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British nuclear weapon WE.177B


Doccur

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Good afternoon chaps,

 

I have recently purchased a 1/72 TSR.2 and am planing on doing a Whif Operational Strike aircraft. For this I plan on arming the aircraft with 2 of the WE.177Bs, apart a couple of resin sets (of which I would have to purchase 2), I have come across a set of 2 3d printed versions.

 

See link: https://www.shapeways.com/product/UZR4HG7J7/we-177b-c-nuclear-weapon-bipack

 

I wonder if anybody here has had any experience with the manufacturer?

 

Kind regards,

 

Ash

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Shapeways seem to represent a number of different 3-D printing operations , I recently bought items from them that had been printed by another maker that they act on behalf of and the standard of the finished product was outstanding , their communication excellent and delivery was quick although they do explain that some items are printed to order so that could stretch a little bit.     

 

The only other comment that I would make is that once VAT , Shipping and their handling charge is added your price will increase although as with the items I bought it would seem that your alternatives are also rather limited.

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I bought the 1/48 versions for the Tornado GR1 build I'm currently on. Overall they are good, need a little clean up to remove some printing ridges.

The tail fins are very fragile, you have to be careful of those. They can take time to be made as they are custom printed.

20190520-112118.jpg

20190520-112203-2.jpg

 

Rob.

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I would personally give these a miss as they are not very accurate. The fairings on each sidelook a bit too big, long and  not shaped correctly, and positioned a bit too high they also look a bit too long to my eye.   The surface looks very rough, the real weapons were very smooth and shiny! 

If you are using them for a TSR 2 they would be painted overall white at that time period not green which happened in the mid 1970's.

 

Selwyn

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Just for info if you go to the Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker (it’s even signposted as such as you approach it) near Nantwich in Cheshire you can see a real ‘bucket of instant sunshine’ in its handling trolley, decommissioned obviously. I took my son a couple of years ago and was amazed by the sheer volume of material they have there. It is highly recommended for anyone who has an interest in the Cold War and I would go so far as to say I found it more immediate than the Cold War museum at Cosford which if you took away the aircraft would be a bit tame. This is a monument to the owners total obsession with collecting memorabilia from both east and west, totally bonkers. They even have a missile silo control room full of stuff brought back after the Wall came down. Hack Green is a very intense experience which will take you straight back to 1980, warts and all, I know that sounds trite but I honestly have never come across anything quite like it. I came away thinking thank god our kids will hopefully never have to face the prospect of nuclear war.

Just don’t eat the scones, they were baked by Leonid Brezhnev himself........

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6 hours ago, Tramatoa said:

Just for info if you go to the Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker (it’s even signposted as such as you approach it) near Nantwich in Cheshire you can see a real ‘bucket of instant sunshine’ in its handling trolley, decommissioned obviously. I took my son a couple of years ago and was amazed by the sheer volume of material they have there. It is highly recommended for anyone who has an interest in the Cold War and I would go so far as to say I found it more immediate than the Cold War museum at Cosford which if you took away the aircraft would be a bit tame. This is a monument to the owners total obsession with collecting memorabilia from both east and west, totally bonkers. They even have a missile silo control room full of stuff brought back after the Wall came down. Hack Green is a very intense experience which will take you straight back to 1980, warts and all, I know that sounds trite but I honestly have never come across anything quite like it. I came away thinking thank god our kids will hopefully never have to face the prospect of nuclear war.

Just don’t eat the scones, they were baked by Leonid Brezhnev himself........

Have seen examples of We177 at Duxford, FAA museum,  IWM North, and Explosion! at Portsmouth. There seems to be quite a few about in museums.

 

Selwyn

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Yes, there are several located in museums.

It's crazy to see them there when their movement was so secretive. At Honington even the training versions were only delivered to the HAS's when there was no spy satellite passing overhead!

Don't know why they went that anal over them, the Buccaneers were loaded on an open pan. Go figure.

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1 hour ago, Phone Phixer said:

Yes, there are several located in museums.

It's crazy to see them there when their movement was so secretive. At Honington even the training versions were only delivered to the HAS's when there was no spy satellite passing overhead!

Don't know why they went that anal over them, the Buccaneers were loaded on an open pan. Go figure.

 

Even the external shape was classified, there were no published pics of it before it left service. Well, except for the one fitted to a Nimrod that was published inadvertently.....

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6 hours ago, Dave Fleming said:

 

Even the external shape was classified, there were no published pics of it before it left service. Well, except for the one fitted to a Nimrod that was published inadvertently.....

Interesting! as the Nomrod as far as I know only used the american B57 weapon.

 

Selwyn

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On ‎22‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 02:51, David Womby said:

Try Belcher Bits for the WE177

 

http://www.belcherbits.com/lines/172conv/bl3.htm#

 

David

Just popped them an email to see if they can sort me out with a 'custom' order. I don't particualrly fancy buying two sets to just get the two bombs...

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5 hours ago, Selwyn said:

Interesting! as the Nomrod as far as I know only used the american B57 weapon.

 

Selwyn

 

From memory it wasn't an operational airframe, but one of the development aircraft early in the program at the time they were looking at fitting WE177 to NImrod. Test/drill round round

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4 hours ago, Jetgrob said:

As stated by a David Wombley I would try and get a Belcher Bits set.

http://www.belcherbits.com/images/172conv/bl3inst.pdf

This is the Pdf that shows the weapons in the conversion.

 

http://www.belcherbits.com/lines/172conv/bl3.htm#

this is their website.

 

 

Yeah. I have contacted them and they are sorting me out a 'custom' order for 2 1/72 WE.177Bs

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