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Alan: All I'm sayin is just remember who's your oldest friend here Ken... And who it was that stole your girl!
Blaine: ... Alan, you are SUCH a little
Ken: Now, now.. we're all friends now!
My newest project, the Daemon Primarch Angron and his bodyguard of 12 Bloodthirsters. For the 2nd, a kitbash with bits from the classic Bloodthirster model, the Forge/Maulerfiend, and the Daemon Prince.
Find out more at khornate.blogspot.co.uk/
I added the completed model back to where it was before and thought I'd photograph how it looked sitting with some of the other city models.
I'm pretty happy with it. Much better than how it looked before I started this project.
N-Scale F.D.N.Y. - Seagrave Engine3
This Engine is built from two Fire Trucks out of german "Ferrero Kinder" surprise eggs. While at the Engine10 the canopy cab was completely reduced, it's been removed by only a half on this Engine10. The water cannon and the ladder are from Athearn and the Decals are made by myself.
The original 2008 Seagrave Engine is stationed in Manhattan.
Diese Engine3 entstand aus zwei Ü-Ei Fire Trucks aus der Serie "Amerikanische Feuerwehren" aus dem Jahr 2001. Die Kabine stammt von der gelben Squad. Während bei meiner Engine10 das Kabinenhochdach komplett entfernt wurde, wurde es hier nur um etwa die Hälfte niedriger gemacht und beigespachtelt. Hier wurden dann noch die Fenster der Mannschaftsraumtüren angeglichen. Der Aufbau stammt von dem American LaFrance-Pumper. Die angedeuteten Leitern und Saugschläuche an den Aussenseiten wurden abgeschliffen, sowie das "Innenleben" des Schlauchbetts entfernt. An der rechten Seite wurden die neuen Geräteräume angebaut. Diese entstanden aus Resten eines Herpa Sattelaufliegers. An der linken Aussenseite wurde das Fahrzeug mit Saugschläuchen aus dem Preiser H0 Feuerwehrzubehör ausgestattet. Die Schläuche in dem Schlauchbett wurden aus Bastelpappe hergestellt und mit einer Plane aus Isolierband abgedeckt. Wobei die Plane dieser Engine3 aufgerollt dargestellt ist. Der Wasserwerfer und die Leiter stammen von Athearn und die Kennleuchten sind aus Spritzgussresten hergestellt.
Bei dem Original handelt es sich um eine der ab etwa 2007 beschafften neueren Engines des FDNY. Das Fahrzeug, Baujahr 2008, ist in Manhattan stationiert.
These little fake lights were hard to make. I used the rounded clear styrene from the window package. Not the windows from a kit, but the tubular supports that hold the windows..like the scrap that usually gets chucked out. I cut slivers of it off to make what I call my fake lights... if that all made sense. :D
I then used a tack, heated it up and made a hole in the clear puck like styrene. I then used a small wire from a paper clip cut it and pushed into the hole in the puck shaped styrene. I glued it into place. I cut the wire (paper clip) so just a small amount stuck out..then I applied glue to it and pushed it into the hole of the aluminum tubing. Very strong.
This was the final billboard... not perfect. But this won't be a fore front building either... Still I like it! :D
Some of them need to go back into the paint stripping bath (after I filter out all the byproducts of the last marathon stripping session), but these are getting close to being ready to paint.
Back to front, right to left:
1. PV&T C420 #346 (dcc equipped; a Model Power locomotive with STUBBORN paint)
2. Nowhere H16-44
3. Erie A unit; possible a Nowhere engine?
4. RS12; dunno what railroad I'm going to paint it for?
5. MTRR FP45 sled (was CMSTP&P #1, but was bought as a gutted shell after #1 caught fire)
6. RF16 with Blomberg trucks; also don't know which railroad it's for.
7-8. PV&T Budd pre-Silverliner coaches (very similar to RDC1s; the central wart on the roof is where air conditioning & car heat lives)
9. A FT; A BAR unit, maybe?
10. PV&T GE60DC -- a one off sample to evaluate modern power to maybe replace the class B locomotives which are the backbone of the PV&T electric fleet.
11. PVRT #980 (B-W steeplecab)
12. SLR GE 65-ton switcher (3rd rail, hideously incompatible with the PV&T's 3kvdc overhead, but that didn't stop the Portland shops from slapping a pan on and rewiring it for mainline voltage.)
I managed to get the old kit completely ripped apart with absolutely no damage at all.
I used my roller razor blade to make a clean cut across the face of the facade. I glued in the first set of windows to replace the old upper blank wall. I still have to add glass and blinds.
Yup, running out of places to shoot in the house. If anyone can guess where this impossible shot is, you'll win something! A custom something or something, how's that sound?
My newest project, the Daemon Primarch Angron and his bodyguard of 12 Bloodthirsters. For the 2nd, a kitbash with bits from the classic Bloodthirster model, the Forge/Maulerfiend, and the Daemon Prince.
Find out more at khornate.blogspot.co.uk/
One of my more popular customs is Mid-Warp Skywarp. I get many requests for that custom, this one was an order for a Masterpiece Grade version.
I started with a (expensive) Masterpiece Ghost of Starscream figure. Most of the figure is cast in clear plastic, so I got lucky. The parts which weren't were cleverly painted over, to either appear clear or act as "visible" Skywarp parts. Because the clear plastic Takara used wasn't as clear as I'd prefer, I buffed, sanded and polished it making it shiny and clear... like glass.
Mid-Warp Skywarp also utilizes my easy tail fin modification. His "warping" effects were created using about 6 shades of blue; from navy all the way up to pure white. Skywarp also has an alternate face (flips to "warp mode" sneer) or traditional Decepticon red optics.
His base includes a very bright LED which aimed up illuminates all of Skywarps tasty clear parts.
Skywarp was originally a commission, however - due to circumstances beyond the client's control, the order was cancelled and... he's teleporting himself to ebay.
Just roughed in, needs paint, needs gluing together, people, courtyard, trees, underground parking etc. Lots more work to do to this still.
More to come soon.
A heated discussion between 2 aviodanar and an adventurer in Trader Town on the mining planet Torq XLII.
Wanted to do some kitbashing. Kroot bodies with heads from Warcry raptoryx.
Warhammer 40k miniatures from Games Workshop.
28mm scale (roughly 1:56)
I paint the miniatures and build the terrain.
A 1/6 scale figure SWAT/urban counter terrorist operator kitbash. He's rappelling off my wardrobe on a shoe lace . I got the idea from Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6: Vegas.
Been practicing my modeling skills more lately and was inspired to try to model this speaker when I saw some nice images on my Facebook feed. Been modeling a bit on Blender using HardOps/Boxcutter, KitOps, MeshMachin3, Machin3tools, Cablerator and Fluent: Power Trip then rendering and applying materials in Keyshot.
For my hero image, I went with a Right Quarter view of the speaker, with the cover plate removed to show off the intricate design under the cloth cover material by back lighting the speaker and plate and tweaking the settings on the material density and specular color to show it realistically. Another beautiful aspect of this speaker is the woodgrain the manufacture used that meshes right up to a metallic plate that houses the speaker components. The side panel with the dials for sound adjustments is also pretty interesting with chamfer cuts on three sides with the right side of it being a gradual wave design.
Modeling the speaker plate, I decided to approach this by modeling the inside design and outer plate separately to make it easier to apply materials in Keyshot.
I also did a frontal image of the speaker without the speaker plate to show off the speaker internals and also the hidden Edifier logo when the plate is installed.
Spent a bit of time getting the details of the speakers correct, from the ridges of the sub, the tweeter design with the bar that stretch over top of it. Finished the front side of the speaker by kitbashing screws that match the actual product using KitOps.
Hope you all enjoy some images I put together to illustrate my journey into 3D modeling with Blender and putting my professional CMF skills to make my model look realistic.
