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Gannet ripple and relaxxxx


perdu

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Finally tracked you down and caught up with you Bill.

 

10 hours ago, perdu said:

I got that great Gannet shot on Google yesterday, there are several interesting things hanging off those machines in the sixties and seventies

 

Lots to get scratching on

 

😀

 

Glad to see you've a few itches that need scratching...

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That Pavia resin is wonderful stuff Colin, I recommend it to anyone

Not keen on trying to pick out seat belts for painting, but that's because OLD HANDS cannot paint steadily

 

Mine!

 

😕

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1 hour ago, perdu said:

That Pavia resin is wonderful stuff Colin, I recommend it to anyone

Not keen on trying to pick out seat belts for painting, but that's because OLD HANDS cannot paint steadily

 

Mine!

 

😕

Yes to the seatbelts Bill, I've resorted the Eduard on my 48th models, 72nd get painted masking tape...

 

Colin

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yeah, I'm amongst the few that actually think the Gannet was a handsome beast and that photo shows it off well.

It was taken as part of a sortie from Lossiemouth in Nov 1978 for 'Aeroplane Monthly', who ran a colour edition with the pictures.  Can scan and post if enough interest.

In the following month XA466 777-LM was flown to the Fleet Air Arm Museum for preservation. 

 

These pics may come in handy, not as good or comprehensive as Steves' walkaround, but are of 777, if you do choose to go for it.

36900450665_313579c764_c.jpgXA466 cockpit by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

36066219844_edceb7f879_c.jpgXA466 cockpit by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

36066218274_a54f52d511_c.jpgXA466 cockpit by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

36900449405_9a7d33ab53_c.jpgXA466 cockpit by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

I have plenty more, and of the other cockpits, but don't want to infest your thread Bill!

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That isnt an infestation James, it is a lesson in research and decisions made


Due entirely to these I have removed the 'what might be' bomb sight from atop the i.p

 

lovely pictures, all comers welcome in the Gannet picture stakes

 

I wonder, is it safe to assume the similar lump atop the second cockpit needs extracting too?

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Oh my - that's a typical British cockpit of the era ain't it? Pilot's panel looks  reasonably logically laid out - but not a paradigm of ergonomic design and very dark.  That's a long way down to look at the Arificial Horizon.  I wonder what the side by side 'cross hair' displays at the top are?  They look like some sort of flight director display - like ILS - displaying vertical and lateral displacement from a beam - but I don't know why there would be two.  They're obviously important to be mounted at the top so close to the eye line.

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17 hours ago, 71chally said:

 

It was taken as part of a sortie from Lossiemouth in Nov 1978 for 'Aeroplane Monthly', who ran a colour edition with the pictures.  Can scan and post if enough interest.

 

Appeared in the Feb 1979 issue, IIRC.

 

With apologies to the OP, do you have any photos of the rear cockpit?  I've always been a bit hazy on what if any mods were made for the COD role.  I've seen references to additional seating being installed but in that case something would have to go!

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Fritag, I took those instruments to be zero readers for the ILS, but why two?  Standby or back up - seems like overkill though.

The bearing indicator and extra altimeter on that upper panel are additions over the standard Gannet.

 

I do Seahawk, there is only the one seat, basically it's quite empty  with no radar sets or controls.

I'm not sure how much standardisation there was across the six CODs converted so some may have had an extra fabric type seat, I think some of the T.5s had such a set up.

 

I've just got back from the FAAM, and feel like I've just experienced an 18hr Shackleton sortie!

 

 

 

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You pair can colour me jealous

 

😥

I'll whip the electrical bits off the resinous bits for the COD tonight then, been a bit busy Buccin around with other resin today

 

Now there's Humbrol Putty resting atop the Bucc's intake joints to deal with an issue or two

 

And now I've to add a finalising WIP for my HAS3 Walter who is finally getting a bit of lurve

 

Busy day, busy day...😂

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Rear cockpit, you can see where the radar set racks are, this is obviously a museum piece with the usual caveats, but believe it is pretty much how it left service.

 

36785181491_3632826340_c.jpgXA466 3rd cockpit by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

36090750894_f8bbd3a367_c.jpgXA466 3rd cockpit 3 by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

36090752864_5f7a8c9fc2_c.jpgXA466 3rd cockpit 2 by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

I think that hefty seat back can swing out the way to allow access into the area just fwd of the seat.

