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Airfix Nimrod MR.1


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This will be my first of a stash of three Nimrods acquired by way of Christmas gifts or eBay! I'll be building this one OOB as an MR.1 in the classic grey and white scheme, the first style I remember seeing them in flying into Woodford.

 

13zpbv4.jpg

 

2j32k1z.jpg

 

I have an aerosol of satin RAL7035 'light grey', and satin white, which hopefully are the correct colours as it's a huge paint job! I'm hoping 400ml of grey will be enough.

 

Any tips from anybody who's tackled one of these? I'm not good enough to be a massive detailer and scratch-building intakes or anything, I just want a nice Nimrod as accurate as reasonable from the box.

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Oh so nearly picked one of these up at a swap-meet on Sunday, then had a burst of rational thinking and realised I would probably never build it and certainly never finish it. But it was very, very tempting...

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That should be a great project, riot.

Looks like plenty of stuff in the box!

Any chance of building her with those flaps deployed? They look spectacular.

Way down the road, I'm seeing that paint line being a challenge. Might be worth reading around in the "Civil/ Commercial" section for ideas on how to tackle it.

Good luck👍

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If the kit allows I'd definitely like to build it with those big flaps hanging down, for sure! 

 

Good point about the demarcation line, I was thinking of spraying the white first, then using a long strip of Tamiya masking tape to keep the grey straight. Just hope it doesn't pull the white off when removed.

 

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I'll be tagging along for this, if you don't mind :)

I've got plenty of R1 pictures and a handful of MR2 snaps if you ever want them. Here's my effort (from quite a while ago!), the main problem I had was the wing-fuselage join but apart from that I seem to remember it being a jolly nice kit to work with!

 

Best wishes,

Sam

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3 hours ago, perdu said:

Good colour match for the lino  :)

 

Thanks, it was a bit lucky really, I had no blue paint and it looks like the grey-blue I did have mixed perfectly with the red. Need blue for the seat cushions now though!

1 hour ago, cathasatail said:

I'll be tagging along for this, if you don't mind :)

I've got plenty of R1 pictures and a handful of MR2 snaps if you ever want them. Here's my effort (from quite a while ago!), the main problem I had was the wing-fuselage join but apart from that I seem to remember it being a jolly nice kit to work with!

 

Best wishes,

Sam

Thanks Sam, that's a superb R.1! Absolutely love what you did with those lights too!

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I've built one of these to represent XV241 in 206 Squadron's anniversary colours and I had fun mixing the floor colour too.  If you follow the instructions the floor sits too low: the pilots' eye level would be at the bottom of the windscreen so I sat it on top of the upper locating rib which, to me, looks slightly better.  Get the Alley Cat replacement windscreen if you can, it's far better than the kit part and you get etched brass wipers (double-edged weapon: great if you can handle it, a pain if not)..

 

Although Airfix give you the centre and outer flaps as separate parts the inner flaps are moultded as part of the lower jet pipe fairings, so some surgery will be required for an accurate representation.  However XV249 was displayed at Cosford for some time, and may still be, with centre and outer flaps down and inners up, which may have something to do with the way that she was dismantled at Kemble, transported to Cosford and reassembled there, rather than the normal operation of the flaps.

 

I added drip strips from fine plastic strip above the doors, relocated the nose light and taxy lights outboard of the engines and added the small leading edge fences on the wings.  If I remember correctly the APU intake and exhaust arrangements differed between MR. 1 and MR. 2 (have a look at the walkaround page on here and period photos).  I also scratch-built some structural detail in the nosewheel well and hinges for the inner main leg doors which may not be accurate but adds a smidge of visual interest (the outers are closed unless the gear is travelling or access for maintenance is required).

 

I've another three in the stash which I hope to get round to building one day but, for now, I'll get my Nimrod pleasures vicariously through your build.

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Thanks for the info Steve, especially regarding the cockpit position and undercarriage doors. I might see what I can do with the flaps, and try a dry fit of the canopy before I decide whether to check on eBay for the Alley Cat one.

 

 

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My pleasure.  Alley Cat have the canopy set on for £10 plus postage at present.  As well as the brass wipers the set also includes masking for the doubler plates around the canopy (apply masking tape and paint over it, simples!) and further masking tape doubters to bring the escape hatches flush with the fuselage skin (also simples!).

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That's interesting feedback esp. for the flaps arrangement. Made me go back to that first pic - darned if I can see anything inner. Would it be the same wing as the original Comet airframe, or was it all redesigned and developed?

 

Flaps - I love 'em!  Just been sorting some flap deployment on my BAe Hawk.

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Looking again at your first pic the starboard inner section is visible as the dark area between the centre flap and starboard undercarriage leg.  You're looking at its (probably heat-and fluid-stained) inner surface and it's in shadow.  

