June 201827 6Volume Issue SUN BR UE

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Feb AugMar SepApr OctMay *Jun DecJul Feb (1 )

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Jan JulFeb AugMar SepApr 2 OctMay NovJun Jan (1 )

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President:

Secretary:essmc@ozemail.com.au

Treasurer:bigspin1@bigpond.net.au

Newsletter:essmc@ozemail.com.au

tankbloke88@gmail.com

Michael Howe 0414 246 523

Frank Spinosa 0418 555 324

Michael Howe 0481 853 633

Ken Noble 0419 560 283

EVENTS & INFORMATIONCalendar

June 9th-11th 2018IPMS ExpoSandown RacecoursePrinces HighwaySpringvale Vic. 3171Model Show, Comp. and SwapContact; Laurence Farrugia - 0438 726 176

July 3rd 2018Christmas in July Mega Raffle

July 14-15th 2018Castlemaine Auto Model ShowDetails emailed.See; http://www.maldoncastlemaine.com.au/calendar_events/castlemaine-auto-model-show

July 29th 2018Vietnam Veterans MuseumDetails to be confirmed.

Editorial

embership of Eastern Suburbs is now at a ten Myear high and finances are healthier than ever but we’re always looking for ideas for activities. With forty-six members there must be some new ideas floating around...

You may have noticed that the Box Hill Community Arts Centre has renovated its disabled car park recently. If you cross the car park upon entering or leaving the building bear in mind the new parking buffers - they’re black, on black bitumen, and the new lighting is rather inadequate. I have contacted the centre management and will bring this up at the Regular User Forum next week but I’ve just been advised that the lighting has already been upgraded and “reflectors” fitted on top of the buffers. Nonetheless, beware.

Michael

The Kit Collector

hat a fantastic turn-out of club members we had weekend drop by our display and say hi or even pull Wat our coffee, cakes and kits morning! Twenty- up a chair for a while and help fly the flag for our club. seven members, new and old - that's got to be a As usual I've booked a swap meet table for the record attendance for any of our trips or events from Monday, so I hope to catch up with you all there and the past ten years. Well done and I hope you all afterwards downstairs at the show.enjoyed the morning. We certainly shocked the staff at Franks Cakes and also put a smile on Mark and Our next club trip will be on July 29th, to the Vietnam Chris's faces when we turned up en-masse. And from Veterans museum on Phillip Island. They currently the look of it most of you bought something along the have a display commemorating fifty years since the way whether at SprueFinders or Hobbies 4 U, so I'm battle of Fire Support Bases Coral and Balmoral and I sure we will be welcome back there in the future. Our hope to have a special guest along with us on the day plan is to have another of these mornings later in the who played an integral role during the fighting. This year, maybe around October, but we'll visit different will be a car pool event, early morning departure to venues this time to keep it interesting for you. visit the museum then lunch at the Cowes RSL. More

details will follow soon.Yep, it's Expo time again and we need some built models to fill our club display tables. Last meeting I Lastly, don't forget our Xmas in July mega raffle at asked if you could take them along to Sandown on the next month's meeting!Friday night to do so but if you can't get there then bring them along to our club meeting on Tuesday Happy glueing,night and Karen will organise to get them to Expo and Kenset up on our display. If you're visiting Expo over the

The “BTK” Spitfire:Origin of a Legend

Probably one of the most significant kits in the history of plastic modelling is Airfix’s first aircraft, a 1:72 Spitfire. Their earliest injection plastic model had been a ship, Golden Hind, and its success encouraged John Grey, then general manager, to venture into aircraft. The company’s founder, Nicholas Kove, was not enthusiastic but

relented on the basis that if the kit didn’t sell, Grey would bear the cost of tooling(!). The rest is of course history; the kit exceeded all expectations and Airfix’s future was decided.

