WWII Carrier Aircraft Design GB (Starts Now -- Ends November 30, 2006)

What's interesting is that the Fairely Firefly AS Mk. 5 is the 'picture of the month' on my Ghosts calendar here at work.  One of those planes that you see/hear little of out in the mainstream.  Looking forward to seeing it built Rick.

  That's one of the fun things about the GB's- I get to see (and research) a lot of little known planes....even the occasional Marlet

rjkplasticmod wrote:

....Drum Roll Please ... The one, the only, the magnificent.... Fairey FireFly Mk. I .... TA DA  .... Regards,  Rick

I think we have a new leader in the 'Fringe' catagory....

Yeah Rick thats one seriously >>>>>cough cough<<<<<<<great looking aircraft the firefly, Should be a great build but, I'll be looking forward to seeing the finished kit

Tom The Seafire MK III has a real weird looking tailhook and i can't imagine any other tailhook looking like that......It is however possible with some scratchbuilding to remedy the airfix hook and fit it to the Tamiya fueselage, fitting it will be a problem mainly because the airfix offering is way oversized and much too thick to look realistic, i'll also have to add a four bladed prop and scribe the wingfold lines........

The thing is i'd have to cut into the Tamiya MKV Spit fueselage to fit it and if it doesn't work it will cost me the price of a good Tamiya kit........Whadda you reckon Tom should i give it a go?.....

OK, all of this chatter about the best looking Carrier aircraft has me inspired to join this GB.  I will enter with a build of the most beautiful, graceful, streamlined, breathtaking aircraft that flew in WWII....Drum Roll Please ...

The one, the only, the magnificent.... Fairey FireFly Mk. I .... TA DA 

Well maybe not the most beautiful, my vote would go to the Corsair actually.  But I've had the Grand Phoenix 1/48 kit of the FireFly  sitting on the shelf ever since it was released & this will give me a good reason to actually build it.  I'll do an aircraft from 1771 Squadron, HMS Imlacable, that carried out strikes on the Japanese mainland in 1945, near the end of the war.

Regards,  Rick

That would certainly make for an interesting model Tom, those Blue Spits were the MK V right?

As for me i've done a little research on the Seafire IIIc and the old Airfix kit is almost nothing like it around the tail hook area so i'll drop the idea of using that to convert the Tamiya MK V and stick to the original Swordfish build that i planned.......

that is a good idea Jay --  sometimes I'll see someone ask about a certain AC that I know of soeone building in one of the GB's I am in .. then I have to sort through 300 pages and such to find the finished build...

Jules - still not sure what I am going to do for this one.. Still in research mode.. Honestly I think those dark blue spits from Malta were pretty sexy... maybe I'll finally get to that..

Wooverstone, I had a thought that I am carrying over from the suggestions and feedback section http://www.finescale.com/FSM/CS/forums/542617/ShowPost.aspx

In a nutshell - Back in the BoB GB, I wanted to go back and see some finished pics of other's builds but had no idea what pages they were on.  For the Canadian GB (I am the moderator), when participants complete their build, I add a note that tells what page their pics are on.  I know some people keep their pics only for a short time on what ever digital image hosting website they use but it in the meantime it can help others view their pics (I like to keep my pics up for the duration of a build and a little bit afterward).  Just a thought?   

After working so long on this F3F-2, I think I am beginning to like those 'tween' War aircraft more and more.  Otherwise I think the navy blue/grey over lgiht grey scheme is what I associate the SBD with most.. so that would be a second choice.  I'm itching to get an SBD-1 to put next to my F3F as soon as possible!

Leon - AWESOME page!  I wish you were around with this info back during the North African campaign GB... I did one of the desert Martlets from 805 sqn and obviously missed a few points... I may have to do another (correctly) because I liked the scheme so much.  As you see I missed the guns, the cowl flaps, but I did get the inner cowl scoops out..... I'll definitely have to get another copy of that decal sheet... hmmmm still have an F4F kit on the shelf... so dare I do another one for this GB?

