HBM September Newsletter
Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 1:39 pmHere is a copy of our new newsletter. I had hoped to supplement it with some choice pictures, but Real Life has also made some demands. I also hope to figure out how to incorporate my formatting in these submissions. Enjoy!
Ron
HBM 1:200 Newsletter - September 2010
By Ron Crawford
Our last HBM model. I have finally designated our final model, and that is in the early stage of preparation. It will be numbered 1000, and it will be a multimedia kit containing resin, white metal, and photo-etched parts. By way of preview it will consist of a diorama base, what may have been the biggest but most interesting boondoggle to see action in WWII, and enough accessory vehicles and figures to animate the scene.
A last HBM? Absowhatchamacallitlutely, mon quemosabe (translation : affirmatively, yes). Age has something to do with it. The past year’s birthday, illness and surgery have at the very least disabused me of any delusions of immortality. Getting away from self-exploitation also enters into the equation – the payoff for me is going to be getting the rest of my own collection finished, mounted, and into display cases. Reality has also played a role - it is getting very difficult to identify prototypes that I can justify as not already made as a nice 1:200 model and sufficiently significant or intriguing to justify the effort. Yet another consideration is the bet-hedging option. With Number 1000 already taken,that leaves about 150 unused designations for anything we choose to make.
So what is the plan? The short term plan is to finish our commitment to a set of operational WWII types. That is virtually done. The last of our original list are now at our casters and those will be delivered by the end of this year. We will undoubtedly find omissions until the Nether Regions freeze over, but they will be just that - addenda. Our promise to offer a set of X-planes (with allowance, of course, for those already made) will be completed early next year. We will leave a couple of spaces for types such as the X-42, X-52 and X-54 that have not yet been declassified . The rest should appear early in 2011.
Upcoming change of policies. When the X-planes are delivered, our subsequent HBM releases will cut across collecting categories to the degree that we will continue subscriptions only by explicit request. You will be able to maintain a standing order for all issues, for specific categories such as flying boats, and so on. Otherwise we will circulate lists via this Newsletter, in The One True Scale (TOTS) and the Miniature Aircraft Forum. We will be having fun, and the intent is to make just enough copies of most items to satisfy actual orders. The proviso, however, is that readers will need to act positively to ensure not being left out.
What happens next? The long term plan has a few branches. Those are 1)spinoffs and succession, 2) continued stocking plans, and 3) creating space for displaying my collection. Let’s look at those in order.
Spinoffs and succession agreements. The major thrust here is ensuring the future of 1:200 scale modeling. In the short term I am negotiating cooperative agreements with younger producers to utilize selected HBM designs. One will almost certainly involve a range of military aircraft used by the various Chinese air forces. Another range may represent the aircraft types that fought over the Dutch East Indies in 1942. The largest single activity will be providing a supply of models needed by war gamers. The air war gamers are critical supporters of 1:200. They really want the Liberators, Spitfires, and Messerschmitts that hard core collectors may have had 10-20 years ago, and they order in sufficient volume that making a new supply becomes economically rentable.(Restating that, it only makes sense for us to make exotic Loires and Levasseurs if those rest on a core of more common and historically important types. Otherwise we will end up producing obscure and oddball types for a shrinking generation of collectors who already have everything else.) Yet another kind of spinoff is a collaboration aimed at redesigning some of our veteran models to take a shot at the Herpa-Hogan-Gemini class of finished models.
The stocking plan. The basic stocking plan , if we get our cooperative relations working well, will look more like producing to order. We think we can keep minimum reorder batch quantities in the 25-30 range, so that should be feasible. Aside from popular war bird types, the other aircraft that generate regular orders are types used on aircraft carriers and shipboard floatplanes.
The space plan. We need space. On top of that my better half consistently vetoes my proposals to add a museum wing to our house . Watch this space for a massive stock reduction sale and a swap or sell push on a 40 year accumulation of extras, duplicates, books, and general impedimenta.
New HBM models. There are actually two lists as there was not a TOTS in the interim. I also expect another shipment of castings shortly, so read on. The new models also feature our first foray into photo-etched brass detail parts. We plan to do a lot more with that.
New HBM models released July 2010
The Shorts G-Class Empire Flying Boat is finally done. The model came out well but casting it tried all of our souls. Every casting, probably because of a batch of superannuated mold rubber, took an inordinate amount of hand finishing. We were able to make enough copies to cover our commitments, but just a few extras. The G-Class does make me think of a set of transoceanic flying boat “Clippers”. What do you think?
The Sud Est Loire et Olivier or LeO H-470 is another of the many flying boats the French naval air arm Aeronavale used during WWII. I personally find it one of the more attractive, with its pusher-tractor engine arrangements and smooth lines. As with many aircraft of the day the H-470 used a lot of struts to reinforce things like floats, so we have marked the locating points for you. Under each nacelle you will need to cement on a radiator-cooler. We used the strut as a sprue when we made the cooler castings, so you should trim the strut to the correct length before attaching the cooler to your model.
The Bell X-1 is the archetypal X-plane, made famous in films like “Breaking the Sound Barrier” and “The Right Stuff”. It was designed to explore flight at and beyond the speed of sound. Our model was adapted with permission from Derek Barratt’s original. We particularly wanted to simulate the strapping used to retain the Plexiglas cockpit glazing. You will want to carefully sand down the thickness of our strapping, feathering down the edges, before painting. As a hint for replicating the fine gauge pointed nose booms on many of the X-Planes and other types, I heartily recommend the .31 gauge needles used to administer insulin by diabetics. The diameter is about one portly hair, and you will not drive yourself around the bend creating a symmetrical point.
The Bell X-1A-B-D were three second-generation X-1 aircraft. No X-1B was built. The wings and tail were substantially the same, but the fuselage was new and greatly improved. In the 1950’s these remarkable little aircraft reach speeds up to Mach 2.4 and altitudes up to 90,000 feet.
The North American X-15A-2 was a modified X-15 with a stretched fuselage and semi-conformal external fuel tanks. The latter increased the rocket motor’s burn time by up to 70%, enabling a variety of more extended research flights. You can choose to build the model with or without the jettisonable tanks.
The Hiller X-18 was built expressly to investigate the engineering issues and functional feasibility of achieving V/STOL flight performance by tilting the entire wing and motor assembly. The aircraft also had a turbojet in the fuselage that did nothing but regulate pitch. The X-18 completed 20 flights and demonstrated that it could perform in all flight attitudes. However, the complexity and lack of cross connection between power plants caused great difficulty. On the model we neglected to cast in place the under wing exhaust pipes from the main engines. A sample is included with the bag of small parts. You can easily add those using plastic rod or stretched sprue. We also recommend using fine brass rod to replace the landing gear struts.
The Lockheed X-27A Lancer was an outgrowth of efforts to develop a low cost, lightweight successor to the Lockheed F-104. Essentially a high winged Starfighter in appearance, the X-27 was neither hind nor hound. It lacked the dogfighting potential that ultimately led to the F-16 and YF-17. Neither did the X-27 have the range, payload, and flexibility that produced the F-14 and F-15. It certainly was pretty!
The Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket was built initially for the US Navy. Initially the aircraft was powered by both a turbojet and a rocket motor, but later they were converted to all rocket power and configured for air drop launches from a B-29. Like the X-1 the D-558-II was a vehicle for studying flight at extreme speeds and altitudes. As a curiosity, a very nice 1:200 model of the D-558-II was made by Wiking in the late 1950’s but never distributed. The Wiking is very rare.
The Lockheed XST Hopeless Diamond was a progenitor of the F-117A stealth fighter. The initial approach to stealth was based on flat facetted plates that would reflect radar energy away from ground tracking stations, literally offering a low return. Hopeless Diamond was flown only on a post out in the Mojave Desert, but it proved the case for stealth beyond anyone’s expectations. The Hopeless Diamond was followed by a flying proof of concept aircraft called Have Blue.
The Char 2C heavy tank was another of those weapons that might well have altered the course of a campaign, in this case the Battle of France in the spring of 1940. The Char 2C was huge, well armored for its time, and outgunned the smaller Panzers of the Wehrmacht. The French army had some 50 of them available but squandered them in penny packet detachments. The Char 2C fills a gap in the coverage of WWII French tanks and vehicles. It may be our last AFV.
New HBM Models on hand September 2010
The Bugatti 100 Racer is perhaps the most beautiful airplane ever built. What else could you expect from the drawing board of the legendary auto designer Ettore Bugatti. You can see it today in the EAA Museum in Oshkosh. The countra-rotating props are so distinctive that we modeled them on the aircraft.
The Harbin H-5/ Ilyushin IL-28 Beagle was the standard medium bomber aircraft in the Soviet Empire and in China. It was also heavily exported. I believe more IL-28s were produced than any other jet bomber. Surviving aircraft remain in service today in China and North Korea despite a service entry in the 1950’s.
The Harbin SH-5 is a really unique aircraft these days: a long range amphibian flying boat that serves mainly as a maritime patrol (eg, ASW and ASR) machine. The SH-5 is an elegant answer to the challenge of monitoring the approaches to China’s very long coastline. The long service of this aircraft has been attributed to its role in developing very high resolution radar and probably MAD systems.
The Handley-Page Victor K-2 is another survivor of the Cold War. Designed initially as one of the strategic nuclear-armed V-Bombers (along with the Avro Vulcan and Vickers Valiant), the Victor extended its operational service as an air-to-air tanker. We modeled it as a K-2 tanker, but converting that to the bomber variant would not be difficult.
The Chengdu FC-1/ JF-17 multirole fighter-bomber is another of those aircraft that is politically and militarily important but virtually unknown in the West. The FC-1 originated as a project to redesign the MiG-21/J-7 for use by the PLAAF and the Pakistani Air Force, plus exports. This is a particularly interesting niche, as there is little competition for new-build lightweight, low cost but still potent fighter-bombers. The SAAB Gripen or an upgraded F-5-II Tiger would probably be the closest Western analog. This may be critical in some scenarios, as I have grave doubts about the willingness of commanders to commit scarce, expensive systems like the Eurofighter, Rafale, T-50, F-22, or even the F-35 to high threat air support missions.
The Lockheed-Martin X-55 Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA) is another of the NASA X-planes. The mission is to study the prospects for replacing the extremely complex and labour intensive metal fabrication of major assemblies with simplified components made from moulded advanced composite (plastics) materials such as carbon fibre. In the case of the X-55, the entire fuselage of a Fairchild-Dornier 328 aft of the entry doors (just picture a gazillion bits of aluminium riveted together) is replaced by a structure consisting of upper and lower shells bonded to circular frames. The implications for design, manufacture, cost, maintainance, and airframe service lives is enormous.
HBM Models available in mid-October
The Latécoere Laté 521 and Latécoere Laté 523 grew out of 1930’s French designs for transatlantic airline services. Both, together with the single Laté 522, were very large 6-motor flying boats. The Laté 521 was configured as an airliner and then reworked for maritime patrol work. The Laté 523’s were all built as military aircraft with bombing capability and defensive MG armament. To make the casting flow better we made the sponsons as separate components. You will want to mark the locations for the struts between the sponsons and wing underside before cementing the sponsons in place.
The Morane Saulnier MS.225 is a parasol wing fighter used both by the Armee de l’Air and the Aeronavale from 1934-40. Building the model is easy as long as you remember to golden rule of working from inside to outside. Just cement the wing onto the 4 short struts atop the fuselage. That establishes your parts alignment. Then just cut wire or plastic rod sprues to represent the outer struts.
The Morane Saulnier MS.230 was the standard basic trainer for the Armee de l’Air. Like the US Stearman and the RAF Tiger Moths they were also used in liason and communications roles. Assembly of the MS.230 is the same as for the MS.225. However, the open framework of the fixed landing gear required that we cast the parts separately, so those also need to be glued in place with a dot of gap-filling or gel CA cement.
