November 1:200 Newsletter

[ronc200]

HBM 1:200 Newsletter November, 2010
by Ron Crawford
What is new from HBM? Here are the models that went to subscribers in October. As a note on
the quality of the castings, the photos show models assembled with no cleanup.
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 counter-rotating props are so distinctive that we
modeled them on the aircraft. The EAA also has a replica in construction. It should fly in 2011`-
2012.

Bugatti Racer Bugatti coming and going
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.

Il-28 components Il-28 with tail in place
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.

Harbin SH-5 Amphibian – note the props Harbin SH-5 components
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.

Handley-Page Victor K-2 assembled Victor K-2 components
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.

Chengdu FC-1 “kit” and “assembled” FC-1 underside detail
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
labor intensive metal fabrication of major assemblies with simplified components made from
molded 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
aluminum riveted together) is replaced by a structure consisting of upper and lower shells bonded
to circular frames. The implications for design, manufacturing, costs, maintainance, and airframe
service lives is enormous.

Lockheed-Martin X-55 AACA X-55 component set – prop under wing is a Laté 523 sponson
The What’s up with Ron Department. Our last full newsletter was circulated last summer. At
that time I had had the radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery and was trying to regain function,
energy, and to hope for the best. I just passed the 6 month anniversary of my surgery with a
battery of scans and tests. As far as can be determined, and the surgeons are very optimistic,
there is no evidence of a recurrence of the cancer. As fringe benefits I am now at the weight with
which I went to university, my blood sugar is now normal again, and my cholesterol numbers
have dropped to target levels. Certainly we have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
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, yup,
roger that). 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 100 unused
designations for anything we choose to make. I have more than double that in unused scratch
built models sitting here, so it will be a fun next few years.
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.
Then what? My personal thrust is going to have a couple of branches. I want to fill out a couple
of historically significant ranges. The USN Fleet Sub and Type VIIC U-Boat will fill the most
critical gaps in the choice of modern naval types, followed, perhaps, by a Flower Class corvette.
We also plan to make Benedict Arnold’s Lake Champlain fleet of 1776, beginning with the
gundola Philadelphia and a couple of rowed gunboats. Those alone will represent the momentous
events of September and October, 1776, when the ragtag American fleet bought almost a year of
breathing room. It was truly, as Ralph Nading Hill put it, the “Key to Liberty”. My English friends
tend to a less dramatic interpretation but generally agree that the Battle of Valcour ultimately
explains why Yankees still speak such wretched British. On land I have decided to target a set of
about a dozen AFV’s, principally those which have never been modeled in 1:200 and represent
important turning points or technical shifts. My read on the future of AFV’s beyond what we
already know is that they are probably doomed to extinction. A few soldiers in a light vehicle
carrying a laser designator pistol now command more firepower and accuracy than anything we
can achieve with tracks. In the aircraft range, look for an emphasis on flying boats and shipboard
aircraft, classics of the 1930’s, the USN, and the wave of the future. Do not be entirely surprised
if we throw in a few space launch systems. Anyone who can grab the AMT Man in Space kits on
eBay already has half of the ingredients for a fine display of manned spaceflight. Any
correspondence between the foregoing and a second or subsequent childhood will be denied.
Three inches (50 scale feet) of Revwar gundola waiting for details and rigging
Upcoming HBM releases. The next wave of HBM aircraft will be mailed around the end of
November. Those include the following types.
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 was built as a 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.

Latécoere 521 Latécoere 523
The Morane Saulnier MS.225 is a parasol wing fighter used both by the Armee de l’Air and the
Aeronavale from 1934-40. We have assembled the models except for the straight underwing
struts. However, the parasol wing may detach during shipment. If so a tiny dot of gel type CA glue
on the end of each of the 4 short metal struts atop the fuselage will allow to press the wing in
place. That establishes your parts alignment. Then just cut wire or plastic rod sprue to represent
the outer struts. Building these models is easy as long as you remember to golden rule of working
from inside to outside. Yes, those are crew figures in our open cockpits. We all have our hang-
ups.

Morane-Saulnier MS.225 Note the tail strut and pilot

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.

Morane-Saulnier MS.230 All seats occupied!
The Gordeau-Lesseur GL 810 and Gordeau-Lesseur GL 832 were standard shipboard
floatplanes on French Navy battleships 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 parts for later models.

Gordeau-Lesseur GL.832 Gordeau-Lesseur GL.810


GL 810 and 832 struts Why we made brass struts!
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 with 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.

FB-23, X-44, and Sukhoi T-50 X-44, T-50, and FB-23
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 by default, 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 cleaning 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.

