Beyond The Sprues
Current and Finished Projects => Physical Models => Aero-space => Topic started by: The Rat on June 23, 2024, 12:27:37 PM
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In Ocober of 1961 trials were conducted to ascertain the suitability of the Army operating STOL ircraft from Royal Navy aircraft carriers. A DHC-2 Beaver was successfully landed on the deck of HMS Centaur during operations in Aden, and the concept was proven. It was decided that a few should be procured for the navy in order to add flexibility to operations, and some Beavers were transferred from the army. Aside from a new paint job, the only other alteration was the addition of a 3-bladed propeller, and operations were underway. It was found to be an inexpensive way of delivery and transfer of men and materials, and for the insertion and extraction of SAS and SBS personnel.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53808515317_abbc672405_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2pYSGWH)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53809682983_6c4d8981d6_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2pYYG3T)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53809682988_e8a7165712_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2pYYG3Y)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53809442701_4cea2ae84c_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2pYXsC6)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53809442706_9957c4791d_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2pYXsCb)
The Airfix 1/72nd offering, a bit long in the tooth but still a nice kit. The rivets seem overdone to many modelers, but after working around the real things often, I'm wondering if they might be underscale! They did cause some decal silvering problems, but too late now, the clear coat has already been applied. Paints were Tamiya XF-54 Dark Sea Grey, which in this scale is an okay replacement for Extra Dark Sea Grey, at least in my opinion. Underside was Tamiya XF-2 white. I applied many of the eye-straining stencils, but afer seeing two of them fall off and wind up as tiny specks on my bench, I decided that enough was enough. Prop came from the ancient and inaccurate Monogram PBY-5A.
If there was an after-market set to improve on it, this could be a very nice addition to one's display cabinet, rivets and all!
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Nice simple kit build? I hope it was.
The things on the bottom of the left wing. Stores pylons? Or something else?
Looking good in the RN paint scheme.
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Interesting bit of DHC-2 history and fine looking build :smiley: and prop looks OOB
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Nice
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Lovely build, 'Rat. Cool concept too. I especially like your 3-bladed prop (amazing what a decibel difference those make in 1/1 scale!).
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The things on the bottom of the left wing. Stores pylons? Or something else?
Thanks. No idea what they are, the instructions just said to put them on. And I always play by the rules, right? ;)
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Looks good ! :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:
Mog
>^-.-^<
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Very nicely done Dave!
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The things on the bottom of the left wing. Stores pylons? Or something else?
Thanks. No idea what they are, the instructions just said to put them on. And I always play by the rules, right? ;)
Additional online searching brought up nothing further on the pylons beyond Air Vectors entry on the subject which stated that things could be carried under the wings. No further supporting imagery beyond some vague images that focused on the aircraft and not the stores pylons so always just out of sight or focus. The one image at Wikipedia showing a Beaver showing the aircraft in antarctic use with a bright red-orange scheme showed a portion of the two starboard side racks empty but the port side was cut off in the image and showed "something" hanging from the racks under that wing. I must admit that I never paid much attention to the Beaver though I have several of the larger 48th scale HobbyCraft kits in the stash along with an equal number of the Otter kits but all are clean wings. Now I would like to see more details on the stores pylons for the Beaver (and possibly the Otter) to see what could be done for fitting it with something like a cargo pod or auxiliary fuel tank.
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...The things on the bottom of the left wing. Stores pylons? Or something else? ...
I've seen mention of US Army Beavers carrying "under-wing stores for mortars with parachutes". So, air-dropped mortars for troops below? ???
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A nice looking little bird. It is a little strange that the stores pylons would only be on one wing, but perhaps SAR equipment in a pinch? You never know when you're going to need an extra life raft.
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This pic (a screen shot from a video found on YouTube) seems to show a makeshift load under each wing…
(https://i.imgur.com/BbDRctp.png)
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:smiley:
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This pic (a screen shot from a video found on YouTube) seems to show a makeshift load under each wing…
(https://i.imgur.com/BbDRctp.png)
Thanks for digging that screen capture out and sharing. It more or less confirms what I had imagined. No specific type of stores with an aerodynamic shape but instead what would be classified as a "Door Bundle" type of load. The cardboard in "bondage" at the front of the load is the cushion to absorb impact energy/forces upon landing while the bundle is a heavy canvas cloth container that is about the same size and dimensions of the USGI standard issue "duffle bag" with a small parachute attached to the aft end. weight of these door bundles would be around 110kg/250-lbs.
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:smiley: