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Vickers V1000 / VC7 - the British 707 that should have been


Dave Swindell

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Designed in 1952 as an intercontinental support transport for the V bomber fleet, and adapted easily into a trans atlantic airliner with serious interest from Trans Canada Airways and Pan Am, the project was cancelled with a prototype in advanced stages of construction. This was due to RAF changes in requirements forced by politics & budgets, and indifference from BOAC who said the Conway engines would never develope enough power. BOAC then went and bought 707's powered by.... Conways!

Sir George Edwards, Vickers MD at the time said "the decision to cancel the V1000 means we have abandoned to the Americans, without a struggle, this highly important market. This is a national decision we shall regret for many years"

More background info here

The kit is an all resin kit from S&M, with decals for BOAC

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The kit is well cast, no air bubbles visible and with only some small amounts of flash & mould line parting seams to clean up I'm hoping this will be a quick and easy build.

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Sir George Edwards, Vickers MD at the time said "the decision to cancel the V1000 means we have abandoned to the Americans, without a struggle, this highly important market. This is a national decision we shall regret for many years"

Not this country's finest hour - very sad and typical of the time unfortunately - we let all that opportunity slip like sand through our fingers. However...

Nice choice of kit for the GB! Will be good to see this!

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Thats a cool subject. I remember reading an article on it in Aeroplane Monthly some time back. I thought then that it would a fascinating exotic looking aeroplane. It reminds me of anwhat could have been a souped up Comet.

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Not this country's finest hour

Agreed!!!

I remember reading an article on it in Aeroplane Monthly some time back.

May 2008 issue is on the workbench, my inspiration too.

This is what happens when you leave a Valiant and a Comet alone in the hangar overnight...

Vintage Flyer Decals do a TCA DC-8 sheet. I wonder how easily it could be adapted?

Definitely Comet on steroids, the wingtips and tailplanes look very VC10, and the rest of the wing, as you say, Valiant

DC8's not my forte, the fuselage is pretty close to A321 size if that's a help?

Great subject Dave, I'll be following this.

It's looking like a plane now, fuselage, tail and inner wings assembled, photo's tomorrow.

Dave

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No progress today unfortunately, but I did manage to get some photos done. Here's the fuselage, tail & inner wings assembled. Fit was pretty good once the parts were cleaned up. I thinned the trailing edges of the flying surfaces a bit, the kit parts aren't too bad, on a par with you average injection kit, but it does improve the look and wasn't much effort. I also drilled out the exhausts, they're moulded a couple of mm deep so again not much of a problem as is but a couple of minutes work with a drill makes them look better. Before I attach the outer wings I intend to scribe the spoilers on the upper wing surface shown in the Aeroplane Monthly article drawings, this will probably be the only mod to the kit during building. Also shown are the wing pinion tanks, which make it look even more like a Comet on Steroids!

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And one for Jessica, size comparison with a part built A321

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Hopefully more tomorrow

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This is what happens when you leave a Valiant and a Comet alone in the hangar overnight...

lol.......

havent seen one of these before, so will be watching intently

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Progress on this is not as quick as I would have liked, but it is progressing! Now I've got my stuff sorted for Eday, I got the wing spoilers scribed and the outer wing panels stuck on today. I used two sections of T-Al stuck to the inner sections of the wing with double sided tape to align and support the trailing edge of the outer sections. Once they were in position a quick check from the front showed a distinct lack of dihedral - fortunately I checked this before the epoxy had fully cured and the panels were gently bent up and chocked at 3p dihedral, which looks about right from the drawings in the Aeroplane Monthly article.

Here's a couple of shots of the model so far:-

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Next the engine exhaust fairings and wing pinion tanks, then undercarriage preparation.

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Hmmm thanks guys, but I'm back to square 1 (or at least where I started this afternoon) The starboard wing leading edge didn't quite line up correctly, and adjusting the dihedral on the port wing had weakened the joint too much; so I've ripped the outer panels off and cleaned the glue off the mating surfaces. Tomorrow I'll drill & pin the joints as I can see them needing some extra strength during the rest of the construction.

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Well, drilled & pinned the outer wings this afternoon, and the model is back looking like the photo's above. I'll be leaving it like this for a few days whilst I sample the delights of Prague, Eday & Kbely. When I get back the glue will have hardened ready for filling the joints. I also cleaned up all the undercarriage parts, a couple of wheels and a door need a dab of filler before mounting for painting.

More next week chaps & chapesses :bye:

Dave

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so...now it's next week (your reading this Dave so it must be)...

any chance of a head on pic to illustrate the dihedral a bit more?

I have a desire for one of these myself, so the lessons here will be handy

ta!

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Yes Kev1n, it's next week, and I'm reading this after getting back from Prague (Eday, Kbely and city sights all excellent, well worth going!) I'll get you a head on shot tomorrow; and thanks for the interest from all the rest watching.

Today I've got the outer wing joints cleaned up, the flap engravings adjusted to align between wing sections (just minor tweaks) and the engine exhaust fairings and pinion tanks glued on.

Hint/tip If you're building this kit check the engine exhaust fairings, or should I say their pour stubs for numbers, they're numbered on the instructions and I suspect there was numbers on the pour stubs before I enthusiastically cut them off without checking! They are handed P&S and different lengths for inner & outer, after trying all permutations, I think I've got them the right way round!

As that's the airframe all together, the next job is out with the milliput for filling/fairing/fettling of the joints.

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