Kit bashing...Aero commander 690

[harrysone]

I flew in one of these '690s a couple of years ago from Samoa to American Samoa return...have been thinking about how to recreate one in 1/72. I knew that the Croco resin Aerocommander 560 kit might be a good starting point, however then there were the issues with extending the fuselage, the wings and the engines to consider. A bit of research and some scale drawings indicates that a fair part of the 690 encapsulates components or at least dimensioned components from the original. The wing extension in the '690 just incorporates a new parallel chord centre section (plus some winglets which will be incorporated later

A parallel search on the Jet Commander which used a stretched Aerocommander fuselage got me thinking (ahh---Aurora did a Jet commander kit, however now unobtanium & expensive!). The jet commander design however was sold to IAI (Israel Aircraft Industries) and marketed as the Westwind!! I decided to taKe a punt and bought both the Croco kit and a Broplan IAI Westwind 1123 & do a bit of a kit bash. Engines for the project were donated by a Hasegawa Mitsubishi Mu-2.

Here's progress so far, its very much a build this bit...check drawings...put aside...think about how to do the next bit...contemplate...contemplate...measure up, build some more...

Untitled by Harry Follas, on Flickr

Untitled by Harry Follas, on Flickr

Untitled by Harry Follas, on Flickr

Untitled by Harry Follas, on Flickr

Untitled by Harry Follas, on Flickr

Untitled by Harry Follas, on Flickr

Untitled by Harry Follas, on Flickr

[johnnyfalcon]

That's using your noggin Harry! Very industrious of you. I never knew the IAI airframe owed its roots to the Aero Commander. I'm looking forward to the completed project.

As an aside, hasn't NZ been home to one or two of these turbine Commanders?

[30sqnatc]

Amazing cross kitting. Really thinking out of the box. Outstanding outcome.

[ZacYates]

^ what he said, just brilliant work Harry!

[markrogers]

Brilliant work Harry!

[markrogers]

Oct 10, 2021 15:46:27 GMT 12 johnnyfalcon said:

That's using your noggin Harry! Very industrious of you. I never knew the IAI airframe owed its roots to the Aero Commander. I'm looking forward to the completed project.

As an aside, hasn't NZ been home to one or two of these turbine Commanders?

Yes, NZ Aerial Mapping had two Aero Commander 690's 

[harrysone]

Thanks guys...I’ve been thinking about how to do this for past couple of years...it hasn’t been helped by a lack of detailed drawings of AC 690 aircraft! Lots of photos but no detailed 3 view drawings . It looks like most of the NZ 690s and the Talofa 690 have extended tail cones so I may need to incorporate that...in two minds re winglets seen on 690bs

At least one of the NZAM 690s is now part of air Chathams fleet.

[harrysone]

shape comparison with the '560 (pretending to be a '500). The AC690 is a very 'balanced' looking aeroplane.

IMG_5858 by Harry Follas, on Flickr

[johnnyfalcon]

Great comparison. Personally, I favour the 500 series, probably for nostalgic reasons over any other.

[harrysone]

They are all an attractive group of designs I reckon, the old '680 that NZAM had (ZK-CDK) also very nice. I had a friend who flew with NZAM for a bit about 10 years ago, he reckoned the 680 was only flown by a select few pilots as it had 2-stage superchargers that if not handled correctly could result in severe engine damage!

tail cone added, engine nacelles and exhausts now faired and exhausts added. I'm going to modify the shape of the nose-cone too...needs sharpenning.

Untitled by Harry Follas, on Flickr

Untitled by Harry Follas, on Flickr

[harrysone]

Aircraft now has winglets (B model) and gear doors. I re-positioned the nosewheel and sharpened the nose cone

IMG_5879 by Harry Follas, on Flickr

IMG_5884 by Harry Follas, on Flickr

[markrogers]

Lovely model, certainly is shaping up well. Did you make the wingtips from plastic card?

[Dave Homewood]

This is such a great kitbash Harry! So much skill here!

[harrysone]

Yep wingtips are from plastic card...Decided that this will be 5W-JMJ (Talofa Airways) in Samoa...so probably not so relevant here but as THE TYPE is used in NZ I'll keep posting Besides as far as I know, nobody else has tried building a '690. We flew on this in August 2019 between the 2 Samoas

jmj_1 by Harry Follas, on Flickr

jmj_2 by Harry Follas, on Flickr

[harrysone]

some progress...Holds paint quite well

I also built up the little aircraft tug provided with the MU-2 kit for a bit of fun

4 by Harry Follas, on Flickr

3 by Harry Follas, on Flickr

2 by Harry Follas, on Flickr

1 by Harry Follas, on Flickr

6 by Harry Follas, on Flickr

[Dave Homewood]

Gosh that looks superb!

[markrogers]

Impressive! I kind of like the look of it with the longer fuse and the turbo engines.

[Bruce]

Make sure you don't exceed the nosewheel turning limits when towing! The Commanders did have very strict limitations around that.

[harrysone]

I'm just working on the livery now...still some detailing, however the '690 has come up quite well for a kit bash

6 by Harry Follas, on Flickr

9 by Harry Follas, on Flickr

5 by Harry Follas, on Flickr

[Dave Homewood]

That is stunning!!