View allAll Photos Tagged helldivers
so, it turns out this is a SB2C Helldiver and not a Dauntless after all.. we took some measurements and found it to be significantly bigger than a Dauntless and with a different caliber gun.
ooops!
check out the video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W6cnKKCqHQ
PictionID:55945940 - Catalog:Photo NAS Glynco hangar interior July 1944 - Title:Array - Filename:Bolduc_21.tif - Image from the Theodore Bolduc collection. Ted enlisted in the Navy at the start of World War II and served as an Aviation Photographer, assigned primarily to "Lighter Than Air" (blimp) squadrons in Georgia and Florida. He married Navy nurse Bernice Fournier, from Waterville, Maine, in 1946.------Please Tag these images so that the information can be permanently stored with the digital file.---Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum
To buy the instructions for this model, visit my Rebrickable page!
rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-175210/Computer_073/helldivers-2...
Coming straight from the planet Tien Kwan and its mech factory's. I present to you the Exo-45 Patriot Exo-suit! made to spread democracy freedom and liberty to all planets! Now in Lego form.
This model has 523 parts and is almost Minifigure scale with all needed details that's in the mech in game. which includes the eye slit at the front, the complex geometry of the mech, its overall physic, tall and chunky, the hatch on top of the mech and I've even added the little gas cans that's on the back of the mech :)
please note that the mech does not have any opening hatch's or an interior as the insides of the model
were used to make the paneling which shouldn't matter as you only see the inside of the mech for a split second when entering it.
The model is around about 15-20% bigger then the in game mech as i wanted to make it as faithful to its in game counterpart.
The model can stand by itself with full articulation in the legs (cannot stand on one leg) and the weapons and torso can swivel. I have tested the model irl and it holds together perfectly fine with no issues so im sure you wont have any.
As for the instructions if you have any complaints or issues understanding the instructions please feel free to message me I will be happy to help :).
Measurements are
Width: 11.7cm
Length: 9.2cm
Height:16.6cm
The vehicle in the photograph- or one like it- at the U. S. Army Transportation Museum was found in the jungle of New Guinea during World War II. What follows is the story of the car as presented in a 1944 Plymouth advertisement in Life Magazine.
"She's Back Among Friends Again"
They came smashing through the Japanese lines and there it was- a 1941 Plymouth De Luxe Sedan in the heart of New Guinea jungle.
On its side was painted the enemy's rising sun insignia. American bullets had drilled the machine so full of holes that the entire top had to be removed. But the motor, according to Staff Sgt. Kenneth B. Schooley, who described the incident, was "in excellent condition, despite having a few large caliber bullets bounce off it."
After the usual rough jungle travel, he writes, "It's riding on air." At last report, the sedan was no long "De Luxe" but it was doing a real job on New Guinea. The medical detachment requisitioned it, took out the back seat, put in a floor, and was using the Plymouth to transport wounded troops from the front.
Plymouth records show that this historic car went from the factory to a dealer on Guam. Probably the Japanese seized it there and took it with them to New Guinea. The full story won't be known until after the war - if then.
But there's no mystery about the reason why Plymouth is a great car on New Guinea or on Main Street. Plymouths were designed and manufactured to do their job under the worst conditions and the best. That quality is now going into Bofors anti-aircraft guns assembles for Helldivers, many other war needs. Meanwhile, these millions of Plymouths are proving their stamina on the roads. They may have to last a long time. They're built to do that when serviced by experienced Plymouth dealers.
Curtis SB2C Helldiver at the 2011 Wings Over Houston Air Show
The Douglas SBD originally was the US Navy's principal dive bomber at the beginning of World War II but was eventually replaced by this plane. It served with the Navy until 1947 and with reserve units until 1950. The French navy used it until 1958.
Built for 'Airfix Mdel World' magazine. I would probably have achieved a better and more accurate result with the Academy kit, but I must admit I enjoyed building this old 60s beast.
New pics from an old model! This PA-58N model had been an early attempt to modifiy an out-of-the box kit: after I got hold of a PA-58N "Halk Sovat" (ended up in its original livery, even though with different markings due to poor decals) and, much later, a blue/gray standard PA-58N from the TV series, I wanted to add some drama and a personal touch. Just having seen the movie "Predator" at that time (must have been in the Nineties, I guess :rolleyes:), I knew that a mini gatling gun HAD to be integrated. Et voilà, this became the fictional "MG" version! ;-)
The main modification was the scratch-built gatling gun, made from plastic bits and hollow needles as barrels, mounted onto the left arm and replacing the respective hand. Then came a flexible ammunition feeder belt that runs along the arm to the PA-58's back, made from rubber. Worked initially well, but the material became brittle over the years and needs a replacement now. Additionally, small rocket launchers were added on top of the shoulders, which are/were modified drop tanks from a Matchbox SB2C "Helldiver" kit in 1:72, holding spare rockets from the PAM-74 Tinkle SAM kit. Furthermore, for extra mobility and somewhat inspired by a modified PA-58N in one of the conversion booklets that came with the original Gunze Sangyo PA kits, I added some rocket thrusters on the back and on the legs, leftover from a 1:144 Revell Space Shuttle kit. Beyond these mods, some more minor details from the scratch box were added, for a grittier overall look.
The color scheme is also fictional/non-canonical. Today it would certainly look more color- and/or contrastful. However, the jungle theme from the "Predator" movie prevailed and it was turned into a disruptive 3 color overall scheme in a medium, yellowish earth tone (Tamiya XF-49 "Khaki"), a bluish dark green (Tamiya XF-11 "JN Green") and light grey as a stark contrast to break up egdes and outlines (Tamiya XF-12 "IJN Grey"). The only color contrast became the blue "breast box" with the emergency ejection system. The model was lightly weathered, even though I do not remember which methods I used back then (probably only some dry-brushing, skills and tools were then not as sophisticated as today). The decals/markings had to be fully replaced because they had turned blind and were not usable anymore.
Vintage stuff, but still "part of the family", so that the model deserved some more/better pics than before, which were IIRC still analogue photo film shots, with scanned pictures to be posted here. ;-)
Curtiss SB2C-5 Helldiver
BuNo: 83589
Registration: N92879
CAF Airsho 2010 (Midland, Texas)
Photo by www.KensAviation.com
Podilymbus podiceps has an astounding number of other names, such as American dabchick, rail, dabchick, Carolina grebe, devil-diver, dive-dapper, dipper, hell-diver, pied-billed dabchick, pied-bill, thick-billed grebe, and water witch. This is the first time I have ever seen one.
Curtiss SB2C-5 Helldiver:
airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/curtiss-sb2c-5-hell...
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center /
National Air and Space Museum
Image from the McKinney Commemorative Air Force event this weekend. The only flying Helldiver as I understand it. Beautiful plane.
Title: Navy dive bomber for Curtiss Propeller Company
Creator: Richie, Robert Yarnall
Date: ca. 1941
Part Of: Robert Yarnall Richie photographs
Physical Description: 1 photographic print: gelatin silver; 9 x 12 cm.
Form/Genre: Photographs; Photographic prints; Gelatin silver prints
File: ag1982_0234_2212_1_opt.jpg
Rights: Please cite DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University when using this file. A high-resolution version of this file may be obtained for a fee. For details see the sites.smu.edu/cul/degolyer/research/permissions/ web page. For other information, contact degolyer@smu.edu.