The Gordeau-Lesseur GL 810 and Gordeau-Lesseur GL 832 were standard shipboard floatplanes on French Navybattleships and cruisers. Both are low wing monoplanes with two floats and a complex set of struts. We decided the strut assemblies would make great applications for photo-etched brass,. Assembly simply requires gluing two integrated pieces on each side and then adding the floats. We are so pleased with the results that we have already designed photo-etched for later models.
The Lockheed-Martin X-44 Manta was a NASA project to investigate the control of aircraft maneuver in yaw, pitch, and roll without the use of external tailplanes. Changes in attitude were to be achieved solely by using 3-D thrust vectoring. The aircraft was a Lockheed-Martin F-22A with all tail surfaces removed and the wing stretched aft into a true delta configuration. We made the master exactly that way, making the conversion from our F-22A. We made one design decision readers should note. Drawings and kits of the aircraft show it alternately with flattened motor housings and rectangular jet exhausts and with higher, rounded fairings and round exhaust cones. We chose the latter for two reasons. First, an actual prototype aircraft would probably have at least initially used an off-the-shelf design, as used on the F-22 and F-35. Second, modelers who prefer the flattened design can easily remove material with a flat file.
The Sukhoi T-50 is the designated successor to the Sukhoi Su-27 family. It seems to be the choice both on its own merits and because competing design studios like RSK MiG have fallen upon hard times. From published analyses the T-50 is quite close to the F-22A in performance.
The Northrop-Grumman FB-23 represents a project to convert the YF-23, which lost the USAF selection decision to the YF-22, into a next generation strike aircraft. It would have combined the flight and stealth performance of the F-23 with increased range and ordnance capacity. The design achieved fame a few years ago when an employee of an outside contractor stole the in-house model and offered it on eBay.
The Bell-Textron X-22A was a NASA X-plane intended to explore vertical takeoff and landing by means of tilting ducted fan thrusters at the four corners of the airframe. The two completed X-22A completed well over 200 flight tests and contributed directly to designs like the VS-22A Osprey. We had a difficult time making the master model. When we built thruster assemblies that matched the scale drawings, the results looked incorrect when compared to photos. Finally it occurred to me that what appeared to be circular extensions of the ducts were actually just flat 2-dimensional vanes. Assembling the model is easy once you note that we have designed it to be built with the ducts tilted at any angle from straight down to straight back. Just identify the 4 ducts (the rear ones have small winglet extensions on the outer side), drill through the housing to accept the metal rod axles, cement the ducts where you would like them, and cement on the flat exhaust vanes. The photos and drawings in Jay Miller’s X-Planes are a super guide once you understand what you are seeing.
The next HBM models – available November/December 2010
The Consolidated XPY-1 Admiral was one of the classic US Navy flying boat designs of the 1930’s. The design is better known for the airliner version, the Consolidated Commodore. If you were “Flying Down to Rio” on the pioneering Pan-Am route, you likely flew in a Commodore. The Admiral and Commodore differ externally only in their fuselages. The wings, float assemblies, motors, and tails are the same, so we made a matched pair. The models benefit from our new photo-etched strut assemblies. I recommend building the model with brass or plastic rod vertical struts on the fuselage center line. They are not evident in most sketches or historic photos, but they are present and would have been the obvious structural solution for channeling forces between the wing and hull. Once the wing is cemented in its correct position, it works best to glue the motors in place. Then the brass strut assemblies align easily under each wing and the floats are added at the end. This was so much fun I am thinking about more of the Clipper generation flying boats.
Another recipient of a set of integrated float assemblies is the French Loire 70 flying boat. The Aeronavale used the Loire 70 mainly for patrol and reconnaissance over the Mediterranean. The three motors are mounted as marked on top of the wing. The float strut assemblies and then the floats themselves fit beneath the wings, making a spidery but very strong model.
The Ushakov LPL or PKP (depending, I am told, upon how one transliterates from the Cyrillic characters) was a Soviet project to design a flying submarine. Judging from the design the thought must have been to build a machine that could be rapidly deployed (compared to the diesel submarines of the day) and lie in wait at periscope depth to ambush enemy ships. To what must have been immense relief for anyone who might have had to fly in or maintain the beast, the machine never floated, sank, or flew. We elected to make the Ushakov with the floats retracted, as though it was in flight. It appears that for takeoff and landing the floats could be extended downward rather like hydroplanes.
Another aircraft model that required a lot of revisions was the Piasecki X-49A SpeedHawk. The X-49A is designed to attack the fundamental shortcoming of conventional helicopters : they are rather slow. The X-49A is fundamentally a USN Sikorsky SH-60 with a vectorable thrust ducted fan turboprop in place of the rear rotor and stub wings liberated from an Aerostar FJ100 business jet. The design is complex and a bit difficult to picture. Your best single resource is the Youtube video of test flights, in which the X-49A demonstrates its steerable compound thrust system in a sweeping close up view. We have laid out the model so that you can just glue the thruster pod in place and add the main rotor.
The Martin P-6M-2 Seamaster was the final evolution of the US Navy flying boat. A fast jet flying boat capable of carrying nuclear ordnance would have been a real operational “wild card”. As it turned out, most of the proposed roles were better served by land based aircraft like the P2V Neptune, which offered better range, loiter, and systems capabilities. I received a very good example many years ago from Romy Hauk, but to my knowledge only a few copies were ever made. We have updated that because the type is so interesting. The model requires just gluing the horizontal tail in place.
