Building a HAS

[Mark Cassidy]

14 hours ago, Evalman said:

 

I'm not sure what that building is. It is a lot smaller than an Ops building.   A lot of HAS sites have what appear to be two Ops buildings but they are sometimes of different designs.   

 

There is one building that appears at nearly all RAF HAS sites often quite close to a taxiway and Ops building and would be quite an interesting build. From what I can gather they were part of the Uniter secure comms network.  

 

 

1/72 drawings 

 

 

And something I'm halfway through, the actual EWS (emergency water supply) is 40' x 40' and they are scattered around HAS sites. 

 

@Evalman your right mate that second building was the communications centre, it was responsible for the passing of messages to and from the station, the system used was called uniter, it was I belive a telephone and teletype system, I can't recall how many channels it had but it was a good few,  there were smaller bunkers that were positioned up and down the UK that were like repeater stations. Iirc correctly it was an encrypted system  of phones that run to every has shelter on and airfield and to places like the station commanders bunker and the hardened medical centre as well.  I found this and I thought I might drop the Uxbridge preservation group an email and see if they had any plans or further details on the bunker, might be handy to have.

 

https://hillingdon.gov.uk/article/7001/Griffin

 

 

 

Intresting to know about the has shelters at St Mawgan being the last made, I spent a bit of time at St Mawgan back in 2005 and 6 on exercise and I couldn't get over how clean they were, they were pristine. I believe they were built as war reserve for an unspecified us squadron in tine of war, a fair bet would have been something with a maritime strike capability give the potion of St Mawgan, I do know that Boscombe down had a similar has site and that was slated to take a f111d squadron from mountain home or cannon afb in war time.

 

I think ur right though there were diffrnet waves of has building, the first was the RAFG onese that had the clam style doors and I think those were very similar to the German ones, next came the mk1 has in the UK, it lacked the bowser annex on the side and the underfloor pipping for refueling, it also had externally the weird fined efflux  exhausts at the back of the shelter. The mk2 has shelters were later and they had a square anex built on the left hand side of the shelter for the bowser and more substantial square efflux tunnels. 

 

On a has sight there were two diffrnet hardened personel facilities on was the pbf pilot briefing facility , it was hardened and had the sqn Ops facility, flight planning and briefing rooms as well as accommodation for the aircrew and an full suite of decontamination facilities , I  wartime the aircrew would live and fight from these and the sqn boss would fight the sqn from there too , its kinda like a micro Ops room with all the stuff relevant to the sqn , what's serviceable, what's not, what areas of the has site are green, what's black, what's got a uxb in it ect ect.  The other larger facility was the has, hardened personnel shelter, this was for the engineers and the has site guard force, drawn from other parts of the station manpower pool, pt instructors,  education personnel ect ect. I want to say the hps could take 300 people. It had much larger devoantimation facilities, a basic teabar set up and a sitting area, there were no operational engineering facilities in it  as the idea was each shelter would have an operational turn around team , so you were either in the hps or you were in the has with your jet and the engineering control would work from the pbf. 

 

Hope this isn't too boring but I will see what I can dig out , it would be great if someone wrote a history of the has as most of what I have found is very very scant in detail certainly in written records.

 

Regards 

[bar side]

Cheers Mark - not boring at all!  I do like the shots of the Phantoms & Harriers in the early German HASes but I haven’t ever been out to see one.  I think the US bases started to use the later style HAS as well.

 

Making a HES would be similar in build to my removable annex in size & design

 

 

The annex has always been a background prop so isn’t particularly well painted.  It’s just corrugated card with an emulsion based coat of paint & extra bits like the doors added at the end.  I guess the HES only had doors at one end - i only have a picture of one end with doors in!

 

behind the annex you can see the cabin I have started making up.  I was about to throw out a cereal box,  it decided it should become the cabin.  As Mark said the cabin was well insulated, so I thought a card inner shell might work.  Glazing sheet between the inner & outer shells.

 

 

I was going to paint the inside and add tables, chairs and benches.  The outside needs some bits doing and I am tempted to fit a light inside.  Then I need to check to HAS for the location of the annex door and make up an air duct to link to the existing HAS one and rise up over the door and cabin. 
 

