DONE +++ Gudkov Gu-1 (NATO ASCC: "Flout") mixed powerplant escort fighter

[Dizzyfugu]

The next one is on the bench, and this time it's (far) more than just cosmetics. 

[PR19_Kit]

My mind is already boggling............

[Dizzyfugu]

Righteously. It is actually the second use of a very neat kitbash combo I used in the past, but with different add-ons from the donor bank.

For inspiration, think of this one here, just VERY different and with Red Stars:


1:72 Nakajima Ki-104-Ic '黒の尾/Kurono-o' (US code ''Cooper"); aircraft "2" of 3rd Imperial Japanese Army Air Force Headquarter Flight, May 1945 (Whif/Kibashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[sandiego89]

Ohhh, getting excited.  Mixed power plants scream early cold war.....

[Dizzyfugu]

Yup. And they are a guarantee for weird (or at least unusual) designs, even though this one is supposed to be "realistic".

For starters, here's a view at the basic ingredients: an Academy P-47D and the wings from a Novo Supermarine Attacker. Works very well! Also note the F-84G fin. 

1:72 Gudkov Gu-1 (NATO ASCC code: Flout) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[Dizzyfugu]

As already mentioned, this whif is the incarnation of a very effective kitbashing combo that already spawned my fictional Japanese Ki-104 fighter. This purely fictional Soviet escort fighter makes use of my experiences from the first build of this kind, yet with some differences.

The kit is a bashing of various parts and pieces:
· Fuselage, wing roots, landing gear and propeller from an Academy P-47D
· Wings from an Ark Model Supermarine Attacker (ex Novo)
· Tail fin comes from a Heller F-84G
· The stabilizers were taken from an Airfix Ki-46
· Cowling from a Matchbox F6F, mounted and blended onto the P-47 front
· Jet exhaust is the intake of a Matchbox Me 262 engine pod

My choice fell onto the Academy Thunderbolt because it has engraved panel lines, offers the bubble canopy as well as good fit, detail and solid material. The belly duct had simply been sliced off, and the opening later faired over with styrene sheet and putty, so that the P-47's deep belly would not disappear.

The F6F cowling was chosen because it looks a lot like the ASh-73TK from the Tu-4. But this came at a price: the P-47 cowling is higher, tighter and has a totally different shape. It took serious body sculpting with putty to blend the parts into each other. Inside of the engine, a styrene tube was added for a metal axis that holds the uncuffed OOB P-47 four blade propeller. The P-47's OOB cockpit tub was retained, too, just the seat received scratched armrests for a more luxurious look.

The Attacker wings were chosen because of their "modern" laminar profile. The Novo kit itself is horrible and primitive, but acceptable for donations. OOB, the Attacker wings had too little span for the big P-47, so I decided to mount the Thunderbolt's OOB wings and cut them at a suitable point: maybe 0.5", just outside of the large main wheel wells. The intersection with the Attacker wings is almost perfect in depth and width, relatively little putty work was necessary in order to blend the parts into each other. I just had to cut out new landing gear wells from the lower halves of the Attacker wings, and with new attachment points the P-47's complete OOB landing gear could be used.


1:72 Gudkov Gu-1 (NATO ASCC code: Flout); "38 White" of the Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily (Soviet Air Force) 196th IAP, attached to the 184th GvTBAP Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment; Pryluky Air Base (Ukraine), 1953 (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Gudkov Gu-1 (NATO ASCC code: Flout); "38 White" of the Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily (Soviet Air Force) 196th IAP, attached to the 184th GvTBAP Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment; Pryluky Air Base (Ukraine), 1953 (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Gudkov Gu-1 (NATO ASCC code: Flout); "38 White" of the Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily (Soviet Air Force) 196th IAP, attached to the 184th GvTBAP Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment; Pryluky Air Base (Ukraine), 1953 (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


With the new wing shape, the tail surfaces had to be changed accordingly. The trapezoid stabilizers come from an Airfix Mitsubishi Ki-46, and their shape is a good match. The P-47 fin had to go, since I wanted something bigger and a different silhouette. The fuselage below was modified with a jet exhaust, too. I actually found a leftover F-84G (Heller) tail, complete with the jet pipe and the benefit that it has plausible attachment points for the stabilizers far above the jet engine in the Gu-1's tail.


