Author Topic: Mouthy Apophenia  (Read 2323 times)

Offline apophenia

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Mouthy Apophenia
« on: July 18, 2022, 05:41:38 AM »
I sense that the French are under-represented with WW2 shark mouths. I have seen a tiny set of teeth on a D.520 and a long, thin set on a Laté 299 floatplane. But I thought a few more were needed. So, here they are ... on an MS.406 and a VG.33.

The Morane is a retouch of a Thierry Dekker MS.406 C1 profile. I removed most of the identifying marks, dropped the main gain, opened the canopy, etc. As you'll see, the shark's mouth is applied over the forward vent (not the radiator) with 'eyes' on the carb air intakes.

The Arsenal VG.33 is based on an Ed Jackson profile. (Something about the Arsenal's nose just calls out for teeth to me.) Again, the 'eyes' are formed around air intakes.

To make the Arsenal a bit whiffier, I've turned it into a VG.33 A1 - a what-if light assault variant* created from engineless (but otherwise near-complete) VG.33 C1 airframes. The VG.33 A1 is seen here carrying its maximum offensive load of 2 x 50 kg DT2 bombs. These were 110 lb GP types but twin 30 kg (66 lb) bombs would have been a more common load.

_______________________

* Rough backstory is that the STAé and the Armée de l'Air decided to cancel the overly-large Dewoitine D.770 (to focus on the successful Bréguet Bre.693 AB.2). That freed up a supply of non-moteur-cannone HS 12Y engines. The RH HS 12Yjrs2C7 engines stayed with SNCAM for a new divebomber. LH HS 12Ykrs2C7s went to Arsenal for the VG.33 A1 - the latter trading fixed cannon for bomb load and extra armour protection.
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: Mouthy Apophenia
« Reply #1 on: July 19, 2022, 01:06:39 AM »
Some other French types that may lend themselves to similar treatments:

Caudron 714:



Bréguet 693:



SNCASO SE.100:

All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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Offline Sport25ing

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Re: Mouthy Apophenia
« Reply #2 on: July 19, 2022, 07:20:44 AM »
nice  :smiley:

(well, both the Italians and Japanese are also non-existing)
« Last Edit: July 19, 2022, 07:23:40 AM by Sport25ing »

Offline apophenia

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Re: Mouthy Apophenia
« Reply #3 on: July 20, 2022, 05:26:50 AM »
Some other French types that may lend themselves to similar treatments:

Caudron 714 ...

Nice! The C.714 went straight up my flagpole. But I decided to add an extra element of whiffery. So, ...
___________________________

Flouting the 1938 Munich Agreement, the Nazis occupied Czech lands on 15 March 1939. In partial response, the French government ordered French military equipment to be donated to Poland. Among this surplus equipment were Caudron C.714 light fighters and C.600 basic trainer monoplanes.

The former had been gauged inadequate for the needs of the l'Armée de l'Air - being lacking in both performance and firepower. The first dozen C.714 airframes arrived at the port of Gdynia in late April 1939 for rail-shipment to Warsaw for assembly. These aircraft had arrived stripped of armament and radios. In Warsaw, most C.714s were armed with four 7,9 mm wz. 36 machine guns. However, a few were fitted with underwing pods for 20 mm cannons. [1]

Bottom Caudron C.714 light fighter of K.O.P. 185, Puck, September 1939. The Korpus Ochrony Pogranicza (Border Protection Corps) squadrons were mainly based in the east. K.O.P. 185 was the first border unit establish in the 'Polish Corridor'. Note that no radio is installed (to save weight).

Cyclone was applied to the Caudron C.714 in French service. In Poland, this became Cyklon. Likewise, the C.600 was dubbed Aiglon (Eaglet) which became Orle. In truth, however, such popular names were not widely used either in France or Poland.

As delivered, the Caudron trainers had been stripped of their Renault 4Pgi engines. Instead, they were to be powered by 110 hp PZInż. Junior engined produced at the Polish Ursus plant. As such, they were designated C.600P by Caudron and referred to as the 'l'Aiglon polonais'. Beyond assembly, the Poles were expected to devise engine mounts and new cowlings for the C.600Ps. As a result, only a handful of C.600P trainers were completed and delivered before the German onslaught commenced.

Top Caudron C.600P Orle of an unknown training unit. The French-applied camouflage was not especially effective in or over Polish terrain. This particular Caudron was destroyed on the ground by Luftwaffe strafing on 03 September 1939 after being withdrawn to Sulejów.

___________________________

[1] The cannons fitted were former trials guns - both Oerlikon FFs and Madsens
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

Offline Kerick

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Re: Mouthy Apophenia
« Reply #4 on: July 20, 2022, 07:16:56 AM »
That SE 100 is too strange to believe! Good candidate for the “What were they smoking!” GB.

Offline apophenia

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Re: Mouthy Apophenia
« Reply #5 on: July 20, 2022, 08:24:52 AM »
That SE 100 is too strange to believe! Good candidate for the “What were they smoking!” GB.

Yep. I remember reading that the production SE 100s were to be built by Citroën. With the SE 100's profile, I though that was pretty funny as a kid  ;D

Okay, this next one is a total cheat. I grabbed a couple on online images of Mustangs with shark's mouths for reference. I don't know the origin of the OD USAAF aircraft. I think that the RAAF Mustang F.Mk.III may have come from Arma Hobbies (but don't know the artist's name).