For more information, see: digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ryr/id/27
View the Robert Yarnall Richie Photographs at: digitalcollections.smu.edu/all/cul/ryr/
The big Curtiss Helldiver was a carrier-borne dive-bomber which entered service with the U.S. Navy in late 1943. This beautifully restored SB2C-5, BuNo 83393, was built in early 1945. She has just completed a 17-year restoration programme, only flying again for the first time a few days before being seen here during AirVenture at Oshkosh. This is one of only two airworthy Helldivers in the world.
Some more new pictures from a relatively old model, due to public interest.
This is a kit conversion of Bandai's ARL-99B "Helldiver" kit. I found the idea of a military Labor in JGSDF use pretty conclusive, so I cooked up this close relative as a pure ground use Labor. So, the "Raijin" has become a light and highly mobile army support Labor for the Japanese Army during the Millennium era, its use would be observation/scouting, support for light/mobile ground troops and tasks which would call for high mobility and secrecy, e .g. as an enemy Labor/tank sniper...
The basic Helldiver frame was kept, but the conversion includes a different head and cockpit arrangement, as well as "normal" legs - the air brakes from the ARL-99B have been "closed", the holes PSRed away. I also added hand-held armament: a single-action anti-labor rifle for sniping purposes (a converted piece from a 1:144 Gundam RX-79) and a kind of machine pistol (from the same donor kit), kept in a hip holster, but detachable.
The 3-color camouflage scheme was inspired by JASDF fighter paint schemes - the SEA-style scheme used on RF-4E Phantom II's and F-1 fighters. I just got the colors VERY wrong - at the time I built this model, I just had a few print pictures of such aircraft, and I ended up with Humbrol 66, 98 and 121 as basic colors, the brown and green ended up much too dark. This looks a bit wacky, esp. for Japan, but when the model is placed into typical Japanese mountaineous landscape or into a forest setting, it fits surprisingly well!
The diorama was built on a 8x8" base and includes some rocks (made from plaster and water-based paint), a small pond in the front and a tree that is to remind of a mountain pine. I based the sloped ground on pictures from Japanese mountain sites.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
In 1932, the United States Navy contracted the Curtiss-Wright Corporation to produce a modern, two-seat fighter design for use on its growing family of aircraft carriers. Curtiss responded by putting forth their Model 73 - a two-seat monoplane design featuring a single set of parasol wings fitted high atop the fuselage, and the US Navy designated the prototype as XF12C-1.
The Model 73 was powered by a single Wright R-1510-92 Whirlwind 14 series radial piston engine and sported a modern retractable undercarriage. The Curtiss product achieved first flight in 1933 though, by the end of the year, the US Navy had revamped their requirement and categorized the XF12C-1 prototype as the "XS4C-1 scout plane". Once again, this time in early 1934, the US Navy reorganized their needs and labeled the XS4C-1 as the "XSBC-1 dual-role scout-bomber". Curtiss fitted a Wright R-1820 Cyclone series radial piston engine to the design and testing of the prototype ensued.
Among the evaluations was a dive bombing test in September of 1934 that resulted in a failure of the parasol monoplane wing assembly. Testing had shown that the parasol wing assembly was generally unfit for the stresses of what the new aircraft would be called upon to achieve. As a result, the US Navy ordered a new prototype to fall in line with stricter requirements.
Curtiss once again delivered an answer, this time the Model 77, to which the US Navy affixed the designation of XSBC-2. This machine was powered by a new engine,a Wright R-1510-12 Whirlwind 14 series radial. First flight of the XSBC-2 was recorded on December 9th, 1935. In March of 1936, a Pratt & Whitney R-1535-82 Twin Wasp Junior radial piston engine was fitted to the airframe, resulting in the revised company designation of "Model 77A" and the respective US Navy designation "XSBC-3".
Design of the SBC Helldiver was a mix of two eras of aviation: On the one hand, the design was characterized by its staggered, uneven span biplane wing arrangement with thick outboard struts, cabling and skeletal inboard struts holding the wings in place. On the other hand, the fuselage was a streamlined, all-metal construction, contouring finely to a tapered end to which a rounded vertical tail fin was affixed. The undercarriage, while retractable, still sported its visible wheels tucked in alongside each forward fuselage side. Like other aircraft of this period, the SBC took on a noticeable "nose-up" stance when at rest, being fitted with a small, semi-retractable tail wheel at the empennage base and an arrester hook for carrier operations. The crew of two sat in tandem under a single, long canopy with heavy framing with generally poor forward views of the oncoming action. The cockpit was set at amidships, well aft of both wing assemblies.
Being powered by an air-cooled radial engine, driving a three-bladed propeller, the SBC Helldiver could afford top speeds of 234 miles per hour with a base 175 mile per hour cruise speed. Service ceiling was limited to 24,000 feet while range was out to 405 miles.
Armament was rather modest and included a pair of 0.30 caliber machine guns (one forward fixed for the pilot and the other on a trainable mount in the rear cockpit) with an optional 500 lb (227 kg) bombload along the fuselage centerline. The latter was held by a swing arm that would keep the bomb out of the propeller disc during dive attacks and was augmented by additional shackles under the lower wings for single light bombs.
The United States Navy, content with the latest Curtiss-Wright offering, contracted the company in 1936 to deliver some 83 SBC-3 "Helldiver" production-quality aircraft. Initial deliveries occurred in July 1937 to Squadron VS-5 of the carrier USS Yorktown. By all reports, the SBC proved to have a rather pleasant airframe to control. But the constantly changing world of technology in the late 1930s solidified the SBC as an out-of-date design, forcing the scout bomber to undertake second-line duties in the training of upcoming airmen out of Florida. When the Japanese Empire unleashed their surprise attack on the US Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7th, 1941 - thusly thrusting America into full-fledged world war - the SBC was more or less accepted as an obsolete design.
Curtiss worked on improving the base SBC-3 series design and set one airframe aside for such work. The resulting tests yielded the new Model 77B to which the US Navy appended the designation of SBC-4.
To go along with several improvements, like self-sealing tanks and a bigger bomb load of up to 1.000 lb (454 kg) and additional underwing hardpoints, was a more powerful Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 series radial piston engine of 850 horsepower.
The US Navy signed a production contract for 174 examples of this mount in January 1938 with the first deliveries beginning in March of 1939, followed by formal service entry. By this time, Europe was already completely engulfed in a war that would soon spread beyond its borders, and foreign orders, e. g. from France, ensued.
Regardless, the outdated biplane dive-bomber soldiered on with both US Navy and Marine Corps branches aboard such active carriers as the USS Hornet. But, overall, the SBC Helldiver would only lead a short active life with the US Navy, being soon replaced by much-improved types.
Until its retirement, the SBC still found use in supportive roles. Furthermore, the SBC was, on a limited scale, employed for reconnaissance, patrol and pathfinder tasks in composite squadrons (together with F4F Wildcat fighters and TBM Avenger torpedo bombers) on board of small escort carriers in the Atlantic theatre of operations, where its compact size and good handling were appreciated.
To ensure something of a legacy, the SBC Helldiver was in fact the last biplane aircraft to be purchased by the United States Navy. The longest Curtiss SBCs to survive were 12 aircraft at NAS Jacksonville, Florida, which were stricken off-charge on 31st October 1944.
