Travel Mystery Ship and Scale Mosquito attend LAA Rally

Sadly, it is not easy to find competent 1.35 m high pilots – equally scaled down in girth and other dimensions – and probably it is not feasible – certainly in financial terms – to construct 0.75 scale Merlins from scratch!

I think they have done a great job, considering that it is scaled down. That photo shows how obviously it has departed from the real thing in order to accommodate two crew. From memory the greatest external width of the Mossie fuselage was 4ft 10ins. Now rush outside and measure your car, that is over 6ft! (Unless of course you are mad enough to still be running an Austin7) That was one reason why the nav sat slightly below and behind the pilot, that also saved the weight of a proper seat as the nav perched on a cushion on the end of the bomb bay, while the pilot had a proper adjustable seat with a pan for a seat type parachute, the navs chute was chucked on the floor. The T3 had two proper seats and was a very tight fit, especially if one crew member was a little bulky.

Another ‘view’ from Saturday at Sywell

F-PMOZ Sywell 31/8/13 by AJCDuxman, on Flickr

Duxman

Flikr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/64209520@N05/

hi,
I was told by one who was there that after G-TATR had taxied in, a few photo,s of the pilot and a/c were taken, and then a fence was put round it till it departed later on Friday.Which was unusual as no more a/c were fenced off.

regards
jack…

That’s what the owner wanted…

….. there are good reasons for the differences…..
I feel that ‘discrepancies’ and ‘inaccuracies’ are rather pejorative terms in the context of this magnificent project.

I am sure there are good reasons and that was my point, that with reducing scale, “discrepancies” are unavoidable. This is for at least 2 reasons: 1) Humans become proportionately larger and so more difficult to fit in, 2) Some structural cross-sections may become too small for conveniently achieving the required strength. An interesting discussion would be what the trade-offs were and how easily things could have been done differently. To be set thinking about a project should not be read as criticism.

hi,
I was told by one who was there that after G-TATR had taxied in, a few photo,s of the pilot and a/c were taken, and then a fence was put round it till it departed later on Friday.Which was unusual as no more a/c were fenced off.

regards
jack…

Go and talk to the men who built it – assuming that one or more of them have come across from France to be with it at Sywell – and you’ll discover why the Mosquito scale replica looks as it does. If you do, you’ll discover that they paid a great deal of attention, in the design and construction process, and there are good reasons for the differences. I feel that ‘discrepancies’ and ‘inaccuracies’ are rather pejorative terms in the context of this magnificent project.

Not my intention to take anything away from those involved in the scale Mossie project as I truly believe it is a wonderful achievement. However, the scale modeler in me says “if only they had paid just a tiny bit more attention to a couple of key areas”. The top side views are really fantastic and serve to hide a couple of the more egregious discrepancies in the outline. A monumentally ambitious project no matter the slight scale innacuracies.

You are completely right of course and I agree with what you say. I feel the mitigating factor is that it is a reduced scale copy. The smaller the scale, the greater the inevitable discrepancies in some areas. I accept it in the spirit of homebuilt aircraft – a bit of fun. I presume the owners are not pretending it is an accurate replica?

Picky, picky, picky.

It’s a disease I think. I’ve been referred to as a “rivet counter” and even a “perfectionist” on more than one occassion. So far as I’m aware it has NEVER been intended as a compliment!

Not my intention to take anything away from those involved in the scale Mossie project as I truly believe it is a wonderful achievement. However, the scale modeler in me says “if only they had paid just a tiny bit more attention to a couple of key areas”. The top side views are really fantastic and serve to hide a couple of the more egregious discrepancies in the outline. A monumentally ambitious project no matter the slight scale innacuracies.

Picky, picky, picky.

Not my intention to take anything away from those involved in the scale Mossie project as I truly believe it is a wonderful achievement. However, the scale modeler in me says “if only they had paid just a tiny bit more attention to a couple of key areas”. The top side views are really fantastic and serve to hide a couple of the more egregious discrepancies in the outline. A monumentally ambitious project no matter the slight scale innacuracies.

A few more of the ‘Mossie’ from today.

F-PMOZ. Sywell 31/8/13 by AJCDuxman, on Flickr

F-PMOZ Sywell 31/8/13. by AJCDuxman, on Flickr

F-PMOZ Sywell 31/8/13.. by AJCDuxman, on Flickr

F-PMOZ Sywell 31/8/13 by AJCDuxman, on Flickr

Duxman
Flikr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/64209520@N05/

Love that mini-Mossie!

The Mystery Ship looks nice, too!