HBM Models available early 2011
The Type VIIC U-Boat was the most numerous and successful of the WWII German submarines. I have always wondered why no one made one in 1/200 either as a plastic kit or as a resin model. The closest are the wartime Wiking model, which boasts a detailed interior but is well under scale for a Type VII, and the Imai kit. The Imai, generously contributed by John Pracko, is very close to 1/200 scale. Unfortunately the kit is basically a toy, made to be self-propelled in tolerant locations like bath tubs. The giant saddle tanks that define the Type VII are absent, and the bottom and stern of the model are cut away to provide locations for a huge paddle wheel and rubber band drive. We recycled some parts, like the deck scribing, for our own model. We do not recommend hand carving items like the Type VII hull. The saddle tanks, for example, are compound contoured both externally and where they join the hull. We finished the hull, conning tower, and crew figures (Yup!) last summer and were dithering about how to make the small details like cable cutters, railings, and antennae more realistic. Those will now be done in photo-etched brass, providing a first class model of this historic boat.
An unpaid bibliographic plug.
Every once in a while we run across a reference so useful that everyone should have a copy. I recently received American Flying Boats and Amphibious Aircraft: An Illustrated History by E. R. Johnson, published by McFarland in 2009. Here is the Amazon summary… This work is a comprehensive, heavily illustrated history of the many flying boats and amphibious aircraft designed and built in the United States. It is divided into three chronological sections: the early era (1912-1928), the golden era (1928-1945), and the post-war era (1945-present), with historical overviews of each period. Within each section, individual aircraft types are listed in alphabetical order by manufacturer or builder, with historical background, technical specifications, drawings, and one or more photographs. Appendices cover lesser known flying boat and amphibian types as well as various design concepts that never achieved the flying stage. That is conservative. For example, each type is illustrated with what amounts to a 4-view drawing (top/bottom, side, front). This is a Lloyd Jones for US flying boats.
Airship update
Sorry folks! Double bad news on this front. First, my straw pole on takers for the WWII Blimp was so unsuccessful that I am concerned about feasibility. Second, the maker has not responded since June. I will post any new information if the situation changes.
Another Wiking book from Peter Schönfeldt
Carsten Breiting has notified me that Peter Schönfeldt has another book on Wikings. My copy is still out there in the black hole of international mail, but Carsten was most enthusiastic. It is a genuine collectors ideal, with drawings and photos of each aircraft and some non-aircraft. (Should we follow submariner terminology and call the latter “targets”?) The book has already sold out but Peter is willing to order a small second printing if we can guarantee enough sales to break even. Please contact Carsten or me ASAP if you want one.
Another Wiking “must-have”
The enormous Wiking model collection of Hans Rautenberg, a German collector who amassed what may have been the most complete set of Wiking aircraft, army models, ships, etc. will be auctioned off in November. Some years ago I had the good fortune to visit him, and the best way to summarize his holdings is that he seemed to have all variations of all models. He died last year, and Auktions-Haus Saure will be selling his collection. Eberhard Breyel just sent me the auction catalog. It is just plain incredible. Every single item is illustrated in colour photos, and there is a lot of useful background information. For example, I was not aware that much of the Rautenberg collection came from Wolf Grope, who, in turn, was given many rare birds by Mr. Peltzer. I was also not aware that he had been Grope’s financial backer, although that does explain some other observations. At the very least you will want to order the auction catalog. The web site is at http://www.auktionshaus-saure.de/. Please do not bid against me.
Fun stuff
Here is a great Flash video sent by Tom Healy. It shows the building of the ISS by date. Fantastic piece of space history. http://i.usatoday.net/tech/graphics/iss ... /flash.htm. If you are wondering about the interior detail, Tony Chong has provided this link http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=H8rHarp1GEE..
Facts about Figures
Vince Corcoran recently did for us what has been needed for a long time. He did a hands on comparison of the available wargame figures we might use with 1/200 models and sent along some samples. A 6-foot tall man would be between 5/16-3/8 inch or 9mm tall, with no allowance for the height of any stand attached to the figure. Most soldiers are actually a bit shorter, so anything in the 8-9mm range would be reasonable. If we add the criterion of good fidelity in posing and proportion, some interesting conclusions emerge. Military figures are supplied in three nearby nominal scales: 10 mm, 1/200, and a micro scale of 6mm,1/285 and 1/300.
There are a number of excellent 10mm ranges, but none of them average as short as 10mm. For 1/200 scenes they would be suitable only for special applications like “Statues in the Park”.
The choices in military figures in 1/200 are rather limited. If you can find them, by far the most realistic are a sprued set of figures released some years ago by Mercator. We hope that Skytrex, who now own the Mercator line, will re-release those. Skytrex themselves make a wide range of nominally 1/200 figures under the title Action 200. Those run big. They would actually fit well with a 10mm scene. If you can find them Wargames South made a very nice WWII range, but they are long since out of production. The classic and charming Wiking Wehrmacht and Verkehrs (Traffic) models are nominally 1/200 and cover wonderful subjects like a marching band. However they are also well overscale. Sorry! The best are probably the Herpa figures for military airfields. They are quite expensive but realistic and well-posed.
The micro scale 6mm to 1/300 wargaming figures should look like older children when juxtaposed with 1/200 models. After all, 1/300 should be about 2/3 of 1/200. In fact, the micro ranges are all well overscale. My guess is that it is incredibly difficult to sculpt realistic figures much smaller than 1/200, even with the aid of binocular optics. Two micro ranges actually look remarkably good with 1/200 models. One is Adler Miniatures from the UK and the second is GHQ from the USA.. Both are close in height and mass, and both are realistically posed.
Update on Ron’s Progress.
The last time I reported to everyone was back in June, when I was only around 10 weeks out of surgery. I don’t think I realized until recently just how zonked I was then. My sincere apologies to anyone I may have ignored or offended. I am writing at about 5 1/2 months post-op, and thus far the news is generally good. The complications I have encountered have been quite tolerable. The follow-up scans at the Brigham continue to show no relapse. My strength is returning, albeit followed at a distance by my stamina, and my food capacity and weight have stabilized for the present at a comfortable level. I am now at my university freshman weight and something exceeding 2 clothing sizes down from my days in the acies contrapugnans range. I will return to Boston in October for a full body scan. Then every 6 months doubtless forever.