General characteristics:
Crew: two; pilot and observer gunner
Length: 28 ft 1⅝ in (8.57 m)
Wingspan: 34 ft 0 in (10.36 m)
Height: 10 ft 5 in (3.17 m)
Wing area: 317 ft² (29.4 m²)
Empty weight: 4,552 lb (2,065 kg)
Loaded weight: 7,080 lb (3,211 kg)
Max. take-off weight: 7,632 lb (3,462 kg)
Powerplant:
1× Wright R-1820-34 radial engine, rated at 850 hp (634 kW)
Performance:
Maximum speed: 234 mph (203 knots, 377 km/h) at 15,200 ft (4,600 m)
Cruise speed: 175 mph (152 knots, 282 km/h)
Range with internal fuel: 405 mi (352 nmi, 652 km)
Service ceiling: 24,000 ft (7,320 m)
Rate of climb: 1,630 ft/min (8.28 m/s)
Armament:
1× 0.30 in (7.62 mm) forward-firing M1919 Browning machine gun
1× 0.30 in (7.62 mm) machine gun firing rearward on a flexible mount in the rear cockpit
1× underfuselage hardpoint for a bomb of up to 1.000 lb (454 kg)
or a 45-U.S.-gallon (170-liter) fuel tank
2× underwing hardpoints for 100 lb (45 kg) bombs or flares
The kit and its assembly:
The Curtiss SBC is a kind of ugly duckling and certainly not an aircraft that left any serious impression in history. Nevertheless, its odd mix of modern and vintage design features makes it an interesting subject, and I wanted to build one for a long time. The extended timeframe for the “Old Kit Group Build” at whatifmodelers.com was a welcome motivation to finally dig out a Heller SBC kit (moulds date back from 1979, Matchbox countered with another SBC only one year later) from the stash and build it.
The kit did not see any whiffy mod, was built basically OOB, but received some detail changes and additions. These include a machine gun dummy in the observer’s station, a scratched bomb displacement swing as well as underwing hardpoints, some superficial cockpit and landing gear opening details, as well as lowered flaps and the wiring between the wings – thankfully, only little work of the latter was necessary on the relatively modern biplane design, even though may of the wing wirings are double, so that the work was still challenging. As per usual, I reverted to heated sprues, glued to the kit before painting. The crew (Hobby Master soft vinyl figures) was only added for the beauty pics – in order to make this possible the long greenhouse canopy was cut into four pieces and the sliding parts left unglued to the fuselage.
Otherwise, the kit itself is an easy build with good detail (raised panel lines, though), just the plastic is a bit thin and wobbly, making a good fit not easy. This was not made easier by the fact that the part with the struts for the upper wings had been squashed and bent through other sprues in the box. Getting them back into shape and place for a proper fit was not easy, but with patience and some trial-and-error I was able to save the situation.
Painting and markings:
AFAIK, the SBCs in US Navy service were initially either left in bare metal (with some colorful pre-war squadron markings and the characteristic yellow wings), and, later, some machines operated in the Pacific TO received the early USN Blue Grey/Light Gull Grey livery, and, alternatively, some were painted all-over light-grey (FS 36440?).
I could not find any proof concerning SBCs being operated on carriers in the Atlantic TO, in fact it seems that the SBC was only carried on board of a single carrier, USS Lexington (CV-2). But I deemed the compact aircraft to be pretty suited for smaller escort ships - similar to the Grumman F4F Wildcat, which soldiered on, too, for a long time despite being a pre-war design.
This idea was the basis for my what-if model, and resulted in a machine painted accordingly in the “Atlantic ASW Scheme” with Dark Gull Grey (FS 36231) on the upper surfaces and off-white undersides, with a high waterline. Rather simple and unspectacular, but it suits the SBC well and is rarely seen on USN model kits, most tend to end up in Pacific TO colors.
For painting I used Humbrol 106 (RAF Ocean Grey) and 147 (FS 36495) – both are darker than the authentic tones, but the latter were used for shading (Humbrol 140 and 34, respectively). Reason behind this is that I deemed esp. pure white to be too bright as basic color, leaving no room for post-shading on panels and details. Effectively, it’s a kind of overall pre-shading procedure.
The cockpit became US Interior Green (Humbrol 226), while the visible interior of the landing gear and the cowling became zinc chromate yellow (Humbrol 81), a nice, colorful detail.
The kit was lightly weathered with black ink, too, and received only minimal markings in the form of “Stars & Bars” and a tactical code – another typical feature of machines operated in the Atlantic. As a little (yet authentic) design twist I applied American roundels with a red border, which were mandatory only for a short period in mid-1943 – for the built, fictional SBC they would fit well, and AFAIK this insignia variant lingered on for some time, so that even in late 1943 these must still have been a frequent sight.
After simulating some soot and oil stains as well as flaked paint on the fuselage and leading edges, the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).
Again, a relatively simple but subtle whif version of a rather unpopular and forgotten aircraft – but I must say that the Atlantic scheme suits the anachronistic SBC well. With the other colorful details (green cockpit, yellow engine parts, red roundel edges) I was able to make the simple kit look more interesting than expected.
DISCLAIMER
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
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Some background:
The mighty Suchoj SuCh-1 started its life in early March 1943, when the Sukhoi OKB finished work on the design of a high-speed fighter with a unique powerplant arrangement. The aircraft was an all-metal low-wing monoplane with conventional tail surfaces. The three-section wings had constant dihedral and basically trapezoidal planform; the stabilizers had zero dihedral.
Two Klimov M-107 water-cooled Vee-12 engines, each with a. take-off power of 1 ,600 hp (1,193 kW) and a maximum design power of 1,500 hp (1,119 kW) at 5,500 m (18,045 ft), were mounted in the center fuselage in a staggered-tandem arrangement: the front engine was offset to starboard and of the rear one to port. Thus, the total power was increased but the drag was the same as for a single-engined aircraft, which was expected to increase fight speed considerably. Consequently, the project was internally designated 'I-2M107', literally "Article powered by two M107 engines".
Furthermore, the left cylinder bank of the front engine and the right cylinder bank of the rear engine were disposed vertically, so that each engine had one set of exhaust stubs on top of the fuselage and one on the fuselage side. Both engines drove a single three blade tractor propeller of 4.0 m (13 tt 2 in) diameter via parallel extension shafts and a common reduction gearbox. Both water radiators were located side by side in a chin housing, while the oil coolers were buried in the wings. The total fuel capacity of the four tanks arranged in the center fuselage was 1,113 litres (244.86 Imp. gal).
Because of the power plant arrangement and the large ground angle (necessary to give adequate ground clearance for the large propeller) the cockpit was offset to port and placed ahead of the wing leading edge to provide better forward visibility on take-off and landing. The cockpit was protected by a bulletproof windscreen, a front armor plate and an armored backrest; the armor weight totaled 70kg (154Ib).
The main landing gear units with 800 x 280 mm (31.5x11 in) wheels retracted inwards into the wing roots and the 400 x 150 mm (15.7 x 5.9 in) tail wheel retracted aft. The fighter's armament consisted of two wing-mounted 12.7-mm Berezin UBS machine-guns firing outside the propeller disc and a single 20-mm ShVAK cannon firing through the propeller hub*.
A full-scale mock-up was inspected in December 1943, and with German long range bombers threatening the Western front line as well as the lack of a fast and powerful fighters to intercept them (the earlier MiG-5 had turned out to be a disappointment, and Mikoyan's I-211/221 family if high altitude fighters also suffered from serious technical problems at that time), OKB Suchoj received an immediate go-ahead for further development of the SuCh-1, how the I-2M107 was now officially called, since Vladimir A. Chizhevskiy took lead of the project.
