Tag Archives: Aeroplane

Gimmie a Ticket for an Aeroplane

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Lego Technic Airliner

Gimmie a ticket for an aeroplane
Ain’t got time to take a fast train
Lonely days are gone I’m a goin’ home
My baby has just wrote me a letter.

We don’t often see Technic aeroplanes, but this unusual creation by BrickbyBrickTechnic shows that Technic aircraft can be done very well indeed. With working ailerons, airbrakes, elevators and tail rudder, plus functioning (and suspended) landing gear, BrickbyBrick’s jet airliner includes more functionality than many Technic models of more usual subjects. Get yourself a ticket at either Flickr or Eurobricks, and you can find today’s title song by clicking here.

Lego Technic Airliner

A Red Wolf

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ta

The Ta-152 was the ultimate expression of Focke-Wulf’s Fw 190 fighter aeroplane of WW II. The particular version built by Maelven on Flickr is the Ta 152H, optimised for high altitude flight. The modifications included a pressurised cockpit, an increased wingspan and a Junkers Jumo 213E V12 engine with two speed, two stage supercharger and intercooler.

With methanol-water & nitrous-oxide boost, the engine could produce 2,050PS and made the Ta 152 one of the fastest piston engined aeroplanes of the war with 472mph at 41,000 feet. Maelven has displayed his model with its cowling open, displaying the mighty engine. What was the aircraft like to fly? This was described by the world’s most experienced test pilot and fluent German speaker, Capt. Eric Brown RN is this article. For more views of Maelven’s model, click this link.

Like a Cat Outta Hell…

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z 109

The Elves have just returned from a dawn raid on MOCpages. They swooped out of the sun to scoop up two models of classic WWII fighter aircraft. First up is c bigboy99899’s Bf 109. As he says, this was one of the first truly modern fighter aircraft of its era, with its all metal, stressed skin construction and closed cockpit. The Bf 109 was incredibly successful, with somewhere around 34,000 being built, which is a bigger production run than many of the cars that we feature here. Examples were used by airforces all over the world, with the Spanish retiring their last example in 1965. Click this link to see more of this Bf 109, plus a pair of LDD versions in alternative colour schemes.

Early in the Second World War, the Bf 109 easily outclassed many of the aeroplanes flown by the Allies, especially the carrier based Sea Gladiators and Martlets (Wildcats) of the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm. This was also true in the Pacific, where the famous Zero could outmanoeuvre anything in the sky. Pilots such as the RN’s Eric “Winkle” Brown had to use cunning and tactics to stay alive. Things changed when Grumman produced the Hellcat, with vastly upgraded performance. Jim McDonough normally builds ships but is building a whole squadron of Hellcats (and another of Avengers) to put on the deck of his next creation. This epic project is going to be an impressive sight when it’s finished. Click this link to Jim’s MOCpages to see more of his aeroplanes and ships.

z Hellcat

Before we go, if you’ve some spare time, click this link to BBC Radio 4’s website and listen to the stories and music of Capt. Eric “Winkle” Brown on Desert Island Discs. It’s classic edition of the programme with a man who has lived a life of real adventure. The Lego Car Blog writers also hope to be buying their latest sports car when they get to the age of 95!

Virtual VTOL

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Harrier LDD

It’s unusual for us to feature MOCs that aren’t built in real bricks on The Lego Car Blog. The Elves prefer something that can be disassembled and used as weapons for beating up their annoying colleagues, something that they can climb all over and into as well. It was with great satisfaction that we heard a “Thump!” as the first Elf who tried to leap into the cockpit of this US Marines AV-8B, fell through the digital bricks and landed on the floor. The we had to get out the airhorn and blast away his co-workers as they tried to pile on top to smush him even further into the carpet.

Justin Davies has an impressive catalogue of LDD builds, many rendered to a very high standard, both on Flickr and MOCpages. His latest build is a Harrier II, very accurately shaped and complete with the working functions you’d expect such as undercarriage, control surfaces, vectored thrust nozzles etc. It’s worthwhile visiting Justin’s galleries to see the view of the underside of this aircraft which shows how he used different plates to achieve an accurate wing planform. The rear of the fuselage has also been very neatly, smoothly and accurately shaped, including the vertical stabiliser.

This Harrier also features a load-out of Sidewinders, rocket pods, LGBs and the cannon pods which form an essential part of the aircraft’s aerodynamics. If Justin’s previous builds are anything to judge by, we can expect to see further versions of this aircraft with a variety of weapons and colour schemes. Justin has also started to put his builds into scenes. The picture below shows an F-4J Phantom II of VF-96 “Fighting Falcons”, hunting for MiGs over Vietnam in May 1972. “Showtime 100” was flown by Cunningham and Driscoll, the first American aces of the war and the first aces to have achieved their five kills using only missiles. Although the lettering on the MOC has been added afterwards, it does feature a nicely brick-built squadron badge on its tail. You can see more of Justin’s aircraft by following these links to Flickr or to MOCpages.

Phantom LDD

Note: As these are virtual creations, the Elves who found them were rewarded with virtual Smarties, which is another reason why the Elves prefer MOCs to be in solid bricks.