known as the “BTK Spitfire”. Whether Aurora willingly No doubt to keep costs to a minimum the Airfix colluded with this piracy or not is a moot point, as is the toolmakers apparently simply obtained an Aurora year Airfix released the kit - 1953 or 1955. 1:48 Spitfire kit and pantographed it down to 1:72, only

making minor changes to surface detail. Otherwise Whatever its origins (even its Mark is uncertain), this the kit is identical; from the blue plastic to the clear kit that put Airfix on the map and made their name as display stand, ‘head and shoulders’ pilot and even the synonymous with model aeroplanes as Hoover is to four bombs - apparently standard fare on all Aurora vacuums and Biro to ballpoints. I was delighted to kits. They did at least delete the raised marking obtain one recently for a very reasonable price; not an details and Aurora’s quilt-like grid of rivets on the original blue kit (as above) but the silver plastic wings - the boiler-plate rivets on the engine cowling second version. The 50th anniversary kit released in remained however, along with the ‘Great Rift Valley’ 2003 is based on Airfix’s 1979 Spitfire MkIa offering - panel delineation. The instructions and exploded not the original.view were also copied near verbatim with trivial

changes to wording (’left’ and ‘right’ wings became Our front cover this month features the Aurora boxtop ‘port’ and ‘starboard’). The most obvious similarity and instruction sheet and on page 2 is the Airfix though was in the identification markings on the decal instruction page inside the bag header - judge for sheet; Aurora used the totally fictional “BT-K” and yourself.Airfix simply followed suit. To Airfix and Aurora fans,

Michael and kit collectors the world over, this is now universally

Ken Noble

This is transonic flow. At Mach 1 the aircraft has Cracking the Whipcaught up with its own pressure wave. We then get a shock wave, when the air can’t get out of its

Thanks again to Paul Kruger for the inspiration. own way. Imagine a horde of people trying to all get out of a doorway - it doesn’t matter how hard

y the end of the Second World War piston they push, nobody is getting out any faster. Same Bengine fighters were reaching their limits of thing when you remove a tyre valve. The air in the altitude and speed. All well and good, but tyre reaches Mach 1 at the hole, and will when pushed too fast in a dive, go no faster. On an aircraft near strange things would happen. Mach 1 the air does odd things, C o n t r o l s w o u l d b e particularly over the control unresponsive, the aircraft surfaces. You all know what might become unstable, aquaplaning is, if you have and whether the pilot lived wrong tyres and a wet to tell the tale was a road. The tyre generates matter of luck. The lift and is not contacting reason is how a i r the road. When the land behaves at the speed of speed record was s o u n d . A n y t h i n g pushed above Mach 1, moving at subsonic the car wheels were not speed (a Spitfire, a porta- actually in contact with loo on a trailer - anything) t h e g r o u n d - has to push the air in front compressibility again. of it out of its way. Many times on the highway I have Now we come to 1947. Jet seen crows having a feed on engines were the new thing, but some road-kill, and when they feel how to make an aircraft that could the pressure wave of a vehicle they hop fly supersonic as an unknown. out of the lane. Crows aren’t stupid. However, supersonic flight had been around for a

century, ever since the advent of long barrel At the speed of a piston engine aircraft the air breech loading guns, whether rifle calibre or behaves in the manner we are used to from naval. A rifle bullet exits a barrel at nearly Mach 3. everyday experience. Airflow over a wing for Obviously someone studied this, and discovered example has to travel faster over the top surface, the .50 cal bullet was very stable at supersonic which is the whole idea. However, when speeds, and so Bell designed the X-1 to mimic the approaching Mach 1, the air starts to compress. .50 cal in shape.

Gary Zimmer

Continued next page.

Below; The Bloodhound SSC - one Eurojet EJ200 jet engine and one Nammo rocket engine provide the thrust, while a Jaguar 510bhp, 5.0 litre, supercharged V8 engine will act as an auxiliary power unit to drive the rocket oxidiser pump. It is being developed and built to take the World Land Speed Record to 1000mph (1,609kph) in 2019!

Thrust SSC demonstrates the supersonic “wall” shock waveas it raises the dust of Black Rock Desert, Nevada at 763mph.

The sonic pressure waves visibly refract the light.

A ‘Bucc’ without wings...The Thrust SSC (with driver/pilot, Wing Commander Andy Green) powered by two Rolls-Royce Spey turbofans, broke the sound barrier on the 15th of October 1997 and holds the World Land Speed Record at 763mph (1228kph).

In October 1947 a Bell X-1 piloted by USAF Capt. Charles Yeager became the first aircraft, officially, to exceed Mach 1 in level flight (a Me 163 Komet could possibly have gone supersonic under the right conditions, but their pilots probably had other fish to fry at the time, like engaging the enemy and trying not to be killed by the Komet itself.) The Right Stuff, one of my favourite movies, starts with the story of Yeager’s flight.

