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

 

[andygh]

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

 

[andygh]

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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[CDW]

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

 

[Bunkerbarge]

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

 

[CDW]

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?

 

[yak face]

HI colin, the special hobby kits will be a lot more complete in the detail side of things,ie. cockpit /undercarriage etc. but the trade off is the double price.If you just want to do a quick build but arent too bothered about it being superdetailed (theres only so much you can see through a 1/72 canopy anyway!) then the airfix one isnt bad at all, and you should be able to get one cheap,either the new issue or an older one off e-bay. When i get round to posting some more progress you should be able to get a good idea of what the airfix kit is like, and what it can turn into. cheers tony

 

[spanner570]

Cracking subject Tony, I'm sure it will make up into a great model......

Here's a little add-on about the Whirlwind.

When WW2 kicked off my dad joined the R.A.F. Regiment and his first posting was to De Havillands at Broughton nr. Chester (now aerospace) where they were making, amongst others the Wellington bomber. The Mosquito came later as you know...

He was very keen on aircraft recognition and would make models of them, British or German, out of solid wood. These were used to teach the ack- ack gunners which was which! One day a strange, and very secret aircraft arrived, the Westland Whirlwind.

My dad made some sketches and made a model of it. He tried to take it off the aerodrome to show my mum, who he was courting at the time. At the main gate he was searched, (as always was the case) the model was found and he was promptly arrested as a suspected spy!

All was explained and no harm done. Mum never got to see the model!

Slightly off thread Tony, but being a mucker and all I hope you don't mind!

Cheers,

Ron

 

[colin m]

Building models is great. But the story behind the machines really fascinate me - I only wish I had something interesting to add !!

Regards

Colin M.........

 

[stona]

Building models is great. But the story behind the machines really fascinate me - I only wish I had something interesting to add !!Regards

Colin M.........

You could write a book on the "what ifs" of 1930s British fighter development. It was as much by luck as judgement that we ended up with and all remember the Merlin powered Spitfire and Hurricane. Many fell by the wayside. I'm no expert on British aircraft but the GlosterF5,Vickers Venom and Bristol types 133 and 146 spring to mind. These could have been powered by an alarming array of unimaginatively named engines. Mercury,Taurus,Perseus,Aquila,and Hercules to name some of them.

I read an interesting thread about this somewhere but can't find it now...sorry.

Cheers

Steve

 

[yak face]

Well, progress has been a bit slow, ive been a bit busy elsewhere, but heres a bit more done.Ive managed to build a passable cockpit to replace the empty space provided by airfix, working to a few hastily sketched drawings i copied from t'internet. I have started making the belts for the seats in the same way as i did for the dh88 comet, wine foil pierced to make the eyelets on the sutton harness, and had to make another control column with guitar string and stretched sprue as i dropped the other one and couldnt find it!The wings have had the flaps scribed onto them, including the very awkward rear of the nacelle which hinged down with the flaps in real life. I have also made the distinctive radiator faces from plastic card and stretched sprue and inserted them into the slots on the wing leading edge and drilled out the landing light lense holes and exhaust shroud fronts and rears. The gun camera has been cut off the wing and filled and is to be re-attached next to the cartridge case collector where it should be on production aircraft. Ive got a bit of a dilemma though, with all this work in the cockpit its a shame to cover it all,so i might cut the canopy and have it open, i dont know yet. Any hoo ,here are the (not very good! ) pics

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