Just for scale next to the tank rack

 

 

Needs signs hanging on the front, a steel locker and all sorts to make it look at home.  Need to figure out inside & outside colours too

Edited September 15, 2022 by bar side

[BillF67]

Note that every EWS I’ve ever come across is heavily populated with goldfish. Some even have koi carp in.

[Evalman]

On 9/14/2022 at 10:38 PM, Mark Cassidy said:

@Evalman your right mate that second building was the communications centre, it was responsible for the passing of messages to and from the station, the system used was called uniter, it was I belive a telephone and teletype system, I can't recall how many channels it had but it was a good few,  there were smaller bunkers that were positioned up and down the UK that were like repeater stations. Iirc correctly it was an encrypted system  of phones that run to every has shelter on and airfield and to places like the station commanders bunker and the hardened medical centre as well.  I found this and I thought I might drop the Uxbridge preservation group an email and see if they had any plans or further details on the bunker, might be handy to have.

 

https://hillingdon.gov.uk/article/7001/Griffin

 

 

 

Intresting to know about the has shelters at St Mawgan being the last made, I spent a bit of time at St Mawgan back in 2005 and 6 on exercise and I couldn't get over how clean they were, they were pristine. I believe they were built as war reserve for an unspecified us squadron in tine of war, a fair bet would have been something with a maritime strike capability give the potion of St Mawgan, I do know that Boscombe down had a similar has site and that was slated to take a f111d squadron from mountain home or cannon afb in war time.

 

I think ur right though there were diffrnet waves of has building, the first was the RAFG onese that had the clam style doors and I think those were very similar to the German ones, next came the mk1 has in the UK, it lacked the bowser annex on the side and the underfloor pipping for refueling, it also had externally the weird fined efflux  exhausts at the back of the shelter. The mk2 has shelters were later and they had a square anex built on the left hand side of the shelter for the bowser and more substantial square efflux tunnels. 

 

On a has sight there were two diffrnet hardened personel facilities on was the pbf pilot briefing facility , it was hardened and had the sqn Ops facility, flight planning and briefing rooms as well as accommodation for the aircrew and an full suite of decontamination facilities , I  wartime the aircrew would live and fight from these and the sqn boss would fight the sqn from there too , its kinda like a micro Ops room with all the stuff relevant to the sqn , what's serviceable, what's not, what areas of the has site are green, what's black, what's got a uxb in it ect ect.  The other larger facility was the has, hardened personnel shelter, this was for the engineers and the has site guard force, drawn from other parts of the station manpower pool, pt instructors,  education personnel ect ect. I want to say the hps could take 300 people. It had much larger devoantimation facilities, a basic teabar set up and a sitting area, there were no operational engineering facilities in it  as the idea was each shelter would have an operational turn around team , so you were either in the hps or you were in the has with your jet and the engineering control would work from the pbf. 

 

Hope this isn't too boring but I will see what I can dig out , it would be great if someone wrote a history of the has as most of what I have found is very very scant in detail certainly in written records.

 

Regards 

 

Many thanks for the fascinating info,  always good to find out more about these places.   You are correct about the site at St Mawgan, I believe they were intended as a Forward Operating Base for Maritime Strike Buccaneers from Lossiemouth.  The site was more basic than a 'regular' HAS site with fewer buildings and no annex attached to the shelters.  After the Buccs were withdrawn they were used for many exercises. I'm guessing the 05 / 06 ones you refer to were Tornado GR4 / F3?  

 

Bar side, your annex is a big old chunk in itself. 

Edited September 16, 2022 by Evalman

[Mark Cassidy]

9 hours ago, Evalman said:

 

Many thanks for the fascinating info,  always good to find out more about these places.   You are correct about the site at St Mawgan, I believe they were intended as a Forward Operating Base for Maritime Strike Buccaneers from Lossiemouth.  The site was more basic than a 'regular' HAS site with fewer buildings and no annex attached to the shelters.  After the Buccs were withdrawn they were used for many exercises. I'm guessing the 05 / 06 ones you refer to were Tornado GR4 / F3?  

 

Bar side, your annex is a big old chunk in itself. 

