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617 Dambusters Sqn Tribute- RIAT 2018


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617 "Dambusters" Squadron - A Tribute

 

Morning all!

 

I hope that you are all well and keeping cool in the stiflingly hot weather that we've been having recently!

 

To cut a long story short, last year was my first time at RIAT (and wow, if you haven't been before then I absolutely recommend it), As part of the RAF100 celebrations a flypast was arranged to pay tribute to the legendary 617 "Dambusters" Squadron with a trio of aircraft that they have flown throughout the squadron's life: the BBMF's Lancaster, a Tornado GR4 (courtesy of 41 Sqn), and a brand-new F-35b Lightning II (courtesy of the recently reformed 617 Sqn).

 

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This year has been special for 2 of these aircraft, as I'm sure you are all aware. The F-35b fleet is starting to be built up and achieved Initial Operating Capability (IOC) in January, and has recently been reported to have conducted their first operational missions over Iraq and Syria earlier this month.

And as one aircraft enters the stage, another took its final bow. After almost 40 years in service and having stood guard during the Cold War, and after action in the Gulf War and over the Middle East, in recent years, it was withdrawn from RAF service in March.

 

I saw the Tornado in flight for the first time in 2017 when I made my first trip to RAF Coningsby. After a morning of Typhoon takeoffs (including a practice QRA scramble) and lunchtime recoveries, we decided to walk to the opposite end and visit the BBMF hangar. And it was then, as we rounded the corner, that she appeared:

 

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A thing of beauty, for sure.

Since then I've seen only a few more Tornadoes: one at a flypast at the 2018 Cosford airshow, another as part of the RIAT 617 Sqn flypast shown previously, and a trio of Tonkas at the National Memorial Arboretum as part of the farewell flypasts that took place in February.

 

Enough of my rambling, time to have a peek at what I'll be building.

 

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So there we have it:

1x Airfix Lancaster 1:72

1x Hasegawa F35b 1:72 (with RAF decals from the Xtradecal sheet shown above)

1x Revell Tornado 1:72 (with extra bits: Xtradecal sheet for 41Sqn, Freightdog GR4 FLIR pod, and Master pitot and AoA probes.

 

Right, that's all for now- more to come soon!

 

Best wishes,

Sam

Edited by cathasatail
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The last time I went to RIAT was 2013 for the 70th anniversary of the Dambuster raid. After the Vulcan flight, they were doing guided tours on the apron around and underneath it. Our tour was just after the Lancaster and a 617sqn Tornado did a 70th anniversary flypast. While we were stood gazing at the Vulcan, the Tornado and Lancaster landed, taxied onto the apron and parked either side of us. Apart from the 10 or so of us under the Vulcan, nobody will have that experience.

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One Sunday teatime, Victoria (my wife) and I were walking the dog around Grasmere. You often get fast jets hurtling through the valley, as it’s part of the Mach Loop, so we weren’t over surprised to hear something noisy passing over us. This day, however, we looked up, and it was the Vulcan. I think it was the last year it operated, so it was at every airshow, but there hadn’t been one that day. It was clearly just out, returning home after whatever it had been doing. Flying in a leisurely way, not in a display, just doing what it was made to do. Then it passed over the hills and was gone, leaving only fading noise. For a few minutes we’d had it just for ourselves.

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I saw the vulcan that same day when driving back from honister pass in Cumbria. Always a spectacular sight and a shame we won't see it again. I was at Scampton in 1981 and was sick of the sight of them then...... Nostalgia 🤔

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Hi everyone!

 

It's been great to read about your memories of the mighty Vulcan- I saw her at the Throckmorton airshow (her debut for that final season) and my gosh what a display, and what a noise! I can still remember my chest rattling as she rocketed skywards for her final pass. Funnily enough I do have an Airfix Vulcan waiting in the wings (or rather, underneath my bed!) that's awaiting its turn on the bench...

 

Just now, neil5208 said:

should be intresting, three kits of differing age. Are you building concurently or one by one?

Thanks :) I'll be building them one by one, primarily so that I can really consolidate my time and research and really have a good go at each aircraft, instead of jumping between them. I'll start with the F-35, then move onto the Tornado, and finally the Lancaster (I'm looking to get some Eduard bits and pieces for the cockpit!)

 

Co-incidentally, the F-35 has been in the news this morning, with the first few jets having returned back to RAF Marham after their deployment to Cyprus.

Time to start the build!

 

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I started off with an initial base coat of black for the cockpit and instrument panel, followed by a matt varnish to seal it all in.

 

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The rather novel construction of the intake/life-fan assembly. A quick dry fit of this assembly in the fuselage has shown that it fits in rather snugly indeed!

 

 

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For this model I intend to have it as seen when taking off from carriers; the nozzle at approximately 45 degrees, the tail surfaces deflected down, flaps and slats down, lift-fan door open, etc. I'm still debating whether to have the canopy open or closed....

 

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The 3 sections (made of 2 halves each) allow for a nozzle that can swivel all the way from 0....

 

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... to 90 degrees.

