Space vehicles walkaround vol.2: Soyuz spacecraft

Subject: Soyuz spacecraft

Location: Intrepid air and sea museum, New York, USA, 2014

Comments: Soyuz  is a series of spacecraft initially designed for the Soviet space program by the Korolyov Design Bureau in the 1960s, and still in service today. The Soyuz succeeded the Voskhod spacecraft and was originally built as part of the Soviet Manned Lunar program. The Soyuz spacecraft is launched by the Soyuz rocket, the most frequently used and most reliable launch vehicle in the world to date. The Soyuz rocket design is based on the Vostok launcher, which in turn was based on the 8K74 or R-7A Semyorka, a Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile. Soyuz spacecraft are launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The first unmanned Soyuz mission was launched November 28, 1966; the first Soyuz mission with a crew (Soyuz 1) was launched April 23, 1967, but the cosmonaut on board, Vladimir Komarov, died during the flight's crash-landing. Soyuz 2 was an unmanned mission, and Soyuz 3, launched on October 26, 1968, was the first successful Soyuz manned mission. The only other fatal mission, Soyuz 11, killed the crew of three also during re-entry due to premature cabin depressurization. Despite these early fatalities, Soyuz is presently widely considered the world's safest, most cost-effective human spaceflight system, as demonstrated by its unparalleled length of operational history. Soyuz spacecraft were used to carry cosmonauts to and from Salyut and later Mir Soviet space stations, and are now used for transport to and from the International Space Station (ISS). At least one Soyuz spacecraft is docked to ISS at all times for use as an escape craft in the event of an emergency. The Soyuz spacecraft is intended to be replaced by the six-person Prospective Piloted Transport System. (ref. Wikipedia)

Aircraft walkaround vol.74: Nieuport 17

Subject: Nieuport 17

Location: Fantasy of Flight Museum, Orlando, Florida, USA, 2013.

Comments:The most famous of the Nieuport designs, the type 17 was built by the French firm the Société Anonyme des Établissement Nieuport in 1915. Constructed of wood as were most aircraft of the time, the wing arrangement was unusual.The upper wing had a normal two-spar structure, but the lower wing only had one, an arrangement called a “sesquiplane” or “one and a half plane.” The design was originally intended to keep the lower drag of a monoplane but have the structural strength of a biplane. While the smaller lower wing did improve the pilot’s downward visibility, it unfortunately would sometimes fail in flight due to the structure twisting under high loads. Powered by the 110 hp Le Rhône rotary engine, the aircraft was agile and fast climbing. It reached the war front by March 1916 and was flown by French, British, Italian, and Belgian squadrons. American volunteers—flying for France before America entered the war—flew these as well in the famous Lafayette Escadrille. Initially the Nieuport 17 had a Lewis machine gun mounted on the top wing that would fire outside the propeller arc. This was mainly responsible for ending the “Fokker Scourge” era brought on by the German development of a method to fire a machine gun through the propeller. Only one original type 17 survives today. During the war, the Germans captured a Nieuport 17. Impressed with its performance, they designed and constructed a German copy. This aircraft is a reproduction built from those German Rosendaal drawings as no French drawings exist. It was constructed by Larry Curry of Tacoma, WA, in 1971. It had only 12 hours of flying on it when Kermit purchased the plane in 1989. This aircraft was used in the making of the 2006 film Flyboys. (ref: Fantasy of Flight Museum).

Aircarft walkaround vol.73: Grumman F3F-2

Subject: Grumman F3F-2

Location: Fantasy of flight Museum, Orlando, Florida, 2013.

Comments:Last in a line of Grumman biplane fighters, the F3F first flew in 1936 and stayed in fleet service until 1940, the year before the Pearl Harbor attack.In 1938, 81 F3F-2s were ordered and used to equip Marine squadrons and USS Enterprise squadrons. One other version was built, the F3F-3. It had some minor improvements, and deliveries continued through mid-1939. By the end of 1941, when we entered World War II, none were in operational use, although many could still be found at shore stations and in training roles.In the 1970s, only one flyable F3F was left in the world. It was a two-seat trainer version and was owned by Doug Champlin, of the Champlin Fighter Museum in Mesa, Arizona. Unfortunately, because of a loose fuel cap, the pilot and passenger were forced to bail out when it caught fire during a slow roll. Doug longed for the day that he could find someone to rebuild the pieces back to a flying aircraft. In the late 1980s, he approached Herb Tischler in Ft. Worth, Texas, about doing the job. Herb indicated that it would be more cost effective to build up four or five because of the tooling costs involved. Doug did some research and recovered three F3F-2 crashed wrecks from the island of Maui in Hawaii. All of the original pieces were gathered up, drawings were procured, and tooling was built in Texas, where four aircraft were ultimately produced. (ref: Fantasy of Flight Museum).

Soldier bust vol.6: Hans Ulrich Rudel

Subject:	Hans Ulrich Rudel
Scale:	1/9
Manufacturer:	Unknow
Price(march 2016):	US$40,00
Construction:	Out-of-the box construction.
Extras:	None
Paints:	I was recently given this bust. By the Iron cross with oak leaves, sword and diamonds at the neck of the figure, it believe it represents Hans Ulrich Rudel. The shape of the figure is very similar to the german pilot, so i googled the name and scale and found some nice pictures of the painted model. The casting is very good and detail is fantastic. I used a resin base i have stored for a while as there was none for the bust. Below you see the final result. I hope you like it!

Aircraft walkaround vol.72: Chance-Vought F4U-4 Corsair

Subject: Chance-Vought F4U-4 Corsair

Location: Fantasy of Flight Museum, Florida, 2013
Comments:The Chance Vought Corsair was the first fighter to exceed 400 mph and served on both land and sea as a fighter and a bomber. It helped turn the tide against the Japanese Zero and gave American pilots an advantage in the critical air battles of the South Pacific.The Corsair’s most recognizable feature is its inverted gull wing. This gave good ground clearance for its huge 13-foot, 2-inch propeller and allowed its short landing gear to retract rearwards into the wing. While the Corsair was originally designed to be a carrier-based aircraft, it was some time before it became carrier qualified. It was a handful for a novice pilot as its long nose gave poor visibility on carrier approaches. Its large propeller caused tremendous torque at slow speeds, and it had a nasty habit of dropping the left wing at stalling speeds. This was solved by a 6-inch “stall” strip, visible on the right wing leading edge that allowed both wings to stall at the same time. The Corsair was made famous with pilots like Major Greg “Pappy” Boyington, who commanded the legendary Black Sheep Squadron. Corsairs went on to fight in Korea and were used by the Air Force of Honduras as late as the 1970s.(ref: Fantasy of flight Museum)