Hard to know whats wanted

[Kittyhawk]

Here is another AS350 helicopter ready for a tidy up and finishing.

When the first one was built a couple of weeks back I didn't bother to make templates of the parts because I thought it's a one off.., who the heck wants a helicopter and I'll never get asked for another... and this is what happens.

And this is my bin full of templates for aeroplanes that I thought would be popular. One or two have had multiple builds but the majority are one-offs.
I thought I knew the aeroplane business and my customers but clearly I don't.

And this is next on the list - the Arado AR196, the float plane carried on German battleships in WW11.
An obscure aircraft and cerrtainly a one-off I would say so I won't template it which means some else will want one. Or template it and never build another one, ever.

 

[Inspector]

There are a lot of Vietnam vets that would clamour for Bell AH-1 Cobras and that is just the first helicopter that comes to mind. It seams there is an enthusiast for every aircraft ever made so I don't think you will ever run out of aircraft to make, single or multiples. Anyone ask for a Zeppelin yet?

If you were keen on technology and gadgets you could laser or CNC cut templates and jigging easily as needed or repeatedly should you toss them after what might be a onetime job until it isn't. I don't have the appetite for them but can see where they would be useful.

The Ardo is going to be a nice model.
Pete

 

[clogs]

MAN....ur good....

I had a photo of my best friend hanging onto one of the skids (Huey ?)
getting out of an overun camp in Vietnam...scary stuff....

Inspector,
those little choppers used at the end of Korea for inj soldiers .....were they Robinsons....?

When I was 50 my wife bought me a 2hour flying lesson in a small Robinson chopper....
Lycoming 4cyl engine....
it was either that or drive a Ferrari at Brands Hatch....phhhhh.....super cars.....hahaha...

 

[Inspector]

I think you mean the Bell 47 helicopters. Like the ones in the opening credits of the TV show MASH.

Pete

 

[Stigmorgan]

Absolutely love seeing your builds @Kittyhawk

 

[Adam W.]

I like the float plane and its al fresco rear gunner.

 

[AES]

There are a lot of Vietnam vets that would clamour for Bell AH-1 Cobras and that is just the first helicopter that comes to mind. It seams there is an enthusiast for every aircraft ever made so I don't think you will ever run out of aircraft to make, single or multiples. Anyone ask for a Zeppelin yet?

If you were keen on technology and gadgets you could laser or CNC cut templates and jigging easily as needed or repeatedly should you toss them after what might be a onetime job until it isn't. I don't have the appetite for them but can see where they would be useful.

The Ardo is going to be a nice model.
Pete

 

[AES]

I think you mean the Bell 47 helicopters. Like the ones in the opening credits of the TV show MASH.

Pete

Correct, it was mainly the Bell 47 used in Korea (a la "Mash") - that's the one with a clear bubble canopy, and "lattice work girders" for the tail boom. Though I THINK Sikorsky S51s were also used there.

The Bell AH-1 "Cobra" was a development of the Bell 205 "Huey". The "Cobra" was, I THINK, the first "real helicopter gunship" and I also THINK, it had a smaller fuselage with "only space for about 4 crew total. The "Huey" that the "Cobra" was developed from would carry, I guess, about 8 or 10 total, including I think 2 pilots, a crew chief plus perhaps a door machine gunner. It had a relatively big boxy fuselage and was a general purpose lifter for delivering and collecting troops and/or supplies, and that included casevac duties too. Unlike the Korean war Bell 47, which had space for only 2 crew inside the bubble (so the casualty was on a stretcher fixed to the OUTSIDE, just as shown in "Mash"), in the Bell 205 "Huey" the casualty had the "luxury" of having his stretcher INSIDE the fuselage!

The Robinson (model R22, R44, etc) came MUCH later than either the above I think. 1990's? Powered by a relatively large turbo-charged 6 cylinder piston engine. (The Bell 47 was piston-engined too, but the Bell "Huey" was turbine, I THINK a single Lycoming). On the Robinson, the drive from the engine to the gearbox (for the rotors) is apparently a toothed rubber belt originally from a washing machine!

All the above is off the top of my head, and I'm NOT a helo expert by any means. It's ROUGHLY correct, but all is easily checkable/correctable on the internet if anyone's interested - both Bell Helicopter and Robinson have excellent websites.

