Beyond The Sprues

Modelling => Completed GBs => Group and Themed Builds => Brian da Basher/Brian Perri Memorial GB => Topic started by: Dr. YoKai on October 29, 2020, 07:29:23 AM

Title: L'Air '36
Post by: Dr. YoKai on October 29, 2020, 07:29:23 AM
or, "Where did all those apostrophes come from?" Some of you folks may remember this build from the What If some years ago -
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50541564708_ed23bc6e3d.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2k1bJm5)DSCF0198 (https://flic.kr/p/2k1bJm5) by VileDr.Yo (https://www.flickr.com/photos/46965833@N07/), on Flickr
and somewhere else in these threads is my conversion of the Mureax 117 parasol observation plane into
a death-ray equipped autogyro. So I realized that I was working on a sort of series, albeit at a geologic pace :-[.
And so, another of the Mid-thirties Marvels that appeared in Hughes's long lost follow-on to Hell's Angels, the effects-heavy  Plus L'Air. (More story later - it's almost dinner time)

So that led to this build, the Bloch D'Assault 300 10 Attend
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50005522726_36a7703e69.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jbPnJW)DSCF0093 (https://flic.kr/p/2jbPnJW) by VileDr.Yo (https://www.flickr.com/photos/46965833@N07/), on Flickr

I could have sworn I had more in progress shots, but I may have just missed them. Anyhow, this is how it wound up- (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50541565008_be39c8be0f.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2k1bJrf)DSCF0197 (https://flic.kr/p/2k1bJrf) by VileDr.Yo (https://www.flickr.com/photos/46965833@N07/), on Flickr
Been kinda off my game a bit lately colleagues. Sorry to have been a bit faded lately.
Title: Re: L'Air '36
Post by: Frank3k on October 29, 2020, 12:09:00 PM
A French A-10 from the 30s? I love that purple/brown color. The gun pods look great - that's a well armed plane.
Title: Re: L'Air '36
Post by: GTX_Admin on October 30, 2020, 01:53:55 AM
 :smiley:
Title: Re: L'Air '36
Post by: Dr. YoKai on December 30, 2020, 08:26:54 AM
And at the wire...first a couple of detail shots of the Attend'
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50591311203_f201e5eb00.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2k5zGfg)DSCF0217 (https://flic.kr/p/2k5zGfg) by VileDr.Yo (https://www.flickr.com/photos/46965833@N07/), on Flickr

I am moderately proud of the engines.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50591311118_0d294f8b58.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2k5zGdN)DSCF0218 (https://flic.kr/p/2k5zGdN) by VileDr.Yo (https://www.flickr.com/photos/46965833@N07/), on Flickr

 Plus L'Air (Cinema Connerie, 1935) should have been the The Mysterians* of it's day. Hughes had approached Clark Yo jr. about 'loaning' some of the prototypes under construction at YA for a 'follow-on' to Hells' Angels in early 1932. Hearing about it, De Basher immediately offered his services as a pilot and consultant,gratis. Using his considerable persuasive skills,( and no small amount of alcohol) Hughes was able to convince the French that the psychological effect on the Germans would be "worth a hundred squadrons".
The details of the filming, De Basher's scandalous affair with Josephine Baker, and the unfocused Matthews Beam that would plunge Paris into darkness for twenty four hours have all been told in detail in André Bazin's exhaustive study Plus ca Merdre! Hughes, De Basher et le film qui a aveuglé Paris(City Lights Press, 1967) Suffice to say, the general chaos of the production eventually resulted in the film being confiscated by French authorities, leaving nothing but a few grainy test clips. Ultimately, it would all be revealed as a double Psychological operation, designed to make the Germans believe these 'Super weapons of Super Science' were in service in numbers, when the reality was (1) the military budget for the next decade had already been spent on the Maginot forts and Eclairs, and (2) They really didn't work. The few frames that survive, and De basher's own account indicate that the Attend' could not manage an altitude much over two hundred meters, and had a range only slightly greater, while the 'La Toupie' "just sort of bounced all over the sky." as De Basher put it, "As long as the engine was running, you could keep it more or less in one direction, for a few minutes, and then the transmission would seize for an instant on one of the rotors, and you'd spiral straight up for a few seconds, then level out heading in the opposite direction you'd been going. Landing, I realized, was going to be...interesting." As indeed it proved to be, but a substantial bribe to France's largest Ceramics firm allowed the prototype fighter to end its days as the loudest and largest pottery wheels in Western Europe. The 'Toupie' started life as another Heller classic, The Morane Saulnier MS 225. The inspiration came from a thirties MODERN MECHANICS cover "Amazing Spinning Top plane" with looked like a
cross between a bizarre carnival ride and Dick Tracy's Magnetic Space coupe. One thing is certain - old Heller decals are...difficult.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50777119171_b9b716722a.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kn11tV)DSCF0312 (https://flic.kr/p/2kn11tV) by VileDr.Yo (https://www.flickr.com/photos/46965833@N07/), on Flickr
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50777233452_7bbd7385c9.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kn1Ash)DSCF0315 (https://flic.kr/p/2kn1Ash) by VileDr.Yo (https://www.flickr.com/photos/46965833@N07/), on Flickr
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50777120431_41d9679dcb.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kn11RD)DSCF0314 (https://flic.kr/p/2kn11RD) by VileDr.Yo (https://www.flickr.com/photos/46965833@N07/), on Flickr
Title: Re: L'Air '36
Post by: GTX_Admin on December 31, 2020, 02:09:38 AM
Outstanding!
Title: Re: L'Air '36
Post by: Frank3k on December 31, 2020, 05:28:27 AM
I love 'La Toupie'! That's a great design.

Here's the cover from Modern Mechanix, May 1935:

(http://blog.modernmechanix.com/mags/ModernMechanix/5-1935/cover.jpg)

The complete issue is at archive.org:  Modern Mechanix, May 1935 (https://archive.org/details/modern-mechanix.1935.05)

The issue also has a possibly related article: Charles F. Kettering asks "DOES GRASS HOLD SECRET of HIDDEN POWER?" (http://blog.modernmechanix.com/does-grass-hold-secret-of-hidden-power/) Based on the picture, I think "Boss Ket"'s interests in the exotic went way beyond and was far stronger than grass...
Title: Re: L'Air '36
Post by: robunos on January 06, 2021, 12:13:36 AM
XLNT!!!
Wonderfully Bonkers!
Cracking Builds . . .


cheers,
Robin.
Title: Re: L'Air '36
Post by: Robomog on January 06, 2021, 10:20:03 AM
XLNT!!!
Wonderfully Bonkers!
Cracking Builds . . .


cheers,
Robin.

X2 couldn't have said it better myself

Mog
>^-.-^<