[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

For our nth anniversary my wife gifted me a big cabinet for my scale model collection. It may be more accurate to say I begged cajoled and groveled my way to it. A peep for my friends. Many more models on their way. Happiness

Congratulations The cabinet looks great with the reflecting mirrors. Looks better than many aviation museums I have visited!

P.S. We need some pictures of that Sunderland Flying Boat on the bottom shelf.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

P.S. We need some pictures of that Sunderland Flying Boat on the bottom shelf.

Shorts Sunderland Mk III Maritime Reconnaissance Patrol Bomber; Corgi 1:72; diecast
Model has awing span of about 17 inches and a length of about 14 inches

The Shorts S.25 Sunderland was UK’s premier flying boat in World War II serving mainly as an anti-submarine warfare aircraft and for patrolling the sea lanes of the Atlantic. A flying boat by definition needs a hull that meets both hydrodynamic needs of stability, floatation and ability to rise with speed along with aerodynamic needs of streamlining and not creating a yaw movement from such a tall hull. The Sunderland was built tough in both structure and defensive armament and as the years of WW-II progressed it acquired electronics in the form of more and more advanced air to surface radar that could spot a U-boat on the surface through the sea clutter, radio direction finding equipment, and early forms of radio navigation.

Wing Span: 107 feet
Length: 85 feet
MTOW: 26 tonnes
Powerplant: 4 × Bristol Pegasus nine-cylinder radial engines of 1,065 shp each
Weapons: Depth charges, bombs, mines; defensive armament of .303 and 0.5 inch machine guns

Today aircraft carry such powerful engines that we forget on how little power designers made aircraft fly before 1945. The Sunderland which was the heaviest aircraft in the RAF after the Avro Lancaster had lesser power than the Q-400 regional turbo prop seen in post number 649. Very long wing spans (relative to weight), large wing areas, thick wings and high aspect ratios were used to do the trick.

The Sunderland served with the RAF from 1938 to 1957 and continued with the New Zealand Air force till 1967. Converted civilian passenger versions served on till 1972 bringing down the curtain on a illustrious career of 34 years. Compared to its Japanese counterpart the Kawanishi H8K the Sunderland was smaller and lighter and did not carry torpedoes as a core armament.

[the_skyliner]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

Also remember you will be charged about 42% customs duty if the model is worth 30 euro or more(sometimes even for a lesser amount). If you are unlucky sometimes customs will declare your package is worth more than its declared value and charge you even more !

And if you are extremely unlucky (like Narayan has been sometimes) customs will charge 42% customs duty on the shipping charges also

Thanks for the tip! Going by my previous encounters with customs, I am pretty sure it will be an extremely unlucky case.

Better to order and get it shipped to Germany and bring it along.

[V.Narayan]

Hawker Typhoon Fighter-Bomber; Scale 1:72 Corgi; diecast

The model has wingspan of just under 7 inches and a length of just over 5 inches

The Hawker Typhoon was a British single-seat fighter-bomber. In a way in 1942 it became the progenitor of the fighter-bomber genre. Though its evolution into one was unintended. The Typhoon was intended to be a medium–high altitude interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems were encountered and it never completely satisfied this need. So, the Typhoon was equipped with bombs and first generation ground attack rockets along with its four 20mm Hispano cannons. With this the Typhoon became one of the Second World War's most successful ground-attack aircraft. It was one of the early mounts for the RP-3 air-to-ground rockets with its very serious 60 lbs (27 kgs) warhead and the Typhoon could carry 8 to 16 of them. For WW-2 that was a sizeable armoury for a single engine aircraft.

The Typhoon, though hard hitting had more than its share of developmental problems from tail planes shearing off in mid-flight (!!), to engine corrosion, to poor speed and maneuverability above 20,000 feet. Despite this, the Typhoon was for sometime the only Allied fighter in the European theatre that could sustain 400 mph (640 kmph) and that remained an asset against the fast German Focke Wulf FW190. Hawker developed a new aircraft named the Tempest to overcome the shortfalls of the Typhoon but in 1942 and 1943 the Typhoon with all its quibbles remained the fastest single engined Allied fighter.

