and then put some paint on it.  I managed to destroy the "odd rods" IFF under the nose but will be replacing what I sanded off with lengths of evergreen.

Egg F16 is now undergoing painting.  Originally I was going to make it an RAAF aggressor in Russian blues camo but dropped that when I realised how much it looked like a shark.  Research (yes, really!) showed that RAAF F/A 18s came in a two tone grey scheme which while being a bit boring does resemble a shark.  I've therefore painted the underside (USAF) light grey and the top side medium (sea) grey.

[jcf]

You didn't want do an XP-755 Mako Shark style paint scheme?



https://www.corvettes.nl/gm_prototypes/xp755/index.html

From this site, an absolutely wonderful resource
for Corvette prototypes.
https://www.corvettes.nl/gm_prototypes/index.html

[zenrat]

You didn't want do an XP-755 Mako Shark style paint scheme?



https://www.corvettes.nl/gm_prototypes/xp755/index.html

From this site, an absolutely wonderful resource
for Corvette prototypes.
https://www.corvettes.nl/gm_prototypes/index.html

But I did.  It looks identical to me...   
Egg F16 WIP 26-10-2019 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

[Old Wombat]

WHITE POINTER ON THE LOOSE!

[scooter]

Looks like Bruce's hillbilly cousin Bubba with the gaps in the intake.

[PR19_Kit]

Yeah, it need a few more teeth in there, but otherwise it's a dead ringer for a Mako. 

[jcf]

You didn't want do an XP-755 Mako Shark style paint scheme?



https://www.corvettes.nl/gm_prototypes/xp755/index.html

From this site, an absolutely wonderful resource
for Corvette prototypes.
https://www.corvettes.nl/gm_prototypes/index.html

But I did.  It looks identical to me...   
Egg F16 WIP 26-10-2019 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

Needs a bit more work on the fade. 

[TheChronicOne]

It does look more like a shark now, in the words of an esteemed colleague, "Keep going!"   I got to looking around the other day and found out that there is a USAF Thunderbirds boxing of this and I suppose I have to have it for my Thunderbirds collection. 

[Rick Lowe]

Hey, Fred - what about making an intake cover with painted-on teeth?? 

[TheChronicOne]

I rather like the teeth like they are.    They remind me of Minions which in turns makes the aesthetic much more in-line with the whole "Egg" idea. "Eggsagerated yet simplistic."

[zenrat]

The "teeth" make me think of Mater from Cars.

IMO its more Grey Nurse than White Pointer


I haven't done a scale fade for a while.  Every so often I try to channel Gene Winfield in 1/25.
This is Swamp Thing.  AMT '66 T Bird taildragger using the kit custom parts.  It's not really that attractive a custom but then not all of them were back in the day.
2010-02-21 at 13-20-28 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
2010-02-21 at 13-26-10 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

This weekend I have the 222 almost at stage 1 completion.  I just have to paint and attach a shovel and then it will go in the cabinet until I can weather it and it's diorama companion together.

I also broke the back of the PSR backlog.  My painting table toaster is holding the results of my endeavours and it pleases me to gaze upon it.
Toaster by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
The Analogue is all ready for paint while the Star Farrier (still no better name) and the Mitch, while needing a touch more work have had all the major stuff done.

[PR19_Kit]

Hehehehehe, LOVE the re-use of the toaster! 

Or is it still able to toast perhaps?