Anyway, the conceit here is that Oberleutnant Armin Faber's rubbish navigation skills had a profound effect on future Western Allied aircraft design. The Hawker Fury comes to mind here as incorporating some to the weight-reducing concepts from that captured Fw 190A. But what about the Focke-Wulf 's slick canopy design?

The Mustang's Malcolm hood was a fairly simple mod. It was bulged to improve visibility but can't have done much for drag. But suppose that R Malcolm & Co later took inspiration from Faber's Fw 190A? The results might look something like this ...

Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

Offline Kerick

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Re: Mouthy Apophenia
« Reply #6 on: July 20, 2022, 10:25:51 AM »
I like it! It might be a challenge to either scab on an FW-190 hood or smash mold a hood to match a Mustang wind screen.

Offline apophenia

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Re: Mouthy Apophenia
« Reply #7 on: July 21, 2022, 01:35:51 AM »
I like it! It might be a challenge to either scab on an FW-190 hood or smash mold a hood to match a Mustang wind screen.

Thanks Ken! I used the later 'bubble-hood' P-51 windscreen but avoided referencing the Fw 190 (except by memory). So, yeah, in a non-pixel version, probably easier to smash-mould an entirely new sliding hood.

Of course, "easier" is a relative term  ;D
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

Offline Old Wombat

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Re: Mouthy Apophenia
« Reply #8 on: July 21, 2022, 01:42:59 AM »
Hey, I managed to mash a Fw. 190 & a CAC Boomerang into a reasonable facsimile of your Sea Wallaby profile (I should have used the Fw.190 undercarriage, though ::)) &, if I can do that, fitting a Fw.190 canopy to a P-51 is a doddle!
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

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Re: Mouthy Apophenia
« Reply #9 on: July 21, 2022, 01:45:24 AM »
It looks faster somehow
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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Re: Mouthy Apophenia
« Reply #10 on: July 21, 2022, 01:48:29 AM »
Liking the C.714 too  :smiley:
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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Offline apophenia

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Re: Mouthy Apophenia
« Reply #11 on: July 21, 2022, 05:39:28 AM »
It looks faster somehow

That would be the teeth  ;)

... if I can do that, fitting a Fw.190 canopy to a P-51 is a doddle!

 ;D ;D  Too true!
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

Offline apophenia

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Re: Mouthy Apophenia
« Reply #12 on: July 22, 2022, 12:24:37 PM »
The angle-cut lower cowling opening on Oberursel-engined Fokkers seems like a natural for toothy smiles. So, this is another exercise is pasting toothy smiles onto existing profiles ...

The Fokker Dr I is a retouch of Lt Werner Voss' Hussar-faced Dr I by Mike Fuller. The main change was in the camouflage colour. I was going for a streaky scheme that I've seen described as 'dried sewage'  :P

The Fokker E V in Polish markings came from Arma Hobbies (but I'm not sure who the artist was). I swapped in Mike Fuller's cowling and Spandau so the two Fokkers were a bit more 'matchy'.
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

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Re: Mouthy Apophenia
« Reply #13 on: July 23, 2022, 01:42:26 AM »
 :smiley:
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline ChernayaAkula

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Re: Mouthy Apophenia
« Reply #14 on: July 23, 2022, 07:45:01 AM »
Good stuff!  :smiley: Really likin' the Malcom II Mustangs.
Cheers,
Moritz

"The appropriate response to reality is to go insane!"

Offline apophenia

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Re: Mouthy Apophenia
« Reply #15 on: July 23, 2022, 10:20:48 AM »
Good stuff!  :smiley: Really likin' the Malcom II Mustangs.

Thanks Moritz! That has encouraged me to do another shark-mouth type with a modified canopy ...

This Hurricane began as another Arma Hobbies image - this time by Zbyszek Malicki. I've substituted the 'bubble' canopy from the experimental Miles M.20 fighter. The cockpit location has also been moved aft, allowing for a second forward fuselage fuel tank to extend the range of the Hurricane F.Mk.VIA.
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

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Re: Mouthy Apophenia
« Reply #16 on: July 24, 2022, 01:43:26 AM »
 :smiley:
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline ChernayaAkula

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Re: Mouthy Apophenia
« Reply #17 on: July 24, 2022, 09:10:33 AM »
Bubbletop-Hurries are always a great idea!  :smiley:
Cheers,
Moritz

"The appropriate response to reality is to go insane!"

Offline Old Wombat

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Re: Mouthy Apophenia
« Reply #18 on: July 24, 2022, 10:16:59 AM »
When you have a bubble-top Hurricane in front of you, you can see the progression to the Typhoon & beyond. :smiley:
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline apophenia

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Re: Mouthy Apophenia
« Reply #19 on: July 29, 2022, 05:07:06 AM »
Blink and you'll miss it!  At least one RW Flying Tigers Line DC-8 had a shark mouth (I wonder why they all didn't?)

The US reg will be wrong but here is that toothy grin applied to a FTL DC-8-63F.
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

Offline Robomog

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Re: Mouthy Apophenia
« Reply #20 on: July 29, 2022, 06:16:39 PM »
When you have a bubble-top Hurricane in front of you, you can see the progression to the Typhoon & beyond. :smiley:

That was also my conclusion when I saw this profile  :D

Mog
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