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Thunderball "MOS Type" Nuclear weapon?


Blacktjet

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Thunderball, whilst an excellent Bond movie, really messes about when it comes to Vulcans and the nukes that they carried.  The fact that Bond manages to get into the cockpit through a door at the front of the bomb-bay tells you that.  In reality, there is no such door in a Vulcan B.1A, and the space between cockpit and bomb-bay is occupied by four substantial fuel tanks.  The mockup that they used in the movie has many inaccuracies and the bombs carried follow the same ethic.

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As I noted above, the MoD was very leery of detail photos of their Strategic Bombers and nukes. I'm not surprised at some of the inaccuracies. The bomb bay hatch to the cockpit, I think, can possibly be explained by the writers' experiences during WW2 when it was common among bombers (US bombers anyway) to have access to the bomb bay from the cockpit for fusing, etc. They may even have been thinking of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki attacks where the bombardier ha to climb down into the bomb bay to arm the bombs. Of course, it was probably just a fantasy of the writers... :huh:

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Thank everybody, I suspected they were fictitious but there are some similarities in shape with the Red Beard so not a bad guess considering the secrecy at the time. I'm doing a B.1a so thought I'd finish it as the flying example from the film, complete with two "MOS Type" weapons. Using dimensions for a Red Beard would have been easier than working from stills of the film. 

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9 hours ago, Blacktjet said:

Thank everybody, I suspected they were fictitious but there are some similarities in shape with the Red Beard so not a bad guess considering the secrecy at the time. I'm doing a B.1a so thought I'd finish it as the flying example from the film, complete with two "MOS Type" weapons. Using dimensions for a Red Beard would have been easier than working from stills of the film. 

When you say 'the flying example' I guess you mean the real plane rather than the movie props.

Just for info, please note that the Vulcan seen in the air has different serials from the aircraft that the crew are seen climbing into.

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4 hours ago, sniperUK said:

It was actually a "Villiers Vindicator " in the novel ;)

Just to muddy the waters further, I recall the aircraft in the original Fleming book being a Valiant.

 

Well, sniperUK - if indeed that is your real name - thank you for pointing out my error.

 

You know, I could have sworn that in my long-discarded copy, it was a Valiant.

 

Oh well, I stand corrected. Must be all those vodka martinis and cigarettes from my gunmetal cigarette case finally getting to me....

 

Michael

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Kiwizac on www.whatifmodelers.com has digibashed a "Vindicator" from the three existing V bombers and I have to confess it has some charm.  Enough to suggest to myself that it may be a possible 72nd kitbash with existing kits in the stash...

 

Villiers%20Vindicator%20plan_zpsl7z4w4kt

Edited by The wooksta V2.0
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A main undercart like the Valiant Mk 2 would sort that. Re the Thunderball planes, I was told by a guide at the Midland Air Museum that the movie used a (mocked up?) Valiant flight deck for the in aircraft filming. Did they have access to the bomb bay?

Steve.

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On 17/11/2016 at 8:42 PM, Hepster said:

When you say 'the flying example' I guess you mean the real plane rather than the movie props.

Just for info, please note that the Vulcan seen in the air has different serials from the aircraft that the crew are seen climbing into.

Thanks, I was aware of that. The model is intended to be an actual, active B.1a but I just thought I would add an extra dimention by modelling one of the examples used in the film. I chose XH506 because that airframe had more screen time.

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On 17/11/2016 at 11:37 PM, The Wooksta! said:

Kiwizac on www.whatifmodelers.com has digibashed a "Vindicator" from the three existing V bombers and I have to confess it has some charm.  Enough to suggest to myself that it may be a possible 72nd kitbash with existing kits in the stash...

 

Villiers%20Vindicator%20plan_zpsl7z4w4kt

 

What a brilliant concept!  Sadly beyond my skills to produce, but would look great in Dark Sea Grey/Dark Green/White.

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