Thanks evalman,  that would be about the right time we came down twice to do what was in an effect an austere bare base taceval, it was when the raf was messing around with the idea of expeditionary air wings. We did a week long sector level exercise at Leuchars on our very own has site (43sqns) then we came down and did  think 3 weeks  St mawgan being evaluated by raf staff then the second time we came down it was with the nato staff. We got top marks on every category bar the nbc stuff as the raf decided we didn't need to do it. Leuchars then took over months later the baltic air policing mission and we did the bare base thing for real. 

19 hours ago, BillF67 said:

Note that every EWS I’ve ever come across is heavily populated with goldfish. Some even have koi carp in.

Never saw gold fish in the Leuchars ones bills dead rats, gulls and rabbits but never goldfish 🤣

[Mark Cassidy]

21 hours ago, bar side said:

Cheers Mark - not boring at all!  I do like the shots of the Phantoms & Harriers in the early German HASes but I haven’t ever been out to see one.  I think the US bases started to use the later style HAS as well.

 

Making a HES would be similar in build to my removable annex in size & design

 

 

The annex has always been a background prop so isn’t particularly well painted.  It’s just corrugated card with an emulsion based coat of paint & extra bits like the doors added at the end.  I guess the HES only had doors at one end - i only have a picture of one end with doors in!

 

behind the annex you can see the cabin I have started making up.  I was about to throw out a cereal box,  it decided it should become the cabin.  As Mark said the cabin was well insulated, so I thought a card inner shell might work.  Glazing sheet between the inner & outer shells.

 

 

I was going to paint the inside and add tables, chairs and benches.  The outside needs some bits doing and I am tempted to fit a light inside.  Then I need to check to HAS for the location of the annex door and make up an air duct to link to the existing HAS one and rise up over the door and cabin. 
 

Just for scale next to the tank rack

 

 

Needs signs hanging on the front, a steel locker and all sorts to make it look at home.  Need to figure out inside & outside colours too

That looks totally awesome, you know what would be a cool diorama something like the hps  but with  removable roof and a full interior filled as envisaged with ground crew during a taceval 

[bar side]

Cheers @Evalman yes the annex is chunky, just always looks small next to the HAS.

 

On a smaller scale have been playing with internal fittings for the cabin.  Nice idea on the lift off lid HES @Mark Cassidy excerpt I have no idea what would be in there!  Settle for some goings on in the cabin?  I tried a quick card benches and table.  The inside has the second door too

 

 

And the desk around the corner.  Even fitted door handles

 

 

Thought it needed a light in there too.

 

 

So still need a chair & to paint the inside.  Was thinking primer grey with a darker grey floor.  I guess there would have been plenty of things hanging on the wall, clock, calendar (Pirelli?), manuals and checklists.  Not sure how much you would be able to see through the windows

 

 

Do wonder if I should encase a figure inside the cabin

[bar side]

Couple of pics with the back up and the light on

 

 

 

Might be better if the battery was a bit flat!  Possibly a bit bright

[Mark Cassidy]

15 hours ago, bar side said:

Cheers @Evalman yes the annex is chunky, just always looks small next to the HAS.

 

On a smaller scale have been playing with internal fittings for the cabin.  Nice idea on the lift off lid HES @Mark Cassidy excerpt I have no idea what would be in there!  Settle for some goings on in the cabin?  I tried a quick card benches and table.  The inside has the second door too

 

 

And the desk around the corner.  Even fitted door handles

 

 

Thought it needed a light in there too.

 

 

So still need a chair & to paint the inside.  Was thinking primer grey with a darker grey floor.  I guess there would have been plenty of things hanging on the wall, clock, calendar (Pirelli?), manuals and checklists.  Not sure how much you would be able to see through the windows

 

 

Do wonder if I should encase a figure inside the cabin

 Can I help you a little with the cabin, which looks almost bang on as I remember them.  The seat where your man is sitting , should have a high back to it , and the seats had like a black vinyl cushion to sit on.  The telephone was over at the other desk and if you really wanna add some clutter, there was always news papers or magazines laying around,  the sun, the daily sport, fhm , loaded and max power the car max were popular in the early 2000s  

 

As for colour I should have mentioned this before the floor was like a black or hull red linoleum type covering, and the walls were a sort of green it looked a lot like mindaro 

 

https://www.color-name.com/mindaro.color

 

Maybe a wee bit more yellow is and slightly lighter.