Edited by 71chally
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17 minutes ago, 71chally said:

I think that hefty seat back can swing out the way to allow access into the area just fwd of the seat.

but not in MY MODEL!

 

:)

 

That seat does not look the most comfortable and reassuring seat in an aeroplane I ever saw

 

Great pictures again thank you James

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My guess is that those two cross-hair instruments started life as sonobuoy homers (since the aircraft was originally an AS4); that;s certainly what they look like to this super-annuated ASW pilot, snyway!  Why they'd be retained in a COD cab, I'm not sure.  

 

Initially I thought they must be for homing to Mum, but why have two in that case.

 

If you don't already have it, the Ad Hoc Publications "Gannet from the Cockpit" book is excellent - and there are a couple of copies on a certain auction site at this very moment, including one which is extremely reasonably priced.  

 

Bill, if you think the TAG seat looks flimsy, apparently the version in the AS4 was an upgrade; as far as I can tell, the AS1 equivalent was little more than a string shopping bag suspended between a couple of hooks.  Gotta keep the Damed Watings' backs straight somehow, you know?

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Probably somebody with a pusser's eye for what's right decided to keep her looking tidy-ish

 

You nautical types are well known for your love of ordered tidy, isn't it?

 

(Oops was that a touch of AB Goldstein coming through..?)

 

Thanks for the heads-up on the book

 

Watching, four days to go

 

But you utter sod, now I have yet another "unmissable book" series to collect

 

Ta mate

👍

 

 

😉

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2 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

My guess is that those two cross-hair instruments started life as sonobuoy homers (since the aircraft was originally an AS4); that;s certainly what they look like to this super-annuated ASW pilot, snyway!  Why they'd be retained in a COD cab, I'm not sure.  

 

Initially I thought they must be for homing to Mum, but why have two in that case.

 

Bill, if you think the TAG seat looks flimsy, apparently the version in the AS4 was an upgrade; as far as I can tell, the AS1 equivalent was little more than a string shopping bag suspended between a couple of hooks.  Gotta keep the Damed Watings' backs straight somehow, you know?

Crisp, that rear seat was standard in AS.1 & 4 and the derivatives (COD.4 & ECM.6), the base of which can be unlocked and swiveled.

The only net type seat was the extra one sometimes fitted in the T.2 & T.5 which allowed for an extra Stude to be carried, where two of them sat facing each other, wondering what the heck they had signed up to.

The genesis of that rear position is quite interesting, initially the Gannet was to be two crew only, with the obs doing the nav and tac nav/radar.  There was then an idea to have four crew, with two under a large single canopy at the rear, which as the type progressed through service life would have been a very handy layout.

 

That extra panel, or any of those four modern (ish!) instruments was not fitted to any ASW, but are seen in the AEW, which of course CODs were shared on the squadron.

I'm pretty sure that one of those is ILS, due to CODs operating from  a variety of land bases, but wonder if the other is carrier landing related.

I also wonder if the direction finder/homer underneath those two is for locating the carrier.

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Update sans photos for James

 

First SeaVixen wheel popped out of its mould yesterday

 

Good replication of some holes, not so good t'others so I'll do a repop of the first one out with added stuff

 

The photos of 777 are great but, and it is a big but, I am strangely attracted to her in sky and grey

 

And I have lots of RAFBG in stock

 

I might just make her twice...

 

I have just found my old Olympus camera, it has a flash so I now have to work out how to get its pictures onto the screen, the software doesn't see my USB port with the camera in it

 

:(

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Feel free to do to the wheel what you need to, so long as it still looks Vixeney afterwards!

 

btw, which RAF Blue/grey paint do you use?

 

I'm really torn between the two 777 schemes, the EDSG and Sky with tactical markings scheme was unique, but there is something about the standard COD scheme!

It was repainted in the RAF B/G in June 1978, and retired to the FAA Museum just a few months later in December, this paint finish is as true as it gets!

 

36545042340_a5787a5427_c.jpgGannet COD.4 XA466 port undercarriage by James Thomas, on Flickr

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