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+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Cessna Model 336 and 337 “Skymaster” were American twin-engine civil utility aircraft built in a unique push-pull configuration. Their engines were mounted in the nose and rear of its pod-style fuselage. Twin booms extended aft of the wings to the vertical stabilizers, with the rear engine between them. The horizontal stabilizer was aft of the pusher propeller, mounted between and connecting the two booms.
The first Skymaster, Model 336, had fixed landing gear and initially flew on February 28, 1961. It went into production in May 1963 with 195 being produced through mid-1964. In February 1965, Cessna introduced the larger Model 337 Super Skymaster with more powerful engines, retractable landing gear, and a dorsal air scoop for the rear engine (the "Super" prefix was subsequently dropped from the name). In 1966, the turbocharged T337 was introduced, and in 1973, the pressurized P337G entered production.
The type was very prolific and Cessna built 2.993 Skymasters of all variants, including 513 military O-2 (nicknamed "Oscar Deuce") versions from 1967 onwards. The latter featured underwing ordnance hard points to hold unguided rockets, gun pods or flares, and served in the forward air control (FAC) role and psychological operations (PSYOPS) by the US military between 1967 and 2010. Production in America ended in 1982, but was continued by Reims in France, with the FTB337 STOL and the military FTMA “Milirole”.
Both civil and military Cessna 336/337 version had long service careers, and some were considerably modified for new operators and uses. Among the most drastic conversions was the Spectrum SA-550, built by Spectrum Aircraft Corporation of Van Nuys, California, in the mid-1980s: Spectrum took the 336/337 airframe and removed the front engine, lengthened the nose to maintain the center of gravity, and replaced the rear piston engine with a pusher turboprop which offered more power than the combined pair of original petrol engines. The Spectrum SA-550 conversion also came together with an optional modernization package that prolonged the airframes’ service life, so that modified machines could well serve on for 20 years or more.
This drastic conversion was executed for both military and civil operators. The best-known military SA-550s were six former USAF O-2A airframes, which had been transferred to the U.S. Navy in 1983 for use as range controllers with VA-122 at NAS Lemoore, California. These aircraft were operationally nicknamed “Pelican”, due to the characteristic new nose shape, and the name unofficially caught on.
However, the SA-550 package was only adopted sporadically by private operators, but it became quite popular among several major police and fire departments. Typical duties for these machines included border/drug patrol, surveillance/observation duties (e.g. traffic, forest fire) and special tasks, including drug interdiction as well for SAR missions and undercover operations like narcotics and serialized criminal investigations. Some SA-550s were accordingly modified and individually outfitted with suitable sensors, including IR/low light cameras, searchlights, and internal auxiliary tanks. None were armed, even though some aircraft featured underwing hardpoints for external extra tanks, flare dispensers for nocturnal operations or smoke charge dispensers for ground target marking to guide water bombers to hidden forest fires.
The type’s versatility, low noise level, high travel speed and good loitering time in the operational area at low speed proved to be vital assets for these public service operators and justified its relatively high maintenance costs. A handful of the modernized Spectrum SA-550 machines were still in active service after the Millennium, primarily in the USA.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1 + 3 passengers (up to 5 passengers possible in special seat configuration)
Length: 32 ft 6½ in (9.94 m)
Wingspan: 38 ft ¾ in (11.62 m)
Height: 9 ft 2 in (2.79 m)
Wing area: 201 sq ft (18.81 m²)
Aspect ratio: 7.18:1
Airfoil: NACA 2412 at root, NACA 2409 at tip
Empty weight: 2,655 lb (1,204 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 4,400 lb (1,996 kg)
Fuel capacity: 92 US gal (77 imp gal; 350 l) normal,
128 US gal (107 imp gal; 480 l) with auxiliary tank
in the cabin instead of two passenger seats
Powerplant:
1× Pratt & Whitney PT6A-27 turboprop engine, delivering 550 shp (410 kW) and
driving a four-blade McCauley fully-feathering, constant-speed propeller, 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) diameter
Performance:
Maximum speed: 199 mph (320 km/h, 173 kn) at sea level
Cruise speed: 144 mph (232 km/h, 125 kn) at 10,000 ft (3,000 m) (econ cruise)
Stall speed: 69 mph (111 km/h, 60 kn)
Range: 1421 mi (2.288 km, 1.243 nmi) at 10.000 ft (3.050 m) altitude and economy cruise
Service ceiling: 19,500 ft (5,900 m)
Rate of climb: 1,200 ft/min (6.1 m/s)
Takeoff distance to 50 ft (15m): 1,545 ft (471 m)
Landing distance from 50 ft (15m): 1,650 ft (500 m)
The kit and its assembly:
This build is the combination of ingredients that had already been stashed away for a long time, and the “Red Lights” Group Build at whatifmodellers.com in early 2021 was a good motivator and occasion to finally put everything together.
