Cyclone Marek

[Marek]

Hi guys,
As mentioned at the sign-up, I'm starting the Heller (Smer repacked it) Cyclone. Very basic kit, probably one of the worst Heller kits, but hey, its the Cyclone. Plane itself was a operational catastrophe but it looks like a sporty tourist concept ultralight not a fighter.




Smer did include two nice marking options, one of them Polish 'Warsaw' Sqn in Franc, 1940. Let's hope I can proficiently turn it into some well looking replica.

[Molly-new]

Unusual looking machine, and a funky paint job. Looking forward to seeing this develop.

[Brickie]

I believe the Cyclone *was* a light racing plane. Strapping on guns & a bit of armour overtaxed the engine so much that it climbed like an asthmatic ant with heavy shopping. They were allocated to the Polish squadrons, after about a week they were declared unfit for purpose and withdrawn. With no available replacements, the Poles kept flying them anyway and gave a good account of themselves IIRC.

[Motley]

A very weird looking plane this is, nice to see something unusal being built

Tom

[Marek]

Greetings from the Den of Strange Fighters
Catching up a little bit, I started the Cyclone today. The cockpit by Heller is a see-through affair both vertically (through wheel wells) and horizontally (through the rear canopy section). Both are wrong, so I have come up with a 'floor' for the Monsieur Pilot, so far this will have to do untill I close the wing-fuselage duo.



Once this is done, I'll try to close it with styrene rods. As to the horizontal see-through, I already cut the canopy in a way it should be ok to receive a inclined bulkhead similar to P-40 just much bigger. How will it actually work, we'll see.

[Molly-new]

Never seen one like this before, very intriguing.

[Dirkpitt289]

I've yet to try one but I really like the French camo paint scheme

[Marek]

Oh boy, this one is not gonna end up as a display queen. I finished the interior today and put airframe together. Now, all will be good as long as canopy cooperates, I still need to get it into right shape to fit over the constructed sidewalls.

[Molly-new]

Good work on the sidewalls, a vast improvement to the kit.

[TimJ]

Nice work so far.

[Marek]

Thanx guys, after some hiatus, I caught another workbench time today. I was really afraid how my 'surgically adjusted' canopy will fit but besides the width (wider than the fuselage) it is OK. So closed the cockpit today, masked the greenhouse with tape and filled gaps in 4 places with CA.





I hope to get some sanding/smoothing and general TLC done this weekend. Maybe even some painting.

[Marek]

No pictures yet but light blue undersides and dark green (decided to put dg first) is already on. Since I used enamels, I have to wait at least till tomorrow to start the masking for camo. The kit is actually pretty docile once you pass the gap/lack of inside detail whatsoever mark. I am still bemused how sporty and fragile it looked. If we draw analogy from the car world I got:
C.714 ->

verus

Bf 109 ->

[Saxon]

Nice oddity will be watching

[Marek]

French Chestnut put on as a second colour for camo. The mid-darkish grey tomorrow.


Clock is ticking for me with this build, so I hope I finish it on time.

[AndrewR]

Looking good. Did you free hand the camo?

Cheers

Andrew