Typhoon! Petty and ill informed critique.
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Right. I have issues with the Typhoon. First it's dismal beginnings. The Car Door complete with wind down window just like a Morris Minor. Terrible visibility until the Bubble Top came out (even though Yaks and FW 190's had superb canopies). When "Cocky" Dundas complained about this Camm said "It's so fast, you don't need to see behind" Dundas was less than impressed (Hugh Dundas, Flying Start. PP 108). Add to that when the tails started falling off the solution was "fishplates" which make me think at my attempts at DIY carpentry (see pic 3). The thick wing, the incredible but troublesome Napier Sabre. They got it right eventually with the Tempest.
Camm has form. The Hurricane was obsolete at birth ( biplane with a wing missing) and inferior to the 109 It's a credit to the pilots who did so much with it. It was a "stable gun platform" and could " out turn a 109". My Toyota Pickup is a stable gun platform and a Sopwith Camel could out turn a 109 but I would want either in 1940!
So, I decided to make Airfix's 1/24 scale Typhoon in spite of myself. I did not want to make the toilet door version and could only find the Bubbletop version on E Bay for some reason. It is an incredible kit. The main event for me is the Sabre engine so here is my WIP OOTB with only a couple of copper wires added. I used a bespoke sort of gun metal colour instead of flat black. Weathering on the engine is purely accidental from handling but I think it looks fine.
Thanks for looking! Waiting for the flames 🙂
This is a wonderful engine section, Ross!
Looking forward to see the rest built!
Incredible work on that engine Ross, looking forward to seeing how pic 5 turns out as well.
Interior and engine look great, Ross (@ross4). Should be a great build. Interesting photos.
“ My Toyota Pickup is a stable gun platform and a Sopwith Camel could out turn a 109 but I would want either in 1940!” Quote-
I had a big laugh with your remark Ross
🙂
It’s a big, daunting model for sure but it looks like you are off to a splendid replica indeed, thumbs up!
Great engine and interior, Ross @ross4
Looking forward to all the detailing on this large build.
Nice work on this. Here's hoping the rest goes as well.
After I published my Typhoon over at Modeling Madness last week, I received a long e-mail from a former aeronautical engineer who's a long-time lover of the Typhoon (and who worked on the Typhoon II). He said that the tail weakness had to do with some lack of strength back t here (as opposed to the over-strength wings) due to the size of the horizontal stabilizer and vibration from the 3-blade prop - pointing out that the majority of the tail failures happened when the airplane was in level flight (which I didn't know). He also pointed out that when the airplane got the larger Tempest horizontal stabs and the 4-blade prop (the two changes giving more stability and less vibration), that the catastrophic airframe failures largely ceased among those airplanes.
There have certainly been quite a few aircraft that had problems due to the fact that there was a lack of knowledge about the conditions under which they would operate, as aeronautical science "pushed the envelope". One can think of the catastrophe with the F-100A when the vertical fin was shortened just enough to not stick out of the supersonic shock wave, thus "losing the rudder." There's also the P-47 and P-38 that were positively dangerous in a high-Mach dive until they got dive flaps. Given the amount of change and growth of knowledge that came in aeronautical science between 1934-45, it's mostly surprising to me that there weren't more stories like the Typhoon, P-47 and P-38 back then.
Not an argument, just pointing out additional facts not mentioned.
Haven't seen that yet Tom. I' ll nip over to Modelling Madness now and have a look.
I was being slightly facetious of course. The heat of war and all that. I believe the early P51 Bubbletops also suffered tail section failure hence the later fillet. However, Camms attitude to the rear visibilty problem showed a terrible lack of understanding of one of the fighter pilot's chief challenges.
Oh yes and there was the Carbon Monoxide.
Do you remember Paul Day's critique of the BF109? "The canopy is all Krupps of Essen and armoured glass. A Kaiser's helmet or an afterthought?" Lol
Oh, and I know you'r not a fan of "tackle out" builds 🙂
Great work so far, that engine would transform a Morris Minor, definitely liked.
Makes you appreciate the chaps who flew them to defend England. Nice work so far.
The only flames you will get from me is for deriding my beloved Hurricunn. Like people that deride my other Loves, the P-40 and Brewster Buffalo. Someone once told me I like airplanes that are Dogs. They may be right, but I prefer the term Underdog. How many friggin' Mustangs and 109's can you build, anyway?
ANYWAY that is a fine looking engine and 'pit.
Ha, yes indeed! Where would they have been without the P40 and Hurricane in the Western Desert? I have built a Catalina but it is gorgeous right enough.