Author Topic: A Waterbombing Gannet  (Read 15073 times)

Offline Robomog

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A Waterbombing Gannet
« on: May 14, 2019, 06:06:36 AM »
Hi all,

Sorry I'm a bit late for this one, basically delayed by a project overrun of the yellow supermarine  but also hampered by the fact that the doner kit I intended using had some major parts missing and I had to order a replacement.

No backstory as such but the premise for this whiff is that a requirement was required in a coastal area prone to bush fires for a water bomber that would also double up on other roles such as maritime patrol or air sea rescue.

The Fairey Gannet mk 4 was chosen for conversion for a number of reasons,  its carring capacity for starters then its endurance and ability to loiter on one engine. The three crew positions was the final clincher for the maritime patrol requirement.

The aircraft had all of its offensive equipment removed including dustbin radar, the bomb doors were removed as well to make way for a custom built water tank which added a little depth to the fuselage as ground clearance was limited but was bulged sideways to add some more capacity.

The area previously occupied by the radar was fitted with chutes to dispense flares and a life raft.

Here is the starter kit :-

by Robomog, on Flickr

A much  more accurate kit than the Novo version I was going to use, but that wasn't completely wasted as the bottom half of the old fuselage will be used to produce the shape of the new water tank

  by Robomog, on Flickr

More when it happens........

Thanks for looking

Mog
>^-.-^<
Mostly Harmless...............

Offline Kerick

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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2019, 08:17:10 AM »
Yellow or white and red?
Looks like fun!

Offline Robomog

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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #2 on: May 14, 2019, 12:51:04 PM »
You are so on my wavelength  ;D

Or am I getting predictable ?

Looking at yellow and red for the final colours

Mog
>^-.-^<
Mostly Harmless...............

Offline Kerick

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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #3 on: May 14, 2019, 06:50:53 PM »
Check Drawdecals for several waterbomber markings options. The ones I got for the fire watch Cobra look very good!

Offline Robomog

  • ...had a very bad experience with [an] orange...
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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #4 on: May 14, 2019, 09:25:05 PM »
Thanks kenrick, I will have a look, might save me some time getting the finished paint scheme completed

Mog
>^-.-^<
Mostly Harmless...............

Offline Robomog

  • ...had a very bad experience with [an] orange...
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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #5 on: May 14, 2019, 10:50:59 PM »
Hi kerrick

Some good ideas there but they are extracting the urine on the cost of  postage to the UK,  $14 for something you can stick in a stiff envelope is a bit extravagant

I will try and find an outlet over here

Thx

Mog
>^-.-^<
Mostly Harmless...............

Offline Frank3k

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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #6 on: May 14, 2019, 11:33:19 PM »
This is going to look awesome! Are you going to keep all three stations, or delete the guy in the back?

Offline kitnut617

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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #7 on: May 15, 2019, 02:47:28 AM »
I may be wrong, but I don't think you can buy Draw Decals anywhere else other than from the man ---

Offline Robomog

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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #8 on: May 15, 2019, 05:44:26 AM »
Hi all

Frank3k:- yep going to keep  all three flying stations in line with the air sea rescue secondary role, also the aircraft could function as an operations coordinator in its primary role.

I was tempted to remove the rear crew station to make room for additional water capacity but reasoned that the additional weight of water would push the centre of gravity too far backwards. I suppose I could have converted it to a tail sitter with the tail wheel installed where the arrester hook  came out, but I like the Gannet too much and wanted to keep its nose wheel stance.

Kitnut617 :- bang on, Blackbird Models carry a selection of Draw Decals but sadly the ones I wanted are out of stock or not stocked at all, curses !

I will raid my decal stash or have a go at creating my own.

Thanks for looking..........

Mog
>^-.-^<
Mostly Harmless...............

Offline apophenia

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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #9 on: May 15, 2019, 05:47:58 AM »
Great concept! Most waterbombers end up looking like a pregnant perch and the Gannet is already there  ;D

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

Offline ericr

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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #10 on: May 15, 2019, 03:31:31 PM »

nice idea !


Offline Robomog

  • ...had a very bad experience with [an] orange...
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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #11 on: May 15, 2019, 04:36:38 PM »
Thanks guys.

The bulk of this build is straight out of the box, but I wanted to give it as much water capacity as possible, however it is turning out  not as much as I wanted as I had to squeeze the tank in between the undercarriage legs and also had to take the ground clearace into consideration.  The AEW version  would have given me more clearance but then I would have lost  two of the crew positions.

Always the trade off........

Thanks for looking

Mog
>^-.-^<
« Last Edit: May 15, 2019, 04:39:59 PM by Robomog »
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Offline Robomog

  • ...had a very bad experience with [an] orange...
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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #12 on: May 16, 2019, 10:19:03 PM »
hi all

A bit more progress on the Gannet.

The water tank has now been constructed and had a test fit on the fuselage

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr


To avoid the model being a tailsitter I have packed out the nose with lead weights held in with Milliput.

by Robomog, on Flickr

more as it happens.......

Mog
>^-.-^<
Mostly Harmless...............

Offline Brian da Basher

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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #13 on: May 17, 2019, 03:49:39 AM »
I like the look of that water tank, Mog!

Fire-fighting aircraft are always sharp. Much looking forward to this one!

Brian da Basher

Offline apophenia

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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #14 on: May 17, 2019, 05:04:04 AM »
I like the look of that water tank, Mog!

