Maly Modelarz PZL P.11c,

[palindrome]

The PZL P.11c has one of the oddest "features" I've ever seen on a fighter plane. See that horizontal slot on the side of the fuselage under the wing?



That's the machine gun. It fires through a hole in the front of that slot, into a blast tube that runs between the cylinders out the engine, firing from inside the cowling, through the propeller.

That's just nuts...

[modelperry]

Originally Posted by palindrome

Yeah, I like planes and architecture. I'll do something with space for IPMC next year, and I bought a military truck kit at this year's IPMC, just for the heck of it.

Curious on what military truck you bought...

greg

[palindrome]

Originally Posted by modelperry

Curious on what military truck you bought...

greg

I picked up the Carto Kit Paper Army Dodge 4x4 designed designed by J.P. Barré. I'll get to see if Google Translate does as well with French instructions as it does with Polish.

(I've been tempted to buy AirDave's 1/16 scale Centurion tank, but that's beyond me right now, and I already have 25+ planes and buildings to build...)

[GreMir]

Originally Posted by palindrome

The PZL P.11c has one of the oddest "features" I've ever seen on a fighter plane. See that horizontal slot on the side of the fuselage under the wing?

Attachment 265556

That's the machine gun. It fires through a hole in the front of that slot, into a blast tube that runs between the cylinders out the engine, firing from inside the cowling, through the propeller.

That's just nuts...

Plenty of airplanes from the era had similar setup, but PZL designers provided air cooling for the gun barrel....

[palindrome]

I've seen innumerable fighters that shoot through the propeller arc. I've never seen one that routed the gunfire between the cylinders of a radial engine, inside the cowling. Do you have examples of others?

[wag]

The Curtiss P-6E had a similar setup with the guns firing through troughs under the exhausts. Some other examples are the Curtiss Hawk biplanes, Boeing F4B, P-12, and P-26.
Wayne

[GreMir]

Also Ki-27.
As I mentioned that was fairly typical setup in the period fighters with radial engines.

[Gene K]

Originally Posted by palindrome

First I translated the instructions, now available in the download area.

WOW!

That took a lot of work!!! Very much appreciated.

I've also downloaded your Wildcat instructions, and look forward to more of your builds ... with translations!!

Gene K

[palindrome]

Quick update. I'm working on it, but it's going slowly. I have a herniated disk in my neck which didn't affect my model building earlier in the year (in fact, I was more comfortable when I was building than sitting at my desk). But now it hurts when I am hunched over working, and I can only do 15-20 minutes at a spell. It may be time to go get another cortisone shot in my neck (ugh).

Michael - about that curved fairing you added to the side of the fuselage. There's a picture of it in the book I got, with the caption "Fairing of the radio set generator flexible connector, this element differed between aircraft, some did not have it at all." I'll probably leave it off.

I will likely follow Michael's lead on creating the various openings that the kit has as black. I'm still undecided on building the separate control surfaces; perhaps I'll just do the rudder. We'll see.

I have the cockpit mostly done. I'll probably finish that this weekend.

[Don Boose]

Thanks for the update, David. Sorry to hear about the herniated disk and hope it will respond to treatment.

Looking forward to more on this model.

Don