Ron Bell Posted April 14, 2015 Report Posted April 14, 2015 A rather obscure topic this. Only two were built. It was intended to replace the Blackburn Blackburn (another real "looker") but it's performance wasn't that much better, so it was relegated to history. The wings folded. They split in the middle where they seem to have attached to a large bracket of some sort on the top of the fuselage, then the front part of the "N" strut rotated and the wing swung back along the side of the fuselage. I only found five rather grainy photos to work from and a couple sets of three view drawings, but no perspective drawings, so several struts got done and redone several times as I messed up the configurations. I have no idea what those large triangular things are in the center of the wings. They are not part of the folding mechanism as one photo shows the wings folded and they are not involved. If anyone has an idea, I'd be glad to hear it. A basic kit of eight parts, you need to make your own struts, supply an engine and any detail you want. I couldn't find any roundels large enough, so I made them by layering solid decal color. This is what you start with: And it gives you this: 1
mquan Posted April 14, 2015 Report Posted April 14, 2015 Beautiful job Ron from that old old John Tarvin kit! The triangular pieces you ask about were fittings on top of the wings (aligned with the top of the support strut underneath), that were to facilitate lifting the airplane with a shipboard crane. A third line stabilized the tail section when lifting the airplane.
ClareWentzel Posted April 14, 2015 Report Posted April 14, 2015 Wow Ron. Great looking model. Interesting wing planform. I am sure that it was a tough thing to build. Well done.
ghodges Posted April 14, 2015 Report Posted April 14, 2015 I'm applauding your indulging your plastic masochist side; my evil work is almost complete!! That's a very impressive result Ron! Would not have guessed you didn't use spare decals if you hadn't mentioned it, and all of the scratch built stuff looks like it came in the kit, which is what most people will think upon seeing it. What strikes me is just how small that radial engine is in comparison to the rest of the airframe....is it any wonder it was under powered and not much of an improvement? Congrats on a great looking build that belies the work you had to do to get there! GIL
Ron Bell Posted April 14, 2015 Author Report Posted April 14, 2015 And THIS was the sleek hot number it couldn't out-perform...
JohnRatzenberger Posted April 15, 2015 Report Posted April 15, 2015 (edited) That's great work, Ron !! Edited April 15, 2015 by JohnRatzenberger
WildBill50 Posted April 15, 2015 Report Posted April 15, 2015 Another 'ahem' beautiful British design. Nice work on the model(s) too. It reminds me of a characature of a biplane. Bill
VonL Posted April 18, 2015 Report Posted April 18, 2015 Beautiful model of an intriguing subject. Lots of character there. Where did the radial engine come from? Did you scratchbuild that, too?
Ron Bell Posted April 18, 2015 Author Report Posted April 18, 2015 The real a/c used a Bristol Jaguar radial engine, which had two banks of seven cylinders. I just found an engine in the spares box with the right configuration and size. I have no idea what kit it would have come from.
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