+++ 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:
An Aerosan (Russian: aэросани, "Aerosled") is a propeller-driven sledge, sleigh or toboggan which slides on runners or skis. Aerosleds were used for communications, mail deliveries, medical aid, emergency recovery, and patrolling borders in countries such as northern Russia, as well as for recreation. Aerosani were used by the Soviet Red Army during the Winter War and World War II for military purposes, too. The first aerosledges may have been built in 1903–05 by Sergei Nezhdanovsky. In 1909–10, young Igor Sikorsky designed and tested an aerosledge, before going on to build multi-engine airplanes and helicopters. Traditionally they were light plywood vehicles on skis, powered by used vintage aircraft engines and propellers.
Military use of the aerosani goes back to at least the 1910s. During World War I, aerosani were used for reconnaissance, communicating, and light raiding in northern areas. During the 1939–40 Winter War against Finland some were equipped with a machine gun ring mount on the roof. They could carry four or five men and tow four more on skis. The aerosani were initially used for transport, liaison, and medical evacuation in deep snow, mostly in open country and on frozen lakes and rivers because of their poor hill-climbing ability and limited maneuverability on winding forest roads.
During World War II aerosani were used for reconnaissance, communication, and light raiding in northern areas thanks to their high mobility (25–35 km/h) in deep snow, where many vehicles could not move at all. Responsibility for aerosani was transferred to the Soviet Armored Forces (GABTU) and orders were submitted for design and fabrication of lightly armored versions, protected by ten millimeters of steel plate on the front. They were organized into transport or combat battalions of 45 vehicles, in three companies, often employed in cooperation with ski infantry. Troops were usually carried or towed by transport aerosani, while fire support was provided by the heavier machine gun-armed, armored models. The light aerosani were not used for direct assault because of their vulnerability to explosives such as mortar rounds, though.
However, with the success of these vehicles in the winter of 1943/44 aircraft engineer Andrei Tupolev, who had already built a successful series of aerosani designated ANT-I through ANT-V in the 1920s and ’30s, was requested to construct a heavier vehicle that could add more firepower and protection to the armed troops. This became the ббс-I (or BBS-1, бронированные боевые сани, literally ’Armored Battle Sledge’). Compared with earlier vehicles of this type, the BBS-1 was an all-metal construction and basically a dramatically scaled-up re-interpreration of the original aerosan. The gigantic vehicle – probably inspired by the appearance of new and massive German tanks like Panzer V Panther or Panzer VI Tiger - was rather reminiscent of an armored train or draisine than of a light-footed aerosan. At first glance the new vehicle looked like an outdated box-shaped WWI tank with four skis instead of tracks, even like a mobile bunker made from sheet metal. A KV series tank turret was placed on top of the sloped roof and a radial engine, an air-cooled Shvetzov M-63-S with 1.100 hp/800 kW was mounted on massive struts onto the hull. It was placed directly behind the turret, together with an armored fairing and driving a reversible four-bladed metal pusher propeller. This engine was originally designed for aircraft, but for the use on the aerosan it was optimized for operations at low temperatures and high air density. It also received reinforced elements to reduce overhaul periods.
Steering was provided only through the skis, which were held by external suspension arms on all four corners of the box-shaped hull, for a wide stance and to provide the vehicle with stability. The four skis were relatively wide to distribute the aerosan’s weight over a large area to reduce ground pressure and to ensure operations on fragile ground like deep snow or even frozen water. Front and rear pair of skis were connected through rods and the vehicle was directed through mirrored steering angles from front and rear skis, what helped especially at high speed to keep the large and heavy aerosan stable. The BBS-1 was fully protected by armor, its boxy hull was made from riveted rolled steel armor plates of 6-20 mm strength bolted onto a simple but rigid metal chassis. The cast turret at its was armed with a long-barreled 76.2 mm M1941 ZiS-5 gun, and a total of four DT machine guns were mounted in the turret (one co-axial with the gun) and in stations around the hull (front and on each side). The unusual vehicle had a basis crew of seven eight and an operational weight of 38 tons!