In the course of 1944 three prototypes went through a fast development program. While the aircraft itself was easy to handle, overheating problems and trouble with the gearbox for the two engines could only partly be rectified - esp. the power transmission should remain the SuCh-1s Achilles Heel.
Anyway, the Su-5 was ready for service introduction towards late 1944, and the powerful type was exclusively to be used as an interceptor. Several improvements had been made, compared to the prototypes: now two slightly more powerful Klimov VK-107A engines were used, which were better suited for high altitude operations, and the chin-mounted water cooler was considerably enlarged. The oil coolers had been re-designed and they were now placed under the wing roots.
The wing span had been extended by 6' and a bigger (now 4.3m diameter!), four-bladed propeller was added in order to improve performance at high altitude. No pressurized cabin was installed, but the cockpit received an extended glazing for better all-round field of vision.
Armament had also been augmented: now a Nudelman N-23 23mm cannon was firing through the propeller hub, and the number of UBS machine-guns in the wings was increased to four.
As initial duty experience was gathered, it became quickly clear that the firepower had to be augmented, so that the propeller-hub-mounted 23mm cannon was quickly replaced by a Nudelman-Richter NR-37 37mm cannon, and the four wing-mounted UBS machine guns were replaced by two 20-mm ShVAK cannons or even two Nudelman N-23 23mm cannons - the latter became the production standard from March 1945 on, even though the type's designation did not change.
Experience also showed that the overheating problem had been cured, but the complicated gear box tended to malfunction, esp. when full power was called for in aerial combat: high G forces took their toll and damaged the bearings, even warping the extension shafts and structural parts, so that some SuCh-1 were literally torn apart in mid-air.
The high torque powers of the large propeller also took their toll on handling: starting and landing was described as "hazardous", esp. when the fuel tanks were empty or in cross winds.
Consequently, SuCh-1 pilots were warned to engage into any dogfight or enter close combat with single-engined enemy fighters, and just focus on large enemy aircraft.
On the other side, the SuCh-1's powerful cannon armament made it a deadly foe: a single hit with the NR-37 cannon could down an aircraft, and its top speed of roundabout 700 km/h (435 mph) was more than enough for the Luftwaffe's heavy bomber types like the He 177.
Several engine and armament experiments were undertaken. For instance, at least one SuCh-1 was outfitted with a Nudelman-Sooranov NS-45 45mm cannon firing through the propeller hub, even a 57mm cannon was envisaged. Furthermore, one airframe was prepared to carry two Charomskiy M-30V 12 cylinder diesel engines, in order to produce a heavy long-range escort fighter (internally called I-2M30V).
In order to minimize the torque problems a contraprop arrangement with two three-bladed propellers and a diameter of only 3.6m was under development.
All in all only 120 of these powerful machines were built until the end of hostilities, as the feared mass attacks of German long range bombers did not materialize. as the Su-7 was complicated to operate and jet engines promised a far more efficient way of propulsion for high speeds, the type was already retired in 1947 and replaced by 1st generation jet fighters like the Yak-15 and MiG-9, which carried a similar armament, attained a better performance (except for the range) but weighed only half of the large and heavy SuCh-1.
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General characteristics
Crew: One
Length: 11.75 m (38 ft 5 3/4 in)
Wingspan: 13.85 m (45 ft 3 1/4 in)
Height: 5.30 m (17 ft 4 in)
Empty weight: 5.250 kg (11.565 lb)
Max. take-off weight: 8.100 kg (17.840 lb)
Powerplant:
2× Klimov VK-107A liquid-cooled V12 engines with an output of 1.650 hp (1.210 kW) each at sea level and 900 hp (650 kW) at 8.300m (27.220 ft)
Performance:
Maximum speed: 720 km/h (447 mph) at height, clean configuration
Range: 750 km (465 mi)
Service ceiling: 11.700 m (38.400 ft)
Rate of climb: 876 m/mim (2.850 ft/min)
Armament:
1× Nudelman-Richter NR-37 37mm cannon with 60 RPG, firing through the propeller hub
2× Nudelman N-23 23mm cannons with 120 RPG in the wings
Many different cannon and machine gun arrangements coulod be found, though.
*Information about the conceptual Suchoj I-2M107 was primarily gathered from the book 'OKB Suchoj', written by Yefim Gordon & Dmitriy Komissarov; Hersham (UK), 2010.
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The kit and its assembly (a long story!):
This abomination of an aircraft is/was real, even though the I-2M107 was never built – the fictional name Suchoj-Chizhevskiy SuCh-1 was actually chosen because I could not find any plausible Su-X code for a WWII fighter. Vladimir A. Chizhevskiy actually joined the Suchoj OKB in mid WWII, so I deemed this alternative to be plausible.
I had this on the agenda for a long time, but the horrors of kitbashing kept me from building it - until now. The current Anthony P memorial Group Build (for the deceased fellow member at whatifmodelers.com, RIP) was a good motivation to tackle this brute thing. Fortunately, I already had some major ingredients in store, so work could start asap.
From that, anything else was improvised from the scrap box, and with only a three side view of the I-2M107 as guidance. It became a true Frankenstein creation with...
● Fuselage and inner wings from the (horrible) NOVO Attacker
● Wings from an Italeri Fw 190 D-9 attached to them
● Nose is a resin Griffon from an Avro Lincoln conversion set from OzMods
● Tail cone is a radar nose from an F-4J Phantom II
● Tail fin is a horizontal stabilizer from a Matchbox SB2C Helldiver
● Vertical stabilizers come from a Matchbox Me 410
● Oil coolers are modified front landing gear wells from two Revell G.91 kits
● Cockpit hood comes from a Revell P-39 Airacobra
● Landing gear comes from an Italeri Fw 190 D-9, covers were modified/improvised
● Main wheels belong to a MPM Ryan Dark Shark
● Tail wheel belongs to a Matchbox Harrier
● The propeller was scratched, IIRC from a Grumman Hellcat drop tank front and blades from an Airfix A-1 Skyraider. Inside, a metal axis was mounted.
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Work started with the fuselage and the wings as separate segments.
The Attacker fuselage lost its fin and the cockpit and air intakes were simply cut away, just as the tail pipe. The resin Griffon was slightly shortened at the front, but more or less directly attached to the fuselage, after I had cut out openings for the four rows of exhaust nozzles.
Then, the new tail cone was glued onto the end and the original fairings for the Attacker's stabilizer cut away and sanded even - anything had to be made new.
The wings were a bit tricky. I had hoped to use the Attacker's OOB wings, but these were not only much too small and did not have the proper shape, they also lacked landing gear wells!
Finding a solution was not easy, and I had to improvise. After some trials I decided to cut the Attacker wing span at about the width where the guns are located, and then add Fw 190 wings.
The depth would be fine, even though the Fw 190 wings were a bit thicker, and they offered a leading edge kink which was good for the original and characteristic I-2M107's wing root extensions. The latter were sculpted from a 6mm thick core or styrene sheet, added to the Attacker parts' leading edge, and the rest, as well as the lacking Attacker wing's thickness, sculpted with 2C and later NC putty.
