ex-IAC Spitfire flies again !

[Saint James]

161 in the Air

I saw 161 this morning at Manston in Kent. She was on her way back from Belgium to her base at Duxford and did a flypast over the airfield accompanied by a Griffin engined Spit (Mk 16 I think). This was part of the VE Day celebrations which were held throughout the UK this weekend

She looked stunning and sounded even better. The paint job is excellent, and speaking to a pilot who has flown '202' as he called her (PV202 was the original registration in RAF service) she is in better condition now that the day she was built.

Saint James

[ForkTailedDevil]

Has anybody here ever repainted a Corgi Spitfire or Hurricane model in IAC colours ? ........how tricky would that be ?

I prefer metal models to plastic, and would like to have a couple of IAC models at some stage.

The only repainted Corgi model I have see (other than some pink Avro Yorks which is an involved story) is a Hurricane repainted in Russian winter white cammo, and a superb job it was too but of course doing something like that requires a lot of skill, good materials and for gods sake, if you are thinking of doing it, look into getting a VERY common Corgi Hurricane as most of CORGIS PLANES ARE COLLECTORS MODELS and worth a fair bit in many cases. Personally I would consider it a bit sacriligeous to do it to a Corgi Hurricane as a collector . So wait till I get a reply about a purpose built one for you.

It may help if someone can provide details of one of the Hurricanes that had an interesting history (interned etc), or a well regarded pilot or something along those lines that will appeal to a wider range of collectors than just the Irish market.

[hptmurphy]

Vacforms ..as the name suggests are vacuformed as opposed to injection moulding which involves forcing heated palstic basic into a mould onder high pressure.

Vacuum formed on the other had involves heating a sheet of plastic and pressing it over preformed shapes.

Problems with the vacform

are...1. Lo availability and high cost
2.removing the parts from the preformed sheet is very time consuming and messy
3. You only get the basic outline if the aircraft and all ancilliaries including engines ..props..undercarriage...weapons ..transparancies ...decals ..paint schemes..aerials...wheel doors ...engine bays ....wheel wells and many other fiddly bits need to be scratch built or aftermarket sourced ..which can get very expensive.

So weigh up how much you want a representation against the cost and against your skills.

They are not for the faint hearted.

Vacforms I 've buit to date range from a MK9 meteor..to TU125...to include a bout 50 others.
they are very rewarding if finished properly as they will well reflect your skill as a modeller

As opposed to that I've built about 500 injection models for myself and made about two hunderd for another collector.

I have close on 500 more unbuilt in boxes....just waiting for the right inspiration.

You should see my attic!

[hptmurphy]

quite easy actuall...sand ofthe markings .....remove the uperlayers of finish using etching primer and white white spitit. Mask of the appropriate areas.

Now nip into yor local motor factors get a can of Hycote grey primer and covermodel.

apply appropriate colours......apply decals ...available fro maxDecals ...apply coat of jonsons floor varnish to seal paint and markings and finish with humbrol matt or satin varnish..hey presto IAAC spit or hurricane asumming they are the right marks.

AC used LF11 seafire whick is like a Vb with a fourblade prop and no pointed tail.

AC hurris came in two marks....MK1 eight guns and stubby spinner......Mk11c pointed spinner and 4x20mm cannon which protruded from the leading edge.

If you've painted models before this is no problem but I wouldn't try
it as a first project
.What scale are the said models

[Silver]

Has anybody here ever repainted a Corgi Spitfire or Hurricane model in IAC colours ? ........how tricky would that be ?

I prefer metal models to plastic, and would like to have a couple of IAC models at some stage.

[ForkTailedDevil]

I understand the vacforms are amongst the hardest types to build. Probably explains why I've never found anyone to take it on. I had a Royal Mail induced ding on a diecast 707 I got through the post and the packing it was in was something else. I dread to think what An Post and the Royal Mail would conspire to do to a vacform.

[hptmurphy]

the largest I've built in transport command was the old....very old Rareplanes vacform hastings......nice challenge .....

Now if you were withing an hour or so's drive I would ....but I reckon beyond hand delivery...you'd probably get it back in more pieces than it came.

the last vacform I built was an XB70 valkyrie ...before the IM offering and I nearly had to leave homebecause of the dust created...

I assume others know of this type of model and how it must be constructed..!

There was a model of the Be200 Kingair which I built for someone else a few years back...but its impossible to find now.

`90% 0f the ACs aircrat are available in model form and thanks to Max Decal so are the markings

visit the max decals sight for some beautiful renderings.

[ForkTailedDevil]

No, and no. Sorry.

www.tricatus.co.uk

This will give you an idea about what they produce, if you ever feel like starting to collect, and it will also give you an idea about what sort of history an aircraft must have had, in military or commercial use, to be considered worthwhile producing. Sadly amongst the collectors I talk to (in the UK and America), and in my own mind, a PC9 is not worth it to produce a mould (one of these costs up to £50,000 to develop so try thinking how many PC-9s you have to sell to make money)

[Silver]

I thought that the Fouga would be a 'runner' seeing as it was used by Patrouille France, Israel, etc etc.
Ah well !

What about the PC-9 ? ........ it has a lot of worldwide users.

[ForkTailedDevil]

Definitely not a Fouga. It isn't financially viable for such a plane. An Alloutte could be a future release, but due to a lack of USAF or RAF users Corgi managment would consider it a no-no. I'll throw the idea his way, but it would be a year and a half before the mould could be made an released if immeadiatley picked up on. Unlike a Fouga, an Aloutte could be financially viable (I've learned a lot about the financing and thought processes of Corgi management from him aswell)

Hptmurphy, I know some off Corgis models aren't as good as some, especially Dragon's for detail, but they are brilliant for those of use that don't have the patience or ability of the master model makers whose work I have seen. Don't suppose you want to make my vacform Shorts Belfast kit up? I need it to go with my RAF Transport Command Britannia and Comet, aswell as my Sunderlands.

[hptmurphy]

you'd be far better off if you knew somebody to build one from akit form. With the aftermarket decals and variety of models available any half arsed modeller can come up with a reasonable representation of AC machines.

Corgi's stuff is pure shite...given the restrictions when it comes to mass producing metal models ...go on have a crack at yourself.

I'd offer to build one for you but transporting the finished product is too much of a night mare.

[Come-quickly]

So much for the PC-9s short lived reign as the IACs most combat effective flying aircraft :p

[Silver]

ForkedTailedDevil,

Any chance Corgi would do an Alouette or Fouga model too ?

[Roger McGee]

what is a Cessna 182????

http://www.military.ie/aircorps/cessna.htm

Apologies, I thought we'd 182's which happens to be a better model than the 172.

[ForkTailedDevil]

Nice pic Silver, obviously attempting to chase down an Me262 there

In the last few months I've got aquainted with someone who works for Corgi and does research for their aircraft models. If any of the Spits had decent enough histories, before, in, or after IAC service, it may have been possible to have an IAC aircraft immortalised in a collectors peice in their Aviation Archive collection. All the single seater "Spits" were Seafires though, weren't they? I've no chance of organising a Seafire or two seater Spit but a Hurricane is a do-able if there is sufficent demand to sell a couple of thousand. Hurricanes were MkIs and MkIIc's, right?

Any takers?