Kallisti Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 (edited) FRS1 Sea Vespid, 041/R 890 NAS, HMS Queen Elizabeth Summer 2017 The story starts in 2010 when the British Government's Strategic Defence and Security Review recommended the installation of CATOBAR on the two new aircraft carriers being build by BAe Systems and VT Group, so that the more capable F-35C version of the Joint Strike Fighter could be used and to preserve cross-platform utilisation with the French and US Navies. BAe Systems calculated the projected costs of installing this system to be twice the estimates given in the Defence Review. This projected cost was rejected by ministers and BAe Systems told to stop taking the piddle and just do it. (This is of course a complete fantasy, but one can wish!). Fast forward to 2014 - the cost of conversion to CATOBAR ends up being a fraction of the cost BAe Systems quoted and senior management in the company are hauled into court to face charges of attempting to defraud the taxpayer (see I told you it was a fantasy!). The problem now is the F-35 programme is vastly overdue. Problems getting the F 35B STOVL version working in a safe and reliable manner have pushed back the development of the carrier version, which has seen its own share of problems due to the short distance between the main landing gear and the rear of the aircraft. With only 2 years left before HMS Queen Elizabeth is launched, it has no combat aircraft to fly from its deck. The Ministry of Defence suddenly discovers a long dormant stain of common sense (yet more fantasy!) and decides that in order to not look like total idiots and have aircraft carriers with nothing to fly from them, promptly leases some F/A 18 Super Hornets to use as a temporary stop-gap. Sadly, their common sense ran out and they allowed British Aerospace to persuade them that these new planes needed to be "upgraded" to work with the "new systems" on HMS QE. Thus in 2015, BAe took delivery of the first tranch of FA-18 E's and promptly stored them in a hanger. The costs of the "upgrade" escalated until eventually some VPs of BAe were lined up against a wall and shot. Subsequent progress was rapid and cost effective. The aircraft were re-designated the FRS-1 Sea Vespid and eventually started flying in 2016. Of course HMS QE was also delayed and was not ready for launch in 2016, but finally in the Summer of 2017 the first aircraft in the newly reconstituted 890 NAS arrived on board and HMS Queen Elizabeth undertook her maiden voyage... Click Here for larger version Click Here for larger version Click Here for larger version Click Here for larger version Click Here for larger version Click Here for larger version Build thread here: http://www.britmodel...topic=234927285 I really enjoyed this build - it wasn't overly complicated and didn't give me any headaches - was a nice change from previous build where I've made things difficult for myself Edited November 8, 2012 by Kallisti 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinger 9 Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Superb work and the build was also fantastic. Monty 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Fox Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 to my eyes it looks just right! Brilliant model, shame the back story is a fantasy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Always good to see a model finished in EDSG and W, maybe the best era of the FAA. I've got fantasies of the F-32 in a similar scheme, into FAA service when Lockheed Martin goes into liquidation..... have you seen the painting in the back of AFM October issue, a Sea Typhoon returning to HMS Ark Royal? Just brilliant. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Great work, looks really cool 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyC Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 That looks SO smart! Suits the FAA EDSG/White - great work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Outstanding flight of fancy that truly beggars belief. And that's just the backstory Nice work, will we see it on Monday? Alan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bri48 Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 That really looks as if it was meant to be......smart is an understatement! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted November 8, 2012 Author Share Posted November 8, 2012 Yup it will be at Farnborough on Monday - assuming we make it back from Telford/Cosford in time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldhouse Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Very,very nice looking Hornet !! Great finish !! Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbuna Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Very nice indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phildagreek Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Very smart, if only we'd bought the bloody thing in the beginning...... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan-o Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Nice one,good story too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForestFan Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 That looks just right! FF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 That looks like it was meant to be, wonderful build, Sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borz666 Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Very striking, and excellent build! I was wondering what the F-18 would look like in EDSG and SKY?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto21 Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Excellent - shame it's not reality! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted November 8, 2012 Author Share Posted November 8, 2012 Very striking, and excellent build! I was wondering what the F-18 would look like in EDSG and SKY?? I was almost tempted to do that but since my next build is going to be a Sea Fury in EDSG and Sky, I thought I'd go for the later white instead on this one My template for this was a Sea Vixen from 890 NAS for HMS Ark Royal in 1964 and I agree with everyone who said it - this colour scheme suits the Hornet so well and is much more interesting than boring grey!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nirvanagr Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Great result! I like your model very much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 NIce work mate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 Always good to see a model finished in EDSG and W, maybe the best era of the FAA. I've got fantasies of the F-32 in a similar scheme, into FAA service when Lockheed Martin goes into liquidation..... have you seen the painting in the back of AFM October issue, a Sea Typhoon returning to HMS Ark Royal? Just brilliant. Colin Yes, with quite prominent conformal fuel tanks by the looks of it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCinLA Posted November 11, 2012 Share Posted November 11, 2012 (edited) "more capable version" of the F-35C?????!!!! This PoS can't even land on an aircraft carrier, since they forgot (or the idiots that designed it never knew) that THE TAIL HOOK GOES ON THE TAIL! This is not rocket science. They have now been putting tail hooks on the tail of carrier aircraft for 90 years, and it's worked every time. And these morons didn't do a very good job with their mal-design in such a way that they can't redesign the damn thing to have the hook there without it costing hundreds of millions of dollars the Pentagon no longer has access to, to so do. With any good fortune at all, the coming political negotiations on the American sequester of defense funds will result in the F-35 being taken out and hanged, drawn, and quartered. Not only have they managed to completely cock-up the carrier version, but all versions feature a helmet display that is 2 seconds delayed out of sequence with Reality. I've been a pilot. I can think of at least three occasions where being 2 seconds delayed from what was really happening would have meant that after the first I would never have exprienced 2 and 3. BECAUSE I WOULD HAVE BEEN DEAD! So the FAA better hope they can buy F-18s because if they're going to depend on the collection of spare parts flying in formation known as the F-35C, Britain is going to have spent an awful lot of money on aircraft carriers that won't work. The F-35 in all its versions is the boondoggle to boondoggle all boondoggles. It's currently estimated that fixing this will bankrupt Versailles-on-the-Potomac (aka the Pentagon). You Europeans need to look to yourselves for new airplanes, since you still seem to know how to build them, because the USA has lost the skill set. BTW - really nice model. Edited November 11, 2012 by TCinLA 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerjet Posted November 11, 2012 Share Posted November 11, 2012 very very cool model Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
593jones Posted November 11, 2012 Share Posted November 11, 2012 Brilliant idea and looks really good in that scheme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james424 Posted November 11, 2012 Share Posted November 11, 2012 Don't know whats better - the model or the idea of shooting some BAe headshed! Nice looking build : Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now