Category: WW2 Era (1939-45)

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First Look: New Tool 1/32 Zoukei-Mura Kawasaki Ki-45 Sprues / Test Build

Zoukei-Mura has released new photos of a partial test build of their upcoming new tool 1/32 Kawasaki Ki-45 Kai “Toryu” model kit, while also providing a look at the sprues.

The process has reportedly been nearly four years in the making, with the prototype mold being recently completed from painstakingly produced CAD drawings. As previously reported, the representation of the WW2 Japanese twin-engine fighter will reportedly include short nose and long nose versions along with their different armaments.

A final release date has not yet been announced. Click below to check out a selection of images.

Continue reading First Look: New Tool 1/32 Zoukei-Mura Kawasaki Ki-45 Sprues / Test Build

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90% Complete Stewart S-51 Turbine Mustang Project Offered For Sale

Please Note: This is an archived post. The information presented here may not be current and the associated listing may no longer be active.

A Stewart S-51 Mustang project has hit the market.

The aircraft is reportedly 90% complete with a 601D Walters turbine engine and Avia propeller. Workmanship is described as “excellent,” and was reportedly carried out by a “previous Oshkosh winner.” The machine is said to offer complete, updated landing gear and almost all the parts needed to finish.

The aircraft can reportedly be flying in six months and is currently located in Bethlehem, Connecticut. It is being offered for US$162,500, although specific trades will reportedly be considered and bids starting at $135,000 are also being accepted. Click here to check out the complete listing on eBay.

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Packard-Built Merlin Parts Engine Offered For Sale

Please Note: This is an archived post. The information presented here may not be current and the associated listing may no longer be active.

A Packard-built Rolls Royce Merlin Model V1650-7 is being offered as a parts engine.

The powerplant S/N V-332734 was reportedly acquired around 2000 from the New England Air Museum and likely came from the Air National Guard at Bradley Field in Windsor Locks, CT. It reportedly spent significant time in poor storage conditions and is described as “used” and “incomplete.”

Heads are missing as is most of the intake system within the V. Carburetor and Magnetos are also missing as are some external engine accessories which can be noted from the pictures, Cylinders are very rusty as engine was poorly stored with the heads off. The engine does not turn. The left cylinder bank was unbolted and lifted up about 0.75″ from the crankcase. Right cylinder bank is still directly on the crankcase. Accelerator linkage bolted to supercharger casting at rear of engine is very rusty and frozen.

The engine is located in Higganum, Connecticut and is currently available for bidding. Click here to check out the complete listing on eBay.

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Durafly Releases New Supermarine Seafire Mk IIB 1100mm RC Model in “What If” Colors

Durafly has released a new, 1100mm Supermarine Seafire Mk IIB plug and fly RC model.

The aircraft was designed with a “what if” color scheme similar to the planes flown by US Navy airmen in the Pacific Fleet and includes “three different, unique sets of decals.” Additional features reportedly include scale parts, faithfully reproduced split flaps, servoless electric retracts, a scale outline, ball links on all controls, fine surface detail and a premier paint finish along with an operating LED navigation system.

Scale performance and maneuverability are said to be provided by a Aerostar 3536 770KV Brushless motor with an Aerostar 50A ESC, while a large rudder, steerable tailwheel and forward raked main gear reportedly provide improved ground handling and “easier and more scale-like” takeoffs and landings.

Buy on eBay on eBay ($210.45)

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Running, Ex-Grumman Avenger Curtiss-Wright R2600 Display Engine Offered For Sale

Please Note: This is an archived post. The information presented here may not be current and the associated listing may no longer be active.

A running, 1,900 hp Curtiss Wright Twin Cyclone R2600-20 display engine has hit the market.

This particular R2600 is said to have powered a Grumman Avenger that performed a forced landing following power loss in 1999. The engine was reportedly spared from serious damage, while the cause of the incident “seemed to be fuel related.” After 12 years in storage, the powerplant was reportedly taken apart down to the case, cleaned, inspected and put back together for use as a ground running display.

Propeller is a Hamilton Standard, blades are actually from a DC3 and shortened to a diameter of 82″. Engine has all standard carb, magnetos, starter, fuel and oil pumps as would have been on the Avenger, exhaust and engine mount are also standard from the airplane. The custom built trailer is engineer designed and professionally built, axels are rubber bumper type 3500lbs each with brakes on one axel. Fuel and oil tanks are custom made TIG welded aluminum, 10 gal fuel and 20 gallons oil, the fuel is enough for 20 minutes of running. Two large 12V truck batteries in series for 24V will give many starts prior to recharging.

The engine reportedly “runs great” and had about 218 hrs since overhaul prior to the crash. However, the seller states “I might get asked if it’s airworthy, not without an overhaul.”

The R2600 is currently located in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada and is available for US $24,050, although bids are also being accepted. Click here to check out the complete listing on eBay.

