RP-3D Project Magnet

[RayS]

Dusted this one off last night and decided to try and finish it (in some form).

3rd repaint and the finish is still crap. It will be a good 6 footer when done. 3 steps forward and 10 back on this build so far.

I was repairing lost antenna and replaced the nose gear last night, time to remask again.





I was almost going to bin this one but when I pulled the windscreen masking off and it looked OK. I am 2 minds about turning this one into a What If. I would really like to do this model justice and am thinking about starting another P-3 from scratch for the Project Magnet scheme.

[DesTROYer]

Ray, it looks great to me. Hope you keep up with it.

[tor lives]

Stay with it Ray, she is certainly looking good from where I am sitting. And when she is complete and on display in all her glory, you will be pleased that you finished her.
I have a beat-up, old one of these that I plan on refurbing, and completing as a WIF Australian Fire Bomber (aka a Large Air tanker or LAT). A capability we shoulda had all along in this country, and should not be just a WIF!!!.

You can just guess what the rego of this WIF is gong to be....VH-LAT
TOR

[RayS]

Thanks guys, in these pictures you can't see all the crows feet through the paint, I love how the flash washes them out

Let you know how I go....

[hrtpaul]

That's why I like using my phone Ray. Make all the stuff ups disappear

[RHB785]

Yes tor, I agree with you on the subject of fire fighting tankers. Years ago I suggested to my RAAF mates that perhaps if we didn't want to buy aircraft we could at least hire them in the northern hemisphere's off season. My suggestion was to hire some of the Canadian CL-215s (in those days) as there were plenty of lakes and rivers they could operate from. My ideas fell on deaf ears. If we bought them they could be opearated by the RAAF as ocean SAR birds in the off season and even in the on season one could be detached to wherever it was needed for as long as it was needed for a SAR mission and then return to fire fighting. They could also be used for on demand light cargo runs when necessary in the off season. I think our politicians are far too short sighted when it comes to, well, anything really these days. The CL-415 would be ideal for this role and they have a reasonably sized cargo door in the left side of the fuselage both forward and aft of the wing which could be used to load small cargo items or rescuees from the sea. Just an idea. Amphibians can operate away from fixed bases, although there are plenty of airfields if they need to operate from one for whatever reason.

Regards,
RHB.

[tor lives]

Yes tor, I agree with you on the subject of fire fighting tankers. Years ago I suggested to my RAAF mates that perhaps if we didn't want to buy aircraft we could at least hire them in the northern hemisphere's off season. My suggestion was to hire some of the Canadian CL-215s (in those days) as there were plenty of lakes and rivers they could operate from. My ideas fell on deaf ears. If we bought them they could be opearated by the RAAF as ocean SAR birds in the off season and even in the on season one could be detached to wherever it was needed for as long as it was needed for a SAR mission and then return to fire fighting. They could also be used for on demand light cargo runs when necessary in the off season. I think our politicians are far too short sighted when it comes to, well, anything really these days. The CL-415 would be ideal for this role and they have a reasonably sized cargo door in the left side of the fuselage both forward and aft of the wing which could be used to load small cargo items or rescuees from the sea. Just an idea. Amphibians can operate away from fixed bases, although there are plenty of airfields if they need to operate from one for whatever reason.

Regards,
RHB.

Hi mate,
My views on a fleet of LATS/VLATS for Australia are pretty widely known, indeed I used to constantly get panned, berated, and chastised on another well-known model site by self-appointed "experts" for daring to suggest that, of all fire-effected countries, Australia should have an organic fleet of these incredibly effective fire-fighting aircraft.
Over the years we have stupidly missed many opportunities to cost-effectively equip this country with these remarkable and life/property saving aircraft, (including the converting of retired fleets of ex-RAAF/RAN C-130s, P-3s, and S-2s).
At least my views and opinions on this issue have been partially vindicated in recent years however, with the leasing-in of DC-10, CV580, C-130, and BAe-146 Air Tankers from overseas.
I notice with some level of satisfaction that since this is becoming the normal practice over the past couple of fire seasons, the silence is deafening from the the anti-LAT/VLAT "experts" on that other model site, (who have clearly had their side of this argument negated by government action/common sense on this front ).
Getting back to Ray.S's P-3 builds, (and relevant to the LAT/VLAT discussion), he has built a beautiful 1:72 fire-fighting P-3 in Aero-Union colours.....which I just love, (you can see it in our "Gallery").
TOR

[RHB785]

Ray, I couldn't agree with you more. I wasn't aware of the fixed wing rentals/leases but very well aware of the Erikson Air Cranes that come here each summer season. I wonder how many of those "armchair experts" have been caught in a bush fire. If they haven't (and I suspect none of them have) they wouldn't know the proverbial crap from clay. In 1983 the RAAF tested a Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS) in a C-130H in the Victorian fires. One of my electrician mates went along as a spotter.

They were directed to a fire somewhere and on the way in they spotted this beautiful home and decided to save some retardant to drop on it on their way out. They got to where they'd been directed and dropped most of the load there and then went looking for the house. They'd been away for 20 minutes and when they finally found it it was just a burnt out shell. All that in 25 or so minutes and the fire had been miles away when they passed over the house. I wonder if these so called experts know that a crown fire can move at Mach 1+ and can be heard breaking the sound barrier as it goes.

I'm glad that we're finally getting a bit of sense about us and doing something about the situation but I still think that amphibians are better than pure land planes as they can take on a full load of water in seconds rather than maybe an hour for a landplane and then be back for another load in minutes rather than an hour or more.

Also landplanes can only drop a dinghy to people in the sea whereas an amphibian can land right next to them and pick them up and fixed wing types have much greater range than those fling wing things. Another advantage of the amphibian in the SAR role is that they can carry a much greater load much further than most of the helicopters we use in that role and have much more room inside for doctors and paramedics to do their life saving healing work.

Back in the 80s when my mates were criticising me for my outlook on this subject France had a squadron of CL-215s as did Italy, Spain, Portugal and even Yugoslavia and Greece had half squadrons of them. Here we are now thirty years later and just starting to play catch up. Unbelievable.

I went looking in the gallery and got an Error 404 message. By the way, RayS, what was the Magnet project all about?

Regards,
RHB.

[Cap'n Wannabe]

I know you miss those vigorous debates Ray, so I'm gonna say this...
We don't need no steenkin' LATS!!

[tor lives]

I know you miss those vigorous debates Ray, so I'm gonna say this...
We don't need no steenkin' LATS!!

That's it!!!! Anyone who is anti LAT/VLAT is hereby BANNED from this site
TOR