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Whispering Giant, British Eagle.


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What a cracker John,very nice indeed.

Garry Russell that graces these pages is a bit of an expert on the Brit and has infact,

produced a rather nice Flightsim one.

He did it for another now passed and sadly missed flightsimmer,Leif Harding.

Leif had many hours riding in the back of Brits and CL-44's,mainly for Monarch,

but other airlines too.

Now there really was a Brit expert/buff with Leif,he really new the type very well.

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What a lovely model, John and thanks for the heads up about the decals. I will be applying some to a B.O.A.C version in the very near future, I shall definitely be giving them a coat of Microscale LDF before I apply them now.

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Lovely looking model. Thanks for bringing back some great memories. Born in Kenya I flew to the UK on one trip in a BOAC Britannia.

After joining the army I was posted in 1965 to Malaya (gosh such an age ago) and went out on a British Eagle Britannia.

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Miggie..dear ol Leif, sadly missed.

He would have loved that model.

Trivia...G-ARKA was the penultimate built and one of the first non accident in service "Big Brits" to be scrapped. It was with Tellair by then alongside the last aircraft built G-ARKB which shared the same fate.

Sadly the collapse of British Eagle flooded the market with Britannias.

beautiful build of a real classic.

And yes the Britannia was big...the longer Canadair CL-44J could carry over two hundred pax and was the biggest Western turbo prop airliner ever and in fact the biggest Western airliner of any sort until the DC 8 Super 61.

Edited by garryrussell
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Aah, you just have to love the Britannia, a gorgeous shape.

I'm in the 'lucky to have flown in one club' too, back from exercise in Germany in 75 or 76.

Courtesy of 'Sitting Backwards Airways' for me after flying out in a sand and brown Herc.

The model, which is why we're here.

Absolutely wonderful model, and the Viscount too they make a magnificent set.

I'll just sit back here in the corner asking myself why I just cannot ever make a finish look as good as yours.

Thanks for showing it to us, I love it.

Must have been 1975,they were out of service by 76. I was on them at Brize.I liked the look of them and sound,didn't enjoy working on the Brit.Bag tanks is enough to say.

Very nice model. Good old British Eagle! Well done.

The day it went bust they locked everyone out of the hangars. We were on the 285 bus going past almost the whole fleet parked up.Took a family friend weeks to get HIS toolboxes back that were locked in the Hangar.

Just one thing wrong.NOT YOUR Fault! The wing tip fairings aren't right. They should be chamfered to the tip on the underside.

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Wow, this one seems to have stirred the memories in lots of us, thank you all for the comments. It's nice to know it's not just me who loves the Britannia in British Eagle colours.

Just one thing wrong.NOT YOUR Fault! The wing tip fairings aren't right. They should be chamfered to the tip on the underside.

No problem, I enjoyed building the kit and It's useful info if I do another, or if any one else has one under construction. I'd never have known otherwise, so this is one of the benefits of posting here.

I quite like it in BOAC colours as well, maybe I should get one!

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Viking

When you stand under the wing looking outboard to the end of the wing,the tip (You cant see it actually!) is squared off because of the chamfer.

Walking 'round inside with power off at night was a nightmare, there were one step up/down all over the place,especially the back end,toilets,galley etc.

Down the front was a hatch in the floor that took you into the elec/batt/fwd freight bay.Sometimes these weren't shut and down it you went! Doing that carrying a Shorts' tripple seat, one leg went down the hatch,the other stayed in the cabin and put one guy in sick quarters for the rest of Night Shift and on light duties for weeks.

Another belter was a full set of Brit. pax windows for scratch removal,and/or perspex panel change/wood (Ash) frame change,it just went on and on and finally pressure checking. we had stacks of window assembly's all weighed down with 56lb weights while the rubber resin cured. oh and bag tanks. We'd come in a 8am and bay stank of fuel bag tanks(night shift had been busy!) for leak checking all over the shop,we had to put some phenol faline crystals inside,blank the holes for pipes/pumps,gauge units etc. and inflate then wipe an amonia soaked rag around the outside and if it went pink thats the leak. 1973 I was 19 and totally hacked off.I only did 6months in there and managed to escape to the hangar,and off Brit bits and peices.

ooooooooooops i'm gone/going ot. sorry!

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Yeah,looking back they're all good memories really,mainly due to the guys I was working with! The Line work was a blast looking back I was only 17 and my friends back home were still at school doing A levels! i'd been in nearly 2 years ,trained and on a first posting,that went on for 12 3/4 years!

Edited by bzn20
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A good freind of mine, sadly no longer with us, worked on Brits as a loadmaster and general dogsbody. One thing he hated when a lad...I forget why he had to do this, was to crawl up the exhaust pipe..smelly and calustraphobic.

He must have remustered (changed trades) from Engines (fitter or mechanic) to Loadmaster,an LM wouldn't be doing anything like that.That job must have been evil and him coming out looking like a coal miner!

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