Piaggio-Pegona P.c.7 bis

[PR19_Kit]

OK, so I know I only got this kit this morning, but it's so bizarre it just HAS to be built. 

Re-posting some pics I've already done here, but it'll keep the whole build in one thread.



The beautifully presented kit box.




And the contents.




There's a ridiculously small cockpit interior in the kit, with 5 a piece 'detail set' that's almost totally invisible once it's assembled. There are two bulkheads either end of the cockpit, and they both need a LOT of filing down so that the other fuselage side closes up properly, but when that's done it goes together quite nicely.




See what I mean? The cockpit 'hole' is all of 4mm x 5 mm, and that's without the windscreen in place. The only thing you can see is the seat! The twin engine cowlings fit nicely, just a little sanding being required with them.




The 3 piece wing assembly also fits a treat, needing only a little filing under the rear to get it to sit down properly. A very small amount of PSR is required on the lower edge of the fin and just forward of the cockpit.

Oddly, there are quite a few parts on the sprues that aren't mentioned in the instructions at all.  Two of them look like alternative versions of the hydrofoil main struts, but there's no account of them trying stuff like that in the somewhat bare history of the aircraft.

Why the 'bis' in the title, you may ask? That's because this will be the second version of the P.c.7 which was RADICALLY different to the original. Watch this space........ 

[PR19_Kit]

Never mind a 'One Week Build', how about a 'One DAY Build'? 

Apart from the canopy and the paint, the P.c.7 is done. Well, apart from the radical add-on bit that will make it the P.c.7 Bis anyway. 





Top and bottom views of the whole assembly. The little black bit right at the aft end (stern...) is the aft hydrofoil which I had to cut from some styrene sheet as the kit part pinged off into orbit. It was only 2 mm x 8 mm, so holding it was well night impossible. All the ski parts are superglued in place and are pretty fiddly as there's no positioning pins at all, so a plan is essential to get the angles right.

The extra bits seem to be alternative ski struts, as I said before, plus some parts that look as if they should make the prop rotate, but it was always horizontal while the aircraft was still they seem a bit superfluous, and they're not mentioned in the instructions anyway.

What's not there at all is a water rudder. That's quite obvious on any drawings and on the very few pics  of the P.c.7 taken on land, where it's the big blade stocking down behind the water prop right at the stern.



I'll cut one from  styrene and superglue it in place as it will be the aft resting point when the model's standing down. I may scratch up a beaching trolley too, as it'll look more realistic like that rather than standing on its foils and rudder.

[strobez]

I love Schneider Trophy planes, and this one is a bit out there. Really cool!

[ericr]

 

[Dizzyfugu]

Sweet airplane, and it looks pretty fast! 

[PR19_Kit]

Sweet airplane, and it looks pretty fast! 

It sure does, but sadly that's as far as it got as the real thing never got off the water.

But this is WhiffWorld. 



Now it's got its main colour coat on, a nice maroon red that Italy used as their air racing colour in the period. It's actually a Peugeot car paint shade that's almost exactly correct for it. I added the water rudder from a scrap of styrene and superglued it in place as it's effectively the 'tailwheel', and I've just got the detail painting to do and add the windscreen and that'll be done.

THEN  I've got to do the major Whiffing, and I'm waiting for a major part of that to arrive, not before too long I hope.   

[rickshaw]

Red ones go faster! 

[stevehed]

This one is so weird I had to look it up. Reading between the lines I gather they had problems switching from the taxi motor to the main motor. Wonder how wet the pilot got after the clutch failed to bite?

[PR19_Kit]

It wasn't just a taxi motor, the water prop got the thing up to a speed where the hydrofoils lifted the nose clear of the water, then the forward clutch could be engaged and the air prop started up. The air prop was always stopped in the horizontal position so it was clear of the water.

At least that was the theory, in practice neither clutch was up to the job, and the P.c.7 sadly never got airborne.

But in my backstory it not only flew well but won the 1929 Schneider Trophy contest on the Solent, and later broke the World Air Speed Record. 

Not only that, but by holding it down on the water it broke the World Water Speed Record as well before it took off and took the Air Speed Record as well....... 

[Tophe]

Good model! The ratio goodness/speed-to-make-it is reaching the top!

[chrisonord]

Definitely a nimble looking beastie, I  wonder if  a progressed version would  have military  applications. Makes a nice  change to  have a simple  build  after  the aerovan fiasco.
Chris

[PR19_Kit]

Makes a nice  change to  have a simple  build  after  the aerovan fiasco.

Yes, you can say THAT again Chris! 

The P.c.7 almost fell together, apart from the two bulkheads.

[chrisonord]

Makes a nice  change to  have a simple  build  after  the aerovan fiasco.

Yes, you can say THAT again Chris! 

The P.c.7 almost fell together, apart from the two bulkheads.

Must admit that  I I was gutted  for you  with that aerovan, and dissapointed  as I  wanted to get one  too and shove it  in fleet air arm service.
Chris

[PR19_Kit]

An FAA Aerovan would make a lot of sense as a COD machine.

But it may need a power upgrade to ensure it could catch the carrier in order to land on! 

[chrisonord]

An FAA Aerovan would make a lot of sense as a COD machine.

But it may need a power upgrade to ensure it could catch the carrier in order to land on! 

It could fly in the slip stream of my twin pioneer then