Fibreglass Replicas

At the time of the article, the aircraft did not have engines in them – the builders were considering an automotive V-8 conversion but nothing was installed, which leads me to wonder whether they ever did fly.

Automotive conversion never have found great acceptance in the aviation world (there are, as usual, a couple of exceptions…the BMWs in the Vimy replica and the engines in the sub-scale Mustang) so it would be interesting to know what became of the project.

If I were the behind the project, I’d have sorted the engine issue first, IMHO, the airframe is the easy (and probably less expensive) part….and you’re not going to have a viable project unless you have a decent engine that people will trust.

Any pics of the RAF fibreglass jets? Do they have a cockpit installed? What were they used for?

Recruiting…IIRC, they had Jaguars back when they were new.

There’s a really Tatty P51 sitting on the ground in bit’s at Santa Rosa airport in California…………………………

Fouga: see my post 29 above for a photo of an RAF Typhoon. I didn’t look in the cockpit, but as there was a ladder I assume it was equipped. It is used for mobile displays and is set on a trailer.

Any pics of the RAF fibreglass jets? Do they have a cockpit installed? What were they used for?

Many years back I assisted with lifting some parts of a dismantled glassfibre
Spitfire at Duxford. I was astonished by the surface quality, it had clearly been made in a mould taken off a real Spitfire as some of the “rivets” looked quite dodgy!

There is a very good possibility that a Whirlwind Fighter could very easily be produced in fibreglass, we have Gunnar’s Solidworks CAD Whirlwind to base a CNC foam replica, complete with all the external detailing and split into separate units, which would then be spray coated with resin and used as a buck from which moulds can be made to reproduce the fibreglass panels…

whirlwindfighterproject.org

This ones mine. Still looks good every time I open my back door
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…repainted in the Mcpherson Reply scheme…

Probably MacRobert’s Reply?

Full Size Me109 Replicas

And a Wellington

There were a couple of full size fibreglass ME 109’s built in the States that were flyers, though they wouldn’t release any moulds as they were worried about liability.

On top of the RAF Jag ( what happened to it? ) they had a Tornado too..

Found a six-page article about the Robert Miller Me-109 replicas in the February 1998 issue of Warbirds International magazine with contact info:

Robert Miller
Casselton ND 58012 (Street address, telephone & email were published but deleted here) I see the cover of the magazine is posted above.

The article states that the fuselage was tube frame with a fiberglass skin. There are several pictures, including a couple of the plug/mold but it also states that the aircraft had not flown, although the main photograph (obviously Photoshopped) shows two Me-109s in flight.
The owners are quoted as saying that the aircraft are not full-size Me-109Fs but are homebuilt lightplanes that have the same dimensions and appearance as the original fighter.
There is little construction detail, and I’m left with the impression that the two aircraft are no more than static airframes built by two passionate scale aircraft modelers.

At the time of the article, the aircraft did not have engines in them – the builders were considering an automotive V-8 conversion but nothing was installed, which leads me to wonder whether they ever did fly.

After a bit of digging…
http://soarr.tripod.com/image.htm

Future flyer?

http://new-messerschmitt.gportal.hu/gindex.php?pg=34380768

full size fiberglass replicas

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from

http://www.homebuiltairplanes.com/forums/warbirds-warbird-replicas/5099-bf-109-a.html

We refurbed the Plastic Tornado at Cranfield for the RAF, it was repainted in the Mcpherson Reply scheme, the wings were split to allow a steel frame to be added so drops could be fitted, they were full of lumps of scaffolding planks to give them strength when we split them..

I think the plywood ones were used in A Perfect Hero. They looked OK up to a point!

Didn’t they also use some plywood cut outs of Spitfires on “Piece of Cake” ?

I also seem to remember the people at Manston getting rather upset when the company making the fibreglass replicas,
made a mess of their Spitfire and Hurricane. Which had been used for making moulds.

I did some work for Peter Jackson’s Specialised Mouldings in Huntingdon in the mid 80’s ( who did Jaguars, Hawks and Tornado ,the Alconbury F5 and the Spitfire that was at Duxford, amongst others) in the run up to the “Piece of Cake” saga.
Rob Eagles liaised with us at that time and, via his good auspices, I later ” borrowed” one of the Feggans Brown Spitfires then stored at Duxford for a BoB Guest night at JARIC Officrs’ Mess, RAF Brampton in 1988, afterwards delivering it onward to North Weald.
Amusingly some of the young bloods were playing with it outside of the Mess and decided to swing the prop.The beast burst into life, being one of the motorcycle-engine powered replicas.

There is also Typhoon “IR206”, seen here at Earl’s Court in April 2006. Replica Harrier ZH139 was also at this exhibition.

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I arrived at Kirtland in 2008, and it was in place at that time (east side of the NM ANG complex). It was in pretty bad shape, but was “restored” about two years ago.

Rob

I’ve been told this F-51D, on display at Kirtland AFB, NM, is a fiberglass replica.

Rob

I can’t see the photo, but it’s safe bet that any P-51 on external display at a USAF base is fiberglass. There are a couple of exceptions…planes that have been on display for a very long time, like the one at Volk field in Wisconsin. http://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/?survivors/serial/44-72989 and the “H” at Lackland.
When I last visited Kirtland, there was no Mustang on display which makes me question whether it has been there that long.

A quick check on WIX supports your belief that it is fiberglass.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/109794245@N05/11730381964/in/set-72157639093746856

I’ve been told this F-51D, on display at Kirtland AFB, NM, is a fiberglass replica.

Rob

Not Battle of Britain.