 

The walls were also made of panels like these

 

https://www.decustik.com/en/acoustic-panels/perforated-acoustic-panels

 

As for the hps  sure I have seen plans for them somewhere mate I just need to think where. I can walk you in the door of it from memory into the decontination area and stuff but I only remember bits of it in the clean areas.

 

If you mean the hes interior that's easy I can draw that out for you no probs. 

 

Btw thanks for this , this is a lovely trip down memory lane for me btw so thank you.

Edited September 17, 2022 by Mark Cassidy

[bar side]

What you are describing @Mark Cassidy sounds very like the places I grew up around.  My dad was a diesel fitter so garages were my playground.  My godfather had a portacabin that her ran his haulage business & farm from.  I will have a go at some of those ideas to clutter it up.  That fibre board with the grid of drilled holes brings back memories.  Maybe a bit of dexion racking.  Dexion got used for everything.

Now 1/48 1980s telephones.  I had thought that O gauge model rail people would have these available, but I cant find any!  Bit small for most 3D prints (maybe order some on line - anyone got any good contacts they use?) and I could do with a couple for the control tower too.  Can colour print a few bits to a passable resolution so will see how this goes.  

[bar side]

I think sometimes I like playing with bits of card & wire as much as building kits! So more cabin fever today.  I couldn’t leave the ends of the card visible even though no one will see them through the windows.  Brown desk & black bench seats with backs

 

 

The inside got a paint in Humbrol 90 pale green, black floor & left the ceiling grey.  The outside got window frames and the outside door.  Painted with primer grey, the card finish is a bit uneven but I might dirty it up a bit anyway.  The floor was still drying so that’s why it looks patchy.

 

 

The desk desk needed a chair, so one paper clip later

 

 

And positioned inside

 

 

 

Now inside the HAS.  I got it down from the loft today and put it on its side with the tank rack in

 

 

As you can see I did the spacing of things by eye.  The side door to the annex is too near to the main doors.  In order to fit the cabin in I will need to shorten the air duct and cable tray and move the door to the left.  I then intend to lift the air duct up and over the door and cabin.  It looks like the cabin should have some ventilation units on it too.  So it will go here

 

 

Then a steel cabinet, some signs on the front  etc.  

[bar side]

I have been having a look back through this nice video Mark sent me the link to

 

 

I have probably infringed all kinds of copyright by screen grabbing some relevant shots.  All credit to the makers of this video

 

 

So I can print a nice sign for the front of the casing.  Maybe a cabinet, think I have some danger sign but could print them too.  Nice shape for the air duct extension too

 

 

Should have left more space between the door & window for the electrical boxes.  Can do something there though

 

 

my interior door opens the wrong way but I can live with it.  Desk phone or wall phone needed.  May have to scratch one.  Not at all fiddly! Make up a binder for the table.  Another electrical box or two and a first aid kit?

 

Looks like I need to get some scale prints made up & ready to go when I am back near a laser printer on Tuesday.  Now, that telephone….

 

 

 

[bar side]

So this was the HAS before.  Side door, racking

 

 

Now when I put in the cabin I need the door ver to the left.  Luckily I never cut the door in, so it’s entirely superficial 

 

 

When it’s all done I have a bunch of other equipment & signs to place in the HAS

 

 

So I cut back the air duct and moved the door.  The cable tray will get put back in later

 

 

And now extending the duct up & over the door and over the cabin.  This is the mock up so far

 

 

I really was going to start making the telephone today!

[bar side]

Finished off the duct main shape.  Still needs the vents, as the pictures show them to be more complex than the simple holes I had modelled.

 

 

And in situ to check everything fits

 

[DeepSea]

Fair play sir. This is looking absolutely amazing!

[bar side]

Thanks @DeepSea - all very Blue Peter with left over cereal boxes, so nothing much lost but my time if it goes wrong.  

