The Red Arrows

This is a resubmission of my Red Arrows project.  I have addressed comments I recieved and created a more dynamic way of displaying the models.

Since flying the first time in 1965, the Royal Air Force Red Arrows Aerobatic Team has performed more than 4,745 times across the globe. The team have been flying Hawk T1 aircraft since 1979 when it replaced the Folland Gnat.

This model featues 9 individual small scale Hawk aircraft. The new display base is a pegboard which, by using various lengths of cross axles and a ball joints, lets you arrange and display the planes in different formations.

Sometimes LDD lets you build things which unfortunately do not work well when built up. I was concerned that the plane may be too heavy for the ball joint so I built up a plane to test the connection; the plane can be supported and held in position when connected as shjown in the rendered images. For an alternative attachment a ball joint can also be connected to the underside of the plane. The test build did show that fixed angled connectors had to be used to connect the plane to the top of the cross axles, I had wanted to use a jointed click connector but I found that it could not hold the weight at all of the angles.

The individual aircraft can be detatched from the display stand and played with, grouped in any of the formations used by the team during their display, you can try and work out how to transition smoothly from one to another formation or split off two models to fly the syncro pair display. You could invent your own display sequence.

This model has a total of 720 pieces with each aircraft made from 50 pieces. The models are quite simple but incorporate design features to allow the models to be handled and played with. The wings and elevator fins are locked top and bottom to the fuselage and the fuselage itself has a single plate running from nose to tail.

If you like this idea please tell your friends, if you know of any Red Arrows fans introduce them to Lego ideas!

Thank you for looking.