G'day gang,
After a couple of years of research and general mucking around [read not enough cash!] I finally pulled the trigger on a Tony Nijhuis 1/9th scale Lancaster kit.
Well, the CNC pack, plans, cowls, spinners, canopy and turrents and two crew. The strip wood and sheeting I can source from my club at a very good price.
Total cost of the bits in Aussie dollars...$890 of which freight was close to four hundred.
To give you an idea of the size, the main wheel/tyre assembly is seven inches.
It will not be an overnight build [unless I get really keen] and I will be taking it slowly to make sure sure that I get it right. With this much money on the line, it must be done right or not at all. I see it all getting up towards 4K by the time she will be ready to fly.
I used to build some thirty years ago and the 1/6 scale MkIX spitfire I built as my first ever attempt at a scale model, went on to win many trophies in the hands of another pilot. The spit was completely a scratch build as well, I only had plans. In fact, I never saw the spit fly. That was a shame and once the forth owner turned her into match sticks on his first flight with it, I was never going to.
Tony Nijhuis has been fantastic with his service and acknowledged my order within minutes of it being placed. Mind you, I made sure it was business hours in England. No midnight phone call. Unlike my sister in law who sometimes gets the time difference backwards and my wife and I get a two AM phone call.:Silly:
At this stage I am in two minds about how to power the Lanc, either with batteries or glow and I am leaning slightly towards glow with ASP FS61AR.
What I do know is, I am not going to let her become a hanger Queen.
I am going to mark her up as an aircraft that was flown by an Australian and my research has me with quite a few nominations. It just comes down to who I honour in the finish. Were I can, I have attempted to contact the family of each of the pilots to seek permission. So far every single family has agreed without question. When the time comes, I will let them all know who I chose. It will be difficult to single one crew out, but I will do an honour board showing the crew and, where possible, the ground crew. I also hope to have permission to have the crews photos on the board. This board will be displayed when we do static displays and at model airshows.
Here in Australia, we have to get any model over 7 kilograms certified to fly as well as the pilot/s who will be flying them. I think she will come in around the 25 kilogram mark, give or take a few kilos. I wonder how my heart rate will be on that day?
Once things arrive I will keep you all up to date on the build.
I am actually very excited....this is better than Christmas:)
Regards and respect
Daryl
After a couple of years of research and general mucking around [read not enough cash!] I finally pulled the trigger on a Tony Nijhuis 1/9th scale Lancaster kit.
Well, the CNC pack, plans, cowls, spinners, canopy and turrents and two crew. The strip wood and sheeting I can source from my club at a very good price.
Total cost of the bits in Aussie dollars...$890 of which freight was close to four hundred.
To give you an idea of the size, the main wheel/tyre assembly is seven inches.
It will not be an overnight build [unless I get really keen] and I will be taking it slowly to make sure sure that I get it right. With this much money on the line, it must be done right or not at all. I see it all getting up towards 4K by the time she will be ready to fly.
I used to build some thirty years ago and the 1/6 scale MkIX spitfire I built as my first ever attempt at a scale model, went on to win many trophies in the hands of another pilot. The spit was completely a scratch build as well, I only had plans. In fact, I never saw the spit fly. That was a shame and once the forth owner turned her into match sticks on his first flight with it, I was never going to.
Tony Nijhuis has been fantastic with his service and acknowledged my order within minutes of it being placed. Mind you, I made sure it was business hours in England. No midnight phone call. Unlike my sister in law who sometimes gets the time difference backwards and my wife and I get a two AM phone call.:Silly:
At this stage I am in two minds about how to power the Lanc, either with batteries or glow and I am leaning slightly towards glow with ASP FS61AR.
What I do know is, I am not going to let her become a hanger Queen.
I am going to mark her up as an aircraft that was flown by an Australian and my research has me with quite a few nominations. It just comes down to who I honour in the finish. Were I can, I have attempted to contact the family of each of the pilots to seek permission. So far every single family has agreed without question. When the time comes, I will let them all know who I chose. It will be difficult to single one crew out, but I will do an honour board showing the crew and, where possible, the ground crew. I also hope to have permission to have the crews photos on the board. This board will be displayed when we do static displays and at model airshows.
Here in Australia, we have to get any model over 7 kilograms certified to fly as well as the pilot/s who will be flying them. I think she will come in around the 25 kilogram mark, give or take a few kilos. I wonder how my heart rate will be on that day?
Once things arrive I will keep you all up to date on the build.
I am actually very excited....this is better than Christmas:)
Regards and respect
Daryl