Beyond The Sprues
Modelling => Completed GBs => Group and Themed Builds => Retro Futuristic GB => Topic started by: Brian da Basher on August 30, 2017, 05:35:59 AM
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(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_001.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_001.jpg.html)
Italian design is lauded all over the world as perhaps the best aesthetic mankind has yet achieved.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/italian%20design.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/italian%20design.jpg.html)
However, some Italian designs have not become so famous or iconic.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_002.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_002.jpg.html)
Many futuristic concepts devised in the heady, overly-optimistic atmosphere immediately following W.W. I have been forgotten today.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_003.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_003.jpg.html)
Perhaps none exemplify this utter ignominy better than a fighter designed in 1920 by Ciccolini "Chico" Futurissimo.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/chico%20marx.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/chico%20marx.jpg.html)
Long before such things became commonplace, he envisaged a cantilever-winged monoplane fighter with a monocoque fuselage, an enclosed cockpit and amazing, ahead-of-its-time streamlining that even extended all the way down to a magnificently spatted undercarriage.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_004.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_004.jpg.html)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_005.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_005.jpg.html)
Chico could hardly sleep once his rough "back-of-the-napkin" doodles had become complete drawings. He even built a small wind-tunnel test model hoping to interest one of the large Italian aircraft manufacturers.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_006.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_006.jpg.html)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_007.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_007.jpg.html)
It was with great anticipation that Chico awaited word that his radical design had been accepted. By anyone.
He tried to distract himself with a Night at the Opera followed by a Day at the Races but to no avail. For all his worry, it would not be Duck Soup and most that saw his proposal huffed "Horse feathers!" before consigning it to the circular file.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_009.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_009.jpg.html)
Unfortunately, there was a glut of aircraft left over from the Great War and nobody was interested in trying to sell combat aircraft in a saturated market, a certain losing proposition.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_010.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_010.jpg.html)
Also, by then Chico's embrace of radical Marxism had become widely known.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Chico_Marx_Portrait.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Chico_Marx_Portrait.jpg.html)
As if that weren't enough, he'd already been black-listed from most reputable aircraft establishments due to his problematic involvement in flight testing.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/chico-harpo-groucho-marx.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/chico-harpo-groucho-marx.jpg.html)
So his incredibly prescient design sense would end up in the dustbin of history and he would be totally forgotten along with his amazing forward-thinking little fighter.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_010.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_010.jpg.html)
To this day, most experts completely disregard Chico Futurissimo as a charlatan and doubt he ever came up with anything capable of actual flight. However, his wind-tunnel model and tattered blueprints were recently found in an old desk abandoned when the Fiat conglomerate moved its engineering team to a new, modern campus.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_011.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_011.jpg.html)
While the experts may think this was just a flight of fancy, we know better.
Brian da Basher
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This all began with a 1/72 Airfix Do-217E & Me-328 combo kit that came in a care package a while back (thanks a million, hamsterman!). Isn't that box art great? It makes me feel like I'm getting ready to truck that sucker all the way to the bridge at Remagen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Remagen).
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Airfix%20Do-217E%20and%20Me-328%20box%20art.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Airfix%20Do-217E%20and%20Me-328%20box%20art.jpg.html)
With the office being just nuts and major dental work looming on the horizon, I decided a nice, simple project would be the cure. And few things in life are simpler than the Me-328 part of this kit.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Me-328_sprues.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Me-328_sprues.jpg.html)
It takes a whopping seven parts to complete this Me-328. Of course, mine would be a little different and I upped the parts count with a few additions.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_xtraparts.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_xtraparts.jpg.html)
Not pictured is the rear end of a bomb half I used as a belly radiator. It didn't occur to me until I started that there might be engine cooling concerns.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_prog_01.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_prog_01.jpg.html)
Fortunately, everything fell together fairly quickly. Here's a few pics I snapped before painting.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_prog_02.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_prog_02.jpg.html)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_prog_03.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_prog_03.jpg.html)
The spats were part of my haul from Spat-a-thon 2010. Now that MC Jerry Lewis is gone, I doubt I'll ever have such a successful Spat-a-thon again.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_prog_04.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_prog_04.jpg.html)
I can't remember if it was Mr Weaver or Mr Tomcat that sent me these beauties cruelly cut from a Monogran F11C, but I'm most grateful and I was glad to put them to good use.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_013.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_013.jpg.html)
These are a couple of "money shots" and hopefully the U.S. penny (I was out of Italian Lira) gives you an idea of the scale.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_012.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_012.jpg.html)
The model was painted in acrylics using the old hair stick, Model Masters Primer Gray and Aluminum mostly.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_000_upper.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_000_upper.jpg.html)
Oops the prop went wonky while taking pics. It's only stuck on with Elmer's as I plan to recycle it on another model some day. Here's a shot of the underside showing that belly radiator.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_000_under.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_000_under.jpg.html)
The canopy was tinted on the inside with Testors Royal Blue which is sort of like Prussian Blue but a shade lighter. The exhausts were painted with Model Masters Jet Exhaust and the rudder stripes and roundel touch-ups with Model Masters White Primer, Euro Green and Liquitex Cadmium Red Medium Hue. The roundels are from an Airfix F-86 and the codes from spares.
Here's a couple of shots highlighting that magnificently streamlined landing gear.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_014.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_014.jpg.html)
Wouldn't you hate to see those fearsome spats swooping down on you? I know I would...
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_015.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_015.jpg.html)
It took all of Sunday to build this wee little beastie. I hope you enjoyed the Futurissimo fighter and reading more aircraft history that some may consider laughable.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_016.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/Futurissimo%20Fighter/Fu_Fighter_016.jpg.html)
Brian da Basher
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Bellisimo!! A beautiful little design and a delightful back story (though, I am surprised that the (in)famous British agent and explorer, Captain Spaulding, didn't acquire the plans for Britain).
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A simple but great concept beautifully produced and, as always, with a backstory that leaves me chuckling. Well done Sir, well done indeed! :smiley:
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:smiley: :smiley:
One little known fact is that all copies of Chico's manifesto on the Technical Methods of
Futurist Aeronautical Design were lost during WWII. While not as well known as Marinetti's
Manifesto of Futurism or Boccioni's Technical Manifesto of Futurist Painting, it was
considered an important work of Futurism.
;)
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Good idea, this aerodynamic plane "ahead of its time"...
And a pleasant model for sure, thanks! :-*
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Keen kit bashing eye. Never would have perceived a spatted prop plane lurking within Me-328. Nice :smiley:
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Brian, that it is just awesome! You could present it as a modern day racer or aerobatic plane and it would still be totally plausible.
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It reminds me a little of this:
(https://airandspace.si.edu/sites/default/files/images/events/Nemesis.Nemesis)
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Great job Brian.
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Beautiful job Brian!!!!
Indeed the Italian craftsmanship and design style is world famous, what about this aircraft company which designs very modern shapes for very small aircrafts.
They are located some 60 kms south from where I live...
BLACKSHAPE AIRCRAFTS (http://www.blackshapeaircraft.com/en)
They have two models:
PRIME (http://www.blackshapeaircraft.com/en/prime/)
and
GABRIEL (http://www.blackshapeaircraft.com/en/gabriel/)
I think your model is very close to their style!
;)
Antonio
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Brilliant transformation Brian! I had no idea of the origin of this little beauty was until the big reveal in Reply #1 :smiley:
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Genius Brian, pure genius!
:-* ??? :icon_alabanza:
Ian
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Blimy Brian, Slap some numbers on it and you could give an Extra 300 a run for its money, nice build
Mog