Wingspan: 41 feet
Length: 31 feet
Wing Area: 279 sq feet {ie 10% more than a MiG-21!}
Power plant: Napier Sabre 2200 hp
Top speed 412 mph at 19,000 feet
Weapons: Four 20 mm cannons plus 2 x 1000 lbs bombs or 8 to 16 air-to-ground rockets

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Shorts Sunderland Mk III Maritime Reconnaissance Patrol Bomber; Corgi 1:72; diecast
Model has awing span of about 17 inches and a length of about 14 inches

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Hawker Typhoon Fighter-Bomber; Scale 1:72 Corgi; diecast

Some very nice historical additions of lesser known aircraft to your collection. The detailing on the flying boat is spectacular, although it is an ugly duckling

Narayan your loyalty to the Raj is deeply appreciated by the Queen but Stalin, Hirohito,Mussolini and Göring are not impressed, please come back to the dark side

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

Some very nice historical additions of lesser known aircraft to your collection. The detailing on the flying boat is spectacular, although it is an ugly duckling

Narayan your loyalty to the Raj is deeply appreciated by the Queen but Stalin, Hirohito,Mussolini and Göring are not impressed, please come back to the dark side

Sirjee, some very dark and dirty flying machines are in the pipeline.

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

For our nth anniversary my wife gifted me a big cabinet for my scale model collection. It may be more accurate to say I begged cajoled and groveled my way to it. A peep for my friends. Many more models on their way. Happiness

Wow!!! That is quite a gift!!!!

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Hawker Typhoon Fighter-Bomber; Scale 1:72 Corgi; diecast

That is a very detailed Typhoon model. Congratulations. To top it off, your Typhoon model aptly carries the name Pulverizer!!!
I hope you are looking for its evolution, the Tempest Mk.II, which went on to serve with the RIAF and the RPAF(after partition).

[the_skyliner]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Shorts Sunderland Mk III Maritime Reconnaissance Patrol Bomber; Corgi 1:72; diecast
Model has awing span of about 17 inches and a length of about 14 inches

What a beautiful machine!

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Today aircraft carry such powerful engines that we forget on how little power designers made aircraft fly before 1945. The Sunderland which was the heaviest aircraft in the RAF after the Avro Lancaster had lesser power than the Q-400 regional turbo prop seen in post number 649. Very long wing spans (relative to weight), large wing areas, thick wings and high aspect ratios were used to do the trick.

Not to forget the never ending development cycle. I wonder how these planes were built in short span of time during the war without today's so called sophisticated design tools. If one has to design similar one today, I am sure the time required will be way more than those days plus loads of revisions to reach the final certification.

[skanchan95]

1:200 Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II(Hogan)
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engined, all-weather stealth multirole fighters. The fifth-generation combat aircraft is designed to perform ground-attack and air-superiority missions. It has three main models: the F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant, the F-35B short take-off and vertical-landing (STOVL) variant, and the F-35C carrier-based catapult-assisted take-off but arrested recovery (CATOBAR) variant. The F-35 descends from the Lockheed Martin X-35, the winning design of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. It is built by Lockheed and many subcontractors, including Northrop Grumman, Pratt & Whitney, and BAE Systems. Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is a development and acquisition program intended to replace a wide range of existing fighter, strike, and ground attack aircraft for the United States, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Italy, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, and their allies. After a competition between the Boeing X-32 and the Lockheed Martin X-35, a final design was chosen based on the X-35. This is the F-35 Lightning II, which will replace various tactical aircraft, including the US F-16, A-10, F/A-18A-D, AV-8B and British Harrier GR7, GR9s, and Tornado GR4.
It is called Lightning II because the first US aircraft named as Lightning was the WWII era USAAF fighter P-38 (AKA Fork Tailed Devil)

F-35B VTOL Jet
The F-35B is the short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) variant of the aircraft and is a straight forward replacement for the Harriers operated by UK, Italy and US Marine Corps. Similar in size to the A variant, the B sacrifices about a third of the A variant's fuel volume to accommodate the vertical flight system. Vertical takeoffs and landings are riskier because of threats such as foreign object damage. Whereas the F-35A is stressed to 9 g, the F-35B's stress goal is 7 g. The first test flight of the F-35B was conducted on 11 June 2008. Another milestone, the first successful ski-jump launch was carried out by BAE test pilot Peter Wilson on 24 June 2015.
Unlike the F-35A , which has an internal cannon, the F-35B and F-35C do not have it. They can however carry a detachable Gunpod on the centerline station.

