Westland-Hill Pterodactyl Mk V 1/72 Vac *Finished*

[Barry]

Ta-daaaah





Installed kit supplied bulkheads and builder supplied cockpit floor





Basic cockpit....control column and IP to follow. Builder supplied wheels and mount.




Scratchbuilt part using ref photos turns nose from this into...




this. Note also scratchbuilt exhausts.

[Jagewa]

Neat Barry, looks like there is going to be some tricky struttery going on with this one.

Cheers
Jim

[Barry]

Right, because the 'kit' only gives me a 3-view, so I have to deduce the right lengths, then sorta prop the top wing in place and fit the struts in. My plan is to try to get the cabanes in first. If I can get that solidly fixed, the N-struts and outrigger gear should follow without too much trouble.

[JamesPerrin]

Super stuff Barry. This is going to be very enjoyable to watch.

[splash]

This build will be fun to watch, Im sat in Yeovil as I type, about 1/4 mile from where the original was built and flown.

Regards
Splash

[Eric Mc]

Nice to see a Vacform Work in Progress.

And an interesting subject too.

[general rocket]

Watching.

[ShaunW]

Nice, you do build some interesting stuff Barry. This aircraft looks like something a mad British professor has knocked up in his garden shed

[Barry]

Sounds about right Shaun.

[Barry]

Looking more like a sunfish than a pterodactyl





But, suddenly, we have an aeroplane...sort of.




In the end, I fixed the interplane struts first, then worked the cabanes in.

[ShaunW]

That is a great job on a fantastically wierd looking aircraft Barry. I would have to have been paid a lot of money to risk my neck in that Of course, it probably flew better than it looks.

[Barry]

Not necessarily. It apparently handled well enough just tooling around boring holes in the sky but the wing structure 'twisted' in a dive and when flown with a turret mockup installed, it wanted to veer off to the right. In this later incarnation you can see that fins have been added under the wings to improve longitudinal stability.

[ShaunW]

Turret?!? you mean they intended to fly this as a combat aircraft I'll have to Google this one!

[MerlinJones]

You get an engine, stick some wings on it and it'll fly...out of sheer embarrassment for being seen on the ground!
The hardest task would've been finding where to sit the lucky pilot.

Regards,
Bruce

[lancfan]

Aeroplane monthly covered the history of these aircraft including scale drawings in their july 1973 issue.

David.