While the BBS-1 was under hasty development, Wehrmacht planners were convinced that the Red Army would attack again in the south, where the front was 80 km (50 mi) from Lviv and offered the most direct route to Berlin. Accordingly, they stripped troops from Army Group Centre, whose front still protruded deep into the Soviet Union. The Germans had transferred some units to France to counter the invasion of Normandy two weeks before. The Belorussian Offensive (codenamed Operation Bagration), which was agreed upon by Allies at the Tehran Conference in December 1943 and launched on 22 June 1944, was a massive Soviet attack, consisting of four Soviet army groups totaling over 120 divisions that smashed into a thinly held German line.
They focused their massive attacks on Army Group Centre, not Army Group North Ukraine as the Germans had originally expected. More than 2.3 million Soviet troops went into action against German Army Group Centre, which had a strength of fewer than 800,000 men. At the points of attack, the numerical and quality advantages of the Soviet forces were overwhelming. The Red Army achieved a ratio of ten to one in tanks and seven to one in aircraft over their enemy. The Germans crumbled. The capital of Belarus, Minsk, was taken on 3 July, trapping some 100,000 Germans. Ten days later the Red Army reached the prewar Polish border. Bagration was, by any measure, one of the largest single operations of the war.
By the end of August 1944, it had cost the Germans ~400,000 dead, wounded, missing and sick, from whom 160,000 were captured, as well as 2,000 tanks and 57,000 other vehicles. In the operation, the Red Army lost ~180,000 dead and missing (765,815 in total, including wounded and sick plus 5,073 Poles), as well as 2,957 tanks and assault guns. The offensive at Estonia claimed another 480,000 Soviet soldiers, 100,000 of them classed as dead.
On the Karelian Isthmus, the Red Army launched a Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive against the Finnish lines on 9 June 1944 (coordinated with the Western Allied Invasion of Normandy). Three armies were pitted there against the Finns, among them several experienced guards rifle formations, and the BS-1s (three had been built so far, with low priority due to the fact that they had to be assembled manually in workshops, since there was no factory of production line for these exotic vehicles) were earmarked to be deployed there once enough snow had fallen to make the armored aerosans operational. The attack breached the Finnish front line of defense in Valkeasaari on 10 June and the Finnish forces retreated to their secondary defense line, the VT-line. The Soviet attack was supported by a heavy artillery barrage, air bombardments and armored forces. The VT-line was breached on 14 June and after a failed counterattack in Kuuterselkä by the Finnish armored division, the Finnish defense had to be pulled back to the VKT-line. After heavy fighting in the battles of Tali-Ihantala and Ilomantsi, Finnish troops finally managed to halt the Soviet attack.
The Moscow Armistice ending the war with Finland was already signed on 19 September 1944, though. The entire isthmus became Soviet, although most of it had never been captured by the Soviets in battles. This time the ceded territories of the Karelian Isthmus (including the districts of Jääski, Kexholm and Vyborg) were incorporated into Leningrad Oblast (unlike Ladoga Karelia, which remained within the Karelo-Finnish SSR). Since their transfer and utility in southern regions, where the Soviet Army kept on pressing westward for Warsaw, the BBS-1s remained in the Karelian region, helped to secure the border to Finland, but never became involved in active battles. In fact, they rather had a psychological impact than a truly military use, because their operation turned out to be hazardous. One BBS-1 was quickly lost when it broke into the ice of lake Sokolozero and sank, killing its crew but one member who was able to escape in time, and the heavy vehicles’ handling even on solid ground was, due to the lack of mechanical brakes and the limited effectiveness of the ski steering system especially at higher speed, dangerous. Furthermore, the propeller kicked up lots of snow and the engine noise made the BBS-1 hard to conceal, so that it was rather used for “showing off” along the borderlines – with crews that were happy when they did not end up in a ditch or among trees. Apparently, the BBS-1 was not a success. Plans to upgrade the BBS-1 with a 85 mm DT-5 or an even bigger gun were not executed, and in early 1945, lacking snow and ice to keep the exotic and cumbersome vehicles operational, the remaining armored aerosans were retired and eventually scrapped.
