"Hands Off" - the R-4B Hoverfly

[JohnRatzenberger]

I have picked the Sikorsky R-4B Hoverfly tested by Captain Brown as shown in this image from one of his books.



We know from the text this is KL109, that the "leveling device" was bungee cords on the stick, and that it was not real positive control as seen by the height above ground.

Other than the serial, we(I) know nothing about the color and markings. These came from the USA and I am assuming from the photos that they were finished in US Olive Drab, possibly with a Gray underside - see the two pictures below also from his books.





The 1st one is an early serial in the batch KK690-ish so is not the one flown "Hands Off", although he might have flown it earlier. The 2nd picture is similar. Note one has a "D", the other not. None appear to have RAF camo and markings, other than the fuselage roundel and a serial, not very readable.

So, my question to the panel is: Does anyone have an authoritative reference that might shed light on the color and markings ? If not, I will go with the OD/Gray, a roundel, and the KL109 serial.

Now the kit. I will defer showing pix of the actual parts as I realize some of you are sensitive creatures and the sight of what is in the box may cause adverse reactions.



I also have the Revell 1/72 Pilots & Ground Crew set and will hack a couple of figures to resemble the first image.

[iggie]

Go on, show us the money parts!

Nice choice (quality or lack of aside), looking forward to this very much!

[coptermech]

Try contacting the Sikorsky Archives in Stratford, CT. They may be able to shed some light on this for you

[JohnRatzenberger]

Thanks, Tony, their website scrutinized and an email sent ....

[JohnRatzenberger]

HELP !

There is a book that costs a fortune, may not have what I need/want, might not get here in time anyway -- so I will not spend 60-70 GBP.

I was wondering if any of you could look in your local sources and if found maybe spend a few moments looking for any photos of my subject (specifically) or RN Hoverfly in general?

I am most interested in camo and markings, of KL109 specifically. I believe they were provided Lend Lease in USAAF OD/Grey, but perhaps the underside was a light blue ?

The book is: The Hoverfly File by Eric Myall, Air Britain 1997, ISBN 10: 0851302629 ⁄ ISBN 13: 9780851302621

Thanks in advance.

[Old_Tonto]

I don't have anything useful to you John, sorry.

I found these image of the Hoverfly at the RAF Museum, Hendon.
http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/uk/army ... 506595.jpg

http://www.airmuseumsuk.org/museum/Hend ... verfly.jpg

This shows the blue underside:
http://www.bredow-web.de/RAF_Museum/Sik ... ockpit.jpg

Hope this helps.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Thank, O_T, I've seen them. That bird was one of the first batch of 5, apparently conveniently, but I do not think sequentially, given codes "A" - "E" -- see my lead pix of "D".

I don't know if that same scheme applied to the whole batch, but I'm tempted to assume so, just for some variety. I'll claim that it is Sikorsky's attempt to emulate an RAF color, as was so often done with Lend Lease equipment. I also like that the separation line appears roughly painted

[JohnRatzenberger]

Here is the ugly plastic kit. I have primered it with Tamiya rattlecan Lt Grey.



And here is the Revell 1/72 RAF pilot & crew set, a few pieces of which will end up in a different uniform, flying hands off ....



Unfortunately between some travels and a number of meetings crammed in before the holidays, my participation may be a bit spotty.

[iggie]

Those parts don't look much like the box art......

[JohnRatzenberger]

No, in fact there is an "issue". If you look at the photo, there are two open windows just aft the cockpit and the engine shows. On the kit, those two windows are "solid" and there are screens to be put over them. Faking the engine might be a bridge too far for me right now especially with no internal drawings.

[JohnRatzenberger]

We are "in place" for 5 days and the kit came out yesterday.

I started by snipping big parts and cleaning them up which is a chore -- really, really ugly. In fact care must be taken not to confuse a part of the part for an attachment, as I almost did with the rotor blades. Speaking of which, only two are decently molded, the third is close to unusable - fortunately after seeing the 1st kit, I bought a 2nd for spares.

The next problem is that I forgot to bring my pin-vice bit sets - brought the pin-vice, just not the useful parts. I have to bore a hole in the bottom for the clear rod - that's not so big a problem. However, as I mentioned before, the in-flight photo shows the engine vents open but the kit has them closed. If it were a decent kit, I could carefully cut them open, but this is really thick plastic and not cutting open well. With no drill bits, I cannot make holes .... you know the rest.

Fortunately I have found a Harbor Freight (big DIY/tool store) nearby and we'll stop in there this afternoon on our way elsewhere for SWMBO to go to Chico's and to meet a friend for dinner in a town I loath -- but hey, I'm smiling ...

[JohnRatzenberger]

Got some drill bits - not what I wanted but will do even though they are crappy.
However after long drive to/from a long dinner, it'll be tomorrow before I start ...

[fredk]

Just watching, just watching for now.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Yay !! A picture.



Clean-up so far: 3 prop blades, two seats with rear supports, two fuselage sides with panels cut out, and the cockpit floor/back piece.

My new drills work and I cut open the panels in the fuselage. Now one can see by the "scale" plastic that Brown was really trying to hover a concrete blockhouse which is why he's only a foot or so off the ground. I anm not going to thin it all out, but I do need to clean the holes up just a bit to make them shipshape.

The cockpit floor/back is yet another issue. I put the two sides together and tried to fit the floor/back part and the rear piece of it was way too long, about by half. There are no locating marks and the instructions aren't real clear but it simply would not fit along the edge of the cockpit unless I chopped off about half the rear "shelf", which I did. It is also too wide back there and I fixed that by lopping off some corners.

I'll finish the window cleaning, then cement the floor/back into one side. With that in place and aligned I can put a tube inside for the acrylic rod, fastening that to both the fuselage floor and the rear deck, then fake an engine housing, and close it up. I'll not start adding cockpit bits until I have that part done.

Anyway, glacially ....

[fredk]

Its getting there