Furthermore I cut out and sculpted landing gear wells, another challenging, since these had to cover the Attacker/Fw 190 parts' intersection! LOTS of putty work, sanding and shaving, but as a benefit I was able to use the Attacker kit's original wing/fuselage joints. Effectively, my placement turned out to be a bit far outside, so the track appears too wide - the price to pay when you work on single parts. Anyway, I left it was it turned out, as a major correction at a late working stage would mean to tear anything apart again...
Back to the nose: adding the propeller and the cockpit into the massive nose was the next working station. The propeller had to be huge, and also needed a rather big spinner. A contraprop was ruled out, even though it would have looked great here. But eventually I settled for a scratch-built thing, made from a teardrop-shaped drop tank front onto which the four blades from a A-1 Skyraider were glued. Probably the biggest prop I have ever put onto a 1:72 scale model! Since the resin nose was massive, drilling a hole and adding a metal axis to the propeller was enough.
With that in place I started carving out a cockpit opening - it worked better and easier than expected with a mini drill and a coarse shaving head! The opening is still rather small, a seat and a pilot hardly fit, but it works - I found a rather smallish pilot figure, and added a seat and some other small details from the scrap box, just to have something inside.
For a canopy I found a very old (30 years, I guess...) clear part from a Revell P-39 Airacobra in the scrap box, which was almost perfect in shape and width. It was a bit blind and stained with ancient enamel paint, but some wet sanding and serious polishing almost got it back to translucent status. Since I would not open the cockpit, this was a sufficient solution.
The asymmetrical cockpit opening was, in an initial step, faired with styrene strips, for a rough outline, and then sculpted with 2C and later NC putty, blending it into the rest of the fuselage.
For the tail surfaces, the SB2C stabilizer was cut away at its base - it is not a bad donation piece, its shape and rudder come pretty close to the I-2M107's original design!
The stabilizers I used on my kitbash come from a Me 410, and their leading edge was a cut away so that the sweep angle would be a bit larger. They lack depth, compared to the I-2M107's original design, but since the wings have become more slender, too, I think it's a good compromise, and the best what I had at hand in the spares stash.
Finally, and before detail work could start, the wings were attached to the fuselage. I eventually set them back by ~6mm, so that the new, extended leading edge would match the respective fairing on the fuselage. The resulting gap at the trailing edge was, again, filled with 2C and NC putty.
A personal change was a different oil cooler arrangement. The original location was to be in the wings' leading edge, just in front of the landing gear wells - but that appeared a bit doubtful, as I could not find a plausible solution where the exit for the air would be? Consequently, and in order to avoid even more messy putty sculpting on the wings, I decided to re-locate the oil coolers completely, into shallow, tunnel-like fairings under the wing roots, not unlike the radiator arrangement on a Spitfire or Bf 109.
In order to check the surface quality I decided to add a coat of grey primer, once the fuselage/wing segments had been connected. This showed only minor flaws, but made another turn with NC putty and wet sanding necessary.
Now it was time for finishing touches, e .g. mounting the landing gear, completing the cockpit and adding exhaust stubs - cut individually from HO scale model railroad roof tiles and inserted into the four fuselage fairings.
The canopy was fixed into place with white glue, which also helped closing some small gaps.
.
Painting and markings:
While the I-2M107 looks odd, to say the least, I wanted to keep the paint scheme rather simple and quasi-authentic. I went for a pale grey/green camouflage, used e. g. on late war Yakovlev Yak-3 fighters.
Basic colors are Humbrol 31 (Slate Grey, it has a very greenish, even teal, hue), ModelMaster 1740 (Dark Gull Grey, FS 36231) and Humbrol 167 (Barley Grey) for the lower sides with a wavy waterline. Since only marginal surface details were left over, I decided to fake panels and panel lines with paint.
Panels were simulated with lighter shades of the basic tones (RLM 62 from ModelMaster, Humbrol 140 and 127 below), panel lines were painted with highly thinned grey acrylic paint and a special brush - in German it's called a 'Schlepppinsel', it's got very long hairs and is also used to paint scallops on car models, and similar things are used for real car tuning/custom paintwork, too.
Sure, the painted panel lines are a bit rough, but I did not want to risk any damage through manual engraving on the rather delicate mixed-media surface of the kitbashed model. For an overall look or first impression it's very good, though.
As 'highlights' I added a white spinner and half of the fin was painted white, too.
The decals were puzzled together. The flashes and the tactical code number come from a Hobby Boss La-7, the Red Stars, IIRC, belong to a vintage MiG-21F from Hasegawa. The "Rodinu" slogan actually belongs to a 1:35 Soviet Tank decals set.
Finally, after some additional dry painting with light grey, some oil stains around the engines and coolers and soot stains at the exhaust stubs and guns (painted, plus some grinded graphite, as it yields a nice, metallic shimmer that looks like oil or burnt metal), everything was sealed under a coat of matt acrylic varnish.
If it had been built, the Suchoj I-2M107 must have been an impressive aircraft - it was bigger than a P-47 Thunderbolt or an A-1 Skyraider, and one can only wonder how its field performance would have been?
Similar concepts had been underway in UK, too, e. g. for a heavy naval attack aircraft, but the I-2M107 with its asymmetrical cockpit and engine arrangement were unique. A worthy whif, even if some details like the landing gear or the borrowed nose section are not 100% 'correct'.
Curtiss SB2C Helldiver Civil Registration N92879 83589 USN USS Franklin
Carrier-based dive bomber aircraft produced for the United States Navy during World War II. It replaced the Douglas SBD Dauntless in US Navy service.
Photo taken at Mid Atlantic Air Museum WWII Weekend Spaatz Field Reading Regional Airport June 2018
ABD_1482
In early 1945, the USS Intrepid carried four different types of aircraft: the TBF/TBM Avenger, F4U Corsair, F6F Hellcat and the SB2C Helldiver. Two down, two more to go!
An old Curtiss SB2C Helldiver sitting in an airfield in the Philippines.
Thanks to Hawk914 for providing model info on the picture.
Taken by Edward Madden.
Pied meaning two or more colors, as referring to the black-and-white bill on this alternate plumaged individual.
Atascadero, San Luis Obispo County, California, USA.
The use of ANY of my photos, of any file size, for any purpose, is subject to approval by me. Contact me for permission. My email address is available at my Flickr profile page. Larger file sizes of my images are available upon request.
+++ 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:
During the interwar period, the U.S. Navy Command had placed considerable emphasis upon the role of armed aerial reconnaissance aircraft. To meet this interest, during 1931, the young Great Lakes Aircraft Company (founded in 1929 in Cleveland, Ohio) decided to embark on the development of a new naval combat aircraft to meet this role. The new aircraft, which was designated as the SBG, was a relatively modern all-metal design, even though some conservative traits like a fixed landing gear were kept.
The SBG was a low-wing cantilever monoplane, featuring all-metal, metal-covered construction. The crew of three consisted of a pilot, a bombardier and a rear gunner. The bombardier's combat station was situated in a gondola underneath the hull. The pilot was positioned well forward in the fuselage with an excellent field of view, within a fully enclosed, air-conditioned and heated cockpit, while the observer was seated directly behind him and could descend into the ventral gondola during applicable parts of a given mission, where he had an unobstructed field of view underneath the aircraft. A lookout station at the gondola’s front end could be outfitted with a bombsight.