Again, Louise and I are grateful for all of your calls, cards, letters, emails, tweets, and other signals of support. That is what keeps us going.
Ron
HBM 1:200 Newsletter - September 2010
By Ron Crawford
Our last HBM model. I have finally designated our final model, and that is in the early stage of preparation. It will be numbered 1000, and it will be a multimedia kit containing resin, white metal, and photo-etched parts. By way of preview it will consist of a diorama base, what may have been the biggest but most interesting boondoggle to see action in WWII, and enough accessory vehicles and figures to animate the scene.
A last HBM? Absowhatchamacallitlutely, mon quemosabe (translation : affirmatively, yes). Age has something to do with it. The past year’s birthday, illness and surgery have at the very least disabused me of any delusions of immortality. Getting away from self-exploitation also enters into the equation – the payoff for me is going to be getting the rest of my own collection finished, mounted, and into display cases. Reality has also played a role - it is getting very difficult to identify prototypes that I can justify as not already made as a nice 1:200 model and sufficiently significant or intriguing to justify the effort. Yet another consideration is the bet-hedging option. With Number 1000 already taken,that leaves about 150 unused designations for anything we choose to make.
So what is the plan? The short term plan is to finish our commitment to a set of operational WWII types. That is virtually done. The last of our original list are now at our casters and those will be delivered by the end of this year. We will undoubtedly find omissions until the Nether Regions freeze over, but they will be just that - addenda. Our promise to offer a set of X-planes (with allowance, of course, for those already made) will be completed early next year. We will leave a couple of spaces for types such as the X-42, X-52 and X-54 that have not yet been declassified . The rest should appear early in 2011.
Upcoming change of policies. When the X-planes are delivered, our subsequent HBM releases will cut across collecting categories to the degree that we will continue subscriptions only by explicit request. You will be able to maintain a standing order for all issues, for specific categories such as flying boats, and so on. Otherwise we will circulate lists via this Newsletter, in The One True Scale (TOTS) and the Miniature Aircraft Forum. We will be having fun, and the intent is to make just enough copies of most items to satisfy actual orders. The proviso, however, is that readers will need to act positively to ensure not being left out.
What happens next? The long term plan has a few branches. Those are 1)spinoffs and succession, 2) continued stocking plans, and 3) creating space for displaying my collection. Let’s look at those in order.
Spinoffs and succession agreements. The major thrust here is ensuring the future of 1:200 scale modeling. In the short term I am negotiating cooperative agreements with younger producers to utilize selected HBM designs. One will almost certainly involve a range of military aircraft used by the various Chinese air forces. Another range may represent the aircraft types that fought over the Dutch East Indies in 1942. The largest single activity will be providing a supply of models needed by war gamers. The air war gamers are critical supporters of 1:200. They really want the Liberators, Spitfires, and Messerschmitts that hard core collectors may have had 10-20 years ago, and they order in sufficient volume that making a new supply becomes economically rentable.(Restating that, it only makes sense for us to make exotic Loires and Levasseurs if those rest on a core of more common and historically important types. Otherwise we will end up producing obscure and oddball types for a shrinking generation of collectors who already have everything else.) Yet another kind of spinoff is a collaboration aimed at redesigning some of our veteran models to take a shot at the Herpa-Hogan-Gemini class of finished models.
The stocking plan. The basic stocking plan , if we get our cooperative relations working well, will look more like producing to order. We think we can keep minimum reorder batch quantities in the 25-30 range, so that should be feasible. Aside from popular war bird types, the other aircraft that generate regular orders are types used on aircraft carriers and shipboard floatplanes.
The space plan. We need space. On top of that my better half consistently vetoes my proposals to add a museum wing to our house . Watch this space for a massive stock reduction sale and a swap or sell push on a 40 year accumulation of extras, duplicates, books, and general impedimenta.
New HBM models. There are actually two lists as there was not a TOTS in the interim. I also expect another shipment of castings shortly, so read on. The new models also feature our first foray into photo-etched brass detail parts. We plan to do a lot more with that.
New HBM models released July 2010
The Shorts G-Class Empire Flying Boat is finally done. The model came out well but casting it tried all of our souls. Every casting, probably because of a batch of superannuated mold rubber, took an inordinate amount of hand finishing. We were able to make enough copies to cover our commitments, but just a few extras. The G-Class does make me think of a set of transoceanic flying boat “Clippers”. What do you think?
The Sud Est Loire et Olivier or LeO H-470 is another of the many flying boats the French naval air arm Aeronavale used during WWII. I personally find it one of the more attractive, with its pusher-tractor engine arrangements and smooth lines. As with many aircraft of the day the H-470 used a lot of struts to reinforce things like floats, so we have marked the locating points for you. Under each nacelle you will need to cement on a radiator-cooler. We used the strut as a sprue when we made the cooler castings, so you should trim the strut to the correct length before attaching the cooler to your model.
The Bell X-1 is the archetypal X-plane, made famous in films like “Breaking the Sound Barrier” and “The Right Stuff”. It was designed to explore flight at and beyond the speed of sound. Our model was adapted with permission from Derek Barratt’s original. We particularly wanted to simulate the strapping used to retain the Plexiglas cockpit glazing. You will want to carefully sand down the thickness of our strapping, feathering down the edges, before painting. As a hint for replicating the fine gauge pointed nose booms on many of the X-Planes and other types, I heartily recommend the .31 gauge needles used to administer insulin by diabetics. The diameter is about one portly hair, and you will not drive yourself around the bend creating a symmetrical point.
The Bell X-1A-B-D were three second-generation X-1 aircraft. No X-1B was built. The wings and tail were substantially the same, but the fuselage was new and greatly improved. In the 1950’s these remarkable little aircraft reach speeds up to Mach 2.4 and altitudes up to 90,000 feet.
The North American X-15A-2 was a modified X-15 with a stretched fuselage and semi-conformal external fuel tanks. The latter increased the rocket motor’s burn time by up to 70%, enabling a variety of more extended research flights. You can choose to build the model with or without the jettisonable tanks.