 

The wing is essentially that of the Comet 4C, so the same span and pinion tank fit as the Comet 4 but beefed up for the longer and heavier 4C.  The engine bays were deepened on the Nimrod to accommodate the Speys which were fatter and had a significantly higher mass flow than the Avons of the Comet.  For the inner flaps this means that the channel section is deeper to accommodate the larger-diameter tailpipes.  Cutting that section out of the Airfix wing should be do-able by repeatedly scoring round the edges as they're all straight, or nearly so, and it'll save you having to form a new channel section (I didn't try it on my first one) but check that Airfix got the panel lines in the right place.  You'll then have to fabricate a representation of the tailpipes or inner skin (not altogether sure here) to fill the resultant void.

 

If you can find three-quarter rear views of the two jets to compare you should see a bigger gap between the tailpipes on the Comet than on the Nimrod.

 

I hope that none of this is teaching you to suck eggs, but if it is I apologise.

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It is a nice little kit, however the glaring error for me (and that I have rarely seen mentioned elsewhere) is the shape of the tailplanes, at their outboard edges they are completely the wrong shape. 

It is a fairly straightforward job to simply re-profile them (using references as a guide), but then you would lose a bit off the span, you can use plasticard inserts to make this up but then it gets more complicated.

 

I can't say that I have heard of the APU intakes or exhaust being different between the MR.1 and 2 before now, there positioning seems the same.

 

Re the flaps, in service it was rare that the flaps were left down when the aircraft was parked, this pic shows the flap arrangement and you can just see the structure detail in the stb'd inner one

7442678832_b1df176b25_c.jpgNimrod MR.2 XV240 25 Jan 04 by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

Edit, even better picture, note the camera doors open as well

1327567-large.jpg

Shaun Connor - Air Britain Images Collection

Edited by 71chally
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Hi, I have built this twice and from memory the only downside is that the nose wheel leg goes in very early and is very, very fragile so might be an idea to make a temporary shield around it.  Someone did a pewter replacement on eBay years ago but I haven't searched recently.  Many happy hours joyriding in Nimrods when I was in the RAF.

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Thanks 71chally: I hadn't seen anything about the tailplane tip outline; references here I come.

 

I don't think the APU was moved but the intake and exhaust arrangements were changed.

 

Nice shots of the flaps.

 

Looking at the cockpit doorway I wonder if Airfix thought all Nimrod flight deck crew were amateur-level limbo dancers.

 

Ballast is definitely required: I think Heritage Aviation did a white metal undercarriage leg set, but I think it's now out of production.

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1 hour ago, stever219 said:

Thanks 71chally: I hadn't seen anything about the tailplane tip outline; references here I come.

Basically the tailplane tips are far too rounded, and I think too long especially in relation to the outboard edges of the elevators.  I really don't know what Airfix was looking at, I even checked Comets thinking they must have had a different tailplane, but they are the same as the Nimrod. 

Even the instructions/colour guide have the plans drawn with the wrong tailplane shape.  I'm quite surprised with all the add ons for this kit that no one did replacement tailplanes.

I haven't measured the kit tailplanes for span (or chord), so unsure if the removed/reprofiled tip plastic does need to be made up elsewhere .

 

This shot well illustrates how they should be

Hawker_Siddeley_Nimrod_MR1_(801),_UK_-_A

Wiki

 

Heritage did a white metal u/c and resin nose u/c bay set, and SAC do a white metal u/c set - however they look like cast copies of the original plastic items - fine for the main gear legs but the nose leg is a work of fiction.

 

I honestly can't spot any differences in the MR.1 / 2 APU intake and exhausts layout in the pics I have.

 

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

Basically the tailplane tips are far too rounded, and I think too long especially in relation to the outboard edges of the elevators.  I really don't know what Airfix was looking at, I even checked Comets thinking they must have had a different tailplane, but they are the same as the Nimrod. 

Even the instructions/colour guide have the plans drawn with the wrong tailplane shape.  I'm quite surprised with all the add ons for this kit that no one did replacement tailplanes.

I haven't measured the kit tailplanes for span (or chord), so unsure if the removed/reprofiled tip plastic does need to be made up elsewhere .

 

I honestly can't spot any differences in the MR.1 / 2 APU intake and exhausts layout in the pics I have.

 

Thanks again: that's a great photo.

 

Dunno where I got that about the APU from then.  Where's my rock so I can get back under it?🙁

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I'm not saying you're wrong, maybe it's my poor perception of photos.

 

I try not to do rocks, either throwing them or hiding under 'em!

 

 

BTW, have you ever seen good reliable scale plans for the Nimrod or even Comet?

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It's a shame that there are no MR. 1s left for us to investigate😥

 

As as the archetypal 15-stone weakling throwing rocks isn't really an option which only really leaves hiding under.😐

 

No: there were sets advertised in Aviation News and Scale Models a very long time ago but I never got round to getting copies of them.  I strongly suspect that those in my Formaplane/Airways Vac Form kit "somewhere in the loft" are going to prove disappointing if ever I can find them.  I wonder if the Nimrod drawings at Woodford (assuming they ever existed: apparently the lack of same was one reason for the "fun" that Airfix had with the engine intakes) were microfilmed comme TSR 2 or if they all just fetched up in a skip.

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