Airfix 1/72 westland whirlwind

[yak face]

This is my latest project , the venerable old airfix whirlwind fighter. Ive always had a soft spot for this aircraft and remember making as a teen (it was probably ages old then!!) The kit has just been re-issued by airfix but this one is an old kit off e-bay. Its par for the course for a 1960's mould , the outline and ease of construction arent bad but the interior and undercarriage leave a bit to be desired!!!Its not as much of a pain as the DH 88 comet but ill still have to scratch build a few bits to get it reasonable. I have started by boxing in the undercarriage bays and next is the cockpit, starting with the 3 foot wide seat!!!Ill not be going mad,just adding enough details so the view through the large canopy looks about right. The other major thing that needs addressing is the cannons in the nose, a very prominent trademark of the whirlwind. These are a poor compromise, mainly due to the limitations of injection moulding such pieces, so it looks like ill be remaking them using various brass tubes/wires etc. Anyway here are the box and sprue shots and a shot of the u/c bay boxing. more progress as it happens , cheers tony

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[The Migrant]

Looking good Tony, I've one of these to build so I'll be following your progress with interest. You've achieved a nice snug fit with those bulkheads in the u/c bay; how did you go about getting the correct cross section?

[yak face]

Hi mike , thanks, the u/c bays were just blanked off with plastic card,the shape obtained with a cheap profile gauge. Ill try and get some more pics on later including one of the profile gauge, cheers tony

[Guest]

Wow, coincidence or what? As an occasional aircraft builder I'm in the process of building all the kits I remember building as a kid, the Whirlwind is next on my list and I was looking at getting hold of one just yesterday

Do you know whether the new Airfix issue uses the old tool or has it been updated?

Looking forward to seeing all the improvements you're making

[yak face]

Hi andy, im sure its a re-release of this older kit,with maybe different decal options.Its not a bad kit just quite old and (compared to what were used to nowadays!) lacking in a few details, but its not a very widely kitted aircraft, apart from the airfix kit, i only know of the pavla 1/72 ,the special hobby 1/72 and the classic airframes 1/48 , all much more expensive and probably a lot more limited run (ie tricky to build!) I think its about time someone mainstream did us a 1/48 or 1/32 version ! cheers tony

[stona]

I think its about time someone mainstream did us a 1/48 or 1/32 version ! cheers tony

I'll second that Tony. As an occasional builder of allied aircraft this is one I'd be very interested in.

Any excuse for a nice picture....here's the business end.

A bit of a challenge in 1/72 Tony but I'm sure you'll do it justice.

Cheers

Steve

Edit,found one more good one from that series.That dog looks like a stranger to the salad bar!

Steve

[Guest]

Hi andy, im sure its a re-release of this older kit,with maybe different decal options.

Thanks for that, it doesn't matter too much to me as I'm reliving my youth, or regressing as my missus calls it

[yak face]

Hi steve, excellent pics mate ,thanks.Great reference for us building one of these lovely aircraft.Heres a little bit more progress,and another nice reference pic of the cockpit. Ive cut down the seat and added sides to make it look better, cut out some rudder pedals,made a control column from a spare u/c linkage and guitar string,and made the throttle quadrant and distinctive curved levers, all quite tricky in 1/72. In fact the throttle quadrant was a nightmare,i spent 1/2 hour making one then when admiring it, it pinged out of the clothes peg and disappeared over my shoulder! I then spent another 1/2 hour looking on the dusty concrete floor for it (bear in mind its about 2-3mm and grey!!!) before giving up and making another one! and this is supposed to be a relaxing hobby!!!? Mike, ive included a pic of the contour gauge i used to get the profile for the u/c bay blanking pieces, very useful bit of kit if youre wanting to scratch a bulkhead or similar. cheers tony

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[Guest]

Saw a model of this cheap in a local toy shop, wished i'd have got it now, not a big aircraft builder but this plane just has "that tough look" to it

That dog looks like a stranger to the salad bar!

Nice to see this breed as it was before all the "club breeders" started faffing around with it to make it look like they "want" it to look.

60-70 years of "line breeding" and it's now a flat faced, small eared, stumpy weak tailed, badly proportioned .. very pale copy of what it once was .... which was a stunning animal !!!

Sorry .... off topic ... rant over .... i'll get ma coat ....

[stona]

Nice to see this breed as it was before all the "club breeders" started faffing around with it to make it look like they "want" it to look.

60-70 years of "line breeding" and it's now a flat faced, small eared, stumpy weak tailed, badly proportioned .. very pale copy of what it once was .... which was a stunning animal !!!

.

I know exactly what you mean. It is sad to compare modern examples of many,many breeds with what they looked like even seventy years ago. Compare them to images (usually paintings) of 100-150 years ago and some are almost unrecognisable. I read recently that if the pug was a wild animal it would be considered endangered,not because there are so few individuals but because there is so little genetic variation. This is a direct result of breeding closely related dogs,mother/son etc something we would consider taboo in our own species.

That squadron's dog looks well fed but it would be hard to imagine a more contented looking fella (or lady).

Also off topic but I appreciate your rant....entirely justified.

Anyway,back to Tony's model LOL.

Steve

[colin m]

Hey Tony what a classic, it will be good to see how this turns out. Now then the whirlwind - was it a good aircraft ? I have no idea ! but it certainly seems to have a lot of 'engines' and loads of guns for a little aircraft.

Regards

Colin M.......

[yak face]

Hi colin, it was certainly liked by all who flew it ,and it had the potential to be a superb fighter/ground attack machine. The main problem was the engines-rolls royce peregrines-a new and undeveloped unit. At the time rolls royce were understandably putting all their efforts into producing and developing the merlin,so the peregrine got neglected a bit.What about using merlins ? i hear you say ,well the merlin was a bigger engine and to adapt the airframe to fit them would have been too much hassle, so the whirlwind production was cut short. Another factor is the emergence round about this time of two other twin engine aircraft , the mosquito and beaufighter, so unfortunately for the whirlwind its days were numbered. cheers tony

[Guest]

I really enjoy watching these old kits built and updated just that little bit so they maintain thier original charm and character. Just looking at the sprues makes you realise how much we are spoilt nowadays by having it all done for us but I'm sure that Tony will do as superb a job of this as he did with the DH88.

As for Steve's collection of pictures, they never fail to amaze me and I'm sure there cannot be an aircraft out there that he hasn't got a picture for!

[yak face]

Thanks richard. Its funny ,ive got this running in parallel with another build which is quite the opposite-- the tamiya 1/48 mosquito fb VI/NF II, a kit that ive only had to add the seat belts to ,the rest of the detail is superb straight out of the box but i enjoy each type of build in equal measure, cheers tony

[Guest]

Interesting facts about the engine design issues.

Quick question if i may (on topic i hasten to add this time )

Missed out on the cheapo model i saw (was an airfix for a fiver if memory serves)

I've accessed t'interweb and looked on my local main model shop in Edinburgh (not sure if advertising is ok but it's a "wonder"full place ) apart from the normal £9 airfix, they have two Special hobby kits ... a mk1 at just over £18 (72204) ... and an "F" mk1 a pound cheaper (72197)

Whats the difference between the kits? and as a reasonably able (not far short of a retard though) aircraft builder which one would be best to have a bash at?