The Hiller X-18 was built expressly to investigate the engineering issues and functional feasibility of achieving V/STOL flight performance by tilting the entire wing and motor assembly. The aircraft also had a turbojet in the fuselage that did nothing but regulate pitch. The X-18 completed 20 flights and demonstrated that it could perform in all flight attitudes. However, the complexity and lack of cross connection between power plants caused great difficulty. On the model we neglected to cast in place the under wing exhaust pipes from the main engines. A sample is included with the bag of small parts. You can easily add those using plastic rod or stretched sprue. We also recommend using fine brass rod to replace the landing gear struts.
The Lockheed X-27A Lancer was an outgrowth of efforts to develop a low cost, lightweight successor to the Lockheed F-104. Essentially a high winged Starfighter in appearance, the X-27 was neither hind nor hound. It lacked the dogfighting potential that ultimately led to the F-16 and YF-17. Neither did the X-27 have the range, payload, and flexibility that produced the F-14 and F-15. It certainly was pretty!
The Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket was built initially for the US Navy. Initially the aircraft was powered by both a turbojet and a rocket motor, but later they were converted to all rocket power and configured for air drop launches from a B-29. Like the X-1 the D-558-II was a vehicle for studying flight at extreme speeds and altitudes. As a curiosity, a very nice 1:200 model of the D-558-II was made by Wiking in the late 1950’s but never distributed. The Wiking is very rare.
The Lockheed XST Hopeless Diamond was a progenitor of the F-117A stealth fighter. The initial approach to stealth was based on flat facetted plates that would reflect radar energy away from ground tracking stations, literally offering a low return. Hopeless Diamond was flown only on a post out in the Mojave Desert, but it proved the case for stealth beyond anyone’s expectations. The Hopeless Diamond was followed by a flying proof of concept aircraft called Have Blue.
The Char 2C heavy tank was another of those weapons that might well have altered the course of a campaign, in this case the Battle of France in the spring of 1940. The Char 2C was huge, well armored for its time, and outgunned the smaller Panzers of the Wehrmacht. The French army had some 50 of them available but squandered them in penny packet detachments. The Char 2C fills a gap in the coverage of WWII French tanks and vehicles. It may be our last AFV.
New HBM Models on hand September 2010
The Bugatti 100 Racer is perhaps the most beautiful airplane ever built. What else could you expect from the drawing board of the legendary auto designer Ettore Bugatti. You can see it today in the EAA Museum in Oshkosh. The countra-rotating props are so distinctive that we modeled them on the aircraft.
The Harbin H-5/ Ilyushin IL-28 Beagle was the standard medium bomber aircraft in the Soviet Empire and in China. It was also heavily exported. I believe more IL-28s were produced than any other jet bomber. Surviving aircraft remain in service today in China and North Korea despite a service entry in the 1950’s.
The Harbin SH-5 is a really unique aircraft these days: a long range amphibian flying boat that serves mainly as a maritime patrol (eg, ASW and ASR) machine. The SH-5 is an elegant answer to the challenge of monitoring the approaches to China’s very long coastline. The long service of this aircraft has been attributed to its role in developing very high resolution radar and probably MAD systems.
The Handley-Page Victor K-2 is another survivor of the Cold War. Designed initially as one of the strategic nuclear-armed V-Bombers (along with the Avro Vulcan and Vickers Valiant), the Victor extended its operational service as an air-to-air tanker. We modeled it as a K-2 tanker, but converting that to the bomber variant would not be difficult.
The Chengdu FC-1/ JF-17 multirole fighter-bomber is another of those aircraft that is politically and militarily important but virtually unknown in the West. The FC-1 originated as a project to redesign the MiG-21/J-7 for use by the PLAAF and the Pakistani Air Force, plus exports. This is a particularly interesting niche, as there is little competition for new-build lightweight, low cost but still potent fighter-bombers. The SAAB Gripen or an upgraded F-5-II Tiger would probably be the closest Western analog. This may be critical in some scenarios, as I have grave doubts about the willingness of commanders to commit scarce, expensive systems like the Eurofighter, Rafale, T-50, F-22, or even the F-35 to high threat air support missions.
The Lockheed-Martin X-55 Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA) is another of the NASA X-planes. The mission is to study the prospects for replacing the extremely complex and labour intensive metal fabrication of major assemblies with simplified components made from moulded advanced composite (plastics) materials such as carbon fibre. In the case of the X-55, the entire fuselage of a Fairchild-Dornier 328 aft of the entry doors (just picture a gazillion bits of aluminium riveted together) is replaced by a structure consisting of upper and lower shells bonded to circular frames. The implications for design, manufacture, cost, maintainance, and airframe service lives is enormous.
HBM Models available in mid-October
The Latécoere Laté 521 and Latécoere Laté 523 grew out of 1930’s French designs for transatlantic airline services. Both, together with the single Laté 522, were very large 6-motor flying boats. The Laté 521 was configured as an airliner and then reworked for maritime patrol work. The Laté 523’s were all built as military aircraft with bombing capability and defensive MG armament. To make the casting flow better we made the sponsons as separate components. You will want to mark the locations for the struts between the sponsons and wing underside before cementing the sponsons in place.
The Morane Saulnier MS.225 is a parasol wing fighter used both by the Armee de l’Air and the Aeronavale from 1934-40. Building the model is easy as long as you remember to golden rule of working from inside to outside. Just cement the wing onto the 4 short struts atop the fuselage. That establishes your parts alignment. Then just cut wire or plastic rod sprues to represent the outer struts.
The Morane Saulnier MS.230 was the standard basic trainer for the Armee de l’Air. Like the US Stearman and the RAF Tiger Moths they were also used in liason and communications roles. Assembly of the MS.230 is the same as for the MS.225. However, the open framework of the fixed landing gear required that we cast the parts separately, so those also need to be glued in place with a dot of gap-filling or gel CA cement.