The fixed undercarriage was covered with spats and comprised a pair of cantilever struts and single tail wheel, all of which were outfitted with pneumatic shock absorbers. One of the more unusual features of the SBG was the design of its three-piece low-mounted wing: In order to produce a wing that was both light and strong, the wing construction combined a revolutionary heavy-gauge corrugated duralumin center box and a multi-cellular trailing edge, along with a partially stressed exterior skin composed of duralumin. It was one of the earliest implementations of a metal sandwich structure in the field of aviation. Furthermore, the wings could, for storage on carriers, be manually folded back, just outside of the landing gear.
The fuselage of the SBG had an oval-section structure, composed of a mixture of duralumin frames and stringers, which were strengthened via several struts on the middle section. The fuselage exterior was covered with smooth duralumin sheet, which was internally reinforced in some areas by corrugated sheeting. The rear fuselage featured a semi-monocoque structure. A cantilever structure composed of ribs and spars was used for the tail unit; fin and tail plane were covered by duralumin sheeting, while the rudder and elevators had finely corrugated exterior surfaces.
The SBG’s original powerplant was a Pratt & Whitney R-1830-64 Twin Wasp radial engine of 850 hp (630 kW). The aircraft's offensive payload consisted of bombs. These were carried externally underneath the fuselage and the wings, using racks; the maximum load was a single 1,935 lb. (878 kg) Bliss-Leavitt Mark 13 aerial torpedo or 1,500 lb. (700 kg) of bombs, including a single 1,000 lb. (450 kg) bomb under the fuselage and up to 200 lb. under the outer wings.
The SBG was also armed with several machine guns, including rearward-facing defensive ventral and dorsal positions, each outfitted with a manual .30 in (7.62 mm) Browning machine gun. Another fixed machine gun fired, synchronized with the engine, forward through the propeller arc.
The first XSBG-1 prototype, which was christened “Prion” by Great Lakes, was ready in early 1934 and made its maiden flight on 2nd of April. While the aircraft handled well, esp. at low speed, thanks to generously dimensioned flaps, it soon became clear that it was seriously underpowered. Therefore, Great Lakes tried to incorporate a more powerful engine. The choice fell on the new Pratt & Whitney R-2180-A Twin Hornet. However, the bigger and heavier engine called for considerable changes to the engine mount and the cowling. The R-2180 also precluded the fixed machine gun, so it was, together with the synchronization gearbox, deleted. Instead, a pair of .30 in machine guns were added to the spats, which were deepened in order to take the weapons and the magazines.
Furthermore, the heavier engine shifted the aircraft’s center of gravity forward, so that the tail section had to be lengthened by roughly 1’ and the tail surfaces were enlarged, too. Various other alterations were made to the wings, including the adoption of more effective slotted ailerons, improved flaps and center-section slots. The latter feature served to smooth the airflow over the tail when flown at high angles of incidence. However, despite these changes, the SBG’s good handling did not suffer, and the modified XSBG-2 took to the air for the first time in late 1935, with a much better performance.
Satisfied with the changes, the US Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) placed an initial order for 54 SBG-2s in 1936 with the aircraft entering service during 1938, serving on USS Yorktown and Enterprise. However, faults were discovered with the Mark XIII torpedo at this point. Many were seen to hit the target yet failed to explode; there was also a tendency to run deeper than the set depth. It took over a year for the defects to be corrected. Another problem of the SBG when carrying the torpedo was the aimer’s position, which was located directly behind the weapon and obstructed the bomb aimer’s field of view forward. When deploying bombs from higher altitudes, this was not a problem at all, but as a consequence the SBG rarely carried torpedoes. Therefore, a second order of 48 aircraft (designated SBG-3) were pure bombers. These lacked any torpedo equipment, but they received a ventral displacement yoke that allowed to deploy bombs in a shallow dive and release them outside of the propeller arc. Furthermore, the bomb aimer/observer station received a more generous glazing, improving the field of view and offering the prone crewman in this position more space and comfort. Another modification was the reinforcement of the underwing hardpoints, so that these could now carry stores of up to 325 lb each or, alternatively, drop tanks. While the total payload was not changed, the SBG-3 could carry and deploy up to three depth charges against submarines, and the extended range was a welcome asset for reconnaissance missions.
In prewar use, SBG units were engaged in training and other operational activities and were gradually approaching the end of their useful service life with at least one aircraft being converted to target tug duty. By 1940, the US Navy was aware that the SBG had become outclassed by the fighters and bombers of other nations and a replacement was in the works, but it was not yet in service when the US entered World War II. By then, attrition had reduced their numbers to just over 60 aircraft, and with the arrival of the Curtiss SB2C “Helldiver” in December 1942, the obsolete SBGs were retired.
General characteristics:
Crew: 3
Length: 31 ft 9 in (9.682 m)
Wingspan: 45 ft 9 in (13.95 m)
Height: 10 ft 10 in (3.3 m)
Wing area: 288 sq ft (26.8 m²)
Empty weight: 4,251 lb. (1,928 kg)
Gross weight: 6,378 - 6,918 lb. (2,893 - 3,138 kg) for reconnaissance missions
7,705 - 7,773 lb (3,495 - 3,526 kg) for bombing missions
Fuel capacity: 200 US gal (740 l; 160 imp gal) in six wing tanks plus
7.9 US gal (30 l; 6.6 imp gal) in a gravity feed collector tank in the fuselage
18 US gal (70 l; 15 imp gal) of engine oil was also carried in a forward fuselage tank
Powerplant:
1 × Pratt & Whitney R-2180-A Twin Hornet 14 cylinder radial engine with 1,200 hp (865 kW),
driving a 3-bladed Hamilton-Standard Hydromatic, 11 ft 3 in (3.43 m) diameter constant-speed
fully-feathering propeller
Performance:
Maximum speed: 245 mph (395 km/h, 213 kn) at 3,650 m (11,980 ft)
210 mph (338 km/h, 183 kn) at sea level
Stall speed: 110 km/h (68 mph, 59 kn)
Range: 1,260 km (780 mi, 680 nmi)
Service ceiling: 7,300 m (24,000 ft)
Time to altitude: 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in 4 minutes
4,000 m (13,000 ft) in 11 minutes 10 seconds
Wing loading: 116 kg/m² (24 lb/sq ft) to 130 kg/m2 (27 lb/sq ft)
Power/mass: 6.3–6.8 kg/kW (10.4–11.2 lb/hp)
Armament:
2x fixed forward firing 0.30 “ (7.62 mm) Browning machine guns in the spats, firing forward,
plus 2x flexibly mounted 0.30 “ (7.62 mm) Browning machine guns in ventral and dorsal positions
A total of up to 1,500 lb (700 kg) of bombs on hardpoints under the fuselage (max. 1.000 lb; the SCG-2
could carry a single Mk. XIII torpedo) and under the wings (max. 325 lb per hardpoint, SCG-2 only 200 lb)
The kit and its assembly:
I had the idea to convert a PZL.23 into a carrier-borne light bomber on the agenda for a long time and also already a Heller kit stashed away – but it took the “In the Navy” group build at whatifmodelers.com in early 2020 to dig everything out from the stash and start the hardware phase.
Originally, this was inspired by a picture of a Ju 87D with USN “Yellow wings” markings which I came across while doing online research. This looked really good, but since the USN would never have accepted a liquid-cooled engine on one of its pre-WWII aircraft, the concept had IMHO some flaws. When I came across the PZL.23 in another context, I found that the aircraft, with its cockpit placed well forward and the generous window area, could also be a good carrier-based recce/light bomber/torpedo aircraft? This was the conceptual birth of the SBG.