Bell-Textron X-22A (lift ducts loose here!) X-22A again
The next (next) HBM models. The following should be in stock in December. It will be a
judgment call on whether we can ship the models to subscribers in time to avoid the dreaded
Holiday Crush. The worst case scenario will be early January.
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. (See Skyways drawing below, courtesy of Doug Emmons) . 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. We think Ushakov was a genuine optimist.
A 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. Choppers 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. We have also added a landing
cart, so you can plan a realistic ramp display. The model requires just gluing the horizontal tail in
place. I sure hope no one asks about the other models in the picture.
Seamaster and some friends on the work bench
U-Boat Department. 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 by a stern wheeler paddle prop 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 . We have been
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. Special thanks also to Vince Corcoran, who found for me one of the original 1:200
figures of a U-Boat crew member and a downed German flier in an inflatable one-man lift raft.
Goodyear Blimp update department. I am happy to report that the K-Series blimp is on the
home stretch. I received test copies of the kit version in late October. The kit is excellent. The
gondola, mooring mast and small parts are clean resin spin castings. The clear insert with
gondola transparencies is a super touch. The envelope is a crisp, well detailed two part
assembly, with a cap at one end. lacking only the display stand and build instructions. I will do a
test build and make suggestions for the instructions, but that baby is fundamentally ready to roll.
Facts about Figures Department. 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 historic
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”. Or
perhaps for “forced perspective” techniques like deliberately posing overscale items in the
foreground and undersized figures at the rear.
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
Verkehr (civilian 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.
Major, emphatically uncompensated literary endorsement Department. With the prices and
shipping costs for good references rapidly going stratospheric, we could all help one another with
commentaries on especially valuable finds. Here are four that came across my desk and are
actually still there.
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
next week. 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 www.auktionshaus-saure.de/. Please do not
bid against me.
Just in a couple of weeks back from Peter Schönfeldt is a copy of his new book of Wiking
aircraft entitled Wiking-Modelle: Flugzeugmodelle im Wandel der Jahrzehnte sowie Planungen
und Besonderheiten auf dem maritimen Modellksektor. It is not cheap at Euros 132- including
shipping but I find it an absolutely wonderful compendium, self published using one of the Apple
composition programs, of an astounding selection of incredibly rare Wikings. Those include
examples of the camouflaged aircraft as detailed for Party officials, some lovely examples of the
pre-WWII metal aircraft such as the Ju 52 on floats, a 1:200 Viking boat posed on top of the
original Wiking plan, and what I think are some 1:200 Pilot railroad locomotives. The presentation
is fantastic. Models are beautifully posed, and the images are printed with a slightly soft focus and
reddish tint that evokes a sense of dreaming. I know…that is how Wikings look in my dreams.
Every once in a while we run across a reference so useful that everyone should have a copy. The
classic Lloyd Jones set US Navy Fighters, US Bombers, and US Fighters are among my most
useful references. Although now in need of updates, the Jones set are core references on US
aircraft, with 4-view drawings of all main variants. 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.
With the flying boat book McFarland sent me their current catalog. That included a new listing for
another volume by ER Johnson, entitled American Attack Aircraft since 1926. If anything the
new book outdoes the flying boat volume. In some 450 pages it covers both Air Force and US
Navy attack and strike aircraft. Suffice to say that I have already used it for two future models.
More on that another time.
News from the Old World Department. Here is the latest from Chris Sayer and Shed
Models…..
Just to bring you all up to date with what is happening here. The following will be launched at the
Telford IPMS model show on 13/14th November and available by post afterwards.
Firstly, there are 6 new sheets of decals in the usual format of a large sheet with hundreds of
roundels for £12. White base discs are needed (£2.50 a sheet). These decals cover the SEAC
markings and French three colour marks, French 4 colour marks (yellow outers), Belgian, Italian
and Spanish markings.
New models (see attached photos) are Fieseler Storch on wheels or skis and also as Morane
Saulnier versions, Supermarine Spiteful and Seafang, Fairey Rotodyne in BEA markings, Beech
18 wheeled, Beech 18 ski, Bristol 138A, Fairey Long Range Monoplane, Boulton Paul Sidestrand,
Boulton Paul Overstrand, Short Seamew and it is also hoped to have the Short Sturgeon (long
nose TT2 and short nose TT3) ready but I am still working on that one.
In addition I should have castings to look at for the next three models that should be ready in a
few weeks. They are Beech 18 on floats (etched brass struts are having to be redone as the first
version was not strong enough), Bristol Belvedere, Avro 504k and RE8.
Hope to see some of you at Telford
Chris




Something for folks with Loening leanings

Did someone have a leaning for Loenings? Perhaps a glimpse of the future?
Clearly a family resemblance
Postscript Department
Clippers, anyone? (from Skyways via Doug Emmons)

[grwebster]

Would be more interesting and commercial with some photos, Ron.
I would bet that very very few of us on this forum have ever seen an HBM model.

[ronc200]

Apologies to readers and query to GR. When I uploaded the text it was a PDF file of about 1 meg, containing a large number of pictures within the text. GR - you received the same file in your regular email, as did many readers. If anyone did not receive the illustrated version and would like a copy, just email me at <drgnwhsprr@comcast.net>. For future reference, somebody please tell me how I can upload illustrated documents. Many thanks. Ron

[grwebster]

I think you have to upload to Photobucket then paste the web address, but never tried it
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