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Airfix Releases New Tool Vickers Wellington Model Kit

Airfix has released their new tool Vickers Wellington model kit in 1/72 scale.

As previously reported, the kit (A08019) was designed with the aid of original engineering drawings and other rare Wellington information to provide historical accuracy and “impressive levels of detail.”

It reportedly includes decals representing Mk.1A N2980 “R” Robert of No 20 Operational Training Unit and Mk.1C L7818 of No 75 [New Zealand] Squadron. The latter machine is also featured on the kit’s box art and is depicted after it was attacked by a Messerschmitt Bf 110 during a bombing run over Germany on the night of July 7/8, 1941. The machine was severely damaged and a fire had erupted on the starboard wing, prompting Sergeant James Allen Ward to climb out of the bomber’s astrodome hatch and attempt to smother the flames with a canvas cockpit cover. The dangerous gamble paid off and he was able to stop the spread of the flames, allowing the aircraft to return home and earning Ward the Victoria Cross.

Product Page ($40.33)

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Complete AT-6 / Harvard Mk IV Project Offered For Sale

Please Note: This is an archived post. The information presented here may not be current and the associated listing may no longer be active.

A 1952 Canadian Car & Foundry Harvard Mark IV / AT-6 (CCF-4-179) has hit the market.

The aircraft, which is described as complete, has reportedly been sitting in a hangar for 30 years and is in need of work to return to the air. It is said to be equipped with a Pratt & Whitney engine / Hamilton Standard propeller, and its log book documents a total time of 7,733.3 hrs.

The machine is currently located at the Delaware County Airport, Muncie, Indiana and is being offered for US $89,500, although offers are also being accepted. Click here to check out the complete listing on eBay.

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New Engineering Plan Announced to Return DH Mosquito RL249 to UK Skies

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Leicestershire-based charity The People’s Mosquito (TPM) has announced an “achievable, structured five-year engineering plan” to return de Havilland Mosquito RL249 to UK skies.

The news reportedly comes after close consultation with the historic aircraft experts at Retrotec, Ltd. and includes the launch of a dedicated fundraising campaign which seeks to raise “£499,000 over the next 12 months to deliver the successful front-end engineering, tooling and design and fabrication of the Mosquito FB.VI fuselage mould in the UK.”

The funding will reportedly support “crucial UK CAA due diligence from the outset of the project” and enable Retrotec’s engineers to analyze TPM’s massive technical library and develop exact computer aided design (CAD) models for the airframe. Additionally, the funding will allow Retrotec’s workshops to be reconfigured to accommodate the build and enable the fabrication the Mosquito’s unique fuselage mold, which will see the return of a manufacturing capability “not seen on these shores for more than 75 years.” Continue reading New Engineering Plan Announced to Return DH Mosquito RL249 to UK Skies

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Recently Unearthed Spitfire Wreck To Be Displayed For First Time In Ireland

The remains of a Spitfire unearthed last year in County Monaghan, Ireland will reportedly be displayed for the first time as part of a new exhibition at the Monaghan Museum.

As previously reported, the aircraft (Mk Ia R6992) had served in the Battle of Britain before being reassigned to a weather-monitoring squadron at RAF Aldergrove in Antrim. On November 20, 1942 it suffered an in-flight engine failure, prompting pilot Gordon Hayter Proctor to bail out before it crashed in a meadow in Figullar, Emyvale. Although much of the wreckage was removed by the Irish Army shortly thereafter, 21st century ground surveys revealed that additional artifacts were still present about four meters underground, prompting the 2017 excavation that unearthed components such as the aircraft’s Rolls Royce engine and cockpit door.

R6992 is the only Spitfire ever found in Ireland that had been involved in the Battle of Britain, and the new exhibition will be built around its remains. Titled “The Monaghan Spitfire: Life on the Border with a World at War,” The exhibition is described as exploring “the deadly experience of a county, which existed on the border between two worlds, one tearing itself apart and another, trying desperately to stay out of a global conflict which had almost engulfed it.”

The exhibition is set to open on June 28th and will reportedly run for one year.

(via Monaghan County Museum and thejournal.ie)

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Restored Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-14 Offered For Sale

Please Note: This is an archived post. The information presented here may not be current and the associated listing may no longer be active.

Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-14 S/N 462707 has hit the market.

The aircraft (D-FMGV) is described as the “only G-14 available worldwide.” It reportedly has 0 hrs on its airframe since overhaul and is powered by a Daimler Benz 605A engine with 35 min TSO by Vintage V12s. An avionics package consisting of a Trig TY91 radio, Becker BXP6401-1 transponder, Becker BE6400 encoder and Kannad 406 AF ELT is also said to be included.

The machine is located in Germany and pricing is available upon request. Click here to check out the complete listing.

(via Trade-a-Plane Top Image: Björn Huber via Wikimedia Commons)