Martin Baker MB5 Super Monsoon F1

[PR19_Kit]

I'm doing a radically modified MB5 for the Op Downfall GB, and I'm starting with the box stock KP MB5 kit, which oddly I've never built with a cockpit interior before. While I've done 3 x MB5s with various levels of Whiffing, they've either been built from the Skybirds86 kit, the two seat KP MB6 kit, or didn't have a cockpit modelled at all, the Monsoooooon pylon racer.

This is the later Hi-Tech version, with resin addons and a mask set too.

[NARSES2]

Kit, regarding the masks.

If they are the same as in the Spitfire kit then they are of the vyniyl type rather than the masking tape type. I wasn't to sure about the "stickability" of some of the smaller ones so I used them as a "stencil" to produce some kabuki tape ones.

[PR19_Kit]

Oooh, that's handy, thanks Chris. 

I'll check and see what they're made of.

[kitbasher]

Would a Clyde or a Python fit on an MB5??

[PR19_Kit]

I reckon a Python would, an Eagle fits like it was designed for it!   

[Gondor]

I reckon a Python would, an Eagle fits like it was designed for it!   

I bet it's getting longer wings as well

[PR19_Kit]

Now why would, I do that?

I already did that with the Monsoon PR3, AND with the Sea Monsoon.

[Gondor]

Now why would, I do that?

I already did that with the Monsoon PR3, AND with the Sea Monsoon.

You're just making a storm in a teacup Kit

[Charlie_c67]

Now why would, I do that?

I already did that with the Monsoon PR3, AND with the Sea Monsoon.

Could always pop a Bristol Proteus on the front 

[PR19_Kit]

Could always pop a Bristol Proteus on the front 

A Proteus would be out of the time frame for Op Downfall, it didn't run till 1947.

I've got the cockpit of the Super Monsoon put together, but no thanks to KP's instructions. Note parts 4 and 5, the side panels.



The instructions would have you believe the side panels fit between the instrument panel and the rear bulkhead, and also reach up to match up with  the instrument panel. They're nowhere near long enough or high enough!



Here's the whole lot glued together and you can see the hefty gap between the instrument panel and the side panel. As it's all going to be painted black in there it won't matter much, but it doesn't give me much confidence in the rest of it!



It amazes me that in all the umpteen 'reviews' of this kit, none of the 'reviewers' have seen fit to mention this! 

[Charlie_c67]

Bristol Theseus then?

I've read about several people struggling with the original production run by AZ, which is a shame as it's an intriguing aircraft with plenty of whif potential, an allied Luft '46 if you will, and could've been joined by things like the MB 3, Fisher P-75 and Arsenal VG-40/60

Would've been nice if they'd revisited the design to improve on it slightly or if the 3D printed part had been the cockpit. Incidentally, what are the 3D parts?

[PR19_Kit]

Wheels and exhausts, but I'm not sure the exhausts are worth the bother, I could get exactly the same result by gluing the plastic ones a bit further inboard.

[The Wooksta!]

Would a Clyde or a Python fit on an MB5??

Probably too slim an airframe - Python is pretty chunky and Clyde isn't much slimmer.  Basically, you're looking at a Wyvern fuselage with MB5 wings and tail surfaces.  More likely that MB would have designed a new fuselage.

And given that the Clyde Wyvern didn't fly until 1949(?), a Clyde  likely outside the scope of the GB too.  Dart, Tyne or Trent could be possible, but I'm unsure of the timeframe for those also.

[PR19_Kit]

A Tyne was way outside the time frame, almost 10 yrs as it didn't run till 1955.

A Dart may just have made it as that ran in 1946 but the first flight with Dart power, in a Lancaster test bed, didn't happen till 1949.

The original RR Trent engine would have been well possible as that had flown in 1945, but there would have been no point as it only poked out 850 bhp, and the original Griffon in the MB5 managed almost 2.5 times that much.

The Eagle fits quite nicely on the nose of the MB5. needing a bit of filing and PSR on the upper surface, and a bit more ingenuity to fair it into the underside, but nothing too difficult.

What it will need is a tail extension, a la Ta-152, as that Eagle is pretty long and would be quite de-stabilising. Luckily there's a short parallel chunk of the MB5's rear fuselage that suits the bill quite well.

As you can imagine, extensive styrene, resin and PSR surgery is in progress on the Super Monsoon right now. 

[The Wooksta!]

When I did mine, I added a fin fillet.  Though it might need a tad more fin area with the extra power.