De Havilland "Sand Fly" - Finished!

[pyro-manic]

This will be a modified De Havilland Mosquito, combatting Yemeni insurgents out of RAF Khormaskar (Aden) in the early 1960s (hence the nickname "Sand Fly"). Middle East Air Force colours, with rockets and bombs under the wings, and lots of nose guns for strafing Communist convoys. Might give it modified props (off a B-26K), and possibly a new canopy, if I can find a suitable donor.

Trying to get the bloody wings on this Airfix NF.XIX model at the moment... The undercarriage is going to be a pain as well - covered in flash and bent.

[pyro-manic]

OK, I have the airframe together, the new props are fitted, and I'm busy filling gaps. Here's how she looks so far:



Still have to find some appropriate weapons to go under the wings, and I'm undecided about whether to stick with the original nose .303s and quad-20mm under the chin, or go for a couple of ADENs or even Bofors 40mm...

[rallymodeller]

That's the spirit!

Both weapon choices sound reasonable, but my choice (were I in RAF R&D at the time) would be to go for ADENs. They would have been relatively easy to come by since the RAF was taking them out of Lightnings at the time (IIRC). However, I would stick the ADENs in the underfuselage gondola and put quad-fifties in the nose. That was a pretty standard COIN mix at the time.

BTW, love the clipped props!

[pyro-manic]

Thanks, rally! I thought the clipped props looked pretty sharp. I think I will go for a couple of ADENs - a slight bulge under the fairing, fill in the other two ports, and I'll rustle up some tubing from somewhere for the new barrels. Likewise for the .50s.

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Nothing apart from tip-tanks says CoIn quite as loudly as cropped prop blades  - How about 4 x .50cal for the nose instead of the weedy .303's and the usual 4 x 20mm.

Ian

[Mossie]

I like the idea of ADENs, could pack a wallop.  Is early sixites a touch too soon for SNEB rocket pods?  If so some Hispano SURA R80 rockets might look the part.  How about swapping the canopy for something a little less 'framey', maybe a canopy from a Venom two seater would work?

[ChernayaAkula]

ADENs all the way!  According to Jane's, SNEB full-scale production began in 1955, so they'd be a "Go!" as well + look cool!

How about a fighter-style canopy? Worked for the Canberra, might as well work for the Mossie!

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

How about swapping the canopy for something a little less 'framey', maybe a canopy from a Venom two seater would work?

H*ll yes ! - Great idea, Simon.

Ian

[kitnut617]

What about an offset single bubble, a'la Canberra/Sea Vixen

[pyro-manic]

Interesting! I''ll have to see what I've got in the way of canopies, and see what looks good.

Not much more progress on this at the moment - I'm waiting on some .50 barrels to go in the nose, and I'm trying to work out how to represent the ADENs - I can't find any tubing small enough, and I'm not sure that plain plastic/metal rod wouldn't look naff....

[Mossie]

Thinking more about the ADEN, they'd probably simply replace the space taken up by the Hispanos.  The barrels wouldn't even protude, as the ADEN is a shorter weapon.  All that you'd really need to do is ream out the holes in the nose slightly, wouldn't give much of a visual impact.

Those Bofors are starting to sound good, with their flared muzzles, although I'm not sure about weight, most sources seem to mention the gun & carriage combined.  The Vicker S or QF 2 pounder "Pom Pom" might be an option, in twin mounts?

[pyro-manic]

The flared muzzles do sound pretty good. A couple of 1:48 or 1:32 machine gun barrels, perhaps, or maybe I can scrounge a couple of 1:72 Bofors from somewhere.

[nev]

I *like* this project

[Jeffry Fontaine]

The big propeller blades really make a this look different in a really good way ;^)

[sotoolslinger]

Really like this one Pretty props