F-35B BF-01
BF-01 as the first prototype of the F-35B. First flight was on June 11th, 2008. First vertical landing of an F-35 was done by this aircraft on March 18th, 2010 by pilot Graham Tomlinson at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, USA.

With the F-35 patch from my Patch collection:













Model has 2 X AIM-9X Sidewinders, 4 X GBU-32 JDAMs( non-stealth mode). It can also carry weapons in its internal weapon stations.



USMC F-35B test aircraft BF-01 on the USS Wasp with another jet in the air on August 17, 2013. Two short takeoff/vertical landing variant F-35 test aircraft operated off of the Wasp for Developmental Test Phase Two.



The X-35(became F-35) and X-32 were featured in Eidos Interactive's dark themed Flight simulator "Joint Strike Fighter" and I had lots of fun flying the two fets on my PC long time ago.I still have the CD with me in storage. So its great to have a F-35 model in my collection.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

1:200 Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II(Hogan)

Now that one deserves more pictures especially close-ups. Congratulations. Great aircraft and one that will be in active inventories 40 to 50 years from now. Bravo skchan95. More photos ).

[SmartCat]

Does the weapons bay open and shut?

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Now that one deserves more pictures especially close-ups. More photos please

Yeah, we can barely see it on our radar screens

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

For our nth anniversary my wife gifted me a big cabinet for my scale model collection. It may be more accurate to say I begged cajoled and groveled my way to it.

Gorgeous cabinet.

On the begging, groveling and cajoling; any man, with a hobby and a wife will understand

Jeroen

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Now that one deserves more pictures especially close-ups. Congratulations. Great aircraft and one that will be in active inventories 40 to 50 years from now. Bravo skchan95. More photos ).

Thank You.

Being in the 1/200 scale, the model is quite small and I do not have a good enough camera to focus clearly on the minute stencils, logos and details. I need a magnifying glass to read those stencils.
But all details are there (except the BF-01 logo on the inner sides of the twin tail fins). The flags of all partner nations are all there. Only minor glitch is that the flags on the starboard side are reversed.

Originally Posted by smartcat

Does the weapons bay open and shut?

No, they don't. But there is one more model of the same aircraft from Hogan where the canopy is open, the engine nozzle is tilted downwards and Lift Fan doors are open. All these three features are permanent i.e they cannot be closed or swiveled. This one:

[skanchan95]

1:72 Hawker Siddley/BAe Harrier GR.3 XV778 No.1 Squadron RAF (Altaya)
The Hawker Siddley/British Aerospace Harrier GR.3 was the single seat, ground attack version of the Harrier for the Royal Air Force. The RAF ordered 118 of the GR.1/GR.3 series, with the last production aircraft delivery in December 1986.

In the Falklands War in 1982, 10 Harrier GR.3s of No. 1 Squadron operated from the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes.As the RAF Harrier GR.3 had not been designed for naval service, the 10 aircraft had to be rapidly modified prior to the departure of the task force. Special sealants against corrosion were applied and a new deck-based inertial guidance aid was devised to allow the RAF Harrier to land on a carrier as easily as the Sea Harrier. Transponders to guide aircraft back to the carriers during night-time operations were also installed, along with flares and chaff dispensers.

As there was little space on the carriers, two requisitioned merchant container ships, Atlantic Conveyor and Atlantic Causeway, were modified with temporary flight decks and used to carry Harriers and helicopters to the South Atlantic. The Harrier GR.3s focused on providing close air support to the ground forces on the Falklands and attacking Argentine positions; suppressing enemy artillery was often a high priority. Sea Harriers were also used in the war, primarily conducting fleet air defence and combat air patrols against the threat of attacking Argentine fighters. However, both Sea Harriers and Harrier GR.3s were used in ground-attack missions against the main airfield and runway at Stanley.

