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A stunning new release from Alistair at Aerocraft Models ... https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=873692274756402&id=100063469116534 build by 'Gondor44' ...

After the recent show in Glasgow, 21st October 2023, I decided to get around to building one of the TSR2's I have in my stash. Here is a picture for the items I am using that I still have boxes and the like for. There is also a CMK cockpit and exhausts that I am fitting instead of the kit provided items. The first TSR.2 kits I started, and still have part built, were almost thirteen years ago. I have also completed one since then which I can't find the pictures for. So far the only real work was on Monday evening when I removed the recomended plastic going by the CMK instructions to help fit the cockpit, as well as the casting block for the cockpit. The instrument panels will be cleaned up befor all the resin parts get a wash to remove dust and debris then they will get a blast of primer and work will continue. Gondor

Stratos 4 TSR.2MS 1:72 Airfix Stratos 4 is a Japanese anime series produced by Studio Fantasia and Bandai Visual. In the series a United Nations group is tasked to defend the Earth from an approaching comet fragments left over from an earlier attempt to destroy an approaching comet. From the Airfix web site; In the second millennium, after a collision with space debris, Space Station No. 7 has begun to fall from its orbit and will hit the earth within 72 hours. Whilst the Comet Blaster Group, who were sent to rescue the maintenance engineers left behind in the Space Station, try to escape, the Meteor Sweeper Group continue to climb high into the stratosphere in the Riot Warhead Missile equipped TSR.2MS on a mission to destroy the falling Space Station. With the Comet Blaster Group be able to escape in time? Will the Meteor Sweeper Group be able to save the earth from impending peril? This is the exciting story told in STRATOS 4 X. The TSR.2MS is an aircraft used by the meteorite interception group, Meteor Sweeper. The TSR.2MS is launched from the ZELL (Zero Length Launch) mobile launch platform and flies to the stratosphere using RATO (Rocket-Assisted Take-off) rockets, a jet engine and a main rocket located at the base of the vertical tail. The TSR,2MS uses the large missile mounted under its fuselage to intercept meteorites. The Kit Given that one of the Aircraft used in stratos 4 was the TSR.2 it must have made sense for Airfix to market this version. It seems to work for other kit manufactures, so hopefully will for Airfix. The kit is the standard TSR.2 model in the same White plastic. You get one additional large sprue for the Stratos 4 boxing. This consists of the cockpit details; tail mounted rocket; RATO rockets; and the large missiles for the underside. Construction starts with the cockpit. This version has a different cockpit as the pilots (Women looking at the figures!) fly the aircraft/spacecraft in the prone position. A little bit of kit surgery is needed next as the arch between the original front and rear cockpits needs to be removed. A new one part canopy is supplied for this version. There are 2 portholes either side which are supplied as decal. The modeller could drill out and fit clear parts to, or paint as needed. If you do drill these out you will have to make the windows yourself. The rest of the construction is nearly identical to the standard RAF kit. First the intakes are assembled, then added to the fuselage parts. The cockpit and wheel wells are added next. Even thought the wheel wells are not needed they will add structure to the kit which is needed, though airfix still include painting instructions for them?? After closing the main fuselage up, the main engine exhauts and tubes are then assembled and attached to the rear. Then the underwing attachement points for the RATO rockets and the attachement under the main fuselage for the big rocket are added. If making the this version then no landing gear is needed, it wont fit with the massive rockets attached. Instead Airfix provide one of their large black stands for you to mount the finished model on. Airfix recommend adding weight to the bottom of the stand to prevent the model falling over. Luckily the stand is made to accomodate some AA batteries for motorising vertain kits, so there is structure thier to attach weights to. You may of course make your own stand. Instructions I don't normally mention the instructions too much for a kit, but the standard of the latest instructions from Airfix I feel deserve some merit. You actually get two instruction books in one; as you get instructions for the Stratos 4 aircraft, and the RAF aircraft in separate books. Sometimes when you get a kit with multiple options you have to study the instructions very carefully to see which bits you need, and where. I must admit to hating this so applaud Airfix's approach here. The instructions are on nice glossy paper with full colour instructions for the decal placement instructions. Decals The decal sheet for the kit is in register and the decals look good. There is no mention of manufacturer on the sheet, however they look the same as all Airfix decals of late so suspect they were done by cartograf(edit Cartograf is mentioned on the box). Decals are included for 5 aircraft. The first two are MS1016 & MS1014 of the Cosmic Emergency Management Agency (Stratos 4 markings). The next 3 aircraft are the prototype UK TSR.2's; XR219, XR220 & XR222. Conclusion I must admit to not buying into the hype when Airfix originally released the TSR.2. It was an aircraft which only flew as a prototype, and despite the massive political and conspiracy theories around its cancellation it never appealed to me. However strangely this release with the Stratos 4 markings does. I am actually looking forward to building this. Hopefully Airfix will make some more profit from the TSR.2 moulds buy issuing this kit. Overall recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Ok I'm silly enough to start a second build for this GB, now have 3 BG aircraft on the go, which will probably jump to 4 by the time I get back from this coming shift!!! I came across this little baby on my recent trip to Japan and just couldn’t resist as I have not seen this manufacturer before....and it was cheap. Will be starting a separate thread somewhere in the forum and the great hobby shops I found in Singapore and Japan. his is a fictitious strike version of the TSR with ventral drop tank a wing mounted Martel TV Guided missiles. The kit also contains parts for the nuclear strike version and Prototype. Plus two choices of colour schemes, camouflaged or overall semi gloss black, will go camouflaged. things that go bang and ventral tank. The detail is lovely and the kit goes together so easily with no filler required, so have pretty much raced through the initial build stage so painting is not far off, will leave wings and tail surfaces off to help the painting bit. I will airbrush the two primary colours (greys) and then maybe hand paint the second top colour (green), masking in this scale may drive me crazy!. Yes those are holes in the top of the wing, got carried away with some new tools I bought overseas and was not paying attention to what I was drilling!! Sorry about the poor photos. I’m still tossing up whether to build it undercarriage up/down, though it and the wheel wells are nicely detailed! One really nice thing I found, all the join lines were along panel lines and they had slightly bevelled the edges, so when joined you had a perfect panel line and no filling required.....as long as you were careful with the glue.

