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Please see the most recent updates in the "Where did the .com name go?" thread. Posts number 16 and 17.
IJN_A6M2_21
- Thread starter Deathwind
- Start date
The BV-141B-0 is one of my projects, but it isn't a mod.
Everything in the project is my work except a few stock gauges.
The virtual cockpit didn't exist in the first version of the model. It is actually a SCASM addition when I figured out how to edit the SCASM code to flip a polygon to face inward instead of outward.
Everything in the project is my work except a few stock gauges.
The virtual cockpit didn't exist in the first version of the model. It is actually a SCASM addition when I figured out how to edit the SCASM code to flip a polygon to face inward instead of outward.
I will have to keep that in mind.
Have you done anything else with your A6M2?
Mine is in the flight test stage and I always hate that part. It seems way too much like work.
I had a discussion with a fellow about 1911s yesterday. He was surprised when I told him that I probably had just a bit over 5000 rounds through the one in the picture and that meant that it was barely broken in.
In the beginning,the lifespan of major components was not much more than the 6000 round acceptance test. These days, if they are well maintained, they should easily go 100,000 rounds without major breakage. Accuracy may degrade a bit though.
- Ivan.
Have you done anything else with your A6M2?
Mine is in the flight test stage and I always hate that part. It seems way too much like work.
I had a discussion with a fellow about 1911s yesterday. He was surprised when I told him that I probably had just a bit over 5000 rounds through the one in the picture and that meant that it was barely broken in.
In the beginning,the lifespan of major components was not much more than the 6000 round acceptance test. These days, if they are well maintained, they should easily go 100,000 rounds without major breakage. Accuracy may degrade a bit though.
- Ivan.
I’ve tested a couple A6M2 mods. Experimenting with the 1% dp files I like their approach but not the finished project. It’s a better system especially for flak . Effects I fixed that to truly and breaking parts fixed. Just using the Stock air file it flies good. Doing a little Europe too working with a Hurricane today. Nice handcgun.
The bottom half of this pistol is a standard Government Model.
The Top Half is a Gold Cup slide but with a fitted Ed Brown barrel.
I expended around 500 rounds in testing while cutting the chamber to ensure it would feed just about everything.
The minimum headspace for a .45 ACP is 0.898 inch. I initially cut the chamber to that. The problem was that just a little bit of lead fouling and shavings of brass and lead would cause the gun not to go completely into battery. It would take about 35 or 40 rounds to do this though. So I put a small bevel into the chamber mouth to avoid shaving lead and increased the headspace slightly to 0.902 inch as measured with shimmed headspace gauges. At this point everything would function regardless of lead of jacketed ammunition. Maximum headspace dimension (NoGo) is 0.920 inch.
To confirm functioning, I fired just over 500 rounds of mostly lead ammunition without cleaning anything. Took several weeks to do this. Gun was filthy at the end but it had not malfunctioned even once.
Over the next couple thousand rounds, I collected all the targets that were fired from the bench and was somewhat surprised that the average sized group was a bit under 1.5 inches at 25 yards. This is not quite my most accurate pistol but it wasn't bad and might have gotten better as parts wore in even more.
1911s have a great tendency for malfunctions as I have observed at the various ranges. I believe it comes from just about everyone making a variant of the gun and often without understanding what the critical dimensions actually are. Certain brands such as Charles Daly, and AMT and Auto Ordnance were notorious for that. 1911s are not very tolerant of odd bullet shapes and slight magazine variations
The Top Half is a Gold Cup slide but with a fitted Ed Brown barrel.
I expended around 500 rounds in testing while cutting the chamber to ensure it would feed just about everything.
The minimum headspace for a .45 ACP is 0.898 inch. I initially cut the chamber to that. The problem was that just a little bit of lead fouling and shavings of brass and lead would cause the gun not to go completely into battery. It would take about 35 or 40 rounds to do this though. So I put a small bevel into the chamber mouth to avoid shaving lead and increased the headspace slightly to 0.902 inch as measured with shimmed headspace gauges. At this point everything would function regardless of lead of jacketed ammunition. Maximum headspace dimension (NoGo) is 0.920 inch.
To confirm functioning, I fired just over 500 rounds of mostly lead ammunition without cleaning anything. Took several weeks to do this. Gun was filthy at the end but it had not malfunctioned even once.
Over the next couple thousand rounds, I collected all the targets that were fired from the bench and was somewhat surprised that the average sized group was a bit under 1.5 inches at 25 yards. This is not quite my most accurate pistol but it wasn't bad and might have gotten better as parts wore in even more.
1911s have a great tendency for malfunctions as I have observed at the various ranges. I believe it comes from just about everyone making a variant of the gun and often without understanding what the critical dimensions actually are. Certain brands such as Charles Daly, and AMT and Auto Ordnance were notorious for that. 1911s are not very tolerant of odd bullet shapes and slight magazine variations
I actually did quite a bit of research on the BV 141B before building the project. I still have a couple books about it and it has been almost 20 years since I built the thing. There were a bunch of problems which are not mentioned. There is an ideal location of the engine in relation to the rest of the aircraft and from what I could tell, there simply wasn't the space to put it as close to the crew nacelle as would have been ideal. This overcompensation for engine torque and P-factor was mentioned in Eric Brown's test flight of the aircraft.
What the video does not show is that the original model Hamburger Ha aircraft had swept back outer wing panels and a symmetrical tail plane. The mostly straight leading edge and completely asymmetrical tailplane was done for the B model.
Although it was implied or even stated that the performance of the BV-141B was poor, it was actually much superior to the eventual FW 189 that won the competition. The problem was that the performance from a 1600 HP engine was really unnecessary and the demand for BMW 801s was extremely high. The FW 189 use little Argus inlines which were not in demand for much of anything else.
These rather strange designs were actually quite typical from Dr. Richard Vogt. He would design zig-zag aircraft for no real reason and other strange birds just because he could.
Regarding the 1911 in the photographs, I did all the work on it myself which is how I know what exactly was done and what the chamber specs were. Other guns I worked on used Kart NM barrels instead of the Ed Brown barrel that is in this gun. The Kart barrels are much easier to fit and their accuracy is first rate though I have an example that proves their quality control is a bit suspect at times. (The bore is drilled off center.)
- Ivan.
What the video does not show is that the original model Hamburger Ha aircraft had swept back outer wing panels and a symmetrical tail plane. The mostly straight leading edge and completely asymmetrical tailplane was done for the B model.
Although it was implied or even stated that the performance of the BV-141B was poor, it was actually much superior to the eventual FW 189 that won the competition. The problem was that the performance from a 1600 HP engine was really unnecessary and the demand for BMW 801s was extremely high. The FW 189 use little Argus inlines which were not in demand for much of anything else.
These rather strange designs were actually quite typical from Dr. Richard Vogt. He would design zig-zag aircraft for no real reason and other strange birds just because he could.
Regarding the 1911 in the photographs, I did all the work on it myself which is how I know what exactly was done and what the chamber specs were. Other guns I worked on used Kart NM barrels instead of the Ed Brown barrel that is in this gun. The Kart barrels are much easier to fit and their accuracy is first rate though I have an example that proves their quality control is a bit suspect at times. (The bore is drilled off center.)
- Ivan.
In selecting paint schemes for a AVG P-40, I believe way too many people select Number 68, Charles Older's P-40.
I did a little bit of research before painting mine. Of the three AVG squadrons, apparently the First Pursuit Squadron had the most claims for aerial kills. Their emblem was a Green Apple with Eve pursuing Adam: "The FIRST PURSUIT in History". ;^)
- Ivan.
I did a little bit of research before painting mine. Of the three AVG squadrons, apparently the First Pursuit Squadron had the most claims for aerial kills. Their emblem was a Green Apple with Eve pursuing Adam: "The FIRST PURSUIT in History". ;^)
- Ivan.
Thanks.
My point with that post was just that too many people follow exactly the same paths.
When was the last time you saw a AVG P-40 carrying the emblem of the First Pursuit Squadron or even the Second Pursuit Squadron (the Panda Bears) for that matter?
I don't know that there ever was an aircraft with these particular markings, but the general style should look more or less correct.
- Ivan.
My point with that post was just that too many people follow exactly the same paths.
When was the last time you saw a AVG P-40 carrying the emblem of the First Pursuit Squadron or even the Second Pursuit Squadron (the Panda Bears) for that matter?
I don't know that there ever was an aircraft with these particular markings, but the general style should look more or less correct.
- Ivan.
Perhaps you needed to fly a fighter during WW2 and have it extensively photographed in colour which was rare for the time so that modelers for the following generations could use those colour photographs as references?
You have probably already figured out by now that I don't try to do paint schemes that duplicate those of any actual aircraft but just create something in the general style.
I believe that sometimes my "General Style" is more authentic than most. An example would be the paint scheme for my A6M2.
You may not know this, but the typical CFS1 aircraft uses a well-defined 256 colour palette. These colours are somewhat limiting at times such as in the case of the early war Japanese Type Zero fighter. They did not actually come from the factory in a light gray though sometimes they faded to that with a lot of sun exposure. The actual colour was ame-iro which was a sort of tan, sort of light green or amber which is kind of hard to pin down. I spent months gathering paint chips from Home Depot and other places to see if I could find something satisfactory. I eventually just spent the time creating a new colour for the palette and replaced one that was close but seldom used. The first thing one of the folks here said was, "THAT colour is definitely NOT Kosher."