Yup! Some serious fire-retardant capacity there  :smiley:
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

Offline kitnut617

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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #15 on: May 17, 2019, 05:52:47 AM »
Some good kit bashing there  :smiley:

But I'm wondering if it's necessary. I've got a firebomber project going too, a Sunderland, but I figured it could only carry 8000 gals max of water (and I've upgraded the aircraft with turbo-props).
So I was just looking at the numbers for the Gannet. Empty weight it's 14,000lb (or 15,000lb depending who's quoting), max take-off weight is 22,000lb (and anywhere down to 19,000lb depending who's quoting  :P ). Fuel capacity is 613 Imp' Gals which would weigh just over 4,000lb, add in some other weight (oil, other equipment, crew) say 1000lb, you're down to 3000lb for a load. So with water at just over 10lb an Imp Gal, you would have a volume of 300 Gal, you could fit that in the existing bomb bay --- of course, your project could have been severely upgraded too  ----  ;)
« Last Edit: May 17, 2019, 05:56:03 AM by kitnut617 »

Offline Robomog

  • ...had a very bad experience with [an] orange...
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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #16 on: May 17, 2019, 02:20:30 PM »
Thanks for the comment chaps,

Kitnut617:-  can't argue with the maths, I went through something similar when I was planning this one. Figured there would be some extra weight savings stripping out all the military stuff and removing the wing folding gear leaving the wings locked down (sorry didn't mention that one earlier). Anyways thought that would give me a margin (and an excuse) to increase the tankage a bit. There was always a trade off between payload and range on this one !

Thanks for looking............


Mog
>^-.-^<

PS  please show the Sunderland sounds great !
Mostly Harmless...............

Offline kitnut617

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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #17 on: May 17, 2019, 09:29:24 PM »
Hey Mog --- wasn't being negative 'cause I like the idea. I just have this thing about plausibility when I do projects like this, my bad ----

Anyway, as you say, quite a bit of the empty weight would be taken up by all the equipment that if taken out/removed, would definitely increase the load capacity. Range though would have to be kept I would think, wild fires have a habit of starting nowhere near an airfield   ;D

Here's a link to the Sunderland TP, I've not done too much to it for the last four years though ---  :-X
http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=1235.0

Offline Robomog

  • ...had a very bad experience with [an] orange...
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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #18 on: May 18, 2019, 12:20:28 AM »
HI Kitnut, no offense taken in any way whatsoever, I like feedback it keeps me on my toes and you obviously spent some thinking time on this, so thank you. ;)

 "Range though would have to be kept I would think, wild fires have a habit of starting nowhere near an airfield" -- absolutely  :smiley:

Hey, I know real world has got in the way but you gotta finish that Sunderland, it's gonna look wicked in the catalina/canso colour scheme

Mog
>^-.-^<
Mostly Harmless...............

Offline kitnut617

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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #19 on: May 18, 2019, 12:47:40 AM »
It's on the list for the 'Clear your Workbench' GB, this year, next year ---  :-[

Offline apophenia

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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #20 on: May 18, 2019, 04:05:08 AM »
"Range though would have to be kept I would think, wild fires have a habit of starting nowhere near an airfield" -- absolutely  :smiley:

Okay, now you've got me thinking about mobile catapult systems and arrestor gear for ex-carrier aircraft waterbombers operating from shorter, remote strips  ;D
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

Offline Robomog

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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #21 on: May 18, 2019, 06:30:43 AM »
Aaaaaah !  Too late, I've deleted the tail hook !   ;D ;D ;D ;D

Mog
>^-.-^<
Mostly Harmless...............

Offline Robomog

  • ...had a very bad experience with [an] orange...
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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #22 on: May 18, 2019, 07:26:08 AM »
And the Theres  more..............

Curiously this model does not mention anything about nose weight in the instructions and the flaps are designed to be shown deployed only, which is unusual for a nose wheel aircraft, it was only when I read up on other people's  builds I discovered that  the prop is modelled in a feathered position and it  is  meant to be propped up on the extended radar dustbin to avoid tail sitting, fine idea but the whole thing would look  really strange and unrealistic.

So the nose weight is in, to compensate for the removal  of the radar dustbin and  I haven't found any pictures of the Gannet parked with the flaps deployed so I'm going to model them closed. I tend to show my model aircraft in a parked stance so the feathered prop is no problem.

Because the model is designed to have the flaps deployed there is no locating mechanism so I've glued some small slivers of plastic to support the flaps in the closed position, also I have filled in the slots on the flaps themselves.

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

There are slots on the trailing edges of the wings that may need to be filled in, I need to check some photos first

The new water tank is now glued in position and work has commenced on smoothing it into the fuselage, at the same time the plate for the lift raft and flare tubes has been installed and will be smoothed into the fuselage also

by Robomog, on Flickr


by Robomog, on Flickr

More when it happens...........

Mog
>^-.-^<
« Last Edit: May 23, 2019, 05:55:49 AM by Robomog »
Mostly Harmless...............

Offline Robomog

  • ...had a very bad experience with [an] orange...
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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #23 on: May 18, 2019, 06:30:38 PM »
Hi all

Just a little aside, found this on utube

https://youtu.be/9mN_jsBxVt0

I remember it first time round, I'm sure they used the studio version of Shine on You Crazy Diamond then.

This is back in the day when the Royal Navy had Teeth, happy days, < sigh>

Anyways there are a couple of shots of the AEW Gannet that look absolutely majestic.........

Enjoy

Mog
>^-.-^<
« Last Edit: May 18, 2019, 06:39:05 PM by Robomog »
Mostly Harmless...............

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Re: A Waterbombing Gannet
« Reply #24 on: May 19, 2019, 02:24:59 AM »
Nice video.

As an aside, there is a 1/48 kit of the Fairey Gannet AEW.3 available:

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