Flyboys Movie: the aircraft

On Tue, 26 Sep 2006 00:06:53 GMT, "Dave Stadt" wrote:

The Nieuport 17 used the 110 hp LeRhone type J rotary. The prop was
fixed to the case, the crank was attached to the airframe. The entire
engine spun.

http://www.pwam.org/gnomeng.htm

I fully understand that the 'real' Nieuport 17 was powered by a rotary but
in the movie they were radials not rotaries. You would think that for the
ground shots they would have dummied up a rotary so at least the engine
looked like it was turning. They didn't. To me this was a major flaw
especially for a director who claims to have gone to extremes to assure
accuracy.

They apparently mostly used the flyable replicas for the ground shots. These
were powered by VW engines, so they had a dummy "plate" attached on the inside
of the cowling to look more closely like the "real" engines. It did look like a
typical radial, but I suspect they were going for the rotary look. To the
knowledgable eye, of course, they didn't look right. Due to the scarcity of
rotaries, I didn't hold it against them...sure didn't expect them to partially
disassemble a flyable aircraft just to install a fake rotary for a few seconds
of ground shot.

They *did* have an actual rotary on a stand, in one of the ground-maintenance
sequences.

Ron Wanttaja

Ron Wanttaja wrote:
On Tue, 26 Sep 2006 00:06:53 GMT, "Dave Stadt" wrote:


The Nieuport 17 used the 110 hp LeRhone type J rotary. The prop was
fixed to the case, the crank was attached to the airframe. The entire
engine spun.

http://www.pwam.org/gnomeng.htm

I fully understand that the 'real' Nieuport 17 was powered by a rotary but
in the movie they were radials not rotaries. You would think that for the
ground shots they would have dummied up a rotary so at least the engine
looked like it was turning. They didn't. To me this was a major flaw
especially for a director who claims to have gone to extremes to assure
accuracy.


They apparently mostly used the flyable replicas for the ground shots. These
were powered by VW engines, so they had a dummy "plate" attached on the inside
of the cowling to look more closely like the "real" engines. It did look like a
typical radial, but I suspect they were going for the rotary look. To the
knowledgable eye, of course, they didn't look right. Due to the scarcity of
rotaries, I didn't hold it against them...sure didn't expect them to partially
disassemble a flyable aircraft just to install a fake rotary for a few seconds
of ground shot.

They *did* have an actual rotary on a stand, in one of the ground-maintenance
sequences.

Ron Wanttaja
And to *really* pick nits, when the maintenance guy rotated it, it
looked like it had the mass of an 18" fan blade & no compression or
friction resistance. :-)

Charlie wrote:

Ron Wanttaja wrote:

They *did* have an actual rotary on a stand, in one of the ground-maintenance
sequences.

And to *really* pick nits, when the maintenance guy rotated it, it
looked like it had the mass of an 18" fan blade & no compression or
friction resistance. :-)

You kiddin? They went so far as to simulate bad rings on the "bad
motor". Gotta be impressed! ;-)

Mark "photorealism" Hickey

"Mark Hickey" wrote in message
...
Charlie wrote:

Ron Wanttaja wrote:

They *did* have an actual rotary on a stand, in one of the
ground-maintenance
sequences.

And to *really* pick nits, when the maintenance guy rotated it, it
looked like it had the mass of an 18" fan blade & no compression or
friction resistance. :-)

You kiddin? They went so far as to simulate bad rings on the "bad
motor". Gotta be impressed! ;-)

Mark "photorealism" Hickey

More than likely missing sparkplugs.

Ron Wanttaja wrote:

They *did* have an actual rotary on a stand, in one of the
ground-maintenance
sequences.

And to *really* pick nits, when the maintenance guy rotated it, it
looked like it had the mass of an 18" fan blade & no compression or
friction resistance. :-)


Hi Ron, I was once a volunteer custodian at a local museum that had a Le
Rhone, I gave it a spin one day, to watch the valve action and to try to
understand the ignition. Even with plugs in they spin pretty easy.