Never able to make much of a showing in quality, I continue my efforts to make headway in the quantity department. Finished since January 1: a TSR.2 prototype (Airfix), E.D. "Rosie" Mackie's Tempest V (Academy), Bohdan Arct's Mustang III (Academy), an IRIAF F-14 (Hobbyboss) and an F-5E (also Hobbyboss), a CFS Gnat (Airfix) (surprisingly tricky build, which may tell you how poor my skills are), a 54 Squadron Jaguar GR1 (Hasegawa), and a Voyska-PVO MiG-21bis FISHBED-L (Zvezda). I have made a jillion mistakes, including forgetting to add the anti-glare strip on the Tomcat, but by that point I was so fed up with it I was long passed caring. There! My shame, laid bare for all to see. Also, in retrospect, I would have masked the Tomcat's camouflage, rather than trying to freehand it, as the masked F-5E's scheme came out much better, I think. One thing I am surprised at is that I've seen a number of Jaguar builds where the LRMTS window is painted silver; this seemed to me to be something that I might be able to actual use some "basic modelling skills" (almost all of which totally elude me, I'm sorry to say) to improve upon, and so I drilled some holes in it with a pin vice and then slowly expanded the hole until it was more or less LRMTS-window-sized, whereupon out came the micro-crystal clear. I think it looks quite nice.

BAe Eagle GR.6 NZ8001, "Poster Girl" "But the RNZAF's service aircraft are not the only aircraft of the TSR.2 series resident in New Zealand: a former RAF instructional airframe arrived in New Zealand for the RNZAF Museum at Wigram, Christchurch in exchange for the remains of a Bristol Bulldog and two de Havilland Vampires. The aircraft was externally restored to GR.6 specifications and placed on display as NZ8001, being unveiled at a ceremony on November 20 1996 to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the type's entry into RNZAF service. To commemorate the occasion the "real" NZ8001, crewed by Sqn Ldr Max Hughes and Flt Lt Kevin Howells, performed a five-minute display over Wigram Air Force Base." - from this author's informal history of the BAe Eagle's RNZAF Service, 2005. NZ8001 was the first Eagle to come onto the RNZAF's inventory, on August 8 1986. After using XR222 as a testbed for the avionics to be fitted to the GR.6 aircraft, BAe used NZ8001 as practically a prototype for the GR.6 series. Test flights were carried out from BAe Warton throughout 1986, in RNZAF camouflage but without national markings. It wasn't until the weekend before delivery to New Zealand that the national markings were applied - in fact, it was the last of the batch to have these painted on. Upon arrival in New Zealand in November 1986 NZ8001 became the "flagship" of the fleet, featuring prominently in print and television adverts for air force recruitment. It also was the aircraft used at air shows, its first being the Royal New Zealand Aero Club pageant in February 1987. Until 1998's Warbirds Over Wanaka airshow '01 remained the display machine, being replaced by NZ8004 (lost whilst practicing for Airshow NZ in 2001) that year. When, in 1995, the RNZAF Museum began its search overseas for a suitable display aircraft, it was decided early on that NZ8001 would be the aircraft represented. This was due to her use as a publicity machine for most of her service life, and as such was easily recognized. Instructional airframe XS947 was donated to the museum by the RAF's technical college and it was shipped to New Zealand in July of 1995. A largely cosmetic restoration then followed, with a fixed deadline of November 1996 for completion put forth. The deadline was met, and saw the three-tone camouflage as worn by the fleet (and NZ8001) upon delivery a decade before applied to the aircraft. The rollout of the "new" NZ8001 at Wigram on November 20 was well attended by the press, former crew from No. 9 Sqn and the public. To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the type's entry into RNZAF service and to celebrate the completion of the restoration project, the "old" NZ8001 (operating from RNZAF Base Ohakea in the North Island) performed several low-level flybys at Wigram, giving a real show to the assembled crowd of around 1500. Pilot for the display was Sqn Ldr Max Hughes, coincidentally the first pilot to convert onto the Eagle in New Zealand. During a "go-around" flyby, one photographer managed to snap both NZ8001s together, a sight unseen before then and since. A large print of this image is on display near NZ8001/XS947 at Air Force World. Following this performance, NZ8001 received artwork on her nose of a blonde in a "pin-up" pose - thereafter the aircraft was known as "Poster Girl", and a tradition of giving each individual Eagle a name and associated artwork came into being. When this article was written (May 2006) NZ8001 was undergoing maintenance and was not due to fly for another month. These pictures were taken the day before her flybys at Wigram. Note the absence of weapons pylons - '01 never flies public displays with them attached due to fatigue risk. A fortnight after these pictures were taken the "Poster Girl" artwork and name were applied by base technicians. This is a build from 2006 using the Airfix 1/72 TSR.2, I hope to get back into the RNZAF Eagle project later when money permits :-)

Photos from Rich Ellis