Inspirations Thread

[zenrat]

I'll be getting into it as soon as I get the Bulldog & the Skyray off the bench.  The trick will be making the main donor aircraft look less recognisable.

[rickshaw]

From my reading it appears that all the German air attacks on Channel convoys were carried out by conventional or dive bombers.  Did the Luftwaffe not have any torpedo bombers in 1940?

Nope.  They didn't fly an operational Torpedo bomber until the first winter of 1941.  They entered the war without any airborne Torpedoes at all and ended up having to purchase a license to produce Italian Torpedoes, which they first flew on He111s.   Before that date, they dive bombed and level bombed ships, to some effect but still not sufficiently, particularly when faced with fighter cover.

[zenrat]

That seems odd but I suppose they were completely convinced of the superiority of the dive bomber.
No squadron of SM79s operating from Calais to show the Luftwaffe how it was done?
I read something in one of the links I posted yesterday about the best torpedoes used by the Axis all coming from the one factory in Eastern Europe and arguments ensuing between Germany & Italy over who should have the next batch.

[Army of One]

Is this the right thread to ask questions......? I have a model or two i want to build but I'm looking at changing the power plants. I have some Airfix comets. I have plans to beef up the powerplants. The ones on it are really small and my initial idea of a merlin on either side seems far fetched. I'm not interested in real world arguments of lack of availability as they were all spoken for. It seems like it has a tiger moth nose on each wing.......my question is......can snyone help with suggestions for alternative power plants please. It's not my forte........i know it's whiff world and it's my build.......but semi believable is better than WTF.......many thanks.......H

[PR19_Kit]

How about a couple of Napier Daggers? Those were the small version of the Sabre, but still mind bogglingly complicated. For an even smaller version two Napier Rapiers might look good. Not sure where you'd get the Daggers from, but there are resin versions about. The Rapiers could come from a couple of M'box Fairey Seafox kits.

Or sticking with the Rolls Royce power, you could try a couple of Kestrels, which could come from two M'box Furies.

Or really go radical and fit some radials, in which case the world's your oyster, there's LOADS of kits around to source small radials from.

[zenrat]

Nothing wrong with WTF.  But maybe for this GB semi-believavle is appropriate (as is spelcheking).

How about the Klimovs from the Airfix Pe2?  They're not too large, are separate parts so no cutting is required and the kit has been around forever so should be cheap.

[rickshaw]

As the Klimov M105 was a development of the M100 which was based on the Hispano 12Y, you could claim it was an Hispano powerplant...

[tigercat]

What about the Dragon Rapids or would the engines be the same size as the existing engines.

[zenrat]

Using Dragon Rapide nacelles would give you those awesome spats...

[Army of One]

Gentlemen.......many thanks, some food for thought there. I was thinking of more powerful inline engines for streamline n speed. I suppose radials would work but from what....?  Wildcat......Buffalo.......Kingfisher......?  Would two of these type engines give it a whole lot more performance.....?

[Mossie]

How about a single engine?  One Kestrel will give you more power than the two Gypsys, cut down on drag etc.  You could use the Matchbox/Revell Hawker Fury but the old Airfix Defiant's would work too as the engine fits the shape of a Kestrel much better than a Merlin!

If you're looking for radials, maybe the Cheetah's from the Airfix Anson?  They'll give you more power and might just fit the tidgy Comet.

I did a handful of Comet whiffs a lotta years ago.  These were one of my earliest attempts and I didn't think to scale the engines, so these almost certainly won't fit, inspiration only:
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,13408.15.html

[Mossie]

I also did profiles based around another pre-war racer, the Supermarine S.6B.  Again, engines won't fit, just for inspiration:
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,12504.0/highlight,supermarine+shrew.html

[Army of One]

I think one of the two builds will be radial engined.......not got an Anson......i do have some Gladiators, Bulldogs and a Hampden.....as for inlines i have a couple of Fury's........not really into biplanes coz of the dark arts of rigging.......wonder if any of these will suffice.....if they do.....nurse, bring me my saw........

[Captain Canada]

Love it. look forward to seeing them.

[NARSES2]

The October edition of SAM, which I've just got around to reading and have thus seen Martin's Whitley, continues with it's series on the alternative BoB. This time it's Plan Banquet Light. This was the plan to use Tiger Moths and Magister's as light bombers. They were to be armed with 8 20pdr HE or fragmentation bombs or alternative 10lb practice bombs with the smoke making chemical replaced by phosphorous. The plan was quite advanced. Units were allocated, aircraft were having bomb racks fitted and the C&C had been sorted. They were to operate with Lysanders equipped for gas warfare so you can see joint missions being planned. Just oh so gratefull they never had to be used in this role as it would have been suicide.

Thinking of building something for these plans either in this GB or not. I've got a Tiger Moth and have a couple of Magna's projected Army Co-Operation types which could be used in the gas delivery role.