Hi all
Just had one of my random thoughts for a possible cameo of a small aircraft parked next to a railway line. Now, I couldn't find any reference that aircraft is used for agriculture in UK at all, right?
I had a scene like this next to the railway line in mind. 8)
https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1422506
Cheers
Indeed aircraft are used in the UK. Helicopters are a popular vector. Bing is your friend:
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=aerial+crop+spraying+uk&FORM=HDRSC2 (https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=aerial+crop+spraying+uk&FORM=HDRSC2)
http://www.heliair.com/aerial-application/ (http://www.heliair.com/aerial-application/)
http://mdairservices.com/about/ (http://mdairservices.com/about/)
An alternative could be a film crew ready to make a movie about the railway as they did in the days of the British Transport Films. The plane would need the capability of being slow enough to maintain distance to the trains.
Thanks RailGooner,
I didn't look for helicopters and I see way they are preferred over fixed wings in uk. That HeliAir Bell 47 looks nice, but in no way can I reproduce that glass ball cockpit in model form. :no:
Thanks for the answers.
How about an airfield with a grass runway - maybe gliders being towed up, or parachutists...
Tim
Quote from: newportnobby on January 13, 2018, 02:31:05 PM
An alternative could be a film crew ready to make a movie about the railway as they did in the days of the British Transport Films. The plane would need the capability of being slow enough to maintain distance to the trains.
You want a DH 89A DRAGON RAPIDE for this. Here is a kit in 1/144 if you can find one.
http://www.kingkit.co.uk/product/aeroclub-aircraft-1-144-k610bea-dh-89a-dragon-rapide (http://www.kingkit.co.uk/product/aeroclub-aircraft-1-144-k610bea-dh-89a-dragon-rapide)
If you are meaning crop spraying aircraft they are illegal in the UK, this place is just too crowded for them to be safely used. Not just from the point of flight, but spraying people / houses/ cars . Would not be too popular...
We get enough overspray when they are just trundling up and down the field alongside in a tractor......
I think the law banning aerial crop spraying came into effect in 1984, so if your layout is pre-1984 era a crop spraying aircraft is definitely okay.
I'm sure I remember seeing a Piper Pawnee aircraft doing the spraying (or maybe it was dusting) around Northamptonshire in my younger days.
(http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/60/5634-130118165050.jpeg) (http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view&id=60521)
Quote from: bluedepot on January 13, 2018, 04:02:26 PM
How about an airfield with a grass runway - maybe gliders being towed up,
Tim
Winch, Bungee, Auto-tow launching, just a narrow strip of land with a downward slope. No powered tugs require.
Sorry to disagree with you but aerial application in the UK is still allowed (2017), but it is very heavily restricted now, an application has to be submitted to the CRD (part of HSE) and approved by them. You have to prove this is the only viable application method and there are only three pesticides (2017) approved for use by this method.
I would say it would make a good cameo with a helicopter or fixed wind aircraft. Although they may take off from a grass strip they would be filled on a concrete pad with drain to a sump. They would be filled from a tank or bowser - not mains. Don't forget pesticides would have to be securely stored - often in metal containers or a small store.
Hope this is of help.
Quite right Stuart. Aerial spraying is permitted in the UK but is, as you correctly say, tightly regulated:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pesticides/topics/using-pesticides/general/aerial-spraying.htm (http://www.hse.gov.uk/pesticides/topics/using-pesticides/general/aerial-spraying.htm)
@Stuart7358 (http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=3494)
If your dead set on a crop spraying cameo, this could make a good base for bashing a fixed-wing sprayer:
https://www.1001modelkits.co.uk/zlin-z-50-model-kit/273413-jbr-decals-jbr744002-zlin-z-50ls-foreign-users-incl-pe-fret-with-details-and-decals-for-2-x-us-and-1x-south-african-aircraftres.html (https://www.1001modelkits.co.uk/zlin-z-50-model-kit/273413-jbr-decals-jbr744002-zlin-z-50ls-foreign-users-incl-pe-fret-with-details-and-decals-for-2-x-us-and-1x-south-african-aircraftres.html)
For a rotary-wing sprayer, you could bash something from this perhaps:
https://www.1001modelkits.co.uk/ship-model-kits/221826-revell-rv05139-eidechse-german-lsm-class-4009803051390.html (https://www.1001modelkits.co.uk/ship-model-kits/221826-revell-rv05139-eidechse-german-lsm-class-4009803051390.html)
For a small grass strip airfield search for '1/144' at www.1001modelkits.co.uk (http://www.1001modelkits.co.uk) and you'll find loads of options. Not cheap mind.
@MacRat (http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=278)
I'm not set on anything. ;)
Wanted to investigate that potential idea when it crossed my mind.
I really appreciate all the answers. I learned something new.
You could have an air ambulance or police helicopter with the rotors turning...easier if it is on the ground as you can have the drive shaft for the rotor coming up through the baseboard, but you can squeeze a motor in to the chopper itself...
Cheers Jon :)
What era is your railway set?
Decoration of my module would be based on post 2000. With an older aircraft I would expect the time frame can be viewed rather relaxed.
As it would be on a module with a width of 40 cm with the track in the middle, there is only 15 cm beyond the railway fence for scenery which is just a little over scale 20 m. Thats no place for a runway or winch so close to the railway. And I would rather tone it down than to put blinking lights and whirly thingies on it that could get on peoples nerves over time.
I found the site where I happened to see agricultural aircraft land and take-off as a child from a passing train. (one or two times for passing like 100 times). The runway is about 120m to 160m from the mainline. I see that this is now an aviation sport club. Maybe I go this route with half relief hangar back side and a small plane with a tarpaulin over the cockpit, rather like in the picture that i linked in my OP. This would leave more options for craft used.
Here is the site in ex. Eastern Germany that planted that memory:
https://www.google.de/maps/place/Beilrode/@51.5699364,13.0548739,533m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x47a7beb4e53b098b:0x900951e4efffe6ad!8m2!3d51.5710416!4d13.0669691 (https://www.google.de/maps/place/Beilrode/@51.5699364,13.0548739,533m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x47a7beb4e53b098b:0x900951e4efffe6ad!8m2!3d51.5710416!4d13.0669691)
The only post 2000 agricultural aircraft that I know of available in n gauge is this https://www.shapeways.com/product/NQLCYMQJ5/crop-duster-spray-plane?optionId=61109949&li=marketplace (https://www.shapeways.com/product/NQLCYMQJ5/crop-duster-spray-plane?optionId=61109949&li=marketplace) , an alternative may be https://images2.sw-cdn.net/product/picture/290x218_201483_192449_1479236005.jpg (https://images2.sw-cdn.net/product/picture/290x218_201483_192449_1479236005.jpg) or https://images1.sw-cdn.net/product/picture/290x218_21461344_12113332_1512909383.jpg (https://images1.sw-cdn.net/product/picture/290x218_21461344_12113332_1512909383.jpg)
:idea: You could have aircraft from any era, regardless of the era of your layout, by making your aviation cameo a 'film set'!
:D Lots of Star Wars filming was in the UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Millennium-Falcon-force-awakening-Bandai/dp/B014VTPQ22 (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Millennium-Falcon-force-awakening-Bandai/dp/B014VTPQ22)
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Japan-Bandai-1-144-Star-Wars-Millennium-Falcon-THE-LAST-JEDI-Plastic-Model/161874802233?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D49130%26meid%3D15815ae4b9104927b24a4dcc260218a9%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D292285971423&_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m185 (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Japan-Bandai-1-144-Star-Wars-Millennium-Falcon-THE-LAST-JEDI-Plastic-Model/161874802233?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D49130%26meid%3D15815ae4b9104927b24a4dcc260218a9%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D292285971423&_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m185)
If you really want to show an agricultural aircraft then you could have a gliding field; gliding clubs often use ag. aircraft to tow gliders as they are highly powered so make very good tow aircraft. You could show it by a fuel pump being refuelled.
Cheers Jon :)
Seeing this thread reminded me of a photo I took whilst on holiday in New Zealand back in 2000.
I was a passenger in a Harvard on a pleasure flight and the pilot drew my attention to the crop spraying airstrip down below - which was situated on the ridge of a line of hills.
(http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/60/5878-160118063120.jpeg)
You can see the aircraft, airstrip and refuelling tanker on the photo above, as well as an admin building of some sort. The site was somewhere near Masterton, South Island, as the Harvard was based at the airfield in that town.
Good picture! That's NZ alright! :thumbsup:
Looking through the other picures, I appear to have a photo of the crop spraying aircraft at Masterton Airfield...
(http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/60/5878-160118073034.jpeg)
Presumably the hilltop strip is where it replenishes the spray tanks whilst spraying rather than returning to its base in Masterton.