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Old 01-03-2019, 06:13 AM
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Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72

Firstly, a prosperous new year to all of you. Secondly, here is my build of Gerard Methorst's Westland Whirlwind. It had, as we Dutchies say, quite some feet in the earth, meaning, it didn't slide off of a slate roof. Or to put it in proper English, is was a bit troublesome. But nothing that could not be solved.

Especially because Gerard himself was involved and helped me a lot.
I am no designer. I can tinker and fiddle with parts but I cannot really redesign stuff. The engine nacelles were quite the wrong shape in the beginning. I mailed Gerard about it and he provided me with a newly designed nacelle and also a new, much better nose. While I started out in 1/48 (the kit is in 1/50) I decided to continue in 1/72, to fit this model in with the rest of my WW2 era models.

So Gerard sent me his new design, I gave it some coulour and started my build. Still there were some hurdles to take, the front side of the cowling in front of the leading edge was still too small, it didn't protrude above the wing's top surface to connect with the engine part that would go over the wing. I enlarged the parts and then after some other frustrating trial and error moments, it finally fitted. Very well, actually. The rest of the build went smoothly. The engine cowlings were fitted with the ususal beads and pins to create a spinning propeller.

There are no other hard parts in this model, it is an overall very good design, I think. The fuselage is a no-brainer and goes together very smoothly and has a good fit. The 'acorn' in the tail section, a kind of bulbous structure around the meeting of the vertical tail and the stabilo, is perhaps a little tricky. The landing gear is simple, almost simplistic and I decided to do another build with actual landing gear bays. More on that later (See last picture - yes, that is a fictitious winter camo. I love me a little winter camo.).

Thanks to Gerard for his help, it really was appreciated. He gave me permission to share the remodeled version with the forum so expect this one to be uploaded somewhere in the coming weeks.

For now, here's some picture material.
Thanks for your interest!
Attached Thumbnails
Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120430.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120435.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120557.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120582.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120600.jpg  

Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120605.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120608.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120610.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120613.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120560.jpg  

Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120563.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120630.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120632.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120635.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120640.jpg  

Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120642.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120636.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120638.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120634.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120643.jpg  

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Old 01-03-2019, 06:29 AM
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That is just fantastic. I have always had a special liking for those Brit planes and their camo colors.
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Old 01-03-2019, 06:49 AM
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Now that is one fine model PK. Well done.
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Old 01-03-2019, 06:51 AM
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Cool PK, great work. I'm glad to see another of Gerard's designs here. You've achieved a great result.
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Old 01-03-2019, 07:13 AM
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Nice! One of my favorite airplanes.

Thanks for the step-by-step construction images and the information on the challenges and fixes.

Don
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Old 01-03-2019, 08:00 AM
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That's a really excellent work! Well done!

Whirlwind is an interesting aircraft but also pretty ugly as well. It's hard to believe it had its first flight in 1938! Looks much more like a machine from the late 1940s or early 1950s.
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Old 01-03-2019, 09:54 AM
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Thanks all around for the kind words, friends.

It indeed is a very intriguing plane, there only were two RAF squadrons equipped with this plane, and there were only 140 or thereabout built. Biggest problem was the engine, the Rolls Royce Peregrine. A little 12 cylinder engine. The Whirly was one of just two plane types that used it. Rolls Royce wanted to concentrate on the much bigger and more powerful Merlin and that was the main reason the Whirlwind was abandoned. Besides, two engines did cost a lot of extra fuel, while one Merlin did a better job than two Peregrines.

Just one survived the war (the rest was scrapped) and that last one also was scrapped in the early 50's. Still, the pilots flying the Whirlies were very happy with their machines. It had some heritage, though, the Westland Whelkin is based on the Whirlwind and the Peregrine V12 engine was developed into an X-24 engine called Vulture, a block that was used in the twin-prop bomber AVRO Manchester (which developed into the Lancaster with four Merlins), the Hawker Tornado, a dead-end fighter plane that evolved into the Tempest and eventually the Sea Fury.

I think is isn't ugly at all, Kacper. Im my eyes it is a very sleek, elegant small plane, almost a little baby sister of the Mosquito.

There is a small group of people in the UK at the moment building a full-scale replica of the Whirlwind, and as far as I know, they want to make it airworthy. I presume they will be putting in other engines than the Peregrine.
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Old 01-03-2019, 04:25 PM
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Kacper thinks tubby things like TBF's & TBD's are pretty. Go figure!!
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Old 01-03-2019, 04:56 PM
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Question of taste I guess. Not all tubbies are ugly though. I like the Polikarpov I16 a lot. And the GeeBee R1 racer also has a certain je ne sais quoi. (-:
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Old 01-04-2019, 06:20 AM
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Whirly Number 2

Here's my second Whirlwind, this time in fictitious winter camouflage.
The main difference are the wheel wells I designed. Just simple box shapes with a curved underside. I used a cut-out of the area where Gerard's gear doors would be glued. The box was a perfect fit, I used tweezers to join the boxes with the outer skin. It's all edge glueing. The alignment and size of the nacelles was perfect so no remakes and troubles this time. phew.
I scratch built a tail wheel and I also scratch built the main gear.
Hope you like this one too.
Bye again!
Attached Thumbnails
Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120646.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120651.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120652.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120654.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120655.jpg  

Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120658.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120660.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120661.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120663.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120664.jpg  

Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120667.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120668.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120669.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120673.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120678.jpg  

Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120679.jpg   Westland Whirlwind fighter (Gerard Methorst) 1/72-p1120680.jpg  
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