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Douglas PGM-17 Thor IRBM


mecanix

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Delayed for a while but everything now seems in place. Again I apologise for any breaches of GB protocols but I am new to this one.

As this may be something of an involved build, I plan to attempt it in three sections, firstly the Missile,then the Trailer and finally the Leyland Hippo 19H tractor unit.

Firstly the OOB photo;

daeab849.jpg

The 5/10 thou sheet is for panelling and the 6mm half round for the ducting that runs along both sides of the missile body.

I picked up a set of 1:100 drawings over in the rocket building community, they have plans of everything over there, and enlarged them to 1/35th.

The piece of 4x4 was chucked into a lathe and lots of flying wood shavings latter this appears;

bbac72e2-1.jpg

The figure below the missile body is ,by the way, a 1/35th scale US Marine figure. If I have time to use a figure I may go for an RAF Policeman and his dog.

Plan A was to slice the wooden pattern on a saw and vac-form the missile.However the problems with that idea were,

Too much like hard work and it was 2" too long for the vac-form machine plate.Natures way of telling you to go to plan B and do it the old fashioned way

So panelling was the answer and it comes out like this;

f005efbf-1.jpg

3b03bf18-1.jpg

As of this morning its had three coats of white undercoat and the now numerous visible lumps and bumps and the resulting filling and rubbing may result in, as Capt; Oates said "My being gone for some time".

regards

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WP, I found my drawing on this site

Missile Plans

ecardmodel.com also has a decent 1/48th drawing paper model for about 2euro/£1.50/$2.00.

I also came across a free downloadable card model with some quite accurate drawings

but I am now damned if I can find the site again.

Hope this helps.

regards

Edited by mecanix
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WP, I found my drawing on this site

Missile Plans

ecardmodel.com also has a decent 1/48th drawing paper model for about 2euro/£1.50/$2.00.

I also came across a free downloadable card model with some quite accurate drawings

but I am now damned if I can find the site again.

Hope this helps.

regards

Thanks Mecanix, that link appears to be dead though, but I do know the paper rocket site you refer to: linky

If any of you modellers want Thor info, you can't go far wrong by checking out www.airfieldinformationexchange.org and doing a search for 'Thor', you'll find lots of info about the launch pads, ancillary buildings, the rockets themselves and the vehicles that moved them.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Sorry for the delay. Bit of a cock-up on the missile front. So whilst waiting for time on the machinery to make another I decided to start on the trailer.

As with any largely scratch vehicle its mainly making the constituent parts and then assembly, just like any other kit.

Marking out the trailer body in 30thou

50a9be49.jpg

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The forward cross-beam and rear springs

101c5397.jpg

Rear steering station

997d1404.jpg

I also managed to get the decal sheet ready.

90a7de52-1.jpg

The Bomber Command crest and Doulas Logo are for the missile body,( that's an awful lot of appliance white) The rest are for the Leyland Hippo including the station crests for the cab doors.

I am trying to get a move on but with this and the missile to make and the tractor to convert I may not get it all decalled/painted by the 2nd of next month.Anyway.......

regards

Edited by mecanix
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It was Geoffrey Palmer's character that I was thinking of as I typed that but I couldn't remember his name. :banghead:

Thank you.

regards

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  • 3 weeks later...

Not as fast by now as I had planned.Couple of trips last month on family business didn't help.

A490893F-5595-4016-B87B-EAFE07D27A66-18353-0000138A8E43918A-1.jpg

2255F625-2DBB-461A-AF92-44E11487A319-18353-00001389BE8B4A2E-1.jpg

Still I will continue and maybe bring it to Telford. Thanks for allowing this in the GB and I am sorry it wasn't finished in time. Its been a pleasure to join in with you all and amongst such fine work.

regards

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Looking good. I did a couple of 1/144th scale Minutemen for the Hill Aerospace Museum a few years ago. Found some detailed plans and had a guy from the club made up a couple for me.

Been thinking of adding one or two in 72nd scale but would have to find a lathe and make my own now. Still...

Minutemen%2520Missiles.jpg

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Philip, thanks. There is a guy nearby who runs a one-man wood turning business

and he gives me the run of the scrap bin and supervised lunch-hour time on one of his lathes for a case of

Heiniken. You could try the Yellow Pages. This run I have 1/35th, Thor, English Electric Blue Water, Pershing 1 and

Corporal. Enough for projects past,present and future.

regards

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