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SAAB/Gloster Barrel FAW Mk1


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Sometimes the inspiration particles that travels through cosmos hit all the right parts of the brain, and the hamsterwheel starts spinning:

What if Gloster bought a whole bunch of ex Swedish Airforce Tunnans to make a point interceptor that is not reliant on radar, in case of severe ECM in the middle of the fifties?

Naturally the de Havilland Ghost engine needs replacing, and the wing is all wrong and so on, not enough hardpoints or fuel is available, but that has not stopped the glorious British Aircraft industry earlier. A crash program was initiated and by the end of the decade the utterly rubbish Barrel was introduced to the poor RAF...

Ok, so the backstory needs more padding, but I got the idea of a two engined Tunnan and I couldn't get it out of my head without actually making that thing...

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An old MiG-19 and Matchbox trusty old SAAB Tunnan was the start. A few hours spent with a razorsaw and it started looking like what i wanted

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The plan is to use the engines from the MiG and also the nose section since it will be too tail-heavy otherwise.

I have understood that there are some conventions that must be adhered to, and that means a T-tail. Something like this perhaps?

P1020036.jpg

Then I need to add an IR-seeker somewhere, and 2-4 wing pylons for weapons, and the wing fuel-tanks will be mounted on top of the wings :whistle:

Off course, those wings are not fun enough as they are, perhaps a Crescent-shaped wing will spice it up a little?

More cutting ensued, with wedges built from sprue. Copious amounts of filler was then used:

P1020040.jpg

And with that, the build is underway!

With my glacial pace, it will probably be ready by summer...2014

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  • 2 weeks later...

And the builds slowly marches on...

Cockpit was painted black, and some simple belts were made from Tamiya-tape. Hopefully no-one will ever look at it anyway

P1020042.jpg

Somethinw is fishy with that Matchbox cockpit. With the instrument panel mounted in its supposed position is disappears way forward of the cockpit sill. Oh well...

One easy fix to do is to shorten the main landing bay by 1 cm:

P1020043.jpg

But here comes the fun part!

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The fit is not that bad, some filler on top and it will be good!

In the front I need to build some LERX-type things, or it will look hideous!

P1020045.jpg

Will all filler is hardening, time to start thinking of what to do with the T-tail...

P1020046-1.jpg

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Well you were going to have lots of filler slapped on covering those trench panel lines anyway so why not :lol:

Looks very cool so far and has a slightly French 50s/60s prototype air about its lines. As Enzo said, if you wish to transfer this one to the What-if GB you'd be most welcome ;)

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Thanks a lot folks! I'm glad that you like it!

Yes, it might be a good idea to move it to the What-if GB, I didn't think about that one when i started.

As for markings, I don't have the slightest idea of which squadron to use, and not that many decals for RAF in the fifties in the stash either. I just thought it would look good in PRU Blue/dark green/dark grey :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

It looks like winter is upon us!

The thermometer dropped all the way down to -18ºC this morning, and in this cold weather it takes a loooong time for all filler to cure properly :-)

Most of the construction work is now done on the fuselage:

P1020054.jpg

The MiG-19 nose was filled with lead, and I'm fairly certain this one will not be a tailsitter, even with that amount of filler!

That's one of the advantages with a nose intake that's only 5mm deep...

Time to figure out how the T-tail should look then I suppose.

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  • 1 year later...

No progress for most of 2013, but during the christmas leave I've managed to slap some Vallejo primer on this thing.

So, here is the current status:

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All the sanding, filling, more sanding, primer and so on has left very rough surface, with lots of little blemishes.

I can either dip it in Mr Surfacer, add more even filler or just forget about the pristine finish and just finish the thing...

Currently it looks like PRU Blue will go on instead of more filler. :bleh:

A question for all of you experts out there: where to put the armament? Two firestreaks on top of the wing? Fuel tanks on top, firestreaks below? Everything below?

Two guns in the nose?

Edited by Christer A
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