The basis is an ARII 1:72 Cessna T337 model kit – I had purchased it long ago with the expectation to create a military Skymaster from it, but I was confused by a fixed landing gear which would make it a 336? Well, without a further concrete plan the kit preliminarily landed in The Stash™…
However, the ARII model features the optional observation windows in the doors on the starboard side, in the form of a complete(!) fuselage half, so that it lends itself to a police or firefighter aircraft of some sort. This idea was furthermore fueled by a decal sheet that I had been given from a friend, left over from a 1:72 Italeri JetRanger, with three optional police helicopter markings.
The final creative element was the real-world “Pelican” conversion of six O-2As for the US Navy, as mentioned in the background above: the front engine was replaced with a longer nose and the engine configuration changed to a pusher-only aircraft with a single powerful turboprop engine. This looked so odd that I wanted to modify the ARII Cessna in a similar fashion, too, and all these factors came together in this model.
My Arii Cessna 337 kit is a re-boxing from 2009, but its origins date back to Eidai in 1972 and that’s just what you get: a vintage thing with some flash and sinkholes, raised (but fine) surface details and pretty crude seams with bulges and gaps. Some PSR is direly necessary, esp. the fit of the fuselage halves is cringeworthy. The clear parts were no source of joy, either; especially the windscreen turned out to be thick, very streaky (to a degree that I’d almost call it opaque!) and even not fully molded! The side glazing was also not very clear. I tried to improve the situation through polishing, but if the basis is already poor, there’s little you can do about it. Hrmpf.
However, the kit was built mostly OOB, including the extra O-2 glazing in the lower doors, but with some mods. One is a (barely visible) extra tank in the cabin’s rear, plus a pilot and an observer figure placed into the tight front seats. The extended “Pelican” nose was a lucky find – I was afraid that I had had to sculpt a nose from scratch with 2C putty. But I found a radome from a Hasegawa RA-5C, left over from a model I built in the Eighties and that has since long fallen apart. However, this nose fitted almost perfectly in size and shape, I just “blunted” the tip a little. Additionally, both the hull in front of the dashboard and the Vigilante radome were filled with as many lead beads as possible to keep the nose down.
The kit’s OOB spatted, fixed landing gear was retained – even though it is dubious for a Cessna 337, because this type had a fully retractable landing gear, and the model has the landing gear covers actually molded into the lower fuselage. On the other side, the Cessna 336’s fixed landing gear looks quite different, too! However, this is a what-if model, and a fixed landing gear might have been a measure to reduce maintenance costs?
The propeller was replaced with a resin four-blade aftermarket piece (from CMK, probably the best-fitting thing on this build!) on my standard metal axis/styrene tube adapter arrangement. The propeller belongs to a Shorts Tucano, but I think that it works well on the converted Cessna and its powerful pusher engine, even though in the real world, the SA-550 is AFAIK driven by a three-blade prop. For the different engine I also enlarged the dorsal air intake with a 1.5 mm piece of styrene sheet added on top of the molded original air scoop and added a pair of ventral exhaust stubs (scratched from sprue material).
Another addition is a pair of winglets, made from 0.5 mm styrene sheet – an upgrade which I found on several late Cessna 337s in various versions. They just add to the modernized look of the aircraft. For the intended observation role, a hemispherical fairing under the nose hides a 180° camera, and I added some antennae around the hull.