Specifications:
Crew: seven to nine
Weight: 38 tonnes
Length overall: 12.60 m (41 ft 3 ¼ in)
Width overall: 5.47 m (17 ft 11 in)
Height (incl. propeller disc): 5.61 m (18 ft 4 ¾ in)
Suspension: Coil springs
Fuel capacity: 650 l
Armor:
6–20 mm (0.24 – 0.78 in)
Performance:
Maximum speed: 85 km/h (53 mph)
Operational range: 240 km (150 mi)
Power/weight: 29 hp/tonne
Engine:
1x air-cooled Shvetzov M-63-S 9-cylinder radial engine, delivering 1.100 hp/800 kW,
driving a reversible 4-blade pusher metal propeller
Armament:
1× 76.2 mm M1941 ZiS-5 gun with 118 rounds, stored in the turret and the hull
4× 7.62 mm DT machine guns (one mounted co-axially with the main gun,
and the others in the front of the hull and side stations, with a total of 7.250 rounds)
The kit and its assembly:
This kitbashing project was a dedicated submission for the “Polar Wars” Group Build at whatifmodellers.com, and the result of a search for a military vehicle that could reflect the GB’s topic in a rather dramatic fashion but also demonstrate a certain madness and megalomania. I eventually stumbled upon the (light!) Soviet and Finnish aerosan vehicles from WWII, and wondered what a fully armored type could have looked like? I did not want to put a standard tank onto skis, though, and rather looked for a different basis – and inspiration eventually struck when I came across an 1:35 aerosan kit from Trumpeter AND the Chinese manufacturer’s 1:72 model of a Soviet armored draisine – combining both plus a radial engine with a pusher propeller should yield something …zany.
Effectively, this build was not too complex, because it is basically a slightly modified core box with add-ons. Things started slowly, with the OOB KV-1 turret as the main armament of this aerosan behemoth. The main body consists of a Soviet armored draisine from Trumpeter, but I found the body to be too long and symmetrical for my plans, so that I took out a ~2cm plug and glued everything back together. The engine came from a MisterCraft PZL 23 bomber, an ugly one-piece blob that I never expected to find a good use on a model. It was modified to look a bit more delicate, and at its rear an extension fairing was added, partly consisting of a piece from a plastic ballpoint pen casing. The pusher prop consists of a reversed F8F piece, with a metal axis and a spinner transplant from an Italeri F4U.
The suspension had been taken wholesale from the 1:35 kit, even though I had to lengthen some of the control struts. While safety was not an inherent design feature of this thing, I thought that the prop would need some protection, so I started to scratch/construct a cage for it from soft iron wire. Its ugly intersections were hidden behind a pair of fins (sections from 1:72 Panzer IV side skirts!) – though improvised it turned out better that hoped for. In parallel, the four skis were put together, too - again taken OOB from the small 1:35 aerosan kit, just w/o the delicate PE parts. Once the basic hull was assembled, I added a few more details, like entry ladders and sideboards to cross the steering struts, and an improvised shallow snowplow at the front to lift the vehicle’s body over shallow humps. On the roof some details like a ventilation opening were added, too.
Painting and markings:
Due to the model’s zaniness I wanted the livery to be rather simple, so I gave the BBS-1 an overall coat with medium green (actually RAL 6003) from the rattle can. Then the decals – all gathered from the scrap box – were applied and a coat of whitewash was simulated with thinned matt acrylic paint, applied with a flat soft brush so that the green would shine through here and there. Once dry I finally added a thin coat of simulated snow, created with white tile grout blown onto the wetted model from the front as if it had collected the stuff while speeding through the Karelian landscape. Worked out quite well, since this always bears some risk that it looks goofy and artificial. Finally, the tile grout and the paint were fixed with a generous coat of matt acrylic varnish.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the model, the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The EKW (Eidgenoessische Konstruktionswerkstaette) D-44 was a Swiss, single-seat low-wing monoplane fighter and attack aircraft. It used a twin boom fuselage with a pusher engine, giving the aircraft an unusual, almost jet-like appearance. Its design started in 1943 when the former Federal Constructions Works became a separate unit of the Swiss Armed Forces at Emmen, after the Swiss government’s decision to embark on a major expansion program in preparation for the possibility of being drawn into the Second World War. The project was designated D-44 and was constructed around a single German Daimler-Benz DB 605B engine that was positioned to the rear of the fuselage nacelle, directly behind the pilot, and drove a pusher propeller. This arrangement allowed guns to be carried in the aircraft's nose while providing the pilot with good visibility, and it concentrated the aircraft’s major masses into the airframe’s center of gravity, so that the aircraft would be more agile than a conventional design. To enable the pilot to bail out without hitting the propeller behind him, the design also adopted an ejection seat, operated with pressurized air.
The Swiss Air Force ordered two prototype D-44 fighters on 31 May 1944, and if the prototypes were successful, it planned to order five pre-production models and sixty-five production aircraft. The aircraft was intended to be fitted with four 20-millimeter (0.8 in) MG 151 autocannon in the nose and in the twin-booms and was supposed to be able to carry 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb) of ordnance under the wings. The fuel was stowed between the cockpit and the engine, together with a pair of self-sealing tanks inside of the inner wings, and a radiator for the inline engine was placed in a shallow trough under the rear fuselage. The tricycle landing gear – another novel design feature – was fully retractable and was stowed in the forward fuselage as well as in the sleek twin booms under the slightly swept wings.
However, soon major design changes had to be made. Due to the worsening situation for Germany, the favored DB 605B engine was not available for export or license production, just as the guns and other aircraft components. F+W’s designers wanted to use a British Rolls-Royce Griffon engine instead, but it proved to be too difficult to obtain, either. As an alternative, a Hispano-Suiza 12Z was temporarily envisioned, which was built by EKW at that time, leading to the project designation D-4401. But this engine was still too immature to be used, and there were doubts about the D-44’s performance with a powerplant that would have an output of around 1.500 hp when the D-44 required an engine with 1.800 hp and more to be competitive. These fundamental procurement problems could not be overcome until the end of hostilities in Continental Europe in mid-1945.
Eventually, EKW’s engineers were able to acquire a batch of British Napier Sabre II H-24 piston engines which had powered the Hawker Typhoon and were overstock material now, after production had ended and the RAF had retired the type by October 1945. The Sabre II promised high reliability and an output of 2,200 hp and more, resulting in an estimated top speed of 750 km/h (470 mph, 400 kn) at 8,700 m (28,500 ft). Since the Sabre’s cylinders were opposed, the motion in one was balanced by the motion on the opposing side, eliminating both first order and second order vibration. EKW hoped to use air cooling on the Sabre (as Napier originally had planned), but in service, the rear cylinders proved to be impossible to cool properly, which made the engines unreliable, and so the D-44 adopted water cooling.
To accommodate the bigger and heavier engine, the D-44’s fuselage had to be modified with different and stronger engine bearings. The radiator had to be enlarged, too, and its deeper fairing was also used to replace a prominent scoop on the left side of the fuselage that originally provided the engine with air, so that the overall frontal area did not increase much. A six-bladed contraprop was fitted, together with the respective reduction gearbox, to effectively exploit the Sabre’s high output and to accommodate enough propeller disc area in the confined space between the tail booms. As a side benefit, the contraprop countered the engine’s massive torque that would have affected handling with a simple propeller, esp. at slow speed. In this new guise the aircraft was re-designated D-4402 and cleared for production.
Only the first D-4402 prototype was intended to be fitted with guns, so the second prototype was completed first, beginning taxiing tests in December 1946. Test pilot Guillaume Fournier attempted to make the first flight on 13 January 1946. Further high-speed taxiing trials were made in February with promising results, but the elevator had to be enlarged from an area of 1.75 to 2.6 m² (18.8 to 28.0 sq ft) before the D-4402 could make its maiden flight on 1 April. After some more modifications, including a modified main armament which consisted now of four indigenous Oerlikon 20 mm cannon, all mounted in the lower nose, modified fins (extended downwards and outfitted with small, fixed wheels to protect the tail booms), elevators and landing gear doors, D-4402 #02 made its next flight on 21 April. Its configuration set the standard for the following serial production aircraft.
