Supermarine S.7 (Crossed the Finish Line!)

[strobez]

Recently uncovered... the never-before-seen... Supermarine S.7...

Not much to look at yet, but work is underway...

[loupgarou]

It's the old Frog one, with more flash added?

[strobez]

Yes indeed. An extra helping of Flash in fact... enough to feed a whole family. 

[Dizzyfugu]

Ah, I had already an eye on this kit for the GB, too, but eventually refrained due to the mold quality... Good luck, I am curious what becomes of it.

[PR19_Kit]

In its time the FROG S6B was a much better kit than the Airfix one, but it deteriorated a lot faster sadly.

[The Rat]

I just picked up the Airfix one, might be the first model I ever built many moons ago. I'll be interested to see what becomes of yours.

[KiwiZac]

Oooh, tantalising! I'm keen to see what you make of this - an upgraded S.6 sounds like fun.

[strobez]

Thanks for the boost, gents.  I've started (unsurprisingly) by scratching up something that looks vaguely like a cockpit.



I'm still deciding what modifications to incorporate, so if anyone's got a brilliant suggestion, I'm all ears!

[Gondor]

How about a contra-prop ?

Gondor

[strobez]

Ok... we're on the same wavelength.  Given the speed records set by the Macchi M.C. 72, the counter-prop seems to be the most obvious (visible) difference I can make.  I was also thinking about changing the tail design a bit... mainly just for fun.

[perttime]

Contra props would be good. If you don't happen to have one, a 5 blade prop would be different.

What did the S-6B have for radiators?

[PR19_Kit]

The S-6s had tubes built into the wing surfaces and along the fuselage so that the glycol cooling liquid could be cooled in turn by the air flow.

Not a recipe for a long endurance flight, but OK for the Schneider Trophy.

[Dizzyfugu]

All late Schneider Trophy designs featured surface evaporation cooling, as Kit mentioned, integrated into the wings, fuselage flanks and also into the floats and their struts.

[strobez]

Got a bit more done.  I probably should've spent more time on the cockpit, but I know how much work is coming for the fuselage, so I sort of chickened out.  Once the windscreen is in place it'll be hard to see inside since these racers have such small cockpit openings... right?

Anyway, I decided to paint the cockpit green... it's pretty rough, but good enough I think.  I also scratched up the second (counter) prop using something similar (leftover from my Ki-10 Perry) and a few bits of polystyrene tubing.



After I was able to glue the fuselage and the wings together, there were a few bits and pieces that needed to be added to the cockpit from outside.  I left the engine hatch unglued for the moment as the props still need a bit of fiddling into place.



Counter props stuck on temporarily with blue tack.  I just put it on top of the floats for imaginary purposes. 

[jcf]

The tubes on the fuselage were the oil cooler.

Perhaps a pair of Merlins in tandem, or a V-16
using Merlin components, driving the two-bladed
contra-props in a manner similar to the MC 72 or
CA-15, respectively.