However, a final word concerning the model kit itself: nothing fits, be warned! While the kit is a simple affair and looks quite good in the box, assembling it turned out to be a nightmare, with flash, sinkholes, a brittle styrene and gaps everywhere. This includes the clear parts, which are pretty thick and blurry. The worst thing is the windscreen, which is not only EXTRA thick and EXTRA blurry, it was also not completely molded, with gaps on both sides. I tried to get it clearer through manual polishing, but the streaky blurs are integral – no hope for improvement unless you completely replace the parts! If I ever build a Cessna 337/O-2 again, I will give the Airfix kit a try, it can only be better…
Painting and markings:
The choice between the operator options from the JetRanger sheet was hard, it included Sweden and Italy, but I eventually settled for the LAPD because the livery looks cool and this police department not only operates helicopters, but also some fixed-wing aircraft.
I adapted the LAPD’s classic black-and-white police helicopter livery (Gloss White and Black, Humbrol 22 and 21, respectively) to the Cessna and extended it to the wings. At this point – already upset because of the poor fit of the hardware – disaster struck in the form of Humbrol’s 22 turning into a pinkish ivory upon curing! In the tin, the paint and its pigments looked pretty white and “clean”, and I assume that it’s the thinner that caused this change. What a crap! It’s probably the third tin with 22 that causes trouble, even though in different peculiarities!
The result was total rubbish, though, and I tried to rub the paint off as good as possible on the small model with its many windows, the fixed, delicate landing gear and the wing support struts. Then I overpainted the areas with Revell 301 (Semi-matt White). While this enamel yielded the intended pure white tone, the paint itself is rather gooey and not easy to work with, so that the overall finish turned out worse than desired. At least the black paint worked properly. The demarcations were created with black decal stripes (TL Modellbau), because the tiny model left little room for complex masking measures – and I did not risk any more painting accidents.
Since the aircraft would be kept shiny and clean, I just did a light black ink washing to emphasize surface details and did a light panel post-shading on the black areas, not for weathering but rather to accent surface structures. No further weathering was done (and necessary).
The markings/decals come – as mentioned above – from an Italeri 1:72 JetRanger, but they were augmented with some additional markings, e. g. grey walkways on the wings and “L-A-P-D” in large black letters under the wings, to distract from the poor finish of the white paint around them…
Finally, the kit was sealed overall with Italeri semi-gloss acrylic varnish, just with a matt anti-glare shield in front of the windscreen, which received thin white trim lines (generic decal stripes).
A challenging build due to the Arii kit’s rather poor basis, the massive rhinoplasty and the crisp paint scheme. However, I like the result – what-if models do not always have to be armed military vehicles, there’s potential in other genres, too. And this mono-engine “Pelican” Skymaster plays its role as a “flying eye” in police service credibly and well. However, this was my first and last Eidai kit…
I hate sticking bulky 1x1 LEGO clips on the backs of armor, they never match and always look out of place. The Brickarms monopod almost works perfectly by itself, but comes out a little too much for my liking. So I snipped it down a bit and am very happy with the outcome.
Quilt in progress for yet another friend who has a little girl on the way. She likes pink and yellow and I wanted it to be happy and preppy, like she is.
I chose a Folksy Flannel for the back, so it will be nice and snugglie.
I used this tutorial from Film in the Fridge:
www.filminthefridge.com/2009/06/24/quartered-squares-a-mo...
Modifying a TrixBrix tracks switch to use with an underside motor and a tire as shown at www.flickr.com/photos/ztp/49543793286/in/album-7215766200...
Mainly the little bump on the side of the sliding shaft needs to be cut away, so sliding the shaft offers no resistance to the motorized tire.
Diamonds of autumn(2012)...
(taken with Summilux-R80mm -> approx 160mm on Panasonic GH1,
and modified by DxO)
I made a modified skoodlet to use while wearing Arlo. It allows me to close my jacket around him and keep my hands warm, and it has a hood for him. More info on Ravelry.
This is a modified version of the P2 racing car, designed by Vittorio Jano, which on its debut in 1924 won the 200 Miles of the II Circuito di Cremona, driven by Antonio Ascari. It was the first of a series of victories, including the Italian Grand Prix with Ascari, two European Grands Prix with Giuseppe Campari and Ascari, the first World Championship with Gastone Brilli Peri, the Monza Grand Prix and the seventh Circuito di Alessandria (also called Circuito Pietro Bordino) with Achille Varzi. The model was modified in 1930 and it too made a name for itself in various races, including the Circuito di Alessabdria and the Targa Florio, once again in the hands of Achille Varzi. The P2 model is considered the grandsire of all Alfa Romeo’s famous racing cars.