If most of the Sea Harriers had been lost, the GR.3s would have replaced them in air patrol duties, even though the Harrier GR.3 was not designed for air defence operations; as such the GR.3s quickly had their outboard weapons pylons modified to take air-to-air Sidewinder missiles.From 10 to 24 May 1982, prior to British forces landing in the Falklands, a detachment of three GR.3s provided air defence for Ascension Island until three F-4 Phantom IIs arrived to take on this responsibility. During the Falklands War, the greatest threats to the Harriers were deemed to be surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) and small arms fire from the ground.In total, four Harrier GR.3s and six Sea Harriers were lost to ground fire, accidents, or mechanical failure. More than 2,000 Harrier sorties were conducted during the conflict—equivalent to six sorties per day per aircraft.

Following the Falklands war, British Aerospace explored the Skyhook, a new technique to operate Harriers from smaller ships. Skyhook would have allowed the launching and landing of Harriers from smaller ships by holding the aircraft in midair by a crane; secondary cranes were to hold weapons for rapid re-arming. This would potentially have saved fuel and allowed for operations in rougher seas. The system was marketed to foreign customers, and it was speculated that Skyhook could be applied to large submarines such as the Russian Typhoon class, but the system attracted no interest.

The first generation of Harriers did not see further combat with the RAF after the Falklands War, although they continued to serve for years afterwards. As a deterrent against further Argentine invasion attempts, No. 1453 Flight RAF was deployed to the Falkland Islands from August 1983 to June 1985.

Harrier GR.3 General characteristics
Crew: One
Length: 46 ft 10 in (14.27 m)
Wingspan: 25 ft 3 in (7.70 m)
Height: 11 ft 11 in (3.63 m)
Wing area: 201.1 ft² (18.68 m²)
Empty weight: 13,535 lb (6,140 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 25,200 lb (11,430 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce Pegasus 103 turbofan with four swivelling nozzles, 21,500 lbf (95.6 kN) Four vertical flight puffer jets use engine bleed air, mounted in the nose, wingtips, and tail.
Performance

Maximum speed: 730 mph (635 knots, 1,176 km/h) at sea level
Combat radius: 230 mi (200 nmi, 370 km) lo-lo-lo with 4,400 lb (2,000 kg) payload
Ferry range: 2,129 mi (1,850 nmi, 3,425 km)
Endurance: 1 hr 30 min (combat air patrol – 115 mi (185 km) from base)
Service ceiling: 51,200 ft (15,600 m)
Time to climb to 40,000 ft (12,200 m): 2 min 23 s
Armament
Guns: 2× 30 mm (1.18 in) detachable ADEN cannon pods under the fuselage
Hardpoints: 4× under-wing & 1× under-fuselage pylon stations with a capacity of 5,000 lb (2,268 kg) and provisions to carry combinations of:
Rockets: 4× Matra rocket pods with 18× SNEB 68 mm rockets each
Missiles: 2× AIM-9 Sidewinders Air-to-air missiles
Bombs: A variety of unguided iron bombs, BL755 cluster bombs or laser-guided bombs
Others:
1× Reconnaissance pod
2× drop tanks for extended range/loitering time

XV778
Served with No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron of the RAF in the Falklands War, 1982. It flew at least nine sorties between 2 & 14 June 1982, operating from HMS Hermes & the temporary forward airstrip at Port San Carlos. It carried out attacks with 1000 lb bombs, cluster bombs & rockets against Argentine positions near Stanley, on Mounts Harriet, Longdon & Tumbledown & on Sapper Hill. On 11 June, over Mount Longdon, an Argentine surface-to-air missile exploded only 100ft above its cockpit.
Harrier GR.3 XV778 was put on static display at RAF Valley on August 18th 1979. It was eventually scrapped in September 1995














Might of the British Air power in the Falklands War. Alongside the Royal Navy Sea Harrier in my collection.


Have to look for an Argentine Skyhawk, Super Etendard or IAI Dagger/Finger scale model to face off these Harriers




Harriers onboard the HMS Hermes( which later became INS Viraat)


Harrier GR.3 at San Carlos Forward Operating Base, Falkland Islands

[skanchan95]

1:100 Air Asia India Airbus A320NEO (Lysia)
Addition to my A320 fleet - the largest one in terms of scale. Compliments the two 1/150 Air Asia India A320s in my collection. Unlike the 1/150 models, this does not have landing gear.

Air Asia India does not have any A320NEOs in their fleet. So this is a semi-fictional model as sooner or later A320NEOs will be inducted in their fleet.











CFM LEAP-1A engines: