Hamilcar Glider

[Louis wright]

Good morning all. I am new to this page as I have only just been made aware of this site through a friend who sent me a link. I have been a military modeller since the mid 60's so have far more experience in this area, however one of my favourite areas is WW2 British Airborne equipment. I have never scratch built an aircraft but find that an exception needs to be made in this area as I think it unlikely that any major manufacturers will ever undertake this subject. I am also contemplating making this aircraft available to those who might be interested as I have made masters in the past for various resin manufacturers. As the Hamilcar would have to be made in 1/35 so that it would be compatible with existing kits which could be used as payloads I was wondering what the general feeling would be amongst 1/32 scale modellers. I recently purchased HK MODELS Lancaster with the intention of using it as a tug for a horsa only to find out that there is a Stirling out there which is my favorite aircraft. I need to look into that. Lastly can anyone tell me if there is a 1/32 Short Flying Boat available?

[Oldbaldguy]

Welcome aboard.  Do yourself a favor and check out Tom Pobert’s models on this site, either in Works In Progress or Ready For Inspection.  He built a Short Sunderland that will water your eyes.

[Archimedes]

Welcome Louis!

 

+1 on Tom Probert's Sunderland - a tremendous effort. ID Models did indeed do a 1/32 Stirling. the differences between 1/32 and 1/35 are noticeable so you have a hard choice if I understand what you want to of correctly: whether to go with a 1/32 Hamilcar to match a tug (Lancaster or Stirling) but that will require sourcing 1/32 vehicles (of which there are precious few and certainly not an M22 Locust light tank which was one of the payloads the Hamilcar carried) or go with 1/35 which would require scratch building a tug in the same scale. Personally I would go with 1/32 as scratch-building a vehicle for a diorama looks a lot easier than scratch building a glider tug! Airfix did do a small range of vehicles but if you are looking at British Airborne ops then none of those may be suitable. 

 

Best regards,
Paul

 

 

Edited October 11, 2022 by Archimedes

[LSP_Ray]

Here is a link to Tom Probert's article. It includes a link to his full build thread.

[Cees Broere]

Lancasters weren’t any good at towing gliders, let alone a Hamilcar. For that you need a a Halifax II or V.

Cees

[npb748r]

Halifax MK VII is what's needed, in 298 squadron markings - you could even model my dads aircraft 

[Cees Broere]

A Mk VII, such as NA337, fully restored at Trenton, Canada.

[npb748r]

6 hours ago, Cees Broere said:

A Mk VII, such as NA337, fully restored at Trenton, Canada.

Thanks Cees - just looked this up.  It was from a sister squadron of my dad's 298 based at the same airfield. I suspect my dad would have seen the aircraft and might have known the crew. I think he went off to India with 298 about the time NA337 crashed. He's no longer with us - as I get older I have so many more questions I would like to ask him, what I'd give for the chance of just one more chat.  Wow, typing this just bought a tear to my eye

neil

[Tony C]

On 10/11/2022 at 5:29 AM, Cees Broere said:

Lancasters weren’t any good at towing gliders, let alone a Hamilcar. For that you need a a Halifax II or V.

Cees

Well, I guess that the Halifax had to be good at something 

 

Sorry Cees, it’s been such along time that just couldn’t resist 

 

 

Oh, and please, nobody tell Cees that I’m currently building Revell’s 1/72 Mk.III, I’ll loose too much credibility

[tomprobert]

First and foremost, I'm flattered to have my name mentioned when it comes to vacforms - thank you!

 

@Louis wright Tigger to a 1/32nd Halifax with Merlins which will be perfect as a tug - this is one I did a few years back: 

I'm also currently doing a Stirling which I have inherited from Cees: 

 

[Louis wright]

Just a quick update and thank you to those of you who commented on my questions to do with my Hamilcar glider project. I've now had time to speak to various modelers of both military and aircraft codes. I was surprised to find out that the most interest was shown by military modellers and was welcomed as there are a lot of commercially available payloads such as the Teterach & Locust light tanks, the Universal Carrier and 6pdr, Morris C8 & 17pdr, Morris C9B Bofors and have also found a picture with loading trials of the Windsor Carrier & lastly the White Scout Car. So it ended up being a no brainer to go with 1/35 scale on this occasion. Although this will create a tug problem. I have built part of the rear fuselage and have created the front & rear wings plus the tail fin in outline profile using balsa wood but have not shaped them in section yet. Will post some pictures as it develops. Also it has been suggested that a cut down version for diorama display might be an idea consisting of nose & cockpit section with landing gear & partial wing section.

[LSP_Kevin]

20 minutes ago, Louis wright said:

Just a quick update and thank you to those of you who commented on my questions to do with my Hamilcar glider project. I've now had time to speak to various modelers of both military and aircraft codes. I was surprised to find out that the most interest was shown by military modellers and was welcomed as there are a lot of commercially available payloads such as the Teterach & Locust light tanks, the Universal Carrier and 6pdr, Morris C8 & 17pdr, Morris C9B Bofors and have also found a picture with loading trials of the Windsor Carrier & lastly the White Scout Car. So it ended up being a no brainer to go with 1/35 scale on this occasion. Although this will create a tug problem. I have built part of the rear fuselage and have created the front & rear wings plus the tail fin in outline profile using balsa wood but have not shaped them in section yet. Will post some pictures as it develops. Also it has been suggested that a cut down version for diorama display might be an idea consisting of nose & cockpit section with landing gear & partial wing section.

 

Hi Louis,

 

You originally added this post to one of Tom Probert's build threads, which didn't make sense, so I've moved it here, which seems to be where it more appropriately belongs.

 

Kev