Welcome to the Wat if Too Campaign!

The campaign will run from 1 September, 2015 through 1 March, 2016.

If you haven't signed up yet, or want to see the rules, go here.

Please post your initial and in-progress photos as well as campaign discussion in this thread. Please post your finished build photos in the campaign gallery.

Looking forward to some interesting speculative models!

Michael

My entry will have a Churchill theme!

Yikes! Can't wait to see that, Tinbanger.
-Sean H

What could it mean...?

This one has been brewing in my empty brain cavity for months

At last! This campaign pretty much sums up what I do when I build aircraft. My first planned project for the campaign will open the door to early Eastern Bloc lend-lease. How, you ask? By one of these:



Being in this service:



In other words Soviet surplus aircraft ending up at some sunny airfield in Cuba.

ah, excellent concept. That might be a path to a Cuban P-39 as well.

Ill be getting my Marshall Islands Airforce going soon. They will have Hawker Hunters, and I think a Sea Fury as well.

Richard, that has my head spinning! A Churchill turret on a Blenheim? A Blenheim with tracks? What a teaser!!!

I am not sure what to do for this campaign yet, but already have some good inspiration here.

In case anyone wash't aware, the gallery is experiencing issues. Admin is aware of it and working on it. I'll try to post when it gets fixed.

Michael

OK, apparently the galleries are fixed. A big thanks to Jim at Admin! Post away everyone!

Michael

I'm not ready to start building just yet, but I've got the kit and the idea (putting my head together with my 11-year-old son)-- stretching an F4U Corsair into a Guppy. I won't vouch for the air-worthiness.
-Sean H.

hm ah, guppy is it...

I am not quite ready to start either. too many irons in the fire.
lets all meet back here in a month.

Some updates on the Cuban Sturmovik:



^This is a fairly old Polish-manufactured kit, simple enough for my conversion purposes.


Early work on the camouflage and tail fin artwork.


^As it currently stands, the tail art finished save for the star.

Well this certainly meets the criteria for What if Too; an inaccurate Testors OV-10A Bronco. A tail sitter for sure without lots of weight. It will be done in the Centennial Flag Paint Scheme of the Tennessee State Air Force (TSAF).

Wow, ages I have not seen this model, on this I grew up.

Finally got an idea I like for this campaign.



1/48 scale of course. Now to see if I can find my left over Blue Angels decal sheet

Later

Thats an excellent idea

Clavework Graphics has some wonderful images of What If Aircraft.

http://www.clavework-graphics.co.uk

I was thinking of adapting this FW-190 into what if Germany had launched the Graf Zeppelin and FW-190's flew from its deck.

A Blenheim and a Churchill tank? Can't wait to see where that's going!
If I can get my mits on an old matchbox/revell Beaufighter, I have an idea of building a navalised version. The thimble nose and fin fillet make it look more purposeful and a radar would be a big help over the big blue wet stuff. Not sure if the next Airfix release will be out in time and it's too nice a kit to chop up anyway. I'll need folding wings, arrestor hook and anything else it might need. They tried it with a mossie so why not? Thinking of going with Pacific Fleet colours.
The only problem I see is the name. Sea Beaufighter is a bit of a mouthful. SeaBeau? Or something more nautical like Bristol Buccaneer?

I'm seeing lots of good ideas here, I hope some of them come to fruition.
I havent even opened the the box yet on my project...soon...

Officially joined the "exponentially crazy" Campaign club - based on Crazy Cat Lady theory that any extra cat over 2 makes one exponentially crazy (replaced cats with campaigns)... 3 Campaigns (9 x crazy) - all involving Early Aviation subjects as entries (this is how I roll)...

"Wat If Too" Campaign Subject:

What if Germany developed its own version "Comic" Night Fighter? Which fighter would be ordered into production and how would it differ from its Entente adversary?

Model kit - unknown, but expect a WingNut Wings mid to late WWI biplane.

Moniker - would like help from German speaker with kind name suggestions (or I'll end up with "Spaß Luftwaffel" and call it good )

A what-if from a Wingnut Wings kit? That will be interesting to see!

Got my mits on an olde Matchbox Beaufighter. Basic, but perfect for this project.




I did some rough comparing with other carrier based torpedo bombers and I found that a Beaufighter would certainly be an attractive alternative to the FAA. Superior to all contemporary British built naval bombers, combat proven and faster and longer ranged than the similarly sized Avenger. It also packed a bigger punch and had twin engine safety. Vital when flying over the big blue.
One thing I will have to consider are the wing folds. Straight up or folded along the side? Height might be an issue and I may have to clip the wingtips as the FAA did with the Corsair. I have Airfix's old horrible thing in the stash so I'll slice that up to experiment.

I am contributing a What-if Stinson reliant (AMT).

here is the box art + instruction sheet



More photos of progress will be added soon. I haven't posted pictures for a while and I'm still getting used to the process.

The kit is one I bought at a model show for a very reasonable price. The decals are very brittle, so I didn't use them. But the theme is What-if anyway. I am now actually at an advanced stage of completion,having just added some spare decals, and doing some brush painted trim..

The kit detail is good, especially the interior. The fit however is typical of the period this kit was made - 1970's (?) The Reliant is a very handsome aircraft and the model is quite striking,. Well, as I said, more pics to follow.

Ok, here is a series of photos showing construction of my AMT 1/48 Stinson Reliant SR-9 "Gullwing" My camera gave up the ghost so I'm using my iPad2 - usually very good, but I'm photographing under poor conditions.

First photo of most of the kit parts, I also started working on the Pratt and Whitney engine,



Second photo of the interior (very nice) and the finished engine -



Third photo is the fuselage closed up, wings and tail glued on -


Fourth photo is of underside showing undercarriage glued on


Fifth photo is from the front -


There were few parts to the kit and fit was 'OK'. One undercarriage leg fit beautifully, the other needed some sanding. All seams needed a little filler. The control surface trailing edges were very thin, I sanded down the rib stitching a little. At this point I had to come up with a What-if scheme. First I painted the kit red, but it came out uneven, after trying to even it out I gave up and gave it a nice black coat.

I have found some nice decals to use, and am now in the process of finishing touches to the paint scheme.

I expect it will be about a week to post the final pictures.

BTW = - Merry Christmas everyone.

That's a fun looking model despite its evident age.
All Black is always cool. What if is going to be ?!?