A different Barracuda

[PR19_Kit]

Chris, please could you move this entire thread into the Navy GB section?

[strobez]

Now this is an intriguing build. The multi-folded wing fascinates me, so I'm pulling up a chair.

[PR19_Kit]

You may need a couch Greg, I'm not the world's fastest builder these days. 

The RW Barra looked almost conventional in flight, albeit a tad deep in the fuselage. But note those little vertical 'fins' sticking up out near the wing tips...



It's quite a large aeroplane so needed to fold up quite radically to fit down in the RN's somewhat small deck lifts.



And from the stern it looked totally ridiculous!



The little fin things are hooks that connect the folded wing tips to corresponding sockets in the leading edge of the tailplanes and which hold the whole assembly together!

And that's not even mentioning the bizarre main landing gear...........yet.

I aim to build one set of folded wings and one set of spread wings, and then swap them about now and then. And no, I'm NOT going to make the sockets in the tailplanes!

[kitbasher]

Kit if it helps I've some bits of Sea Fury forward fuselage that should fair into fhe Barra fuselage to ready it for the radial engine (if a radial is still part of the plan).

[zenrat]

Lovely.  Such an ugly aircraft.
I have vague thought about building the entire family in desert paint - Fulmar, Battle, Firefly, Barracuda.

[tigercat]

talking about Sea Furies  I think she'd look splendid with a 5 bladed prop from the PM models Sea Fury

[PR19_Kit]

Kit if it helps I've some bits of Sea Fury forward fuselage that should fair into fhe Barra fuselage to ready it for the radial engine (if a radial is still part of the plan).

Thanks Dave, but it looks as if the Hercules will fit OK with just two side 'cheeks' of 20 or 30 thou. styrene. I was expecting a lot more would be needed but that's a pretty fat Merlin cowling on the Barra.

I may need to go the 5 blade route, yes. The Herc prop I have is pretty large and it may be TOO large and come into contact with the runway/deck as the tail comes up.

I've sawed off the inner section of the port wing, the bit that's now in resin, and it's not the same shape as the resin part! 

I'll post a pic later but it'll need some padding out for it to fit. The FROG Barra wing has exactly the same cut lines as the SH so that wouldn't have fitted either, so I'm upset that the conversion set got such rave reviews when it came out all those years ago.

It would NEVER have fitted!

[NARSES2]

Chris, please could you move this entire thread into the Navy GB section?

Will do Kit.

That stern view is like two boxers going nose to nose in the ring before a big fight 

[PR19_Kit]

Thanks Chris, it fits right in here. 

[rickshaw]

You  can see why Eric Browne described the Barracuda as, "an iron monger's paradise." 

[kitbasher]

5 blades and (dare I say) a Centaurus would give it the appearance of a Barracuda/Spearfish missing link.

Have toyed with that notion for a NOVO Barra whif that's been at the 'stalled but will start again when I retire' stage for at least 18 months!  Also I need the cowlings to fashion Python cowlings for a long term rebuild/whif. 

[Gondor]

The problem with the resin inner wing part not fitting to the wing is imaterial as the wing will be folded, unless your talking about the part that fits inside the wing.
As for the conversion set getting rave reviews, I am of the opinion that not all the reviews printed are from the reviewes building every one of them.

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

The problem with the resin inner wing part not fitting to the wing is imaterial as the wing will be folded, unless your talking about the part that fits inside the wing.

As for the conversion set getting rave reviews, I am of the opinion that not all the reviews printed are from the reviewes building every one of them.

Not quite. As I've said above, one set of wings will be in the spread position and it'll have to fit properly in that mode.

I'm 100% in agreement with you on the ability of some 'reviewers'. When I did that for Scale Models Mag back in the 70s I was amazed how some of my fellow 'reviewers' only opened the box and looked at the bits. That's NO way to review a kit, it's all about the fit etc. I refused to do things that way, even when being pressured by the Editor, and that's one reason why I stopped doing it.

[PR19_Kit]

Now I've cut off the folding bits of the two wings the problem with the resin root is only too obvious.



This is the SH wing, which will be the folded version, and you can see the tri-angular gap at the leading edge.




And here's the FROG wing, which will be the spread version, also in place, and showing the same gap! The conversion was produced to fit the FROG kit as the SH one didn't exist at the time.

I'll have to add some styrene sheet to the resin root, file it to the correct wedge shape and then (carefully....) cut away the interior bits of it so the interior PE structure will still show properly.

I'm starting to think that I better start a backup model for this GB, if only to ensure I get something done by the end!

[The Rat]

At first glance, the main gear retraction is similar in principle to the mains on the PBY-5A, but with the added difficulty of getting the wheels up into the wings instead of into the side of the fuselage.