---edit---  great P-47!!!!  just looked back up and saw the pic...

For me, it's gotta be the early pacific scheme of Blue-Grey over Light-Grey. I'm not a huge fan of the SBD in tri-colour scheme for some reason (it's the best scheme for most other aircraft though). I don't really like the Red and white stripes though. Around the Midway period is when they looked best to me.

I like the Atlantic scheme dauntlesses. I think it is just that I really like that scheme - the wildcats, avengers, etc. I even did a what-if p-47 in that scheme. A picture for fun...

Leon

I'll probably regret this later but the start date is far enough off that I think I can squeeze it in.  Sign me up but I'll have to think about what I want to build.  Lots of choices out there and I've done so few carrier planes.

As for the best looking carrier plane.  I'd have to go with the seafire.  Nothing more graceful than the spit.  The Corsair and the Zero come tied for second.  True the Gruman aircraft look cool in their own brutish down to business look but I like the more graceful look.

tho9900 wrote:

did someone say Martlet?  Actually I like the F4F/Martlet too... still like the Dauntless better though.  The F4F is a tubby little thing but after building a few I appreciate the simpleness of her design.

Yes, I do also love look of the wildcat. It's short stubby look makes me think of a cartoon airplane, which makes it very cool. Is that a terrible thought?? Anyway, if you are interested in martlets, here is an article I found that may be of help when it comes to modeling one.

http://fleetairarmsig.netfirms.com/articles/martlet/scottspencer-martlet/martlet.html

Leon

I never really liked the looks of the WILDCAT, but you can definitely see the beginning of the grumman cats there. All the fighters including Hellcat and Bearcat had a similar appearance and you can even see it in the Avenger. The biggest similarity is the shape of the wings.....But I think they got the looks best with the Hellcat IMO.

gwaihir wrote:

jboutin wrote: Which reminds me, anyone doing a Japanese Carrier aircraft? I don't think I saw anyone on the first page. I'm just finishing a zero for the Pearl Harbour GB so I don't realy feel like building anouther. Jay, It is far enough off that I will probably change my mind a few times before it starts, but right now I am thinking of a type 21 zero for this build. However, I have quite a few american carrier planes that I really want to do too (catmouth hellcat, corsair, photo hellcat, martlet) So many planes, so little time... Leon

did someone say Martlet? 

Actually I like the F4F/Martlet too... still like the Dauntless better though.  The F4F is a tubby little thing but after building a few I appreciate the simpleness of her design.

gwaihir wrote:

Oh by the way, I made the choice / mistake of changing my username with the new system. I used to be newtothegame, but it came from a site for playing chess, so I thought it was time to switch. Anyone else make this choice and loose all of their post numbers (not that it really matters.)

It esay to have one username for everything. I have 3 different (including passwords) user names for other websites and it's pain to keep up with them. I'll make the change right now to gwaihir.

jboutin wrote:

Which reminds me, anyone doing a Japanese Carrier aircraft? I don't think I saw anyone on the first page. I'm just finishing a zero for the Pearl Harbour GB so I don't realy feel like building anouther.

Jay, It is far enough off that I will probably change my mind a few times before it starts, but right now I am thinking of a type 21 zero for this build. However, I have quite a few american carrier planes that I really want to do too (catmouth hellcat, corsair, photo hellcat, martlet) So many planes, so little time...

Leon

Great question Daniel.

I would have to say the hellcat too. However, I can't really explain why. When I look at it, it just looks right. Nothing looks goofy or out of place to my eye. For example, I really love the corsair with the gull wings, but the fuselage looks too long. Now of course I know there are reasons and very important reasons to the way planes were designed, but to my eye the perfect one is the hellcat.

Leon

Oh by the way, I made the choice / mistake of changing my username with the new system. I used to be newtothegame, but it came from a site for playing chess, so I thought it was time to switch. Anyone else make this choice and loose all of their post numbers (not that it really matters.)