Clunkmeister

It got moved to the GTA

Yes, it was about the original development of the Arrow. It was a decent production but drifted into politics and conspiracy theories instead of totally dealing with the aircraft. The Arrow got lost in a big sea of similarly capable aircraft that were available for much less money. Sad, but it's life.

The crazy thing is, this has been done before, as I mentioned above. On a side note, that sure must be one of the most beautiful aircraft ever to fly. She just looks "right" without a single out of place corner anywhere. I'd have loved to have seen one of these fly. Perfect Cold War Interceptor: Just go blisteringly fast in a straight line, attack the bombers with nuclear tipped rockets, then RTB to do it all over again.

Mr. Steadman, several years ago a group of folks in Alberta constructed a 1:1 scale CF-105 Arrow that was tyruily breathtaking. The landing gear ended up needing to be braced using beams between the nose and main struts, though, as I expect it was quite wobbly sitting up high like that.

I might be the wrong guy to comment on whick kit is better in my opinion, because I'm one of those guys who's a bit of a masochict when it comes to building stuff. Freakishly, I enjoy fighting a very accurate short run or resin kit more than I do assembling a vice building but somewhat inaccurate but easy building mainstream kit. I'm not a researcher at heart, which puts me at a huge disadvantage. Guys like Martin, Tony, Jeff, Mark, Jeroen and Danny seemingly live for research. For me, I'd rather pet the sweaty stuff than sweat the petty stuff.

I really hope you have bins to store them by size. Probably grain bins might be large enough? Have you thought about an “as if” retro version build? As in an alternative version designed by Dr. Hugo Junkers, using his patented metal airplane structural process. You could use aluminum and steel from old Quonset Huts and culverts for that classy and timeless Junkers corrugated look. Or, you could have old Tony Fokker, the crazy as a fox Dutchman help with internally braced steel tube framed substructure and plywood engine nozzles. And if you used Fokker's steel truss structure, you could skin the exterior with papier mâché. It's be light but strong. At least until it rains.

I hate it when someone displays much more logical thinking than I do. Said the guy with a 1/48 B-36

Shhhhh, but me too.

Let me post it under the LSM name. I'll brag you up a bit more than might seem right doing it yourself.

That guy got a little sideways and had a genuine off roading experience. John, this model is truly gorgeous, as usual, and of course, it'll make a fine addition to the FB page, right? I give you credit though. I haven't even managed to get through my first Birdcage. It's such a beautiful kit, an so bloody precise, I missed carving and shaping so much I threw it all on the SOD.

yeah yeah yeah but my mind is working..... maybe contract it out and rent space on top so clear channel radio stations to use the escape tower as an antenna mount. Or even AT&T might consider hiding a cell tower in the thin fiberglass adapter rings between the LEM housing and the third stage booster.

Exactly, Danny. this does seem like a fanciful project, and most of us, myself included, would have no earthly idea where to even start. An Iranian shell might be the best start. At least you'd have the general form correct. :-/

Yep, I had Mainline and Customline backwards. In the US from 52-54 with that body style, we had, from lowest to highest: Mainline, Customline, Crestline. All the same vehicle, just varying trim levels. In 55-56, they restyled the exterior and the Crestline was replaced with Fairlane.

My truck, a 1997 Ford F-250 Heavy Duty with the legendary 7.3L International Harvester diesel engine. I've owned it a long time but only recently decided to start using it again. Around here, these trucks are worth their weight in gold. the 7.3L IH diesel, when properly cared for, is a genuine 1 Million mile, (not km) engine that will easily outlast every other part on the truck several times over. It has almost ZERO for options, just the basics good for pulling loads and what's needed to stay comfoprtable in the Texas heat. A huge air conditioner an AM/FM basic radio, and an automatic transmission. I DID install a factory tilt steering column to give my ever expanding gut more room to grow. I've done several things to improve it's capabilities, such as custom building an automatic transmission that can keep up with the engine. I bought billet steel halves for the torque converter, lowered the stall of the converter about 400 RPM to get into the best power range of the engine, used all ceramic clutches in the converter, and did everything I could think of inside the autobox to make it bulletproof. I've also run a straight 4" pipe from the turbo all the way back, installed a fresh air intake to the outside to keep the hot engine air out of the induction, and finally installed a mild program to emphasize torque over horsepower. I installed a fifth wheel hitch in the bed, and a heavy duty frame hitch on the rear. There is zero emmissions on a 1997 diesel, and it's truly an old time truck. Rough riding, bare bones, noisy inside and out, blows black smoke out the tailpipe when you romp on it, pretty darn obnoxious actually, but it will pull anythi ng you can hook up to it. This truck easily pulled 40,000 lbs for 35 miles last year, and is quite happy doing so as long as the trailer brakes match the load. Plus, the big bonus, all those engine and gearbox tweaks return me 22 US MPG when running at 72 mph empty. No, it's not exactly exciting compared to all the hot rods and fast cars, but believe it or not, around here, this plain jane white old Ford diesel F-250 attracts more looks and attention than all them fancy highfalutin' 200 mph plastic fantastic mobiles. I jjust make sure I wear my bib overalls and a straw hat.

I'd say that the Lark Ute that Harv saw in Branson is a custom hot rod with no link to Down Under other thsan in style and flavour. It's done in a similar spirit as the late 50's Ford Customline Utes which were built on a car chassis. Ford used the 53-56 US Ford body for quite a few years Down Under, well past 1957 when Ford introduced new bodies in North America. Plus, it has 1957-58 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser styled full length rear fender skirts, whis definitely is a custom touch.

On a serious note, I can't even imagine the logistics of something on this scale. Like Mr. Stedman said, perhaps sourcing an demilitarized shell would be the way forward. And if one isn't available out of the USA, perha[ps a semi useable hulk COULD be sourced from Iran. The big problem is that the US Government knows that the F-14 is still a very viable and capable combat aircraft that in the wrong hands would pose a serious and credible threat to US and Allied Forces. With Iran still flying F-14A's, spare parts would have a huge demand on the black market, so as a result, they've gone to extraordinary lengths to make sure that surplus F-14s were smelted down or destroyed/ made inoperable by the most effective way possible.

And Iranian junkyards would be a good place to source any needed AM.

It's alot of work, but so is the HPH kit. What I like about the HPH kit is that after the parts are prepped and everything cleaned up, it almost falls together. What I don't like about the HPH kit is the price and having to cut out the airbrakes and hand form open ones in PE. Not impossible, or even all that difficult, just tedious. This is looking nice.

Italeri makes a decent enough Sabre but I'm not sure if it's Korean vintage. For the MiG, there's no question, HPH is by far the best of the bunch....

Watching the F6F fly is way cool as well. They zip along at a speed that seems way above what it’s stubby self should be capable of. And the B-25 is one serious cacophony of awesome noise!

Awesome pics Smitty! I’ve never seen Doc, although I’ve seen Fifi a few times, only once while in flight. That Dagon Lady is most awesome, as is the P-51A and Razorback Thunderbolt, but it’s sad not seeing a B-17 there.

Oh YESSSSSSS! He 59 in white, civil registration, and Red Cross marked.

Wellington only by someone who can do the surface detail correctly. If done right, it could be a work of art.