The Gordeau-Lesseur GL 810 and Gordeau-Lesseur GL 832 were standard shipboard floatplanes on French Navybattleships and cruisers. Both are low wing monoplanes with two floats and a complex set of struts. We decided the strut assemblies would make great applications for photo-etched brass,. Assembly simply requires gluing two integrated pieces on each side and then adding the floats. We are so pleased with the results that we have already designed photo-etched for later models.
The Lockheed-Martin X-44 Manta was a NASA project to investigate the control of aircraft maneuver in yaw, pitch, and roll without the use of external tailplanes. Changes in attitude were to be achieved solely by using 3-D thrust vectoring. The aircraft was a Lockheed-Martin F-22A with all tail surfaces removed and the wing stretched aft into a true delta configuration. We made the master exactly that way, making the conversion from our F-22A. We made one design decision readers should note. Drawings and kits of the aircraft show it alternately with flattened motor housings and rectangular jet exhausts and with higher, rounded fairings and round exhaust cones. We chose the latter for two reasons. First, an actual prototype aircraft would probably have at least initially used an off-the-shelf design, as used on the F-22 and F-35. Second, modelers who prefer the flattened design can easily remove material with a flat file.
The Sukhoi T-50 is the designated successor to the Sukhoi Su-27 family. It seems to be the choice both on its own merits and because competing design studios like RSK MiG have fallen upon hard times. From published analyses the T-50 is quite close to the F-22A in performance.
The Northrop-Grumman FB-23 represents a project to convert the YF-23, which lost the USAF selection decision to the YF-22, into a next generation strike aircraft. It would have combined the flight and stealth performance of the F-23 with increased range and ordnance capacity. The design achieved fame a few years ago when an employee of an outside contractor stole the in-house model and offered it on eBay.
The Bell-Textron X-22A was a NASA X-plane intended to explore vertical takeoff and landing by means of tilting ducted fan thrusters at the four corners of the airframe. The two completed X-22A completed well over 200 flight tests and contributed directly to designs like the VS-22A Osprey. We had a difficult time making the master model. When we built thruster assemblies that matched the scale drawings, the results looked incorrect when compared to photos. Finally it occurred to me that what appeared to be circular extensions of the ducts were actually just flat 2-dimensional vanes. Assembling the model is easy once you note that we have designed it to be built with the ducts tilted at any angle from straight down to straight back. Just identify the 4 ducts (the rear ones have small winglet extensions on the outer side), drill through the housing to accept the metal rod axles, cement the ducts where you would like them, and cement on the flat exhaust vanes. The photos and drawings in Jay Miller’s X-Planes are a super guide once you understand what you are seeing.
The next HBM models – available November/December 2010
The Consolidated XPY-1 Admiral was one of the classic US Navy flying boat designs of the 1930’s. The design is better known for the airliner version, the Consolidated Commodore. If you were “Flying Down to Rio” on the pioneering Pan-Am route, you likely flew in a Commodore. The Admiral and Commodore differ externally only in their fuselages. The wings, float assemblies, motors, and tails are the same, so we made a matched pair. The models benefit from our new photo-etched strut assemblies. I recommend building the model with brass or plastic rod vertical struts on the fuselage center line. They are not evident in most sketches or historic photos, but they are present and would have been the obvious structural solution for channeling forces between the wing and hull. Once the wing is cemented in its correct position, it works best to glue the motors in place. Then the brass strut assemblies align easily under each wing and the floats are added at the end. This was so much fun I am thinking about more of the Clipper generation flying boats.
Another recipient of a set of integrated float assemblies is the French Loire 70 flying boat. The Aeronavale used the Loire 70 mainly for patrol and reconnaissance over the Mediterranean. The three motors are mounted as marked on top of the wing. The float strut assemblies and then the floats themselves fit beneath the wings, making a spidery but very strong model.
The Ushakov LPL or PKP (depending, I am told, upon how one transliterates from the Cyrillic characters) was a Soviet project to design a flying submarine. Judging from the design the thought must have been to build a machine that could be rapidly deployed (compared to the diesel submarines of the day) and lie in wait at periscope depth to ambush enemy ships. To what must have been immense relief for anyone who might have had to fly in or maintain the beast, the machine never floated, sank, or flew. We elected to make the Ushakov with the floats retracted, as though it was in flight. It appears that for takeoff and landing the floats could be extended downward rather like hydroplanes.
Another aircraft model that required a lot of revisions was the Piasecki X-49A SpeedHawk. The X-49A is designed to attack the fundamental shortcoming of conventional helicopters : they are rather slow. The X-49A is fundamentally a USN Sikorsky SH-60 with a vectorable thrust ducted fan turboprop in place of the rear rotor and stub wings liberated from an Aerostar FJ100 business jet. The design is complex and a bit difficult to picture. Your best single resource is the Youtube video of test flights, in which the X-49A demonstrates its steerable compound thrust system in a sweeping close up view. We have laid out the model so that you can just glue the thruster pod in place and add the main rotor.
The Martin P-6M-2 Seamaster was the final evolution of the US Navy flying boat. A fast jet flying boat capable of carrying nuclear ordnance would have been a real operational “wild card”. As it turned out, most of the proposed roles were better served by land based aircraft like the P2V Neptune, which offered better range, loiter, and systems capabilities. I received a very good example many years ago from Romy Hauk, but to my knowledge only a few copies were ever made. We have updated that because the type is so interesting. The model requires just gluing the horizontal tail in place.
HBM Models available early 2011
The Type VIIC U-Boat was the most numerous and successful of the WWII German submarines. I have always wondered why no one made one in 1/200 either as a plastic kit or as a resin model. The closest are the wartime Wiking model, which boasts a detailed interior but is well under scale for a Type VII, and the Imai kit. The Imai, generously contributed by John Pracko, is very close to 1/200 scale. Unfortunately the kit is basically a toy, made to be self-propelled in tolerant locations like bath tubs. The giant saddle tanks that define the Type VII are absent, and the bottom and stern of the model are cut away to provide locations for a huge paddle wheel and rubber band drive. We recycled some parts, like the deck scribing, for our own model. We do not recommend hand carving items like the Type VII hull. The saddle tanks, for example, are compound contoured both externally and where they join the hull. We finished the hull, conning tower, and crew figures (Yup!) last summer and were dithering about how to make the small details like cable cutters, railings, and antennae more realistic. Those will now be done in photo-etched brass, providing a first class model of this historic boat.
An unpaid bibliographic plug.
Every once in a while we run across a reference so useful that everyone should have a copy. I recently received American Flying Boats and Amphibious Aircraft: An Illustrated History by E. R. Johnson, published by McFarland in 2009. Here is the Amazon summary… This work is a comprehensive, heavily illustrated history of the many flying boats and amphibious aircraft designed and built in the United States. It is divided into three chronological sections: the early era (1912-1928), the golden era (1928-1945), and the post-war era (1945-present), with historical overviews of each period. Within each section, individual aircraft types are listed in alphabetical order by manufacturer or builder, with historical background, technical specifications, drawings, and one or more photographs. Appendices cover lesser known flying boat and amphibian types as well as various design concepts that never achieved the flying stage. That is conservative. For example, each type is illustrated with what amounts to a 4-view drawing (top/bottom, side, front). This is a Lloyd Jones for US flying boats.
Airship update
Sorry folks! Double bad news on this front. First, my straw pole on takers for the WWII Blimp was so unsuccessful that I am concerned about feasibility. Second, the maker has not responded since June. I will post any new information if the situation changes.
Another Wiking book from Peter Schönfeldt
Carsten Breiting has notified me that Peter Schönfeldt has another book on Wikings. My copy is still out there in the black hole of international mail, but Carsten was most enthusiastic. It is a genuine collectors ideal, with drawings and photos of each aircraft and some non-aircraft. (Should we follow submariner terminology and call the latter “targets”?) The book has already sold out but Peter is willing to order a small second printing if we can guarantee enough sales to break even. Please contact Carsten or me ASAP if you want one.
Another Wiking “must-have”
The enormous Wiking model collection of Hans Rautenberg, a German collector who amassed what may have been the most complete set of Wiking aircraft, army models, ships, etc. will be auctioned off in November. Some years ago I had the good fortune to visit him, and the best way to summarize his holdings is that he seemed to have all variations of all models. He died last year, and Auktions-Haus Saure will be selling his collection. Eberhard Breyel just sent me the auction catalog. It is just plain incredible. Every single item is illustrated in colour photos, and there is a lot of useful background information. For example, I was not aware that much of the Rautenberg collection came from Wolf Grope, who, in turn, was given many rare birds by Mr. Peltzer. I was also not aware that he had been Grope’s financial backer, although that does explain some other observations. At the very least you will want to order the auction catalog. The web site is at http://www.auktionshaus-saure.de/. Please do not bid against me.
Fun stuff
Here is a great Flash video sent by Tom Healy. It shows the building of the ISS by date. Fantastic piece of space history. http://i.usatoday.net/tech/graphics/iss ... /flash.htm. If you are wondering about the interior detail, Tony Chong has provided this link http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=H8rHarp1GEE..
Facts about Figures
Vince Corcoran recently did for us what has been needed for a long time. He did a hands on comparison of the available wargame figures we might use with 1/200 models and sent along some samples. A 6-foot tall man would be between 5/16-3/8 inch or 9mm tall, with no allowance for the height of any stand attached to the figure. Most soldiers are actually a bit shorter, so anything in the 8-9mm range would be reasonable. If we add the criterion of good fidelity in posing and proportion, some interesting conclusions emerge. Military figures are supplied in three nearby nominal scales: 10 mm, 1/200, and a micro scale of 6mm,1/285 and 1/300.
There are a number of excellent 10mm ranges, but none of them average as short as 10mm. For 1/200 scenes they would be suitable only for special applications like “Statues in the Park”.
The choices in military figures in 1/200 are rather limited. If you can find them, by far the most realistic are a sprued set of figures released some years ago by Mercator. We hope that Skytrex, who now own the Mercator line, will re-release those. Skytrex themselves make a wide range of nominally 1/200 figures under the title Action 200. Those run big. They would actually fit well with a 10mm scene. If you can find them Wargames South made a very nice WWII range, but they are long since out of production. The classic and charming Wiking Wehrmacht and Verkehrs (Traffic) models are nominally 1/200 and cover wonderful subjects like a marching band. However they are also well overscale. Sorry! The best are probably the Herpa figures for military airfields. They are quite expensive but realistic and well-posed.
The micro scale 6mm to 1/300 wargaming figures should look like older children when juxtaposed with 1/200 models. After all, 1/300 should be about 2/3 of 1/200. In fact, the micro ranges are all well overscale. My guess is that it is incredibly difficult to sculpt realistic figures much smaller than 1/200, even with the aid of binocular optics. Two micro ranges actually look remarkably good with 1/200 models. One is Adler Miniatures from the UK and the second is GHQ from the USA.. Both are close in height and mass, and both are realistically posed.
Update on Ron’s Progress.
The last time I reported to everyone was back in June, when I was only around 10 weeks out of surgery. I don’t think I realized until recently just how zonked I was then. My sincere apologies to anyone I may have ignored or offended. I am writing at about 5 1/2 months post-op, and thus far the news is generally good. The complications I have encountered have been quite tolerable. The follow-up scans at the Brigham continue to show no relapse. My strength is returning, albeit followed at a distance by my stamina, and my food capacity and weight have stabilized for the present at a comfortable level. I am now at my university freshman weight and something exceeding 2 clothing sizes down from my days in the acies contrapugnans range. I will return to Boston in October for a full body scan. Then every 6 months doubtless forever.
Again, Louise and I are grateful for all of your calls, cards, letters, emails, tweets, and other signals of support. That is what keeps us going.