1.987 cc
8 In-line
175 hp @ 5.500 rpm
Vmax : 225 km/h
Museo dell'Automobile
Corso Unità d'Italia 40
Torino - Turin
Italia - Italy
January 2019
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Nikon D7200, cheap Russian bellows unit, 4x microscope objective, 2 SB600 flash units in CMD mode. 50 pictures combined in CombineZP
Equipped with a Pulsar Charger engine, this modified speeder bike is a favorite of Jin Efrit, captain of the Misfortune. Built using salvaged pieces from old M:Tron vehicles, this speeder is fast and maneuverable.
Dennis Meriel's NSX Cover, Houston, TX, 2011
We were told no rig shots for the cover and to keep it simple for the shoot and that's what we did.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Vickers Vanguard was a British short/medium-range turboprop airliner introduced in 1959 by Vickers-Armstrongs, a development of their successful Viscount design with considerably more internal room. The Vanguard was introduced just before the first of the large jet-powered airliners, and was largely ignored by the market. Only 44 were built and the Vanguard entered service in late 1960.
Even though the Vanguard could match the early passenger jets on short distances, the type was quickly relegated to other roles: In 1966, Air Canada removed all the seats in CF-TKK and refitted the aircraft for pure cargo work, in which role it could carry 42,000 lb (19,050 kg) of freight. Known by the airline as the "Cargoliner," it was the only such conversion, but survived to be the last Canadian Vanguard to be retired in December 1972.
BEA operated nine Vanguards modified to the V953C "Merchantman" all-cargo layout from 1969. A large forward cargo door measuring 139 by 80 inches (350 by 200 cm) was incorporated. The Merchantmen continued in service with BA until late 1979.
Beyond civil use, the most noteworthy military operator was Thailand, with an anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft conversion for the Royal Thai Navy, the SeaGuard MR.1. The need for aerial maritime patrol with proprietary aircraft was first formulated during the withdrawal of United States forces from Thailand in the mid Seventies, when the Thai Air Force assumed use of the installations at Takhli and Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat).
Inspired by similar conversions, e. g. the Canadian CP-107 Argus derived from the Bristol Britannia airliner and the highly successful Douglas P-3 derived from the L-188 Electra, the Thai "SeaGuard MR.1" fleet was created from three former Canadian airliners (ex Air Canada), converted by Canadair in Montreal.
Work started in 1977, and the former airliner underwent considerable modifications. The SeaGuard MR.1's core system became an AN/APS-115 radar, a development of the earlier, analogue AN/APS-80A used in American aircraft like the P-3A .The AN/APS-115 was state of the art technology and the first attempt of digitization by providing digital input into the onboard digital combat system. The system was able to achieve a resolution of 1.5 ft and the typical range against a submarine periscope is 15.5 nautical miles. Since the 42" rotating search antenna necessitated a relatively large fairing. A draggy, ventral position (e. g. like the P-2 or Il-38) was ruled out, for aerodynamic and structural reasons, as well as for space for an internal weapon bay (see below), so that a characteristic "duck bill" radome was added to the SeaGuard's nose.
The SeaGuard MR.1 was also equipped with a magnetic anomaly detector (MAD) in an extended fiber glass tail stinger, far from other electronics and ferrous metals on the aircraft. The MAD enabled the aircraft's crew (a typical crew numbered roughly 9 members) to detect the magnetic anomaly of a submarine in the Earth's magnetic field. The limited range of this instrument required the aircraft to be near the submarine at low altitude, so that it could primarily be used for pinpointing the location of a submarine immediately prior to a torpedo or depth bomb attack.
Streamlined fairings under the outer wings carried extra fuel and a searchlight (starboard) as well as a missile guidance antenna and a 'sniffer' (port) that could detect exhaust fumes and particles from diesel submarines.
Ordnance was to be carried in a single internal bomb bay under the forward fuselage, which was structurally beefed up for the rougher conditions over sea and prolonged low altitude operations. Special care was also given to the structure's protection against the naval environment, too. An additional fuel tank was installed in the wing root section and, while the rear section carried a trim fuel tank, avionics and other, lighter mission equipment.
The 28 ft 4 in (8,64 m) long bay could house conventional Mark 50 torpedoes or Mark 46 torpedoes as well as mines and depth charges. Active and passive sonobuoys could also be carried in the bay, and there were also two vertical ejection shafts with pressure locks in the aft fuselage from which single sonobuoys or other sensor carriers could be manually dropped, e. g. for weather research. Additional underwing stations under the inner and outer wings could carry additional armament and equipment.
The first or a total of three SeaGuard conversions for the Thai Navy was delivered in early 1978, and the trio became fully operational in early 1979, serving in both military and civil duties, e. g. in offshore SAR and pollution control missions.
The Thai SeaGuard MR.1s were kept longer in service than expected. Originally, they were scheduled to serve until 1990, to be replaced by three ex USN P-3A ordered in 1989, but deliveries were delayed because of financial problems and government changes in Thailand, so that the old and well-worn SeaGuards had to soldier on.
In late 1993 the Orions destined for Thailand finally arrived at the NADEP at NAS Jacksonville, where the aircraft were modified to meet RTN requirements, two aircraft were modified to P-3T standard (mainly based on the TAC/NAV Mod version), the third was originally delivered as a UP-3T in late 1995, but was later modified to VP-3T standard with a strengthened floor, passenger seats and a limited SENTAC station enabling the aircraft to perform light surveillance duties. The last flight of a Royal Thai Navy SeaGuard MR.1 took place on October 3rd 1995, and all three aircraft were subsequently scrapped.
General characteristics:
Crew: 11
Length incl. MAD tail boom: 143 ft 5in (43.77 m)
Wingspan: 118 ft 7 in (36.10 m)
Height: 34 ft 11 in (10.60 m)
Wing area: 1,527 ft2 (142 m2)
Empty weight: 82,500 lb (37,421 kg)
Loaded weight: 141,000 lb (63,977 kg)
Powerplant:
4× Rolls-Royce Tyne RTy.11 Mk 512 turboprop, 5,545 hp (4,700 shp, 4,135 kW) each
Performance:
Maximum speed: 425 mph (684 km/h, 367 kn)
Cruise speed at altitude: 378 mph (610 km/h, 328 kn)
Patrol speed: 195 mph (315 km/h, 170 kn)
Range: 4,039 mi (6,500 km; 3,510 nmi) with 3,500 kg (7,709 lb) payload,
maximum fuel and reserves for one hour.
2,299 mi (3,700 km (2,010 nmi) with 5,448 kg (12.000 lb) maximum payload,
at 84 - 85% of maximum continuous power.
Combat radius: 1,546 mi (2,490 km, 1,346 nmi), three hours on-station at 1,500 feet
Endurance: 10 hours
Service ceiling: 28,300 ft[1] (8,625 m)
Wing loading: 92 lb/ft2 (450 kg/m2)
Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.26 kW/kg)
Armament:
Bomb bay with eight internal weapon stations
Six hardpoints under the outer wings for 127 mm (5.0 in) HVARs or missiles like the AGM-12 Bullpup,
AGM-62 Walleye or Martel ASM, or sensor and air sampling pods
Four more hardpoints under the inner wings for gravity bombs of up to 1.000 lb (454 kg) caliber,
various sea mines and depth charges, torpedoes or inflatable life rafts for rescue missions.
Total internal and external ordnance capacity of 12,000 lb (5.448 kg)
The kit and its assembly:
Another contribution to the 2016 “In the Navy” Group Build at whatifmodelers.com, and a build outside the usual comfort zone. This time, I wanted to build a whiffy maritime patrol aircraft, based on a classic post-WWII airliner, since there were and are many benchmarks (e.g. the Lockheed P-3, based on the Aurora, the Canadian CP-140 Argus, based on the Bristol Britannia, or the Il-38, based on the Il-18).
