The Spitfire story, part II

In the second part of our Spitfire coverage (part I) we look at models that stand out from the rest.

In terms of scale, the plane of legoleo is quite similar to others. At first glance the color scheme seems a bit unconventional: instead of using dark green and dark gray seen on many other LEGO Spitfires this aircraft uses a mix of light gray and normal green. It is not the color scheme that puts it above the field though, rather the motor built into the the nose that drives the propeller. We have seen similar things amongst the Messerschmitt builds too, but this model takes it one step further: instead of hiding the engine inside the body, the builder chose to integrate it in the shape of the body and expose it. Clever.

Next on our list is Brian Fitzsimmons. This plane has been built virtually only but still looks good. The fuselage and the wings are a bit narrower than on most other builds. The invasion stripes make the details more interesting. The three-bladed propeller looks a bit out of style though: the Spitfire versions used during the Normandy campaign had four-bladed propellers.

We have already covered Lego Monster in the previous part. As one would expect from a British gentleman he did not stop at building a single Spitfire. This is his second model, built a couple of years later at 1:20 scale. The larger size lead to more details and nicer shapes: in my opinion the wing, the body and the tail all look more nicely shaped and closer to the real Spitfire.

We saved the non plus ultra for last. thirdwigg has been already covered on the blog too, but I think his model is well worth another look. This plane is the largest of all, built at a grandiose 1:12 scale. As one would expect, the larger body makes it possible to have a really nice shape all across the board. But not only the shape is perfect, it is full of working details too, like the adjustable propeller (see video). If you are interested in how one decides to build something like this, it is all covered on his blog. It is also interesting to look at the two work-in-progress photos (1, 2) that show the plane in half-ready state.

And what comes next? As you could expect, I am preparing my own version. Not sure exactly when yet, but stay tuned!

Swiss, but not cheese

I may have an affiliation with Hungary, but I do live in Swizterland. Coincidentally, the Bf-109G has served in both the Hungarian and the Swiss Air Force. Hence, I decided to build a Swiss Air Force Bf-109 as well. The aircraft is almost identical to the previous one except for the color scheme.

More photos on Flickr as usual. Enoy!

Red arrow

Valentine's day is just over, so let us take a look at something red. Not so long ago I was lucky enough to build a 9394 Technic airplane. This model has appeared in the Technic line last year. It is quite special in the lineup: it is only the second largish Technic plane ever, the previous one being the 8855 that hit the sleves 25 years ago. If that would not be enough, this plane is the first jet ever. Let us have a mini-review.

I started the build with high expectations. The first surprise is the sheer size: it does not have so many bricks (around 500) but the final plane is pretty big: it is longer and wider than any of my Technic cars.

I have been looking forward to all the functions. Let us take a look:

• The plane has a variable-sweep wing that can be adjusted by turning the jet exhaust. The whole mechanism occupies the aft part of the fuselage, but that is ok as there is no room needed for a real het engine.
• The landing gear is retractable. When extended it has to support the entire weight of the aircraft so it has to be very robust. It has Technic knob wheels that bear the load and a worm gears prevents the wheels from retracting by themselves. Real variable-sweep aircraft do tend to have different support mechanisms but this is not a serious problem.
• The controls also work albeit in only one dimension. This is cool even if it is not as sophisticated as the controls of the 8855 or my training plane which both can be moved in two dimensions.
• The cockpit can also be opened or closed by turning a knob. This looks great as it opens a thick frame around the actual cockpit as well.

All in all I think it is a cool set especially considering its price. At $49.90 it is not too expensive but pretty big (in Europe it's around EUR 40). It contains lots of red panels. I did not try to build anything else from it yet but others have managed pretty good things like this helicopter.

More photos in the Picasaweb album.

Let's build!

Interesting happenings in the builder scene. It is well known that Mainman likes microscale models, especially military aircraft: he has built an entire air force in 1:100 scale like this cool F-15. Now the plane itself has flown into air to let everyone know that there is a contest: everything that flies and is built in 1:60 or smaller scale can be nominated until January 22 2013. I myself am thinking about this and I encourage you to think about it too!

Something else has happened over the week: Mad Physicist posted another building instructions. This is only the fourth time in the history of the galaxy, so let us not underestimate the importance. Unlike the previous models this is a civilian helicopter built of relatively common yellow and red bricks, so it should not be too hard to build one at home.

Although it is more complicated than the sets you can buy in the LEGO shop, in the Mad Physicist universe this is a relatively simple one. If you have all the bricks (or LDD), I highly encourage you to build it. If you do so, don't forget to send me a photo!

The part list can be downloaded from here and the instructions from here (PDF, 7 megs).

The Old Lady flies again

It was almost a year ago when I completed the airplane with the radial engine. Luckily it is still in one piece and now that the Lego Technic Challenge was looking for flying things I got enthusiastic again and fixed a couple of small things that I have always wanted to fix.

First, the closing mechanism of the canopy was not robust enough, it opened very easily. The new version can be closed properly and stays like that. I have also changed the front part of the vertical fin so that it is more firmly attached to the tail.

The gears are now also attached in a more robust way.

Last but not least I have made new photos and a new video too, here it comes:

Messerschmitt Bf-109

Most of the time I am a pacifist except when it is about warbirds. I have built this airplane about a year ago but it was not covered on the blog yet.

The goal was to build a Messerschmitt Bf-109G "Gustav" fighter plane from WWII. The original plane is probably the most well known German fighter plane from the era that flew in many air forces in the world including the "Puma" Air Defense Wing.

It was designed in LDD, so the most of it can be ordered on factory.lego.com-on. Some advice before you do so:

• Ordering on the site is limited to western countries. The price is approximately 80 USD.
  
• It may happen that some parts have run out of stock. Best is to download the LDD file, swap the critical parts to something else and it is ready to be ordered.

The way the plane was designed and built means the use of colors is ... cough ... interesting :) Most of it is black because most Lego parts are available in black. The undernose is yellow becuase a similar scheme was used on German elite squadrons. The tail has a Hungarian flag though.

After I got it from Lego I replaced the propeller with a 3-feather one using Technic parts and it got an undercarriage.



To check out the details please visit the album.

Airplane with radial engine

As promised I built an airplane around the radial engine. I did not want to make it too complicated so the result is a 2-seat training plane. The yoke works as expected operating the elevators and the ailerons but there is two of them linked together. The gears are damped with springs and the canopy can be opened supported by a spring when it is open. It would have been more elegant to use a damped spring but that would have taken too much space, and the aircraft almost falls down from the self already...


More photos in the album. There is a video too: