Vogt-141NG for Tophe and Kitnut

[Weaver]

Behold! An innocent, virgin Airfix Bv-141, still blissfully unaware that it is about to be sacrificed on the altar of the great god Whiff in order to guarantee Comrade Tophe's amusement in the afterlife. Oh, the humanity... 

Complicit in this dastardly plot are an Airfix Gazelle, an Airfix Phantom and a Revell Twotter, all of whom were carefully selected and recruited from whoever was in the park at the time by our crack white-van-and-box-of-puppies team.

The plot will be revealed (or even Revelled) in due course. 

Mods: this is going to be turbopropped. I presume that means it will qualify as a Robert tribute as well since he was into re-engining, however if you think it's not suitable, I'm quite happy to make this one Tophe-only. Please let me know.

Loupgarou: this is going to be wildly different from your Bv-141L project, so we don't need to have a handbag fight and storm out because we turned up to the same party in the same outfit...

[kerick]

You have my attention! Carry on!!

[scooter]

Loupgarou: this is going to be wildly different from your Bv-141L project, so we don't need to have a handbag fight and storm out because we turned up to the same party in the same outfit...

But will there be fish slapping?  Or using a halibut as a saw?

[loupgarou]

Loupgarou: this is going to be wildly different from your Bv-141L project, so we don't need to have a handbag fight and storm out because we turned up to the same party in the same outfit...

      

[PR19_Kit]

I can foresee a sudden rise in the prices of Airfix Bv-141s at this rate...............

[Weaver]

Well, 24 hours in and I've already cocked up.

I've lost the 141's engine cowling. I know in principle what I've probably done: I've probably taken it upstairs as a diameter comparison when looking for bits, then put it down somewhere when I needed two hands. The trouble is, I've looked in all the logical places where I might have done that, and it's not there. That means it must be in an illogical place, and there's rather a lot of those...

[loupgarou]

Well, 24 hours in and I've already cocked up.

I've lost the 141's engine cowling. I know in principle what I've probably done: I've probably taken it upstairs as a diameter comparison when looking for bits, then put it down somewhere when I needed two hands. The trouble is, I've looked in all the logical places where I might have done that, and it's not there. That means it must be in an illogical place, and there's rather a lot of those...

Illogical, absurd and obstreperous places are the first ones where to look in such cases....

[Weaver]

Well, 24 hours in and I've already cocked up.

I've lost the 141's engine cowling. I know in principle what I've probably done: I've probably taken it upstairs as a diameter comparison when looking for bits, then put it down somewhere when I needed two hands. The trouble is, I've looked in all the logical places where I might have done that, and it's not there. That means it must be in an illogical place, and there's rather a lot of those...

Aaaand an hour later, I've found it. I thought that might work: pay the price of public humiliation to appease the Gods of Whiffery and thou shalt be forgiven. Mostly.

I hadn't put it down somewhere. It must have rolled off the bench and I didn't notice: it was under a rolling trolley that I keep there.

The original turboprop nose idea has been scrubbed, so doubtless to the relief of all the 'Toom fetishists out there, the F-4E nose is safe (for now...). I'm going instead for a late Meteor air intake (the shorter, wider one) on the front of the original cowling, with the prop in the middle of it to give a mini-Wyvern effect.

[Weaver]

This is still progressing, just very slowly.

Basically, both the engine and the cockpit pod have developed along lines where one part needs to be glued and then dry VERY thoroughly before anything else can be done, so that's been upto 24 hours per cycle. I've also been trying to sort out a prop: it needs to be modern and absorb more power than the BMW's 3-blader, but it can't have a larger diameter due to clearance with the cockpit pod. That means it has to have a 4 or 5 bladed prop. I've found a 4-blader in the spares box, but it doesn't have a spinner, so until I decide how to solve that, I can't build the "pillar" up the middle of the engine, since there's no good reason why it should be any other diameter than that of the spinner.

[kerick]

Use the nose off of something. Some innocent gas bag just minding its own business.

[jcf]

This is still progressing, just very slowly.

Basically, both the engine and the cockpit pod have developed along lines where one part needs to be glued and then dry VERY thoroughly before anything else can be done, so that's been upto 24 hours per cycle. I've also been trying to sort out a prop: it needs to be modern and absorb more power than the BMW's 3-blader, but it can't have a larger diameter due to clearance with the cockpit pod. That means it has to have a 4 or 5 bladed prop. I've found a 4-blader in the spares box, but it doesn't have a spinner, so until I decide how to solve that, I can't build the "pillar" up the middle of the engine, since there's no good reason why it should be any other diameter than that of the spinner.

Or you could do the German thing and instead of adding blades, make them fatter. 

[Weaver]

This is still progressing, just very slowly.

Basically, both the engine and the cockpit pod have developed along lines where one part needs to be glued and then dry VERY thoroughly before anything else can be done, so that's been upto 24 hours per cycle. I've also been trying to sort out a prop: it needs to be modern and absorb more power than the BMW's 3-blader, but it can't have a larger diameter due to clearance with the cockpit pod. That means it has to have a 4 or 5 bladed prop. I've found a 4-blader in the spares box, but it doesn't have a spinner, so until I decide how to solve that, I can't build the "pillar" up the middle of the engine, since there's no good reason why it should be any other diameter than that of the spinner.

Or you could do the German thing and instead of adding blades, make them fatter. 

Nice idea (thanks) but it doesn't fit the back story, sadly.

[Weaver]

Use the nose off of something. Some innocent gas bag just minding its own business.

It may yet come to that, but that's just the last-resort, maximum effort option.

Currently investigating the possibilities of a Tucano spinner. It doesn't fit the prop I've got without doing some very careful filing on the latter, but it might fit one of those spinnerless props from a radial enigne. The other option is to use one of the several props I've found whose spinner is too wide (like a Mustang) and abandon the idea of a radial air intake, but I don't really want to do that.

[zenrat]

Asymmetric spinner?

[Weaver]

It's coming along: the spinner mod worked and I've got the centre-post and cowling built. Now I need to paint them before putting them together, because once the centre-post is in, I have to build exhaust pipe blanks behind it that will lock it in forever. I've also established that the Gazelle side windows will go in after the interior, which is a blessing.

This is the original cowling (well, after I cut the front off and stuck it back on again). The exhausts pipes and cooling flaps are on a seperate disc that fits behind this piece, which I'm not using:



Here's the engine parts.
The cowling is made from the original cowling plus a Meteor F.8 intake (thanks Lee!).
The centre-post is made from concentric Evergreen tubes glued to the original engine back-plate.
The prop on the right is a duplicate of the one I'm using before I modified it. No idea what it's off, and this "spare" can't be used because one tip is damaged.
The prop on the left is the one I'm using. Centre-disc filed down, Tucano spinner, Evergreen extended shaft:



Here's the engine parts dry-fitted. The exhaust stubs will go in the slots filed in the bulges on the cowling. The cowling will be rotated 90 deg so both exhausts are on the opposite side from the cockpit pod:



And speaking of which, here are the cockpit pod parts. I don't know how I'm going to fill in the spine behind the Gazelle cockpit yet. It can't be just solid because I want a retractable air intake there for a booster engine: