ELECTRIC FLIGHT U.K. - British Electric Flight Association

Going to Harvard!
by Dave Chinery
Although a keen student of the Bring & Buy table I found no bargains at this
year's AGM, but the previous BEFA indoor event, the 2004 Technical Workshop,
yielded a real prize. Adorning the "Bring & Buy" table was a stunning scale
model, ideal for my customary 14-cell set-up, a V-Mar Bombardier Harvard 2.
The RAF's Tucano trainer is well-known, and had been extensively modelled, not
least by our own Nigel Hawes.
The Swiss Pilatus PC-9 is a competitor to the Brazilian Tucano, and several models
of this aircraft are available, particularly a smart and inexpensive ARTF from
Seagull Models.
The Royal Canadian Air Force uses a version of the PC-9, license-built by Bombardier
Industries, and calls it the Harvard 2, after the noisy radial-engined WW-2 trainer.
Although the models are almost certainly manufactured in China, or a similar
low-cost area, the V-Mar company is based in Canada. In their extensive range of
models, they produce two ".45-size" versions of the Harvard 2, a red one, and
another in dark blue RCAF livery.
Using their new 3D detailing system, VCOTE 2 - 3DS, the model is covered with
detailed and realistic panel and rivet lines, and sports a fitted cockpit with two
pilots firmly harnessed in.
The model that took my eye on the Bring & Buy was just that, and I was captivated
by the potential for a really realistic electric model. With few exceptions (the
Tucano being one) propeller-driven subjects for electric scale models are pistonengined
types, like the Chipmunk or the original Harvard, for instance.
Without going to the complication and weight of sound systems like that in John
Ranson's He111, electric models just don't sound right. However, the Harvard 2
is powered by a PT-6 turbine! Add the realism of the model's appearance, with a
scale-like three-bladed propeller, and the "turbine" sound of an electric motor, and
the potential for utter believability is high.
Having closed a satisfactory deal at the Bring & Buy, the Harvard was carried
home in triumph and put in my loft for several months. There was insufficient
room in my garage to take another model this size, so it had to be put away until
I made room. To do this, I decided to dispose of my other V-Mar model, the
Chipmunk I reported on last year.
Despite several attempts to sell it on eBay, the BEFA website and other places, it
was still there in March, so in the end I stripped it of "gubbins" and consigned the
airframe to the loft. With a Harvard-sized space freed-up in my garage, it was
time to get to work!
30 E.F.-U.K.