1:72 Gudkov Gu-1 (NATO ASCC code: Flout); "38 White" of the Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily (Soviet Air Force) 196th IAP, attached to the 184th GvTBAP Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment; Pryluky Air Base (Ukraine), 1953 (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Gudkov Gu-1 (NATO ASCC code: Flout); "38 White" of the Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily (Soviet Air Force) 196th IAP, attached to the 184th GvTBAP Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment; Pryluky Air Base (Ukraine), 1953 (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


However, the F-84 jet pipe's diameter turned out to be too large, so I went for a smaller but practical alternative, a Junkers Jumo 004 nacelle from a Me 262 (the ancestor of the Soviet RD-20!). Its intake section was cut off, flipped upside down, the fin was glued on top of it and then the new tail was glued to the P-47 fuselage. Some (more serious) body sculpting was necessary to create a more or less harmonious transition between the parts, but it worked.


1:72 Gudkov Gu-1 (NATO ASCC code: Flout); "38 White" of the Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily (Soviet Air Force) 196th IAP, attached to the 184th GvTBAP Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment; Pryluky Air Base (Ukraine), 1953 (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[Weaver]

Never fails to impress me how fearless you are with the surgery and putty....

This one is making me smile because one of my ideas for a mixed-power aircraft also involves an old Frog kit of an early British jet and has a Japanese connection. It's a Novo Sea Venom with a Zero engine cowling on the front instead of the radome. Near perfect fit, and somewhat credible too: Martin-Baker proposed a twin-boom naval escort fighter with a low-powered prop engine and a jet too.

[NARSES2]

Never fails to impress me how fearless you are with the surgery and putty....

Absolutely, also it's how you can visualise the results of your planned surgery 

[sandiego89]

Wow the wings mated up quite nicely.  Having survived a Frog Attacker build myself I do agree that it is best for donor bits.....Can't beat the price usually however....

[Dizzyfugu]

More from the bench: The plausible placement of the air intakes and their shape was a bit of a challenge. I wanted them to be obvious, but still keep an aerodynamic look. An initial idea had been to keep the P-47's deep belly and widen the central oil cooler intake under the nose, but I found the idea wacky and a bit pointless, since such a long air duct would not make much sense since it would waste internal space and the long duct's additional weight would not offer any benefit?

Another idea were air intakes in the wing roots, but these were also turned down since the landing gear wells would be in the way, and placing the ducts above or below the wings would also make no sense. A single ventral scoop (looking like a P-51 radiator bath) or two smaller, dorsal intakes (XP-81 style) behind the cockpit were other serious candidates – but these were both rejected because I wanted to keep a clean side profile.

I eventually settled for very simple, fixed side intakes, level with the jet exhaust, somewhat inspired by the Lavochkin La-200B heavy fighter prototype. The air scoops are simply parts from an Italeri Saab 39 Gripen centerline drop tank (which has a flat, oval diameter), and their shape is IMHO a perfect match.


1:72 Gudkov Gu-1 (NATO ASCC code: Flout); "38 White" of the Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily (Soviet Air Force) 196th IAP, attached to the 184th GvTBAP Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment; Pryluky Air Base (Ukraine), 1953 (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Gudkov Gu-1 (NATO ASCC code: Flout); "38 White" of the Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily (Soviet Air Force) 196th IAP, attached to the 184th GvTBAP Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment; Pryluky Air Base (Ukraine), 1953 (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


And the prop is spinning well, too! 


1:72 Gudkov Gu-1 (NATO ASCC code: Flout); "38 White" of the Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily (Soviet Air Force) 196th IAP, attached to the 184th GvTBAP Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment; Pryluky Air Base (Ukraine), 1953 (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[loupgarou]

Impressive as always. As others wrote,you have a knack (is this the word?) for putting together various disparate parts in your mind before cutting plastic.

[Old Wombat]

Impressive as always. As others wrote,you have a knack (is this the word?) for putting together various disparate parts in your mind before cutting plastic.

"Knack" is the word, alright, & Dizzy has it!

[Dizzyfugu]

"To boldly combine things that none did before..." 

[loupgarou]

"To boldly combine things that none did before..." 

It's a quote from Shakespeare ? 

[Rick Lowe]

"Now is the Winter of our Whiffery made Glorious by this Artist from the Continent"... or something, I don't know - we never studied The Bard at school.