Jump to content

Westland Wyvern


Nic C.D.

Recommended Posts

Just acquired one of these at a model contest yesterday, and I am itching to start also.  The landing gear looks very similar in size and length to the Hawker Tempest ones in the Pacific Coast kit.  Planning to use these to use as a guide to building new ones.  Will need to get a Martin-Baker 2H seat.  Love the looks of this beast.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm really surprised that a model company hasn't produced an injected Wyvern in 1/32 scale. It's popular enough to sale and odd enough to get attention. Hell, we've even posted 3 pages and not one piece of plastic has been cut....

Edited by Bravo52
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well I am not surprised at all to be honest. The Wyvern must be one of the least known aircraft to people who aren't aircraft enthousiasts or aircraft modellers (ask 100 random people on the road and I am sure there would be 3 people in the UK and nobody ouside the UK who know the Wyvern). And these are the people most model companies make money with... I don't think there is any chance to see an ejection moulded 32nd scale Wyvern in the future. I don't think a 3 page discussion on LSP will make any manufacturer think that there is a market for a largescale Wyvern... But it could be a nice subject for a resin or vacuform manufacturer and I think it would even be possible to sell enough kits to earn some money with them!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The moment the vacu-kit arrives, I'll post photos of it. I've been planning a lot, will open a few panels and can't wait to get started. Haven't got a clue on how to do the wheels yet, but I guess that by the time I get there, I'll get some inspiration. 

 

Reading about the Wyvern, it sure is an interesting story. Probably could have been in service longer if it would have been equipped with another engine. Lots of problems like flame-outs, constant rpm and no fuel feed during carrier launches.

 

I never found a wip of a 1/32 Wyvern. Modellers are interested in the aircraft, but aren't actually building it.

 

I hope I can show you actual progress very soon!

 

Nic 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

The vacu formed parts of Tigger arrived today, yeah ! I'll make some photos later and post them. It looks like a veeery big challenge, but a lot of fun too! One thing I'm happy about, is that the plastic looks pretty thick. But it is extremely basic. 

 

I'll be back soon!

 

Nic

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Tigger kit should be a good base. The kits I've ordered from John were always nicely vacufirmed and the material thickness was sufficient, no issues here. Are you going to fill the fuselage with expanding foam, Nic? Could be helpful in this case as the Wyvern has a rather large fuselage if I remember correctly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi all ! It's been busy times, but here are the photos at last !

 

1k0.jpgwell, there is a Wyvern in that plastic. The plastic is thick enough, so that's good news. The parts are rather rough, but it is about what I expected.. Those prop-blades, well I don't think you can do something with them.

 

1k0.jpg

 

The belly of the Wyvern. Her a lot of detail needs to be added. Now, where do I cut for the landing gear bays...?

 

1k0.jpg

 

The spinner is built up out of 3 parts. They are very rounded, so this is going to be a big challenge to get it nicely lined-up. 

This is going to be a challenge over the entire line...

 

And here are the wings: they are cut on the wingfold, but I'm not going to build mine that way. Would be a pitty not to show the cockpit, right?

 

1k0.jpg

 

1k0.jpg

 

and here's one more of the sheets. It's basically 2 sheets of thick plastic and 2 clear vacuformed canopies. No plans, no drawings, no decals. Modelling gone back to the very basics! Gonna be fun, I hope!

 

Nic

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We complain of panel lines looking like trenches on some of our styrene kits well there are none on a vac. The moving surfaces 'separation' panel lines are hmmm huge... Looking forward to how youre going to get those issues sorted, and learning in the process. Good Lord this is going to be a daunting task lol  :fight:​

 

Karim 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...