Flight tests lasted for more than a year, and during this period the initial ejection seat, which had been powered by compressed air, was changed to a simpler and lighter model that used a gunpowder charge inside a telescoping tube attached to the seat. A total of five prototypes were built as planned – including a static airframe and two pre-production aircraft that already incorporated some modifications that had been tested on the prototypes #1 and #2.
The first example from the first serial production batch of thirty aircraft was delivered to the Swiss Air Force on 1 December 1947. Construction was at EKW’s main plant in Emmen, and deliveries of this model ran until 5 December 1948, when deliveries of a second batch totaled thirty more D-4402s. A potential third order was cancelled, prior to the production line ending in 1950.
The D-4402 showed good performance and turned out to be a very stable weapon platform, even though its performance fell a little short the projected estimates. Despite the original intention for the type to be principally used in air defense roles, in service, the D-4402 was utilized mainly in the light bomber and attack role. Its active career did not last long, though: within less than four years some squadrons were already being re-equipped with a new generation of jet fighters capable of far greater speed, such as the de Havilland Vampire. The D-4402 was used only by the Swiss Air Force and due to the quick advances of jet propulsion the D-4402’s frontline career already ended in 1958. The type was completely retired by 1965, after being used as advanced trainers and as instructional airframes.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 11.88 m (38 ft 11 in)
Wingspan: 11.14 m (36 ft 6 in)
Height:
Wing area: 23.1 m2 (221 sq ft)
Empty weight: 3,645 kg (8,036 lb)
Gross weight: 4,928 kg (10,864 lb)
Gross weight: 7,261 kg (16,008 lb)
Fuel capacity: 1,413-litre (311 imp gal; 373 US gal) internally
Powerplant:
1× Napier Sabre II water-cooled H-24 piston engine, 1,680 kW (2,250 hp),
driving a 6-bladed contra-rotating propeller with 2.7 m (8 ft 10 in) diameter
Performance:
Maximum speed: 730 km/h (450 mph, 390 kn) at 8,500 m (27,900 ft)
Cruise speed: 422 km/h (262 mph, 228 kn) at 4,000 m (13,000 ft)
Range: 852 km (529 mi, 460 nmi) with internal fuel
Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,000 ft)
Time to altitude: 8,000 m (26,000 ft) in 10 minutes 40 seconds
Wing loading: 240.4 kg/m2 (49.2 lb/sq ft)
Power/mass: 3.1 kg/kW (5.1 lb/hp)
Armament:
4× 20 mm (0.8 in) Oerlikon autocannon with 200 RPG in the lower nose
Underwing hardpoints for bombs, unguided missiles or drop tanks for a
total external ordnance of 1.000 kg (2,200 lb)
The kit and its assembly:
This major kitbashing project was spawned from the idea: “What if the Kyushu J7W Shinden had had a more conventional layout, as a twin boom pusher?”. The overall proportions of a Hasegawa kit in The Stash™ looked promising, and I also had a Heller J21 kit that appeared appropriate to donate its tail booms and maybe other stuff, too.
On this vague basis I started to let the saw sing. Work started with the tail, because the J21’s elevator span would define the distance between the booms and their location on the J7W’s wings. Since the J21’s fins appeared a bit small and to change the overall look I replaced them with the swept fins from the J7W, what required some serious PSR and a new location for the elevator.