[bar side]

I liked the mesh fronted cabinet in front of the cabin in this pic

 

 

So I found some card and sketched the shape out.  I have a nice sheet of copper mesh to use as well

 

 

So something like this

 

 

Add a bit of paint & it could work.  I was going to make a larger 6 ft steel cabinet as well for further up

[bar side]

Been trying to make 1/48 desk phones.  I was going to build up a plasticard base but started with a bit of balsa wood.  First attempt at a card and blutac handset was a failure.  Wire is old guitar string

 

 

Started building a larger locker too

 

 

Settled on an all blutac handset that looks better.  Bit of paint and a white dial and I think they will do.  Quick ledger on the table too

 

 

And in position in the cabin interior

 

 

And light on, bloke on the seat plus benched & table in.  Put a red top newspaper on the table too.

 

 

The outside bits collection.  Needs vents on the air duct but has electrical ducting and box next to the door

 

 

 

Sothats vents to make, solder up the light power supply and seal up the cabin.  Then should be ready to set it up in the HAS

[bar side]

Couldn’t resist setting things up as I had some time tonight.  Still no vents and the pipe and wiring tray hasn’t been cut down and refitted yet but it helps to see if it works.  I think it looks about right and definitely an improvement on the slightly empty look before

 

 

 

 

Looking at the pics I realised that I put the mes fronted cabinet on its side!

[bar side]

Did the vents today

 

 

And fitted them. I really should do some more for the other side now so they match.  The other side just has the vent holes that were see on the ventilation in some HASes 

 

 

I soldered up the lights power supply too so the cabin is done

 

While the vents were drying I couldn’t help noticing the card tube that is the start of the Yarnold Sangar.  It needed a top and bottom disk

 

 

That corrugated card needed edging and the slots and entrance cut

 

 

Now I intend to skin it with card to get the three part effect.  So with no paint this is how it looks

 

 

 

I was going to give it a coat of emulsion based paint for that concrete look.  Quite like it though!

[Pete in Lincs]

You're obviously enjoying yourself and the result is looking great.

I only really spent time in HAS's in Germany when we had exercises. And one night in a HES when the temperature went below -20C so the exercise was put on hold.

Nevertheless, it all looks right to me all these years later.

[bar side]

Cheers @Pete in Lincs I was always intrigued by the RAFG bases & the clam shell HASes.   It like the army back then, the best gear always seemed to be out in Germany.   
 

As for having fun, it’s a nice distraction from the double Phantom with lights build.  It is somehow easier to get time to cut up a cereal packet than to get stuck in to converting a hard wing Phantom to a slatted wing.  I guess you can get away with more on a diorama build as the building and stuff are the background.  But the more ‘clutter’ or detail if you prefer, the more real things look.

[bar side]

Little bit of green stuff to cover any gaps.  Man for scale

 

 

And a quick prime.  I prefer a coat of spirit prime before putting water based paint on card.  Stops it getting to soggy

 

 

 Could do with going a bit more cream rather than grey

[bar side]

I was looking at the Cabin and HAS and thought it was time to refit the cable tray.  All looks to line up quite nicely

 

 

The only thing that occurred to me is that the cabin seemed to sit up a little with space to lift it on a fork lift.  So I put some supports underneath.  Might paint them but you won’t see them.  The air duct also just sits proud of the cabin roof

 

 

And with it sitting up

 

 

Will need to set it all up and maybe put a jet in the HAS too just to check it all.  Anything else needed for now?  I have seen a couple of extra a/c unit style boxes on the roof in front of the air duct.  And hooks on the front with aircraft warning signs hung on them, but now I guess it’s down to modelling a specific HAS rather than a general model.  But I did see trays over the ducts further back.  Just not sure what would be on them.

[Pete in Lincs]

Fire extinguishers. They were everywhere. Can't remember if you have any?

Back then we'd have small green BCF extinguishers on vehicles. Sometimes in brackets on walls. They were banned in the nineties I believe. Toxic!

Cream extinguishers. Foam for fuel fires.

Black CO2 extinguishers used during engine starts

Blue extinguishers were dry powder for Aircraft brake fires and, IIRC Electrical fires.

Apparently yellow is for wet chemicals but I can't remember ever seeing one.

Red ( water) ones were only for domestic or office type use.