CHAPTER IV - Dressing code options
A typical modeller has already decided all the details about the model he is about to build (color, nationality, diorama scene etc.) from the beginning. Those who have attended my previous projects, may recall that this is not my way. I prefer to proceed one small step every time, depending by the up to date results and continue building accordance with the outcome so far and my mood.
What I
DO have in front of me is a brand new 1/20 scale kit, asking fully customization with styrene & 3D printed additional details.
What I
DO NOT have yet, is a clear working plan & a final objective. I have not decided yet about which production version, which variant, which color setup, which nationality etc. To be honest, there are some alternative plans, but none of them had excite my enthousiasm yet. Some of the (so far) under consideration candidate projects, are the following:
- Cessna 172M Skyhawk s/n 17262486 registered as SX-AMW to Thessaloniki, Greece aeroclub.
This specific aircraft, was used for skydiving purposes during mid-1990ies, by the newly created skyding school of the aeroclub. The interesting point in this candidate project, is that the interior had been configured for skydiving by completely removing the right door, the right pilot's seat, both rear seats and the right flight yoke on control panel. Special thanks to Mr. Vasilios Katiniotis, an ART-42/72 airline pilot, commercial helicopter pilot & instructor, glider instructor, skydiver and scale modeling enthousiast, for his kind support and providing all the pictures & info I asked for.
Also - and this might be most interesting - the aircraft was named as "CAPTAIN ALEXIS BRIDAK" in honor of KIA Captain Alexis Bridak, an F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot and member of the Thessaloniki aeroclub. By the age of 30, Captain Alexis Bridak was admittedly one of the most skilled HAF pilots & a highly decorated flight officer, with thousands of hours flight experience on Mirage F-1CG, F-4E Phantom II and F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters. He was killed on November 26th 1992, during a mid-air collision crash, while performing
DACT - Dissimilar Air Combat Tactics maneuvers.
- Cessna T-41D Mescalero as used by the HAF Academy / 360th Basic Training Squadron "Thales".
The aircraft is a bare-bones Cessna 172, designated by the Air Force as T-41 and officially named "Mescalero". It is used for preliminary flight screening of Air Force pilot candidates before their entry into undergraduate pilot training. The T-41 trainer is equipped with avionics and other equipment consistent with military missions. The "D" version is actually a T-41B for export under the MAP - Military Aid Program with 28V electrical system and simplified equipment, powered by 210 hp Continental IO-360 engine. The HAF Academy acquired the T-41s in 1968 for use in its pilot indoctrination program, which allows cadets to experience in an aerial environment principles learned in other academic courses. Cadets in the program fly approximately 25 hours dual and solo and receive their first HAF flight check.
The T-41D Mescalero has some external differences from her Cessna 172 civilian sister. These differences should be taken under consideration, for a realistic result. These slight but visible differences, are the following:
- The Cessna 172 is equiped with a four cylinder engine (Lycoming IO-360-L2A) instead of a six cylinder engine (Continental IO-360-D) on the T-41 Mescalero,
- The front side of engine cowling on the Cessna 172, is completely different from what used on T-41s. Additionaly, bigger engine on T-41 Mescalero, means slightly more swollen engine cowling than found on the civilian Cessna 172 version.
- Different engines, means different exhaust pipe shape.
- The Cessna 172 is equiped with a propeller with the spinner, but the T-41 has a larger hub for the constant speed mechanism that cannot covered by a spinner.
- The Cessna 172 is equipped with two taxiing headlights, found on lower front side of engine cowling. These lights are absent on the T-41 version which is equipped with one taxiing headlight found on left wing's leading edge.
- The Cessna 172 is equipped with an air duct, found on lower front side of engine cowling just under the twin taxiing headlights. The T-41 is not equiped with such air duct.
- The tail fin extends forward & reaches close to the rear window on the Cessna 172. On the other hand, the T-41's tail extension is not so long. Notice: Pre-1968 172s also are equiped with short tail fin extension.
- The Cessna 172 is equipped with 2 cabin roof windows. These windows are absent on the T-41 military version.
- The Cessna 172 is equipped with wheel fairings. These caps, should be removed if the plan is to replicate a T-41.
- The Cessna 172 is equipped with smaller wheels & thinner tyres than the T-41, which is equiped with bigger and more wide ones.
- The Cessna 172’s wing tips are slightly curved downwards. On most T-41s this feature is absent.
- The Cessna 172's main control panel is different of the Mil Spec type found into a T-41. No big differences, but quite notable.
- The flight control yokes are in a Cessna 172 are different comparing to ones found into a T-41 cockpit.
- The Cessna 172's front & rear seats have headrests & nicely ribbed seatbacks. Headrests are not found on military T-41 version.
- The Cessna 172 is equipped with a jump seat in the cargo area behind the rear seats. This feature may not be found in every T-41.
- Reims Cessna F172P Skyhawk registered as D-ECJB, flown by Mathias Rust, on May 28th 1987.
This specific aircraft, was used by the 18 years old Mathias Rust, a German amateur pilot with about 50 hours of flying experience, who took off from Uetersen near Hamburg, Germany and following misleading path with intermediate stops, finally landed n Vasilevsky Descent next to Red Square near the Kremlin in the capital of the Soviet Union. His Reims Cessna F172P was modified by removing some of the seats and replacing them with auxiliary fuel tanks. During his attempt, he 've been tracked several times by Soviet air defence & interceptors. Soviet fighters never received permission to shoot him down and several times he was mistaken for a friendly aircraft.
After failure to reply to an IFF signal, three SAM divisions tracked him for some time, but failed to obtain permission to launch at him. All air defenses were brought to readiness and two fighters were sent to intercept but permission to engage was denied. Finally, Rust appeared above Moscow's center. He had initially intended to land in the Kremlin, but changed his mind: he reasoned that landing inside, hidden by the Kremlin walls, would have allowed the KGB to simply arrest him and deny the incident. Therefore, he changed his landing spot to Red Square. Heavy pedestrian traffic did not allow him to land there either, so after circling about the square one more time, he was able to land on a bridge by St. Basil's Cathedral. A later inquiry found that trolly wires normally strung over the bridge - which would have incidentally prevented his landing there - had been removed for maintenance that very morning, and were replaced the day after. After taxiing past the cathedral he stopped about 100 meters from the square, where he was greeted by curious passersby and was asked for autographs. A British doctor videotaped Rust circling over Red Square and landing on the bridge. After been arrested two hours later, he claimed that his flight was intended to reduce tension and suspicion between the two Cold War sides. He was sentenced to four years in a general-regime labor camp for hooliganism, disregard of aviation laws and breaching of the Soviet border. He was never transferred to a labor camp and instead served his time at the high security Lefortovo temporary detention facility in Moscow.
In 2008 his D-ECJB aircraft was placed in the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin, Germany.
I have not decided yet which one of these to build, or if eventually emerged something more interesting.
You are all welcome to propose something interesting, so this will become an interesting interactive WIP. For the moment, I 'll sit back, think about it, read some of your feedback proposals and get back to you when I have final decision for the Cessna’s dressing code.