Hikoki52 A new use for Snarks

[loupgarou]

This is a build I had started (and prepared the backstory) at least  3 years ago, stalled because I couldn't get the airbrush to behave.
Now at long last I managed to complete it, even if I am afraid the backstory will have me expelled from the forum.
Sorry, the build would need a diorama, but if I wait till I manage to prepare that too, another 10 years will pass.

THE STORY
The war in the Pacific was lasting for ever.
The Alamogordo tests ended in a fizzle – the first atomic bomb just went ffzzzz... and a small smoke cloud, not even enough to frighten the ravens flying around.
Fermi was heard mumbling: "I must have displaced a comma somewhere in my calculations..."
After a quick and secret court martial, Fermi, Teller, Oppenheimer and principal collaborators were hanged for having wasted an inordinate amount of millions, the lesser minions sent to a labour camp in lead mines.
The japanese in the meantime had discovered a way of cracking saké to obtain jet fuel to alleviate their oil shortage problems after the loss of Indonesia. The new fighters, finally in series production (Kikka,J7W2 Shinden Kai, J8M Shūsui, ...) were taking a bigger and bigger toll of US bombers.
The pitiful Lancasters of the british Tiger Force were quickly swept out of the sky.
Even the various attempts at an evolution of the B-29 were useless, while the first B-36, fraught with problems, were too big even for Tinian.
URSS was enjoing the show, letting USA bleed its forces and waiting the right moment to conquer all of west Europe. Korea, of course, had been swallowed in a few days by North Korean and chinese forces, and the french in Indochina were precariously holding on only to the biggest cities.
The Usa attempted to accelerate the development of a guided cruise missile, the Snark, but the celestial navigation system was absolutely unreliable: (from Wikipedia: the majority of tests suffering mechanical failure thousands of miles before reaching the target. A missile launched on 1956 went so far off course that it landed in North-Eastern Brazil, where it was found in 1983.  Many of those connected with the program commented in jest "That the Caribbean was full of 'Snark infested waters'."[ )
Bomber losses were reaching 20-30 % in each single mission, mutiny attempts by crews were squashed in blood, the others kept in line with menaces of reprisals against their families.
In desperation, some pilots (and other hastily trained crew members) offered themselves as kamikaze pilots: "We are already walking deads, we could as well die in a big bang".
So the Snarks already in production were converted removing the guidance system and installing a pilot place with simplified controls. Launch was, as always, via solid-fueled rocket boosters.
While the Snarks were USAAF (no independent USAF yet), as the flight was mostly over water, an US Navy camouflage scheme was chosen.
After the first successful attacks managed to destroy all of Kyoto historical monuments and emperor's Hiro Hito ancestors shrine, ("that's not cricket" he complained), feelers for a compromise peace were attempted and an uneasy truce reached.

THE BUILD
The kit is the venerable Revell Snark, with the original launch ramp, slightly modified according to photos. Lot of sanding on the missile, a small cockpit carved off.
The M-426 truck tractor is a white metal kit from the french brand SAI (in reality a production of VV-Models from somewhere east), tank semitrailer and the White come from ancient Minitanks, ladder is Preiser.
Still experimenting to print decals for the tank trailer . 

[Captain Canada]

Interesting stuff ! I love the paint job on the Snark, and the diorama setting is perfect !

[sandiego89]

The Snark looks great in those colors!

[nönöbär]

Ahhh, another Snark..... 


Of course, this reminds me of the Megasnark:


http://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,42032.0.html

We definitly need more Snarks here to form a Snarknado.... 

[PR19_Kit]

Here's another one, the Hawker P.1086. 



Build thread here http://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,36798.msg593116.html#msg593116

[loupgarou]

Oh well, nobody, till now, complained about my rather bloody backstory. I was afraid of negative reactions.
And, yes, the Snark is a natural for some "variations". I wonder if anybody has tackled the Lindberg 1/48 one as whif fodder.

[Snowtrooper]

I had already forgotten the silly flight attitude until the crooked stars-and-bars reminded me. There were probably sound reasons for doing so, but it seems so terribly ineffective aerodynamically.

But the tri-tone camo and suitable backstory still make it look good!

[nönöbär]

Oh well, nobody, till now, complained about my rather bloody backstory. I was afraid of negative reactions.
And, yes, the Snark is a natural for some "variations". I wonder if anybody has tackled the Lindberg 1/48 one as whif fodder.

Well, its not worse than mine of the F-62 Fighersnark, the A-62 Gigasnark Attack aircraft and the RF-62 Megasnark.....

And I forgot, I like your colour scheme! 

[MiB]

        

[rickshaw]

Here is another Snark, used by the RAAF to defend Australia:

[PR19_Kit]

A Snark looks much better with the intake on the top. 

[Dizzyfugu]

...and with some wheels it could become a serious LSR contender! 

[AeroplaneDriver]

Very nice.  Love the idea of a manned Snark.  I have one in my stash with a vague plan of making it a 1/144 bomber. 

[rickshaw]

A Snark looks much better with the intake on the top. 

No sense of FOD occurring that way...