1/32 Westland Whirlwind

[KevinM]

On 2/11/2024 at 6:23 AM, JeroenPeters said:

Just went to the range to focus on something else.

I hear ya on that Jeroen my Son is with us for 5 days an activity planned for tomorrow before he ships out to Japan w/35th FW .Your ability to bring forth such details with such expertise goes not unnoticed.

[JeroenPeters]

Thnx Kev!

more work on the wings. Scribed the panellines deeper and will need to accentuate all rivets. Just added the landing lights, oil coolers and dry fitting the wing to see how it all closes.

 

[JeroenPeters]

Dryfit of the fuselage. The fuselage needs a lot of attention. Bit of a rough surface that needs polishing. Scribing and rivets need extra rescribing too. The fit is fine.

Also closing the sides of the oil coolers. Figuring out the order of things.

 

[224 Peter]

I discovered this build thread thanks to @B_Bogus on Britmodeller: I've just started building this kit and after reading the thread I'm much better informed. I'll tag along, if I may?  

My build is here:

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235136642-westland-whirlwind-1/#comment-48951

[JeroenPeters]

Just saw and got this! Really stoked. The Kitsworld sets will go into the paper archive.

 

 

[GunnarO]

1ManArmy is releasing a paint mask for the Whirlwind this fall. https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/32DET045

Found some more interesting mages. The fuselage recess for the flap, 2x undercarriage doors and another view of the engine bearers.

[GunnarO]

Made a collage of the inner slat as well

[BlrwestSiR]

Amazing work Jeroen and great research there Gunnar. 

I am definitely sticking with OOB for mine...

[JeroenPeters]

2 hours ago, GunnarO said:

Made a collage of the inner slat as well

Wow… i believe i read that the slats in front of the oil coolers were interconnected with the flaps? That means i should open them too?

[GunnarO]

1 hour ago, JeroenPeters said:

Wow… i believe i read that the slats in front of the oil coolers were interconnected with the flaps? That means i should open them too?

I’m afraid so… 😉

[224 Peter]

I'm sticking to "out of the box"! 

The level of engineering in the radiator and aerodynamic flaps is impressive, especially when one realises the esign work dates from pre-war. Like the Avro Manchester, potentially amazing designs frustrated by the engine. What might the Whirlwind have become with a pair of RR Merlins?

 

[GunnarO]

6 hours ago, 224 Peter said:

I'm sticking to "out of the box"! 

The level of engineering in the radiator and aerodynamic flaps is impressive, especially when one realises the esign work dates from pre-war. Like the Avro Manchester, potentially amazing designs frustrated by the engine. What might the Whirlwind have become with a pair of RR Merlins?

 

Actually, it’s a misconception that it suffered due to the engines. The Peregrine was a great engine of its time, the last in the line of the Kestrel. It was a “Merlinized” Kestrel. The Whirlwind didn’t live up to its expectations for two reasons. It used a DeHavilland propeller with a rather thick profile that suffered from incompressibility issues that caused the loss of performance at altitude. The other reason was that all the performance tests were done in the second prototype that had Rotol propeller with better performance. The expectations were set higher than the production machines could deliver. (Or they used the wrong propeller on the production machines without knowing)

 

More details here if anyone wants to know: https://www.whirlwindfp.org/blog/when-the-wind-won-t-whirl-or-the-real-reason-the-whirlwind-suffered-at-height

[224 Peter]

In the end the Peregrine and its big brother the Vulture were terminated by RR because they needed to focus on developing the Merlin. 

Ultimately, they both were the end of the Kestrel line. 

 

[JeroenPeters]

Started work on the radiator slats based on Gunnar's photo's and some drawings I found.

 

[JeroenPeters]

Also started cutting off the nose

 

[Bogus]

On 2/15/2024 at 5:34 PM, GunnarO said:

More details here if anyone wants to know: https://www.whirlwindfp.org/blog/when-the-wind-won-t-whirl-or-the-real-reason-the-whirlwind-suffered-at-height

The amount, and quality of information available now is just fantastic.

When I was researching for an R/C build quite a few years ago, a lot of this was unobtainable.

When I was at Westlands there was some activity from the enthusiasts at a nearby Test & Evaluation Establishment looking to dig a corner of the airfield (the old fire training pan if memory serves), where it was thought the remains of G-AGOI had been bulldozed under when the new Social Club was built.

I think Wessex Archaeology/Time Team were approached at one point, but the Westlands Archivist, the Late Fred Ballam, found some aerial photos of the site from around the time construction started, and it confirmed that the site had been cleared, so that saved a lot of trowel work!

[Martinnfb]

amazing stuff 

[JeroenPeters]

Nosejob succesful. If taking the nose clean off was the goal

Wondering whether to open this hatch. It will require scratching some fuse frames and a radio i believe…

3D printing the ailerons and inner slats at the moment. Patience is not my forté.

 

 

[JeroenPeters]

Fresh!

 

[JeroenPeters]

Threw away the first prints. Printed a second set at a different angle. Bit better but not good enough yet. Need to give it a third go with more supports …

 

[JeroenPeters]

I don’t want to cheer too soon, but this looks better. 
 

[PanzerWomble]

Insanity x2 as ever, but wonderful work and research Jeroen . 

[JeroenPeters]

I had to redesign the radiator slats. The angle was off as you can see here. Printing a new set now. And i need to add a push rod in the middle.

The ailerons look to be ok so far. 

 

[JeroenPeters]

Finally happy with the slats after printing in every angle and setting. The resin is perfectly scribable so i enhanced the panellines on them. 
Nextl: the ailerons

[JeroenPeters]

The aileron looks ok. Only need to add panellines and rivets.

Looking at the pics right now i see a very small chip missing in the corner. Will have to fix that.