The basis is the vintage, original Heller kit of the PZL.23: a VERY nice kit. It has been crisply molded, fit is very good, and even the interior detail is decent, e.g. with a nice fuselage structure and dashboard. Surface details are raised but very fine, and the styrene is also easy to handle.
Basically the PZL.23 was built OOB. The only changes I made are a crew of three figures (all Matchbox WWII pilots, two of them with their heads in different directions), a tail wheel instead of the original skid, an opening for an arrester hook under the fin (there’s even plausible space available!) and a new engine: the PZL.23’s bulky 9 cylinder Jupiter radial engine with its generous cowling and the two-blade propeller was completely replaced. The engine dummy is actually a matching R-2600 and comes from a Matchbox SB2C, even though its rear bulkhead was trimmed away so that it would fit into the new cowling. The latter came from an Italeri La-5FN, cut off long time ago from another conversion project, and I added a carburetor/oil cooler fairing underneath. Inside of the new engine I implanted a styrene tube which attaches the engine to the fuselage and also takes the metal axis of the new propeller, a (rather clumsy) donor from a Matchbox Douglas A-20G. The whole package works well, though, and gives the PZL.23 a more modern and different look.
A late modification is the glasshouse for the rear gunner. Since the PZL.23 offered considerable comfort for its crew, at least for pilot and observer, I thought that a closed rear position would make sense. I found an old rear gunner station glaizing from a vintage Airfix B-17G in the stash, and with some tailoring (including an opening for the OOB manual machine gun) the piece could be inserted into the fuselage opening. Small gaps were left, but these were simply filled with white glue. I think this was a good move, since it changes the PZL.23’s profile a little.
Other small cosmetic changes include the machine guns instead of the original large landing lights on the spats, an additional antenna mast and a cranked pitot, made from brass wire. Furthermore, I added small underwing bomb pylons and a ventral hardpoint with a scratched swing arm and a 500 lb iron bomb from an Academy kit.
Painting and markings:
For proper anachronism and some color in the shelf, I wanted the SBG to be a pre-WWII aircraft in the USN’s bright “Yellow Wings” markings, just like the Ju 87 mentioned above. As a slight twist, the fuselage was finished in all-over Light Gull Grey (FS 36440, Humbrol 40) instead of a NMF – some aircraft like F4Bs were finished this way, even though some fabric-covered parts were still painted with alu dope. In 1940, however, the bright colors would be replaced by a uniform light grey livery with subdued markings, anyway.
The aircraft’s individual markings were a bit tricky, because the USN has a very complicated color code system to identify not only the carrier to which an aircraft would belong, color markings would also identify the individual aircraft within a full squadron of 18 aircraft and its six sections. I won’t go into details, but I chose to depict the lead aircraft of section two of the scout bomber squadron on board of USS Enterprise.
For this carrier, the tail surfaces became blue (I used Modelmaster French Blue for the authentic “True Blue”), while the 2nd section had white aircraft markings on fuselage and wings. The lead aircraft (connected with the individual aircraft code “4”) had a full ring marking around the cowling. The fuselage band seems to be rather optional on bomber aircraft (more frequent on fighters?), but I eventually decided to add it - pictures suggest that probably only lead aircraft of a Section in the scout or torpedo squadrons carried this marking?
Like the cowling ring, it was painted with white and then black borders were added with decal strips. The wings were painted with Revell 310 (Lufthansa Yellow, RAL 1028), which is a pretty rich tone, and the section markings on top of them were fully created with decal material, a white 5mm stripe over a black 6mm stripe on each wing.
The aircraft’s tactical code was created from single US 45° numbers; the “S” had to be scratched from an “8”, since the decal sheet did not contain letters… Other decals were gathered from the scrap box and improvised.
After the free-standing exhaust pipes had been fixed, the kit received a light weathering treatment and was finally sealed with a coat of semi-matt acrylic varnish (Italeri semi-gloss with some matt varnish added).
A colorful aircraft model, and the transformation from a Polish light bomber into an American armed scout aircraft worked well – for an interesting result with that anachronistic touch that many interwar designs carried. However, even though the conversion has been conceptually successful, I am not happy with the finish. The glossy Humbrol paints I used refused to cure properly, and the decals were also not without problems (e.g. when you realize that the roundels you wanted to use had a poor opacity, so that the yellow underneath shines blatantly through). But despite a lot of improvisation, the outcome is quite O.K.
Some background:
With more and more experience through military mecha in Japan during the late Nineties, Schaft Enterprise’s Europe branch started the development of civil Labors for public use. These models included the Type-8FF firefighting Labor, which was originally created for the Japanese market but eventually only sold and operated in the European market, and the Type-10P, a dedicated police duty Labor and a direct competitor to Shinohara Industry’s highly successful AV-98 Ingram.
The Type-10P was based on a completely new chassis and introduced many composite material elements that lightened its structure and even gave it a light armor protection against small caliber rounds. It was designed to be effective in situations like dealing with stolen labor units or rogue labors, but also for more mundane duties like riot control and escorts. Its intimidating size certainly helped psychologically. However, the Type-10P was not designed to take on military labors in close combat, even though it could be outfitted with manual weapon that would offer considerable firepower at distance. Typical police service weapons included a shield and a stun stick (with an optional taser function) as well as a handheld revolver gun, but other equipment was available, too. Precise manipulator fingers (with three fingers and one thumb on each hand) allowed delicate handling.
The pilot sat in a fully enclosed, climatized cabin in the Labor’s breast section, with an excellent field of view and protected from water and gas. In order to ensure proper surveillance under harsh conditions in any weather and at day and night, the Type-10P received a complex sensor suite, including a telescopic camera boom, a close-range Lidar and a directional microphone. Communication with other units was ensured by both radio and laser communication systems.
Further special equipment could be attached to the Type-10P’s back. These easily interchangeable “backpacks” included an extra battery for extended operation, a fuel-powered external generator with one or two powerful searchlights, a pack with loudspeakers, a large, retractable LED matrix display, and two packs with pressurized canisters that were connected with a handheld spray gun each, either carrying CO2 as a fire extinguisher or OC spray for riot control. Even an inflatable lifeboat was available, as well as special weapons like an EMP pulse rifle, which necessitated an external auxiliary battery pack, and a rearward-facing “brown note” infranoise generator.
Officially baptised “Michael”, after the German police’s Christian patron saint, the Type-10P was in 2000 adopted by special units of the German Bundespolizei and by some major police departments on federal state level. Typical German Labor units would operate two or three of these vehicles, primarily as support units for standard units when called upon in an emergency and also to counter Labor crimes and accidents. Their psychological value in riot control duties was highly appreciated, and the Type 10Ps were also frequently sent to official political events for PR purposes.
The Type-10P was also promoted abroad, esp. in Japan, but it was rejected there due to its size and the strong (and established) competition from Shinohara Industry, namely the MPL-97S “Python” and the AV-98 “Ingram”. However, eight Type-10Ps were sold to the Austrian Bundespolizei and an undisclosed small number was bought by a private security service company in Northern America.
Technical Data:
Code name: Type-10P "Michael"
Unit type: police labor
Manufacturer: SEE (Schaft Enterprises Europe)
Operator: German Federal Police (Bundespolizei) and several major German federal state
police departments (Berlin, Northrhine-Westphalia, Bavaria), Austria, USA
Number built: 33
Accommodation: pilot only, in heat- and ABC-insulated cockpit in front torso
Dimensions:
Overall height 9.42 meters
Overall width 5.95 meters
Minimum revolving radius: 6.0 meters
Weight:
Standard 6.55 metric tons
Full 8.1 metric tons
Armor materials:
Light composite armor, effective against fire and small caliber rounds of up to 12.7 mm
Powerplant:
unknown
Maximum weight lifting capacity:
2.50 metric tons
Equipment and design features:
Visual and acoustic sensors, range unknown, with suitable recording and data transfer equipment
Retractable visor cover
Highly articulated manipulator hands
Searchlights
Flashlights and four claxons/loudspeakers on the shoulders
Armaments:
No internal weapons installed;
The Type-10P can operate a wide range of handheld equipment like an extendable baton,
anti-terror shields, and weapons like a 42 mm revolver handgun, a taser or a 90 mm pellet shotgun.
Two hardpoints on the lower arms to attach equipment/weapons, plus a single hardpoint on the
back with the option to carry a wide range of equipment packages.
The kit and its assembly:
Traditions can be nice to keep up, and this build is actually a kind of serial project: in 2015, a group build under the motto "De-/Militarize it" ran at whatifmodellers.com, and I submitted a thorough conversion of a 1:60 "SEE Type-7 Brocken" Labor it from Bandai – a pure military Labor turned into a firefighting mecha.
Now, in early 2021, the “Blue Lights” group build ran, and Patlabor – an anime near-SF universe circling around robot-assisted police work – lent itself for another mecha submission. I had an AV-X0 prototype as well as two Ingram kits in store, but I wanted “something different” and also not a Japanese police Labor, since I had just built a fictional Daihatsu Move police car of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. So, the choice fell on the “Phantom” kit as basis, what called for considerable modifications. The “Phantom” is actually an unmanned robot, but I found its stature quite intimidating and more plausible for a non-Japanese police Labor than e. g. a re-badged AV-X0.
At an early stage I already settled for a German police Labor, and took inspiration in some heavier vehicles that are operated by special units of the Bundespolizei, e.g. armored cars or water throwers. This also defined the Labor’s paint scheme (see below). However, the new police Labor’s design was far from certain, it gradually evolved while building the separate OOB elements. Thankfully, this 3rd generation mecha kit allows such a gradual progress, and step by step the details that had to be changed or scratched became clearer.
This primarily included:
A completely new head section; the Phantom has a kind of fixed "hood" with a relatively small and fixed "face unit" in its front. This would be changed into a free-standing head unit, like the standard Labors. I was lucky to find a leftover head unit from a “Helldiver”, an airborne military Labor from the same model universe – its pilot helmet added a tough look to my build, and I added some sensor booms from an Ingram, too. Some PSR went into the head’s re-design, too, and, in the end, it adds to the “riot control” look of my build.
The completely new head necessitated the complete removal of the original “hood” of the “Phantom” and its fixed, small head, and this gap had to be filled/framed with a scratched collar and a new attachment point for the new head. Later, the OOB “neck” element was integrated into the opening, and scratched hydraulic pistons filled void space.
In the same wake, a cockpit fairing was added to the chest, since this would become a manned vehicle, not a robot. This, as well as the collar, were sculpted with 2C putty.
In order to change the Labor’s hull shape a little more, I added a pair of headlights to the flanks of the breast – these are 1:24 car parts, left over from my recent Daihatsu Move build. The parts were fitted into holes, received a shiny backing with chrome foil (hard to tell through the protective grates, though) and were blended into the hull via PSR.
The pack with retractable boosters in the back as well as the extentable upper body (with the visible innards and the spinning blades hidden there) were omitted. Instead, I implanted a donor piece to the back (a back pack from an 1:144 Yha-Giga mecha from Megaro Zamac), which looks very mechanical (a heat exchanger, maybe?) and natural.
Furthermore, the openings for the “Phantom”’s original optical sensors in the chest were faired over.
New hands were deemed necessary; the OOB hands are much too slender and claw-like, and I was able to use the hands from an 1:24 PA-36HD (from Dorvack).
While raiding the donor banks I also came across suitable new shoulder guards, from an 1:144 “Serpent Custom” (Gundam). They replaced the OOB parts, they are taller and more edgy, which is against the “Phantom”’s rather organic design – but they were too good to be rejected, with consoles that would later carry flashlights (scratched) and louvres that could easily hide (and protect) sirens inside.
However, in order to integrate the new shoulder parts better into an overall look, I decided to modify the knee and elbow guards into a more squarish shape – with the help of styrene sheet and some (more) PSR. This stunt worked surprisingly well.
During this modification I also added hardpoints to the lower arms for equipment. I did not want a gun but rather fancied a riot shield and a baton. The right hand was modified to carry a stun baton, sourced from an Ingram kit, and the transparent shield was scratched from a mouth wash bottle.
Lots of work, but it was necessary to move the build away from its “Phantom” basis.
Painting and markings:
Basically very simple: all-blue. The current ID color of German police vehicles is RAL 5017 (Verkehrsblau/Traffic Blue), and before 2006 it was RAL 6029 (Pfefferminzgrün/Peppermint Green), both combined on standard vehicles with white - normally, these are leased white or, more recently, silver vehicles with foil. For the Labor's time frame around 2000, the classic green would have been appropriate, but I eventually voted for the later blue because it looks IMHO less militaristic.
Further design background: German special police vehicles like water throwers or armored cars rather carry a uniform livery, contrasted with very dark grey around the lower areas, and that's what I adopted for the Michael I police Labor, too, using the “Phantom”’s original livery as benchmark.
In Gunze Sangyo’s Mr. Hobby H15 (Bright Blue) I found a pretty good guesstimate for the characteristic German police blue, and it was contrasted with Revell 06 (Tar Black; RAL 9021). The backpack became medium grey, a similar tone to the silicone covers (which were left unpainted, just treated with a washing with thinned dark grey acrylic artist paint), and this medium grey was also used for some detail contrasts around the hull. This looks rather dry, but it reflects the sobriety of German police items, and the uniform blue is also a good contrast to the Japanese police Labors in white and black in my collection, and the others, too. A few highlights in white and cream are the only distractions.
Even though I did not want to weather the model, I did some dry-brushing/post shading (Humbrol 25, Revell 09, 77 and 75 in some areas) to emphasize the shapes/edges and to make the large areas, esp. on the legs, less uniform.
The markings come from two aftermarket sheets for German police cars: one is a 1:43 scale sheet from IDC Decals, the other a 1:87 scale sheet from TL Modellbau. The provided not only suitably-sized “Polizei” letterings and emblems, the IDC set also came with the characteristic dotted trim lines (reflective material in real life) that decorate many typical German police cars and which help to visually structure the Labor’s lines – even though their application to the bulbous surface of the model was not easy, and I rather used them sparsely.
After some more detail painting (e. g. some fake black panel lines, created with a fine felt tip pen) the model’s sections were sealed with a mix of matt and some semi-gloss acrylic varnish on the blue areas for a sheen finish, while the dark grey areas were painted with pure matt varnish.
The build of the “Michael I” police Labor was quite a challenge – mostly because it was not easy to get away from the model’s “Phantom” basis. But with the completely new head/shoulder section and the slight mods on arms and legs it looks quite unrelated – but still intimidating. The all-blue livery is not spectacular, but true to German standards, and it works surprisingly well and convincingly.