I found the Airfix Vickers Vanguard as potential basis – and there had actually been a maritime patrol proposal for the RAF. At least one respective whif kit had been built – and there’s even a kit conversion set available.
Anyway, I wanted a personal conversion, and the modifications are actually rather modest:
- Closure of many windows
- Implantation of a nose radome from a VEB Plasticart 1:100 Tu-20/95
- Adapted nose landing gear
- An MAD boom, made from heated, thick OOB sprue
- Underwing pods with a starboard search light (modified MiG 15 slipper tanks)
- A cockpit compartment w/o interior was added, primarily to block sight into the fuselage
- Several small radomes, antennae fairings and strakes were added along the upper and lower hull
- Propellers received a metal axis
- A bomb bay was simulated with engravings and semi-circular fairings, simulating door hinges
- External ordnance could have been added, but I resisted and kept the aircraft clean
- The clear styrene windows were omitted, later to be filled with ClearFix
While these mods appear rather simple, getting this vintage Airfix kit together turned out to be a real fight. No part actually matched another, lots of trimming and putty everywhere were necessary. Raised (even though very fine) panel lines, classic flash (not much, but annoying) and some sinkholes were included, too, as well as rather massive trailing edges. To make things worse, the fuselage halves turned out to be somewhat warped: the seam along the fuselage was canted inwards and the windscreen did not fit at all. O.K., it’s an old kit, but not an easy build, despite the limited number of parts.
Painting and markings:
This part turned out to be a true challenge. A self-evident option would have been an RAF aircraft, e .g. in Extra Sea Grey/Sky, white + grey (early Nimrod style), Hemp + Barley Grey or Medium Sea Grey, the latter two with low viz markings. But I found this option to be too obvious – and I wanted something flashy, and exotic.
Tedious legwork eventually revealed the Royal Thai Navy as potential operator, as well as several authentic livery options. The most pleasing (to me) was the flying boat’s (HU-16 and CL-215) design: overall dark blue with a white fuselage upper half and bright, orange-red wingtips and a fuselage band.
This design was simply adapted to the low-winged Vanguard airliner. The basic dark blue is Humbrol 104 (Oxford Blue), while the upper fuselage was painted first in a very light grey and off-white from the rattle can (which reacted with each other and yielded a mottled finish…). The rest was painted with brushes and lots of masking tape.
The orange wing tips and the fuselage band were created with decal sheet (TL Modellbau), in order to avoid the further trouble of masking and creating an opaque paint film. Black trim was added through generic decal stripes.
After basic painting was finished some panel shading/highlighting with pure white, Lufthansa Blau (Revell 350, RAL 5013) and dayglow orange was added for a more lively impression.
The Thai Navy route was further backed by several 1:144 decal sets from Siam Scale, a company from Thailand that offers a range of aftermarket decals for the country’s air force and navy vehicles.
Finally, the kit was sealed with a not-too-matt acrylic varnish, and as final step the fuselage windows were filled with Humbrol’s ClearFix, because this method was IMHO cleaner than the OOB clear styrene windows and the hustle of masking them, together with the risk of losing one or more in the painting process into the fuselage...
After all, and including many troubles, a pretty aircraft, even though the build as well as the paint job was more of a fight. I know why I do not like 1:144 scale as well as airliners either, and combining both turned out to be just as unnerving as expected… And with the duck bill radome, it’s probably the ugliest Vickers Vanguard ever imagined.
While I was searching the Hoop Love pool for a pattern, I came across this sea scene submitted by user bcampell_to: www.flickr.com/photos/briancampbell/5118571319/. When I showed it to my boyfriend, he thought it'd be funny to have the seagulls attack a picnic rather than a wave. Cue a few minutes search, when I found this pattern submitted by user rectangle: www.flickr.com/photos/rectangel/2314303997/
The major modifications include removing the car and bread from the picnic and the sea from the sea gulls. The picnic blanket is in back stitch, whereas the original called for running stitch. I added in some more grass to help cover the spot the car occupied and took out a few flowers and grass where they conflicted with the seagulls. I also only used three of the original five seagulls.
This is the first vintage pattern I've sewn, and it was quite fun! There is a lot of detached chain stitches in this piece, as well as a nod to me and my boyfriend (it's incredibly subtle.)