Taking a casual look at a supersonic jet, there are features

as silly as Fury. Ignoring the fact that five years that stand out, compared to an early jet such as a before it was an American pilot in an American Me-262 or Meteor. First is the pointy nose. The built aircraft in America that had first flown shock cone forms there. At Mach 1 it isn’t a cone, supersonic. this movie was about stiff upper lip more of a wall where the air in front is at normal Brits pointing the nose down, and at Mach 1, pressure, behind the shock, higher pressure. getting out of the dive by reversing the controls.

Yeager himself said “You would auger in”. Hollywood got their revenge many years later with the idiotic movie U-571, where the Americans take the credit for cracking Enigma. One commentator referred to it as “Dude, where’s my U-boat?”.

Gary

The faster the speed, the sharper the cone angle. Wings are thin, with sharp leading and trailing edges, and are swept back so they fit within the shock cone. The elevators are not separate to the tailplane, the entire surface pivots. Instead of a simple round hole for the engine air intake, it is a diffuser that has to slow the air to subsonic speeds. It sounds odd but compressors don’t work with supersonic air. The intake actually increases in area, which causes the air to slow. Eng ines a re s t ra igh t through type, there are no bypass fans like on a subsonic aircraft.

At least the makers of The Right Stuff did a better job than the Poms, who in 1952 made a movie called “The Sound Barrier” which was

Gary Zimmer

Nakajima Ki-62 fighter project of 1941

with the Kawasaki Ki-61. Nakajima Ki-62 fighter ALL KILLER NO FILLERproject of 1941.

o much has been written about Nakajima's Without diminishing the atmosphere of Brian Knight's SHayate (Tempest or Gale, take your pick but I marvellous piece of box art, the fact is that the 104th prefer the former) so I'll try and keep it brief and Sentai's (Group) area of operations was Manchoukou relevant to the Revell kit of 1964. For once reading the (Manchuria) which had been occupied by the kit instructions properly was well worth the pay off. Japanese since 1932 and not mainland Japan. This These notes include the following which I quote: “Your Ki-84 'industrial defence' unit was formed November Revell model of the Hayate was scaled from the actual 1944 and were only to intercept B-29s twice when the airplane on display at the Air Museum, Aviation Hall of USAAF Twentieth Bomber Command attacked the Fame, Ontario, California. Squadron markings aircraft factory, rail yards and arsenal at Mukden. The illustrate the 104th Fighter Sentai, based on the first raid took place 7 December 1944 and involved a Japanese mainland.” This provided the foundation for force of about ninety B-29s. Fourteen were claimed the ensuing text. shot down, six of these claims were by the 104th

Sentai. The B-29s returned 21 December as a On 27 May 1942 Nakajima received an order from the smaller force of twenty-seven and the 104th claimed Japanese Army Air Force for the Ki-84 Army to have shot down two. The last missions flown of the Experimental Heavy Fighter. Project engineer was war by this unit were against Soviet armoured Yasushi Koyama. c o l u m n s t h a t Few WW2 h igh invaded Manchuria performance fighters in what was then were developed in known as the 'Seven such a short time. It Day War,' 13-20 was only ten months A u g u s t 1 9 4 5 . later in March 1943 Revell's Ki-84 had a that the prototype, yellow spinner which K i - 8 4 0 1 , w a s signified it was with finished and in less t h e 3 r d C h u t a i than five weeks made its first flight at Nakajima's (Squadron) of this Sentai. The B-29s that are being airfield, Ojima. One factor that helped this intercepted were from the 39th Bomb Group of the accelerated development is that the Ki-84 314th Bomb Wing.incorporated the data and design features from the Nakajima Ki-62, which was designed in 1941 as a light fighter powered by a liquid-cooled engine to compete Continued next page.

