P38J Lightnings

[AES]

Thanks for the confirmation JJ. Yeah I get where you're coming from about low & slow & straight & level. What about doing the same in a Stringbag" then? (But no problem about doping the slow bit though).

A Brit would certainly make a nice model Jon - I presume you mean PSS? But what about the lack of dihedral (not much on the wings and nil on the tailplane)? Or do you RC types just "twiddle" your way out of such minor details? (I suppose these days you've got auto stability built in to the xmitter - with on-board laser gyros of course!

 

[Jonzjob]

Dihedral? Why would you need that on a model wot's got ailerons . They do a good job of stopping it twiddling around just like wot they do on the full size jobbie.

Gyros? Well some have them, but the also have all sorts of things that talk to them and buttons that will fly the model back and all sorts. My method is move a stick on the tranny and you get a reaction on the plane, once again just like the full size.

My Fouga Magister doesn't have any dihedral

Flys well off the slope with a good breeze too

 

[Jameshow]

I was glad to hear the meaning of the word "Dominie", which was new to me, thanks folks.

Just to add to this fund of "rambling, probably useless, but nonetheless interesting info" - to me anyway, Kittyhawk, you may care to know that the Rapide (in Dominie guise) was also operated by the RAF in UK during WWII as a nav trainer. And I'm not sure, but think it may have been used in the same role in the Empire Training Scheme - i.e. in Canada, Rhodesia (as was), etc.

And just to go a stage further with that name, in the 1960's/70, De Havilland at Hatfield (both as was) developed a twin rear-engined "T"-tailed biz jet called the DH 125. (Of course with all the aviation industry mergers, etc, around that time, and after the "marketing flower arrangers" and other "brand image consultants" got their hands on it, it "ended up" being called the HS 125, which after further "industry consolidations" was stretched a bit and became, I think, the Hawker 800.

Anyway, the RAF bought a batch of the HS 125's for use as navigation, etc, trainers and called them - yep "Dominie". Don't know if they're still in RAF service these days though.

My grandfather was a fitter on the hs125 at Broughton...

Cheers James

 

[Gordon Tarling]

FWIW, my father flew as a navigator instructor in Ansons, in Rhodesia, during WW2 - perhaps I ought to commission Kittiwake to build me a lovely model.

 

[clogs]

great subject matter....more please.....

 

[Richard_C]

This has turned into a bit of an airplane chat, no worse for that. I'm sure my father told me that he did his navigation training in a Domine in S Africa in 1940, he was a pilot navigator, shipped to SA for training and flew up to Egypt to 'join in'. Most of his service was on twin engined aircraft.

I had a trip in a commercial HS125, a BA flight from Paris to Stansted years ago. I think BA used them on short haul/low density routes and they might have been the first jet aircraft cleared to operate from London City.

I live just a couiple of miles north of IWM Duxford which is also home to a few preservation societies and Classic Wings who do trips in a DH Rapide - it grinds over my garden several times a day in summer - and a Tiger Moth. There is often flying/air test and flying/display practice going on. If I went outside every time I heard a piston engine overhead I would never get anything done, the sound of multiple big piston engines ususally draws me out.

In the last 10 days we have had the Catalina, a couple of passes from Sally B - the B17 used as Memphis Belle in the film - Spitfires various doing Spitfire-y things including one doing a perfect barrel roll as I was enjoying and evening beer outside - either a Harvard or a Yale, if you can't see the paint job its impossible to identify - a Mustang P51B hurrying to catch up with the B17. Not seen the P47 yet this year or the cats various (hell, wild etc) that live there. I doubt there are many better places to live if you like to see and hear such things.

I'm a member which costs a bit but gives me free admission except to air shows. This year they have put on some flying days - mini airshows included in membership - off to one this Sunday where the flying list includes a Mk IX Spitfire, Wildcat, P47, the B17 and a few others.

OK, back to the DH aircraft and the wish of Kittyhawk to make one - if only someone would order it. The DH twins are all a bit tangled up in my memory but I think:

The Dragon had square ended wings
The Dragon Rapide (normally just called the Rapide) had the same middle bit, maybe a few more HP, and those elegant tapered wings that I suspect is the most attractive to modellers.
The Dragonfly looked similar from a distance but is a bit smaller and a different thing altogether. Maybe they took the Rapide drawings and put them through the photocopier set to 80% size (but photocopiers as we know them hadn't been invented then....)

There are loads of books of course, but one of my favourites is Ghosts of the Skies by Philip Makanna. Some archive, some great air to air pictures of preserved aircraft, a few contemporary quotes. Somehow conjours up the whole spirit and tragedy of 'air power' in that era and many of the pictures may be of use to modellers.

Looking forwardf to a WIP, might get me started on something for next winter.

 

[Kittyhawk]

Been away for a few days but home again and ready to go on the final stages of a couple of Mosquitoes, and then looking forward to doing the WIP thing on the Mustang build. The chap who ordered the P51 told his buddy who in turn told his buddy so now I have three to build. So I showed the plans and templates to give an idea of what they were getting and it drew a very confused response. They wanted the 'WW11 Mustang' so I assumed the P51B. It turns out what they really wanted was the late war P51D which is quite a different shape but is the most recognised Mustang that everybody knows and loves. Got to be careful in this business.

 

[rafezetter]

aaaah a Corsair AND a Typhoon with those 20mm Hispanos to shred tanks and trains. lovely lovely.

 

[AES]

Dihedral? Why would you need that on a model wot's got ailerons . They do a good job of stopping it twiddling around just like wot they do on the full size jobbie.

Gyros? Well some have them, but the also have all sorts of things that talk to them and buttons that will fly the model back and all sorts. My method is move a stick on the tranny and you get a reaction on the plane, once again just like the full size.

My Fouga Magister doesn't have any dihedral

View attachment 111745

Flys well off the slope with a good breeze too

Nice looking model JJ. BUT although the wing lacks dihedral you can't say that butterfly V tail lacks it! In other words, leave it alone without any RC "disturbing" it at all and it will be pretty stable I guess.

Having said all that though (tongue in cheek of course) considering that you slope soaring types go flying half way up a mountain in the middle of a hurricane I guess even a well-designed aeroplane like that can do with a bit of help now & then!

(Thanks for the pic BTW, v. nice).

 

[rafezetter]

I've just had a rather - interesting idea. Have you considered makign the props out of resin, but tinted with aluminium or steel powder so they look silver?

I'm, pretty sure it would be a fairly simple task to take one of the props for each model you make and use it to make a silicone mold - kits for which are easy to get hold of, then use the mold (or three) and specific casting resin with the pigment in to cast the props.

Has to be easier than whittling each one by hand, and while you're at it, you could use the same process for all the metal doodads you add to the models, and maybe more like ariel pylons, or engine exhausts, which would look really cool IMHO, landing gear... etc etc.

 

[Kittyhawk]

I've just had a rather - interesting idea. Have you considered makign the props out of resin, but tinted with aluminium or steel powder so they look silver?

I'm, pretty sure it would be a fairly simple task to take one of the props for each model you make and use it to make a silicone mold - kits for which are easy to get hold of, then use the mold (or three) and specific casting resin with the pigment in to cast the props.

Has to be easier than whittling each one by hand, and while you're at it, you could use the same process for all the metal doodads you add to the models, and maybe more like ariel pylons, or engine exhausts, which would look really cool IMHO, landing gear... etc etc.

Interesting idea. About to start on another P38 (6 prop blades) and then two B17's (24 prop blades).
But for aesthetic reasons I think the props should be wood but exhaust ejectors would be a contender for resin casting. And I hate making them!

 

[rafezetter]

I hate to break it to you kittyhawk, but I think you've been making the wrong wooden toys...

https://playforever.co.uk/products/...9baMpGUORP9MwUmWy8_OIMB6iNJsGuoYaAnSiEALw_wcB

 

[Sandyn]

I hate to break it to you kittyhawk, but I think you've been making the wrong wooden toys...

£6000!!! that's more than I paid for my real car.

 

[Kittyhawk]

Thats a beautiful piece of work, but £6000?
I like to play with my aeroplanes before I send them off - I'd be frightened to even touch that racing car!

 

[rafezetter]

Thats a beautiful piece of work, but £6000?
I like to play with my aeroplanes before I send them off - I'd be frightened to even touch that racing car!

LOL do you run around the room going "neeeeeowww!" and loops n such? If yes, we can haz video pl0x?

 

[Jonzjob]

Rip off comes to mind. You can turn them out by the dozen or so an hour after some child has done the program.Plastic, and what the hell is a 30s car doing with a driver with a modern skid-lid and visor?

Sorry, but something for someone with more money than they know what to do with.

Your kit is done by hand KH and you can be proud of it mate!

 

[Kittyhawk]

LOL do you run around the room going "neeeeeowww!" and loops n such?

Yes.
I admit it - I play with the aeroplanes flying them in my hand or on the end of a welding rod stuck up one of the stand mounting holes. Sometimes there are added sound effects. Wife doesn't care for it much but I tell her its research - and I do want them to be made robust enough to withstand this sort of thing.

If yes, we can haz video pl0x?

No.
You can't have a video. Playtime is private!

 

[morqthana]

https://playforever.co.uk/products/...9baMpGUORP9MwUmWy8_OIMB6iNJsGuoYaAnSiEALw_wcB

 

[morqthana]

I would imagine that an engine failure on any twin engined aircraft would be a bit of a nuisance

'tis said that twin engined planes have the second engine to allow the pilot to fly to the scene of the crash.

mosquiote and hornet variant far more superior airframe, and the first true multi role aircraft,,,light bomber, night fighter, recon,,,it did them all...

A truly staggering story of airframe robustness. And losing an engine.

Fantastic piloting skills, of course, but that plane could take a hell of a beating.