ZAK

Well this is as far as I have gone to date, views of the site, almost complete, but are dioramas ever finished? These are the views of the overall site, it measures approximately 4 ft. x 4 ft. I will maybe do some close ups as time permits. I now need to add a few figures and some vehicles to the site. If you want to see it in real life it, will, hopefully be at the Northern Model Show on Sunday June 3rd.

Yes, that is correct. Cheek, posed for a photo shoot.

I picked these up quite cheap, and now I know why. I am not sure what vehicles are supposed to be, but I have seen them described as something Godzilla stood on. Any way as a kit they were quite nice to assemble and here they are finished. They make an interesting group. I did not bother with the fourth vehicle in the group it is just the same vehicle with an antenna mast. This is the Patriot Missile System M901 This is the Patriot Ladar MPQ53 This is the Patriot control MSQ-104 Here they are all together.

I am not sure if this is the correct place to put this as it is really an ICBM? Anyway at the risk of offending someone, I will post my model here. I found that the model went together well and I chose to model it straight from the box as "START-1 Space Launch System Svobody, Russia. Even in 1/72 it is quite a large model to photograph.

Here is the Liquid oxygen (LOX) supply for the missile. The site had 6 lights on tall poles, I decided to model three of them, they are scratch built, the ladders are from OO gauge signals.

I did and I am guilty as charged, it was the first outing, since then it has been to Sword and Lance in Darlington and may be at the Northern Model Show in June.

Here is the platform for the Short Range Theodolite and collimator, this sits at the head of the missile when it is flat in the hangar. Due to selective compression I am not including the Long range Theodolite. Apparently these were for the alignment of the missile. Each missile had two possible targets and so it needed to be aligned correctly. Liquid Oxygen was quite difficult to handle and as well as exhaust pits a shower was provided for staff use in case of mishap. The staff did wear protective clothing.

I don't seem to be able to access that link.

Thanks Ratch, as you see I did manage to find the BW Leyland Hippo and Thor trailer - got it given actually.

Views of the site as the build progressed. This is to the left of the missile looking towards the launch rear. Over view of the site as the building continued.

This is another view of the whole diorama.

Well, I also decided that I would model the V2 during the refuelling stage, this led to more models. This is the Takom Launch table with resin add on. This is another Takom launch table with a resin transporter from Azimut Models. Here is the fuel pump - scratch built. Fuel trailer - scratch built Opel Fuel truck, Italeri with Azimut resin conversion added. Another Italeri Opel fuel truck. The Oxygen Bowser from Azimut Models - a resin kit. Here they are all together on a rather crowded diorama.

Thanks for the comments, I have been looking at the V1 but it will probably have to be in 1/76 scale.

The idea was to build a couple of dioramas showing various stages of the launch process. I wanted to show the transfer of a missile from the Vidalwagen onto the Meillerwagen. This used a moble Crane, this is a resin version that I purchased through Azimut Models in France. I also scratch built a Vidalwagen from plastic rod and strip as Takom were yet to produce one and this is what can be seen in the diorama.

It was quite difficult to decide on the colour, much of the equipment originated in the USA and looks dark blue, local vehicles would be RAF blue grey, I decided to be patriotic and go with the RAF colours. I may repaint them at a later date. Do you have any views as to the colours? Colour photos are few and far between and the colour, a real minefield. Some of the sizes are guesses, some vehicles and machinery is straight out of my head - sorry, but details are not easy to find. As to source the book I mentioned gives lots of sizes of things and details, it was a good buy. - Thor Anatomy of a Weapon System by Geoff Goodchild.

Here are some more of the site vehicles. Electrical Equipment Trailer (three of these) Air conditioning unit. Hydraulic Pumping Unit Power Switchboard (skid mounted) Land rover -from the Airfix bloodhound kit Landrover Mk2 from Oxford diecast - repainted BW Models Fire Tender

Most of the vehicles and structures had to be scratch built and the spares box came in really useful for this, remember never throw anything away if you can! I needed a lot of wheels and I did cut the odd corner or two, sometimes only single wheels were used where they should be double. Nitrogen Trailers - 4 of these were needed. They are built mainly from plastic card with wheels from the spares box. The nitrogen cylinders were made from large straws cut to size and glued into place.

I somehow assumed that when the wheels were removed they also removed the mudguards, I have modified the erector trailer and added the mudguards as I have been reliably informed they did not come off when the rear wheel assembly was removed. Here the umbilical pylon has been added, this was constructed from Evergreen styrene strip and rod. The erector trailer assembly with launch base posed outside the hangar. The blast walls posed in position.

Here is the scratch built erector trailer connected to the Belcher bits Launch assembly. Missile in position on the launch assembly. I used the BW vacuum formed Thor missile for this as it is lighter. the assembly pivots to allow the missile into the launch position and so that the erector trailer can go back to the horizontal.

Here is a view of the ground plan of the single Thor pad, It has been made from mounting board. OO railway track was laid and glued into position for the hangar to move down. The concrete was scribed, airbrushed and weathered. The hangar will change colour. The 2 ft. ruler gives some idea of the size of the completed model. I am hoping to exhibit it at the Northern Model Show in June.

The missile is about 14 inches high, so quite large. I have the odd Hanomag - well Three actually. Here they are The one below here was converted from the original. Here is the Vidalwagen, warhead removed for transport to the delivery to the storage site. and another Meillerwagen.

I have recently - within the last couple of years got into modelling missiles. Here is the Takom 1/35 V2 with Meillerwagen in vertical position and launch base with some added bits. It was my intention to model everything associated with the V2 and its fuelling and launch, but it all gets rather large. Anyway here are some of my models.

To be honest I used a lot of different sources, some on line and others from books, once you find the length of the track for the hangar the rest can be scaled reasonably easily. I found the book Thor, Anatomy of a Weapon System by Geoff Goodchild really good, details of the hangar interior and so on, I got it brand new half price (£10.00), I searched online, I am not sure where I got it. The missile shelter was 108 ft. long x 28 ft. 10in wide x 20 ft. high. I am not sure how accurate my model will be, more of a feel with some selective compression, the pits may have to be left on the surface. There are quite a lot of site plans on the internet. I found a scale drawing of RAF North Luffenham on line, and use this as most of the sites were very similar.

Thanks, Aviation it will be then. They are mostly ICBM and lesser beasts.

Help please, where would I post models related to missiles? Can I create a thread titled Missiles and simply post all my builds there? As I am new to posting I find it all a bit confusing, I am sure it will get easier with time. Cheers Dave