A PR Comet

[Captain Canada]

Sounds good. I had almost grabbed one of these kits on the weekend....wished I'd had now 

[NARSES2]

Sounds good. I had almost grabbed one of these kits on the weekend....wished I'd had now 

Seriously Capt, it does take you back to the 50's but I am enjoying it. Having said that I'll probably give her, her last psr session tonight as after that we hit the law of ever decreasing returns and the fun goes out of it. Hopefully start getting the Humbrol No 90 on her over the weekend. No names as I'm not starting that again 

[Captain Canada]

It's like the little Gosling kit. You see the art on the new box and your head is filled with all sorts ! Then you open the box and look at all four parts lol. Still could be a neat build with a little elbow grease !

[NARSES2]

Manage to lose one of the gear legs whilst she was in transit to the sink for a wash down  Anyway gave up looking and fabricated a new one, good enough for Government work. Also discovered she will be very, very tail heavy. No way I can get enough lead in there so I've made a base. First coat of paint on the undersides.

I must admit that with a nose wheel undercarriage she has a certain Me 262 look about her from certain angles

[NARSES2]

Painted, that was easy  In the process of being "Kleared" at the moment

[Captain Canada]

Now that you have mentioned the 262 I can actually see that ! looking forward to seeing this one Chris.

[NARSES2]

Transfers on, very simple, and back story just about thought through. Need to check a couple of my "facts" first

[NARSES2]

Slight delay. I want her to have a satin finish as that matches what I've read about early PR birds. Thought I had some, but not so. Pick some up Friday hopefully. If not I'll try Tamiya matting agent + Klear

[NARSES2]

Humbrol satin obtained and applied. Just a couple of bits and bobs now. Should be finished in a couple of days

[NARSES2]

As promised here's the finished product

After competing in the 1934 MacRobertson England to Australia air race, De Havilland DH.88 Comet G-ACSR was bought back by De Havilland's after the race in January 1935 and used by Geoffrey de Havilland Jnr as his personal runabout. As such he constantly "tweaked" it and eventually it had become a single seater with the rear fuselage extended forward to cover the second seat, it had also acquired new engines with three bladed propellers which only just cleared the airframe. However the most startling change was its conversion to nose wheel undercarriage.

It was this last modification which intrigued the R.A.F. and in late 1938 they purchased the aircraft from De Havilland's in order to see what effect the modification had on the ground handling qualities of such a small aircraft. She finished her work in this sphere and with war clouds gathering was passed on to the Photographic Development Unit at Heston. Here she acquired some camera fittings in the space vacated by the second seat which could be fitted out for either vertical or oblique imagery. "Port holes" were provided for either eventuality. She was used by the P.D.U. for both the training of prospective P.R. pilots in the particular skills required for their chosen vocation and for the operational testing of new camera equipment. During the 1940 Invasion Scare she flew at least two operational sorties over the ports of Northern France/Belgium taking shots of the great barge build up which then led to attacks on targets by Bomber Command. Finally retired in 1942 she spent the next few years as a ground instructional airframe until being bought back by De Havilland's in 1946. After use as the company hack through to 1963 she was finally retired to the DH Museum where she was lovingly restored by apprentices to her MacRobertson glory days. She can still be seen in this condition at the museum and plans are afloat to try and get her airworthy again thus reviving hopes of possible races with the aircraft at the Shuttleworth collection.

This kit first appeared in 1957 and is thus only 5 years younger than me. However it's the first time I've ever built one, indeed it's one of only 2 or 3 "civilian" aircraft models I have ever built. Well she certainly shows her age and some of the plastic is as thick as a tree trunk, and that includes the canopy ! However despite all that I really enjoyed it. The kit goes together reasonably well, sure she needs a fair bit of p.s.r., but no more than some resin kits I can name, and in the end went together really quickly despite the changes I made. So what were the changes ? To start with I hollowed out the "solid" cockpit including the pilot heads and fabricated a simple cockpit ; floor, seat, control stick and instrument panel. I then made a nose wheel bay and boxed that in, the nose wheel came from the spares box and I've no idea which kit it originated from but from the colour of the plastic it was an old one. Nose wheel doors are simply plastic card. The propellers are spare Airfix Hurricane ones, cut down so that they just clear the fuselage with the Comet's spinners attached. Currently these are only tacked on as I will replace them when I can find some suitable. The pitot is the original kit's tail skid, likewise the exhausts are cut down from some old, long gone kit. I only had one which is why they are only mounted on the outside of the nacelle and angled to exhaust over the wing. I've no idea if them being on one side only is practicable, but hey, she was used to test a lot of things so why not ? The base is a drinks mat (5 for £1 in the Pound Store) covered with railway modeler's flock, and yes I forgot to put weight in the nose and when I tried the engine pods there was no way I could get enough in. She is the ultimate tail sitter. Paint scheme is Humbrol 90 "Sky" masquerading as Camotint with transfers from Xtradecal for the roundels and Ventura for the serials. I know they probably should be grey but I didn't have any. The stencils are from the spares box and are purely there to liven up the airframe a little. She's finished in a satin varnish as from my reading that is the way Camotint appeared to the naked eye.

Anyway there she is, an enjoyable build despite her 58 years of age. Will Airfix finally retire her when she hits 60 ?

   

[Gondor]

That's a very short wheelbase    Looks good though 

Gondor

[Librarian]

A beautiful aircraft, and far more pleasing in that scheme. That canopy must have been a bear to hack through...does look very thick. Lovely job .

[zenrat]

You've done a lovely job.  Well done.
Heyford exhausts maybe?

[Mossie]

She looks lovely Chris, nice job.

[NARSES2]

You've done a lovely job.  Well done.
Heyford exhausts maybe?

Seriously I have no idea. Whatever they were from I only had one set, so if Heyford 3 have gone walkabout