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My main interest in aviation has to be the random British designs produced in the middle of the century. Designs that looked a bit too absurd to work but actually were rather ahead of its time, such as the EE Lightning, Vulcan, and the TSR-2. Overall the TSR has to be one of my all-time favourite aircraft. Summing it up as "Concorde but it carries nukes instead of passengers", I've always wanted to have a go at building one, and a few months ago I got the chance. If anyone has seen my previous blog of various projects they may have seen this already, but I'm slowly splitting each project into individual threads to make it more manageable. I picked this up on eBay for a relative bargain. Airfix produced a limited run of 1/48 TSRs back in the mid-2000s and they go for a fair bit these days. First thing I noticed was the sheer size of the thing, far bigger than I expected, far bigger than anything I've worked on recently. I had done some reading on the kit beforehand and understood that there were a few issues of which I've taken steps to rectify and will be explained along the way. The first step however was the cockpit. The parts included were rather bare, so I tried as hard as I can to track down a set of the Eduard photo-etch upgrades. This proved to be almost impossible until I found a shop in France which had one. If anyone can find a 1/48 Eduard PE set anywhere else I will genuinely be surprised. The set went together pretty well, although there was a rather large issue with the colouration, as the light blue doesn't seem to match any photos I've seen of the real thing. Matching the shade for the cockpit tub was a bit of a challenge until I found a suitable shade from P3 Frostbite. Photo below is before the fuselage interior was sprayed. And the front cockpit for reference. I was really indecisive on how far to go with the aftermarket upgrades, as the cost is really starting to build up, much like the real thing. I did take the plunge with the undercarriage bays however, as the difference is just too much to ignore. Also since this is likely to be the only TSR I'll ever build, why not go all-out a bit? Again you can see how much detail has been added with the resin parts. Overall I'm confident with the project, although I've encountered some hiccups that I'll go into next time. Given the short lifespan of the TSR however I may go down the "what-if" route a little, primarily with the payload. I've bought a nice pair of WE.177s from Shapeways that I may do up in the later green scheme. I know some purists may be frothing a little at this but it's more just to break up the huge areas of white a little more. Joe