As for paint schemes, here is a very nice paint scheme I am still looking for. Obvious I had it at one point but the question is whether or not I can find a copy today.
- Ivan.
You have probably already figured out by now that I don't try to do paint schemes that duplicate those of any actual aircraft but just create something in the general style.
I believe that sometimes my "General Style" is more authentic than most. An example would be the paint scheme for my A6M2.
You may not know this, but the typical CFS1 aircraft uses a well-defined 256 colour palette. These colours are somewhat limiting at times such as in the case of the early war Japanese Type Zero fighter. They did not actually come from the factory in a light gray though sometimes they faded to that with a lot of sun exposure. The actual colour was ame-iro which was a sort of tan, sort of light green or amber which is kind of hard to pin down. I spent months gathering paint chips from Home Depot and other places to see if I could find something satisfactory. I eventually just spent the time creating a new colour for the palette and replaced one that was close but seldom used. The first thing one of the folks here said was, "THAT colour is definitely NOT Kosher."
As for paint schemes, here is a very nice paint scheme I am still looking for. Obvious I had it at one point but the question is whether or not I can find a copy today.
- Ivan.
Toward the end of the war, there were a lot of rather unusual emblems on Japanese Home Defence fighters.
I believe they did this as an attempt at a morale boost to have a flashy aircraft defending their skies.
Note the 244 Sentai. That was one of the paint schemes for this bird but not the primary one. As before, I believe too many people pick 244 aircraft to model.
As for authenticity of markings, the Chrysanthemum on the tail is not for any known fighter unit. I invented that one.
Note also the inscription of "Ah Na Ha Ni".... Get it? In that context, a Green Heart is not really out of place.
Most of the time the "Camouflage" applied to Ki 61 was not done neatly. The masking of national insignia if it was done at all was sloppy and the painting was done with whatever shade of Green happened to be handy. Often the paint was applied with a broom or something similar.
- Ivan.
I believe they did this as an attempt at a morale boost to have a flashy aircraft defending their skies.
Note the 244 Sentai. That was one of the paint schemes for this bird but not the primary one. As before, I believe too many people pick 244 aircraft to model.
As for authenticity of markings, the Chrysanthemum on the tail is not for any known fighter unit. I invented that one.
Note also the inscription of "Ah Na Ha Ni".... Get it? In that context, a Green Heart is not really out of place.
Most of the time the "Camouflage" applied to Ki 61 was not done neatly. The masking of national insignia if it was done at all was sloppy and the painting was done with whatever shade of Green happened to be handy. Often the paint was applied with a broom or something similar.
- Ivan.
In CFS1, this scenery is "Pooh Field". It is a fairly small island airstrip somewhere in Hawaii I believe.
It seemed like the ideal place to test fighter aircraft. The single runway is fairly short but entirely adequate for most moderately loaded fighters. It is a little questionable for a heavily loaded bomber or something like a P-47 Thunderbolt carrying maximum ordnance loads. It is entirely inadequate for a Short Stirling with even a moderate bomb load.
It has a nice looking (non-functional) hangar, radio tower, runway markings and such. There is a very small island to line up on at a distance for a good final approach. Getting out over water is quick, so once that is done, speed runs down at near zero altitude are not a problem.
There is also a good distance between the hangar / maintenance shop and the actual runway for taxi testing. I found out how screwed up the stock Me 109E was with this kind of testing.
The squadron insignia is interesting. Some folks get bothered by Swastikas. What do you think of a real Fascist emblem?
That is what these aerolanes wore at the time. The paint scheme is modeled after the one at the Smithsonian in DC except for the numbers and squadron of course.
- Ivan.
It seemed like the ideal place to test fighter aircraft. The single runway is fairly short but entirely adequate for most moderately loaded fighters. It is a little questionable for a heavily loaded bomber or something like a P-47 Thunderbolt carrying maximum ordnance loads. It is entirely inadequate for a Short Stirling with even a moderate bomb load.
It has a nice looking (non-functional) hangar, radio tower, runway markings and such. There is a very small island to line up on at a distance for a good final approach. Getting out over water is quick, so once that is done, speed runs down at near zero altitude are not a problem.
There is also a good distance between the hangar / maintenance shop and the actual runway for taxi testing. I found out how screwed up the stock Me 109E was with this kind of testing.
The squadron insignia is interesting. Some folks get bothered by Swastikas. What do you think of a real Fascist emblem?
That is what these aerolanes wore at the time. The paint scheme is modeled after the one at the Smithsonian in DC except for the numbers and squadron of course.
- Ivan.