 

[Inspector]

AES like you said roughly correct.
Cobra used the Huey drive train but only had a crew of two, a gunner and the pilot. There were versions of both that had 2 engines.
Bell 47 only had one pilot and if it carried stretchers couldn't take anyone in the cockpit. The engine for them was a Franklin or Lycoming. The trade school I learned aircraft maintenance in had a Franklin in it. I don't think Kittyhawk would want to make a model of one. The welded tube frame and tail bone would be a nightmare in that scale.

Pete

 

[Spectric]

I don't think Kittyhawk would want to make a model of one. The welded tube frame and tail bone would be a nightmare in that scale.

Thats throwing down the gauntlet, let's see how long before Kittyhawk has one to show us

 

[baldkev]

Great work as usual

 

[baldkev]

how about a millennium falcon??

 

[Kittyhawk]

Thats throwing down the gauntlet, let's see how long before Kittyhawk has one to show us

The Bell 47 would be an interesting thing to model but would be more bronze brazing rod and solder than woodwork.
Not overly enthused about helicopters - this goes back to the mid '60's and involves an old Sikorsky H.19, a drill rig ship in rough weather and a crew-change. The landing on the ship's helipad was heavy enough that the wheels on one side were bent up under the helicopter causing the thing to tilt over on an angle. The pilot cheerfully described it as 'a bit of a rough landing' but to a nervous passenger such as myself it was a crash. Not impressed!

 

[rafezetter]

There are a lot of Vietnam vets that would clamour for Bell AH-1 Cobras and that is just the first helicopter that comes to mind. It seams there is an enthusiast for every aircraft ever made so I don't think you will ever run out of aircraft to make, single or multiples. Anyone ask for a Zeppelin yet?

If you were keen on technology and gadgets you could laser or CNC cut templates and jigging easily as needed or repeatedly should you toss them after what might be a onetime job until it isn't. I don't have the appetite for them but can see where they would be useful.

The Ardo is going to be a nice model.
Pete

I just thought the same thing - a Zeppelin or the goodyear blimp, pretty easy shapes?

I think you might also want to consider the ME 109 for a Battle of Britain style diaorma, with the 109 being shot down ofc *wink* - Stuka's, all sorts of iconic planes - oh maybe a V1 doodlebug?

Vought Corsair another classic shape, wings might give you some issues though.

 

[AES]

I just thought the same thing - a Zeppelin or the goodyear blimp, pretty easy shapes?

I think you might also want to consider the ME 109 for a Battle of Britain style diaorma, with the 109 being shot down ofc *wink* - Stuka's, all sorts of iconic planes - oh maybe a V1 doodlebug?

Vought Corsair another classic shape, wings might give you some issues though.

IMHO, Goodyear Blimps are a bit "boring" (not being rigid, and all that).

But IF one was going to model a Zepp, then IMO it MUST be the LZ 127, "Graf Zeppelin".

Never big enough to be a real commercial success (operated at a subsidised "loss" by Hearst newspapers sponsorship and Hapag shipping line), the existing Zepp shed wasn't big enough to build as big a gas volume as they wanted until the Nazis came along and funded a bigger shed for the "Hindenburg". Nevertheless, LZ 127 was, without question THE most "successful" AND safest airship built by anybody - EVER (up to now anyway)!

Entered service in 1928, scrapped in 1940 (Nazi orders). Started off with a round the world flight with 24 pax + 36 crew + 13 tonnes cargo, all in only 3 stops; crossed the Atlantic total 140 times and Pacific twice; don't know how many trips Germany-Rio de Janeiro/return; and Germany-New York/return ditto; flew total 590 trips, covered in excess of 1 and three quarter million kilometers; NIL accidents/incidents.

And BTW, when you get right down to it, though apparently simple at 1st sight, the shape was actually a bit more complex than it first looks - lots of compound curves.

 

[Kittyhawk]

I just thought the same thing - a Zeppelin or the goodyear blimp, pretty easy shapes?

I think you might also want to consider the ME 109 for a Battle of Britain style diaorma, with the 109 being shot down ofc *wink* - Stuka's, all sorts of iconic planes - oh maybe a V1 doodlebug?

Vought Corsair another classic shape, wings might give you some issues though.

The BF109E is a favorite of mine - not of anyone else's though. I templated that aeroplane but only ever got to build one of them.
Same for the Corsair. I had the honour and pleasure of building one for the son of NZ's leading ace who flew the Corsair in the Med and the Pacific.

 

[Inspector]

Did you template the FW190D you made for me?

Pete

 

[Kittyhawk]

Did you template the FW190D you made for me?

Pete

Yes. I live in hope