Piaggio Pegna PC7

[Simpo Two]

I'm not a great fan of plastic kits but this floatplane is just so nuts I'm interested.

At rest the a/c has its prop at water level. A water screw at the back accelerates the craft until the hydrofoils lift the airscrew clear of the water, then the pilot throws a clutch to switch drive and completes the take-off. I don't think it ever worked, but what a great concept.

http://www.hyperscale.com/2019/reviews/kits/amp480...

https://www.hannants.co.uk/search/index.php?search...

One kit is affordable, the other mega bucks - any reason for this?

[dr_gn]

One’s injection moulded with photo-etch, the other is cast resin, white metal and photo etch, and is 1.5x larger scale.

[Simpo Two]

dr_gn said:

One’s injection moulded with photo-etch, the other is cast resin, white metal and photo etch, and is 1.5x larger scale.

Well, I'd seen that one was plastic and one resin (what's the practical difference?) and one was a bit bigger but does that justify the massive price difference? Which would you buy? - or are there other makers I haven't found?

[dr_gn]

Simpo Two said:

dr_gn said:

One’s injection moulded with photo-etch, the other is cast resin, white metal and photo etch, and is 1.5x larger scale.

Well, I'd seen that one was plastic and one resin (what's the practical difference?) and one was a bit bigger but does that justify the massive price difference? Which would you buy? - or are there other makers I haven't found?

Resin kits are usually far more DIY - you'll have a lot more figuring out robust ways of joining things together, and you'd probably need to do a lot more scratch building of details that aren't included in the kit. Obviously you cant use polystyrene cement - you need Araldite or Cyano.

I'd definitely go for the injection moulded version, but it looks to me like you're still in for a lot of work to get it looking right; it's not like Tamiya where you just glue and paint and it looks great.

[Equus]

Simpo Two said:

I'm not a great fan of plastic kits but this floatplane is just so nuts I'm interested.

What would be interesting is is someone built a large-scale RC model to see if the concept would actually have worked!

I suspect (from later experience with hydrofoils cavitating) that in reality the foils would have stalled before it ever got close to take-off speed.

[Simpo Two]

Equus said:

What would be interesting is is someone built a large-scale RC model to see if the concept would actually have worked!

I suspect (from later experience with hydrofoils cavitating) that in reality the foils would have stalled before it ever got close to take-off speed.

It would be a great project. When it was being trialled for the Schneider Trophy they had problems with the clutches that disconnected the water-screw and engaged the airscrew.

It has to be a candidate for best-looking aeroplane:

Edited by Simpo Two on Wednesday 29th April 13:43

[Equus]

Yes, the Schneider Trophy threw up some interesting designs.

I've got Ralph Pegram's book, which I highly recommend for anyone who is only familiar with the Curtiss, Macchi and Supermarine contenders.

[Simpo Two]

I'm on this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Schneider-Trophy-Aircraft...

Shame the Glosters never quite made it, they looked superb too, but had engine issues; Supermarine jumped them by using Rolls Royce, and the rest is history. The power increases in the last few years were fantastic.

PS Thanks Doc for the kit insight.

[allegerita]

Nice plane and good motive for a new project to work on. I dug out my Macchi and I’ll start it too, parallel to completion of the Italeri Hawker Typhoon, which is in the paintshop right now.

Reference literature is indispensable so off to Amazon first

[Simpo Two]

Macchis and most of the Italian designs look great.

If one of their pilots hadn't missed a turn, Italy would have won the trophy in 1921!