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1/76 Thor Missile Site


ZAK

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On 25/04/2018 at 19:53, Pete in Lincs said:

I have read that RAF Hemswell in Lincolnshire was also a Thor site.

I now live there in one of the former Officers Quarters.

It will be good to see what it actually looked like.

 

Yes, Hemswell was a Thor missile site, it was the group HQ for the Linconshire wing for the Thor sites. The Thor missile site at Hemswell was built on the former runway after most of the missiles were flown into there. Once the runway was closed the Thors were  then flown in and out of Scampton which was was a couple of miles down the A15.

 

A C-133 delivering a Thor into Hemswell famously over shot the runway and ended up straddling the B 1398 on the edge of the Lincoln Cliffe..

 

The extant Thor civils engineering works at Hemswell are the are  believed to be the most complete of Thor sites in the UK and I believe are now listed.

 

Thomo.

Edited by The Tomohawk Kid
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Here is the platform for the Short Range Theodolite and collimator, this sits at the head of the missile when it is flat in the hangar.

Due to selective compression I am not including the Long range Theodolite.

Apparently these were for the alignment of the missile.

Each missile had two possible targets and so it needed to be aligned correctly.

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Liquid Oxygen was quite difficult to handle and as well as exhaust pits a shower was provided for staff use in case of mishap.

The staff did wear protective clothing.

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Here is the Liquid oxygen (LOX) supply for the missile.

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The site had 6 lights on tall poles, I decided to model three of them, they are scratch built, the ladders are from OO gauge signals.

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Edited by ZAK
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Well this is as far as I have gone to date, views of the site, almost complete, but are dioramas ever finished?

 

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These are the views of the overall site, it measures approximately 4 ft. x 4 ft.

I will maybe do some close ups as time permits.

I now need to add a few figures and some vehicles to the site.

If you want to see it in real life it, will, hopefully be at the Northern Model Show on Sunday June 3rd.

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Dear Zak

What a well thought out and executed project. Congratulations. Like many others I find Thor very interesting and have toyed with the idea to do something like this. Being a 1/48 builder I was not aware of some of the kits you have used here and despite having 2x Mach 2 Thor kits I have found the lack of good pictures frustrating. 

On my holiday this summer I did manage to get a  copy of the Thor Weapons book you refer to so there might be a bit of progress soon.

 

Thanks for sharing. 

 

Did you consider loaning the finished model to somewhere like Cosford Cold war Museum or Nettished where they have a similar model of a Bloodhound installation? I'm sure it would be good for more people to see this hidden part of the Cold War. 

 

Regards Colin 

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This is such good stuff. I love this type of diorama.

 

A friend and I went to a number of old missile sites in the middle of fields here in Northamptonshire. Some still had the old pipe work - it was still as bright and shiny as the day it was installed.

 

Graham

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That really is my type of Diorama! I have wanted to do something like this for a while, given me a bit of inspiration.

 

I never even thought of doing a Thor missile launch site, I wasn't aware they had models of them. It gives me an excuse to go looking round old RAF airfields.

 

Ryan

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1 hour ago, TheindieG said:

That really is my type of Diorama! I have wanted to do something like this for a while, given me a bit of inspiration.

 

I never even thought of doing a Thor missile launch site, I wasn't aware they had models of them. It gives me an excuse to go looking round old RAF airfields.

 

Ryan

Unfortunately there is very little left of the Thor sites now and what is left is hardly recognisable. They were essentially temporary in nature and once Thor was decommission the sites were quickly and easily dismantled. Harrington and Bardney are probably the most extant sites.

 

The best way is search on Google maps to get a feel for the sites.

 

Tommo.

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6 minutes ago, The Tomohawk Kid said:

Unfortunately there is very little left of the Thor sites now and what is left is hardly recognisable. They were essentially temporary in nature and once Thor was decommission the sites were quickly and easily dismantled. Harrington and Bardney are probably the most extant sites.

 

The best way is search on Google maps to get a feel for the sites.

 

Tommo.

Yes I did see that there isn't a huge amount left, but there is always parts of the landscape that can be seen. I have been looking into RAF Harwell recently as part of a personal project. It has since been the site for major nuclear science for the past 50 years. Even so there are still areas that have been slightly changed or converted, things like runways are now roads or car parks. Its great to just see what is left of these famous places, and try and imagine what it once was!

 

Thanks for the leads on Harrington and Bardney being the best starts. I always start with Google maps.

 

Ryan

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Have a look on Google Maps /Earth at Caistor in Lincs (wartime grass airfield to the west of the town) and Catfoss in East Yorks. Both of those have fairly complete launch pad sites that are still easily identifiable, with blast walls and concrete groundworks still intact (2 of the former 3 at Catfoss). I am fortunate enough to fly over them quite often, especially Catfoss, and the remains never fail to impress due to the potential effect for which they were constructed.

 

Excellent diorama. Zak. Do you have a picture in its final form?

Jon

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hello @ZAK

 

Not sure if you're still active on the forum, as your last visit was July last year, but you have a private message waiting for you from me. I'm hoping this post wiill give you an email notification to make you aware.

 

Steve

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On 30/04/2018 at 08:47, ZAK said:

I now need to add a few figures

You’ll definitely need to include an RAF Policeman walking round the site with his faithful German Shepard.

 

Loving the diorama, will definitely keep looking back in for progress.

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