Plastic Modeling

[Tcoat]

Well damnit that will teach me to stop researching when enough is enough!

Found another picture from an angle I haven't seen before. Now I have to add oxygen tanks and plumbing. I was just going to throw them on the scrap heap but there they are in all their glory. Also need to drop the starboard flap completely and take more material off the spine.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Well damnit that will teach me to stop researching when enough is enough!

Just toss the bottles onto your parts pile and call it good. I read somewhere that they were removed for safe transport right after that picture was taken.

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Well damnit that will teach me to stop researching when enough is enough!

Found another picture from an angle I haven't seen before. Now I have to add oxygen tanks and plumbing. I was just going to throw them on the scrap heap but there they are in all their glory. Also need to drop the starboard flap completely and take more material off the spine.

You gonna do the engine now too?

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Just toss the bottles onto your parts pile and call it good. I read somewhere that they were removed for safe transport right after that picture was taken.

Except that looks like it was after transport unless the farm he put it down in had a hangar...

Probably don't need to change the flap angle if that is the case at least.

Edit:. Also the canopy looks to have been assembled in this one?

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Spuds

Except that looks like it was after transport unless the farm he put it down in had a hangar...

Probably don't need to change the flap angle if that is the case at least.

Edit:. Also the canopy looks to have been assembled in this one?

Hmmm! Well, I was kidding about the transport but I think you have a point. That tree line is the same in all the pics. Also, the control surfaces are all in the same position.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Just toss the bottles onto your parts pile and call it good. I read somewhere that they were removed for safe transport right after that picture was taken.

Well I have to make them anyway so may as well be in the airframe as beside it.

Originally Posted by Spuds

You gonna do the engine now too?

I looked for an engine for it but the only option was to buy another very expensive kit or go resin. The resin one was just about three times what I paid for the kit. Since I am giving it away I just didn't feel quite that generous.

Originally Posted by Spuds

Except that looks like it was after transport unless the farm he put it down in had a hangar...

Probably don't need to change the flap angle if that is the case at least.

Edit:. Also the canopy looks to have been assembled in this one?

The picture I was basing the front section on was the partially stripped down and tarped over engine front section. It just seemed more different than having the plane complete but broken in half. It was obviously further through the process than the picture of the front and tail but I am assuming they were still in the same position by the background.

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Hmmm! Well, I was kidding about the transport but I think you have a point. That tree line is the same in all the pics. Also, the control surfaces are all in the same position.

The whole story goes like this (I can't remember the site where I found it).

He was returning from his last mission and the press were all in attendance.
He made a couple of high speed low passes for the cameras.
You can see how close to the buildings he was.


On his third pass he came in too low and bounced the tail off the ground.
This pushed him nose down and he had a prop strike which mangled the prop.
This is where it gets amazing!
He had been going so fast that he was able to bring the nose up and actually get some altitude.
He glided the plane away from the airfield and crowd.
After just under 2 miles (yes miles) he had dropped off enough speed and was over a nice open freshly plowed field so he just puled it up into a stall and lightly laid it on the ground tail first.

I was baffled by the pictures as there are no marks where it slide but apparently it just stayed put.



They then lifted the whole thing and manually lowered and locked the landing gear down.
Then they dragged it back the two miles to the airfield with it totally breaking in half on the way.
Once back it was stripped of good parts and the rest was scrapped.
I never could find out where the nose art ended up but I doubt it was reused or scrapped so could be hanging in somebody's basement to this day.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

I never could find out where the nose art ended up but I doubt it was reused or scrapped so could be hanging in somebody's basement to this day.

We'll see it on an episode of Antiques Roadshow. (U.S. Public Broadcasting System series)

Did I ever neither confirm nor deny a story about an alleged 450 knot tree strike?

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

We'll see it on an episode of Antiques Roadshow. (U.S. Public Broadcasting System series)

Did I ever neither confirm nor deny a story about an alleged 450 knot tree strike?

Could be a BBS show as well though. Nothing says it ever left Briton.

No, no you did not.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Could be a BBS show as well though. Nothing says it ever left Briton.

No, no you did not.

One of the many close calls that I may, or may not have survived.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

One of the many close calls that I may, or may not have survived.

Is that really a "may or may not" situation?

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

One of the many close calls that I may, or may not have survived.

Do you mean one of the alleged close calls that if it were to have happened you clearly survived it?

...Unless you secretly died and your mind entombed in a machine body...

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Spuds

...Unless you secretly died and your mind entombed in a machine body...

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Is that really a "may or may not" situation?

Originally Posted by Spuds

Do you mean one of the alleged close calls that if it were to have happened you clearly survived it?

...Unless you secretly died and your mind entombed in a machine body...

Yes, maybe.

[spike021]

Legos count as plastic, right?

I just built my first Lego project since I was a kid. Happened to be in the toy section at Target the other day and the box caught my eye. My dad has been building the fancier NASA Legos like the Saturn V so he kinda inspired me as well.

Not bad for a $13 kit... took about two hours. Nice weeknight project to do while watching the Giants baseball game. Most of the black outlines, the Porsche emblem, and the traditional rear “turbo” script were decals. I wasn’t 100% accurate due to tremors but managed to do a decent enough job.

Might need to buy one of the fancy super car lego kits now...