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Special Hobby Westland Whirlwind Mk 1


Iain

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59 minutes ago, STWilliams said:

Finding it difficult to get too excited about this one. Only around 100 built, standard RAF camo, unspectacular & short career. Am I missing something here?

 

I think there's some kind of that "what if" aspect in it.
Something like those German planes that never flew but could win the war in a week or so, if it only lasted a year or two longer.
And for others it's just a technologically advanced machine from the past, interesting enough to have it on the shelf.
And in our large scale it should look almost like the real thing, which probably none of us has ever seen (not counting crappy old photography...).

 

I'm looking forward to the builds by some masters here.

:piliot:

 

Juraj

 

 

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Like a lot of 'also rans' out there this machine is part of the story and therefore part of the legacy of WWII for the RAF.

Perhaps you could liken the situation of the Whirlwind to that of the TSR2, lot's of promise but no real future for all sorts of reasons.

The TSR2 also has a lot of fans out there but never served, it still stirs emotions even now!

Who wouldn't get excited if a 1/32 TSR2 was announced in IM plastic? :rolleyes: 

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35 minutes ago, Royboy said:

Like a lot of 'also rans' out there this machine is part of the story and therefore part of the legacy of WWII for the RAF.

Perhaps you could liken the situation of the Whirlwind to that of the TSR2, lot's of promise but no real future for all sorts of reasons.

The TSR2 also has a lot of fans out there but never served, it still stirs emotions even now!

Who wouldn't get excited if a 1/32 TSR2 was announced in IM plastic? :rolleyes: 

Me? Non-Brits?

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My first encounter with the Whirlwind was probably in an "Air Ace" comic book when I was very young, these comic books were my favourites.

Illustrated is a typical one from 1961, not the one one that fired my imagination that one was the story of a mission to occupied France and the Whirlwind pilot was shown bailing out of his burning aircraft after saving a Typhoon from being shot down so that it could accomplish it's mission. Something heroic like that, it was a while ago after all.

Then of course there was the Airfix 1/72 scale kit which was totally impressive to me, given my size at the time it was probably the equivalent of a 1/32 scale kit to me now.

4npxi2.jpg

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

 

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8 hours ago, Alain Gadbois said:

Maybe the only important reason: it's a hot looking machine and we want to build it.

 

Alain

 

Bingo! Really quite similar to the Ta 154, Do 335 or some other German aircraft that did little or nothing in the war, yet kit makers gobble them up because they consider them to be cool.

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2 hours ago, Out2gtcha said:

I do like the TSR2, but its overall size, and lack of schemes take it out of my wheelhouse of interest in 32nd I'm sorry to say.

 

Me too. I'd be much more interested in a Valkyrie, were I to do a "never to be used" cool bomber. If I ever do snatch a Valkyrie, which I just might, I'll do it in a theoretical production scheme of some imagined ally of the US.

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7 hours ago, STWilliams said:

Finding it difficult to get too excited about this one. Only around 100 built, standard RAF camo, unspectacular & short career. Am I missing something here?

Art Deco hot rod! - what's not to like?

True, not a great success but looks great.

Dad had a close encounter with one when they were stationed locally near Bath.

I've two on pre order - can barely control myself. :yahoo:

 

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With regard to the service, this could have been noticeably different. Nobody could have foreseen that between the end of 1940 and 1943, the aerial battles on the western front were going to be quite limited if we do not consider the rather short Dieppe operation. The Whirlwind was used during that period and only on that theatre. 

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12 hours ago, LSP_K2 said:

Bingo! Really quite similar to the Ta 154, Do 335 or some other German aircraft that did little or nothing in the war, yet kit makers gobble them up because they consider them to be cool.

 

Yep, it's called 'coolness factor' and the only criteria that must be met before I buy 'any' kit.

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