Paul Kruger

Ki.84 second prototype, possibly at Fussa Airfield

The Ki.84 referenced by Revell for their kit was built top twenty of favourite aircraft flown. Admittance to August 1944 [S/N 1446] and assigned to the 2nd this list was “judged by the sheer joy of knowing one Chutai of the 11th Sentai. This unit was sent to the was flying a real crackerjack.” Brown also Philippines 22 September 1944 and stationed at Clark acknowledged that the Hayate was “comparable in Field, near Manila. Much combat was encountered performance to the later marks of Spitfire.”and the 11th Sentai was virtually annihilated in this campaign. The Americans took over Clark Field 28 The Revell Hayate I purchased was a bagged budget January 1945. Of two airworthy examples found special - no decals, pilot or stand. Replacement pilot there one underwent evaluation before being shipped and period Airfix stand were sourced from spares. A to the US aboard the CVE-1 USS Long Island for MYK Design decal sheet was bought from HobbyLink further testing. In 1952 it was sold as surplus to Japan and this had the camouflage options for three Edward Maloney, owner of the Ontario Air Museum aircraft along with an airframe stencilling set.(Planes of Fame), California. Garrett-AirResearch Aviation Service, Los Angeles, restored it to airworthy The markings selected were for the second prototype condition and the Hayate flew again 25 June 1963. Ki-8402. This was finished in what is known as the Given the civil registration N3385G it remained part of JAAF Scheme 'S15' which used two solid colors, dark the Planes of Fame collection until 1973 when the green for upper surfaces and light blue grey for lower. aircraft was sold and returned to Japan. It was Here I relied on the ever trusty Humbrol Hu30 Dark exhibited at the Arashiyama Museum, Kyoto, until the Green and Hu65 Aircraft Blue. This aircraft was early 1990s when this museum closed. In 1997 it was completed in June 1943 and entered the service purchased by Chiran Town, Kyushu, where it has testing program at Fussa Air Base in August. Located been put on display at the local Peace Museum for in Western Tokyo Fussa became operational in 1940. Kamikaze Pilots. This museum was once a WW2 Based here was The Army Flight Experiment base where special attack missions were launched Department developed from Japanese Army air

technological units located at nearby Tachikawa Air Base. I n l a t e 1 9 4 2 c o n s i d e r a b l e reorganizantion at Tachikawa caused many activities to be shifted to nearby Fussa Airfield. This base became the Army Air Evaluation Department which made Fussa the centre of all Army flight testing, as it from. The Hayate is now displayed in its original unit

afforded greater area from which to operate higher markings of the 11th Sentai and is the only survivor of performance aircraft. It was renamed Yokota Air Base its type.by the occupying American forces in September 1945.

We have to look to the classics to see what testimonials exist for flying the Hayate. In his memoir 'Wings on My Sleeve' Captain Eric Brown, arguably the greatest test pilot of all time, rated the Hayate in his

Continued next page.

Paul Kruger

centre portion was meant to slide. For the sake of accuracy and sanity a one-piece canopy would have been the better

Rivet counters can rightly point out that the Revell kit is for option. The review was wrapped up with some final praise the production Ki-84-1a Army Type 4 Fighter which has for the considered bonus of this kit which was “the really separate thrust augmented exhausts while the prototype superb box lid painting which is intended for framing and is Ki-84s had singular large exhausts. There were three well worthy of such treatment.” The Hayate box art is prototypes built and a pre-production batch of eighty-three indeed a particular favourite of mine, on par perhaps, with built from August 1943. A second pre-production batch of Airfix's 1971 presentation of the A-26 Invader. This was forty-two were built part of the Revell 1/72 from March 1944 and aircraft series of the three thousand four 1960s which was the hundred and f i f ty f i r s t o f s u c h production Ki-84-1a commiss ions fo r built from April 1944 Brian Knight who with Nakajima building later did similar art the bulk of these. work for Frog and Ninety-five were also Airfix.b u i l t b y M a n s y u Finishing a kit can do (Manchuarian Aircraft wonders for your Company) in 1945. motivation and in this

case it also gave me an appreciation of

The kit review that why 1/72 is the true appeared in 'Flight builders scale for Review International,' aircraft. Additionally January 1965, could it also made me not pile the accolades realize that when high enough for “its building aircraft they accuracy and superb must be seen in their surface detail ing.” natural habitat, i.e. in The reviewer, W.R. (Bill) Matthews, also considered the flight. What's more I didn't need to use any filler on this transfer sheet impressive as its “meatballs appear in their build. Not too shabby at all for Revell's now ancient true blood red colour instead of the vermillion seen on all reproduction of the Japanese Tempest.previously issued kits of Japanese wartime aircraft.” His only criticism was the cockpit canopy which was made in three sections of over-scaled thick plastic of which the Paul

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ESSMC Inc. 201 . 8 SeamLines Editorial Policy. SeamLines is published on the first Tuesday of every month except January. Deadline for inclusion of material in each issue is the Tuesday prior

Paul Kruger

The sole surviving Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate at the Chiran Peace Museum, Japan