In parallel I started with the fuselage, which would be heavily modified. Before hardware work even started, I decided that the J7W’s radial engine would be replaced by a liquid-cooled in-line alternative, and I found the nose section of a Matchbox Hawker Tempest in the donor bank that had very good dimensions to make it fit in/onto the J7W’s rear fuselage. However, the exhaust stubs were missing, as well as the prop (which would have been much too big for the small space between the booms and for the ground clearance, anyway) – these were replaced with donors from a Special Hobby kit for late, Griffon-powered Spitfires. The respective contraprop was built with reversed blades, mounted on a metal axis (together with a matching adapter inside the Tempest’s Sabre engine), and received a tapered “plug” to bridge the different diameters between the engine and the smaller spinner. However, the contraprop was just small enough to fit between the booms, so that it was a very plausible solution.
Since the Sabre was a liquid-cooled engine a radiator had to be mounted, and the J7W’s original colling air intakes became superfluous. In a major stunt I decided to get completely rid of them and cut the respective fuselage walls behind the cockpit out and re-arranged and PSRed them into a slimmer shape that would blend directly into the Sabre section. Lots of work, but IMHO it paid out. The Tempest’s massive chin radiator turned out to be unusable for the build, so I replaced it with a shallower alternative, mounted under the fuselage between the tail booms, partially covering the J7W’s original landing gear well, which were filled because the landing gear would now retract into the tail booms, using the J21 parts.
Another major change was the nose section, which could only be tackled after the wings and the tail booms had been combined with the hull – the nose had to be shortened dramatically, but without knowing the proportions of the “new aircraft” any earlier attempt would have been very risky.
I eventually found a surprisingly good match (diameter and shape were almost perfect!) in a leftover nose section from an Airfix F-80 Shooting Star. However, one major problem persisted: the front landing gear and its respective well. Through the shorter nose it had to retract backwards, and the front leg’s considerable length would make the well reach deep under the cockpit floor (taken over OOB from the J7W kit, just with a new seat, and the canopy was used, too, even though cut into three sections to present the model with an open cockpit). I was eventually able to implant the J7W’s well, together with as much steel beads as possible, into the nose, so that there was actually a front landing gear well with full interior. Once the main landing gear struts had been mounted I decided to use the J7W’s stalky front wheel strut.
Painting and markings:
This was quite a challenge, because I initially was not certain who the manufacturer and operator of this fictional aircraft should be? Japan and Sweden were initial choices, but since there had been some indigenous and quite exotic designs after WWII I eventually settled for Switzerland. Another reason for this choice was the fact that I had wanted to apply the rather unique “layered” camouflage on a model, and this was great opportunity.
I have no information about the colors/tones that had been used, e. g. on some Doflug D-3801/03 fighters or one or two EFW P.16 prototypes. But apparently some darker shades, including dark green and earth brown (and probably more!) were applied with broad brushes or even a mop over a grey uniform basis, probably the same light tone that was used for the undersides. From the poor b/w pics I’d say that every aircraft received an individual pattern, and I used a color picture of a P.16 (which offered a good view on the upper surfaces, even though in a very weathered state) as benchmark and tried to replicate the look.
Things started with an overall coat with Humbrol 165 (RAF Medium Sea Grey). Then I used thinned acrylic paint to layer wavy lines with Revell 45 (Farngrau, close to RLM02) and 82 (Earth), both tones offered only little contrast to the underlying grey. Then came more wiggles with 42 (Gelboliv, RAL 6014) and finally with 84 (Lederbraun, RAL 8027) – resulting in a very disruptive pattern that really breaks up the airframe’s outlines and hides almost all surface details. Disturbingly effective!
The cockpit was painted in a very dark grey (Revell 06, Anthracite) and the landing gear as well as the respective wells in a mix of Humbrol 11 and 165, for a dull metallic grey.
After that the model received an overall black ink washing as well as some post-shading on the lower surfaces – a futile task on the upper camouflage, because of its cluttered character!
Markings became minimal, just with Swiss roundels procured from an F-5E sheet for the fins and from a generic markings sheet from TL Modellbau for the bigger wing markings. The tactical code was adapted from a Swiss BAe Hawk trainer (U-1257, the U was turned into a J with a cutter knife…). To add some color I painted the spinner red and added fictional unit markings to the nose, as well as some red warning markings, stencils and fake louvres around the engine.
+++ 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.
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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'.