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Post by Bruce on Apr 12, 2016 12:54:23 GMT 12
A TEAL VC-10 would look awesome!
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Post by Bruce on Apr 8, 2016 19:16:33 GMT 12
Can we change the thread title to English please "Might HAVE beens..." sorry "Might of / could of / should of" is a pet hate...
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Post by Bruce on Apr 7, 2016 10:31:36 GMT 12
I have seen a video clip of the "first flight" on Facebook (sorry, cant share it..) And its pretty cool! Tick.tick tick.. vrooom start. Chris was obviously really nervous about letting the clutch out the first time though! It whistles along nicely in the cruise, but I imagine it would be a bit of a handful to ride, feeding in a whole lot of power with slow spool up time. I wonder what its like on windy roads, with a big Gyroscope spinning away...
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Post by Bruce on Apr 5, 2016 18:50:01 GMT 12
Charles Darby says in the book "RNZAF The First Decade" and I quote:"The three Union Airways DH86s also went to the AG & AOS. By January 1940 both Rapides and DH86s were silver overall with flashes on the wheel spats and code numbers, in both cases RED outlined in BLACK. Later in 1940 the codes were plain black." OK, thats a good enough non - photographic reference for me!
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Post by Bruce on Apr 4, 2016 18:22:36 GMT 12
The stripes appear to be completely unrelated to the Union Airways scheme so I don't think that would have a bearing on it. On Shorty's pic of the broken NZ554, I would have to agree the code number is likely Red, comparing it to the roundel centre. That said, Orthographic film also shows yellow as a dark colour... Maybe each Express had a different colour?
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Post by Bruce on Apr 3, 2016 22:39:37 GMT 12
Thanks Peter, I have seen that photo before as well, and at slightly enhanced brightness / contrast levels it also shows a black border around the code numbers, so they probably are the same as "2" (NZ553). Its a pity you cant see the centre of the fuselage roundel for comparison - the under wing roundels are shaded so not as useful...
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Post by Bruce on Apr 3, 2016 22:04:27 GMT 12
I'm just starting work on scratchbuilding a 1/72 DH86 Express to diaplay in RNZAF colours in my collection. It will be a Resin Cast project so basic component kits may be available in the future. At the moment I have one little question that I have been bouncing around friends. What Colour were the code numbers on the RNZAF expresses? The above image is one of very few showing the Expess in RNZAF Colours - aparently Silver overall. However, the undercarriage trousers have some coloured bands around them, which seems the match the colour of the ID code on the nose (Which, incidently doesnt relate to the serial!) The code number has a black border and is a lighter colour, but what colour is it? My call would be yellow, but Light blue or red have also been suggested. Does anyone have any conclusive evidence or better photos? It is certainly lighter than the Roundel blue, and I'm not convinced they would use a black border on Red, but its the old story of interpreting colour shades from poor, greyscale images! Dave wondered whether the Expresses ever wore Camouflage in their RNZAF careers - since they served on active duty in Fiji for a time, it would be a possibility. I have never seen any evidence of this however so I'll be sticking with the silver!
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Post by Bruce on Apr 1, 2016 9:28:10 GMT 12
Who's Ronnie Corbett?!
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Post by Bruce on Mar 23, 2016 22:43:50 GMT 12
No such thing as a DHC-9 Bison, the "Wiki" page you were looking at is a hoax....
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Post by Bruce on Mar 20, 2016 17:07:09 GMT 12
In those days long before photoshop a lot of old photos were hand retouched.Quite often they painted out features in photos when retouching them. also, interior layout (and therefore porthole configuration) can change during fitting out and service....
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Post by Bruce on Mar 20, 2016 17:06:07 GMT 12
Portholes may be worth looking into (ba-da boom...) but I would be very cautious making theories around apparent colours of old black and white photos. with the technology of the day both camera and processing wise, I dont think you can conclusively say the difference between "works grey" and "Black" in those photos. I think it is safe to say the area below the waterline was prepainted red before launch, but whether the topsides were grey or black cant be conclusively identified from those pictures. We've seen similar discussions around old photos on the forum before, and unless you have eyewitness evidence its really tough to make a call on it.
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Post by Bruce on Mar 18, 2016 9:30:14 GMT 12
The Hangar is the Union Airways Hangar at Milson, Palmerston North. Of note is the wing of MonoCoupe ZK-ABD hung on the wall behind the far Express. The fuselage was hung in there somewhere as well but destroyed in a Hangar fire - so presumably this is the Hangar that burned. It had an accident at Porirua in 1930 and the Fire was 1953, so obviously its between those dates - the Electra is a good clue also!
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Post by Bruce on Mar 17, 2016 17:02:27 GMT 12
I'd love to see the dummy Hudsons - could make for a fun and unusual model project! I do enjoy reading about these fake installations. Great idea - A dummy Hudson and Hurricane would go well in my RNZAF collection too... might have a look at that "Dummicane"... Resin casting project? I assume the dummies were full size?
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Post by Bruce on Mar 12, 2016 21:06:49 GMT 12
Did the Bristol Freighter have three outlet doors underneath, one for each hopper? Or did they move the hoppers about in flight to line up over the doors. I assume they were too heavy to roll about in flight when full? at about 4:08 when the hoppers are loaded in, you can see openings in the floor - there appear to be 6 of them, 2 for each hopper, positioned off centre to the left. Must be to avoid the structural members under the floor. The flying shot seems to indicate they dropped the fwd and aft hoppers simultaneously, then the middle one.
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Post by Bruce on Mar 10, 2016 17:58:59 GMT 12
what an incredible film record - the quality is amazing! It has great views of the Bristol Freighter hopper installation and the Avenger loading system. The Tiger Moth Loader operator in his torn singlet and the many small boys climbing all over the equipment in the Avenger trials are a great touch!
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Post by Bruce on Mar 9, 2016 20:49:23 GMT 12
I use inkjet decals all the time. They work OK if you get good quality decal paper and the right sealant. OldModels produce most of theirs on an APSL printer now and I hear they are quite good.
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Post by Bruce on Feb 26, 2016 20:16:27 GMT 12
So long as the footage is better than this keen "foamer" managed.....
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Post by Bruce on Feb 25, 2016 19:22:40 GMT 12
RNZN post on Facebook says HMNZS Canterbury will take 2x Seasprites and 2x NH90 when it heads up in a few days time to join HMNZS Wellington which left this morning. I wouldnt say that's a slow deployment...
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Post by Bruce on Feb 25, 2016 9:28:50 GMT 12
the NH90 has the range to self - deploy to Fiji from NZ. Fly them there...
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Post by Bruce on Feb 17, 2016 12:44:25 GMT 12
No Russian Aircraft "Under rebuild" at NZTE, just TYS. It has however spent quite a bit of time in bits over the last year or two after some engine issues.
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