 

I will play around with it some more to see whether 45 degrees is the optimal angle to go for, and then I shall glue it in place and add some detail to it.

 

So where do we go from here? I'll be fitting the lift-fan into the fuselage and closing it all up, and then I shall commence the one thing that I've yet to perfect with an F-35 kit; the painting. I will try to take a leaf out of @SaminCam's book, with his remarkable build of the same kit:

 

And so, that's all from me for now. Have a good evening everyone!

 

Best wishes,

Sam

 

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Thanks Sam,  I'll be following this with interest, not least because you'll probably overtake me in no time and I can borrow ideas off you! It's looking great so far,  looking forward to seeing the paint job. What's your plan for f35 raf markings,  sticking with the grey "stealth" roundels or going for something red and blue? Still haven't made my mind up yet...

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On 6/30/2019 at 10:26 PM, Andy Robbins said:

One Sunday teatime, Victoria (my wife) and I were walking the dog around Grasmere. You often get fast jets hurtling through the valley, as it’s part of the Mach Loop, so we weren’t over surprised to hear something noisy passing over us. This day, however, we looked up, and it was the Vulcan. I think it was the last year it operated, so it was at every airshow, but there hadn’t been one that day. It was clearly just out, returning home after whatever it had been doing. Flying in a leisurely way, not in a display, just doing what it was made to do. Then it passed over the hills and was gone, leaving only fading noise. For a few minutes we’d had it just for ourselves.

One didn't know that Grasmere was part of the Mach Loop.

 

One rather likes the look of this project,good work.

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  • 2 months later...

Right, well here I am again!

A lot has happened in the last few months; I've taken my first ever flight (7 flights in the space of 2 weeks!), conquered my fear of flying and heights, and been somewhat busy with other commitments.

 

As such, I haven't had much opportunity to build and when I have I often haven't been taking progress photos. Nevertheless the F-35b is now finally finished:

 

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The (now) past, the present and the future. (The Tornado and Eurofighter pictured in the background are from a previous build)

 

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The present. (Again, the Typhoon is a 41sqn aircraft from a previous build- it should look good next to the 41sqn Tornado that will be next on the bench!)

 

It's been a busy few months, and with Uni starting back up imminently I can't guarantee that it will be any less busy! However I shall endeavour to post more build photos for the next kit: the Revell 1:72 Tornado, with 41sqn decals, the brass pitot tube, and a resin FLIR fairing.

 

Best wishes,

Sam

 

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  • 7 months later...

Time for a bit of a revival, don't you think?

 

In need of a "quick-fix" at the end of long days of revision and reading, I've been using some of the references, gathered while the other 1:32 Tornado project (link here) has been pottering on, to put into the 1:72 Tornado that I'll be building here.

 

Firstly, I started work modifying the kit GR1 cockpit to the GR4 standard

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Quite a change from working on a 1:32 Tornado!

 

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A bit of work on the wheel wells, next:

 

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And now, time for a lick of paint!

 

 

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(I haven't forgotten the joystick and hand controller, don't worry!)

 

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Those of you who are familiar with the Revell kit, might be aware that the cockpit "coaming" (or dashboard perhaps?) for the pilot lies flush with the front of the instrument panel. To create some "overhang" I used thin strips of plasticard and added a few bits and pieces to liven things up.

 

Talking of livening things up.... I plan to build this tornado with slats and flaps down, along with the auxiliary intake doors open.

To that end, the wings recently went from this...

 

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...to this...

 

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A bit rough-and-ready perhaps, but it's a start I suppose.

 

That's it for now- thanks for dropping by!

All the best, and stay safe,

 

Sam

 

Edited by cathasatail
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Your first post with the mention of seeing tornados makes me think how different it was growing up in the East Midlands in the 80s. Almost every day you’d see something at low or mid level. Tornado, jags, A10s, F111s Hawks, occasionally the BBMF...

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Evening all!

Time for another update:

 

First on the agenda are the intakes. I cut away and scratchbuilt the auxiliary intake doors (after filling in the gaping chasm on the inboard parts of both intakes!)

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While they were drying up I moved onto the fuselage:

 

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(Wings added)

 

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(APU exhaust port given a bit of depth

 

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(More of the auxiliary intake doors)

 

And now it was time to bring the pieces together!

 

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(Sneak peak inside the cockpit)

 

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And the doors in their current state. Note, I'll be using filler and sanding the base of the intake part so that it runs flush with the fuselage section it's attached to. I'll also be sorting out that ghastly seam and dent in the leading edge of the Krueger flaps.

 

That's it for now. :)

 

Best wishes,

Sam

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi everyone!

 

Over the past couple of weeks I've been working on the Tornado most evenings to wind down for the day. She's finally completed, but I thought I'd share some more build photos before I unveil the finished product!

 

Starting with the flaps:

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Who can spot the error already?

Contrary to what my Revell 1:48 tornado kit suggested (turns out I installed them upside down, but that's another story), there are gaps between each flap section. I'll definitely keep an eye out for that when I come round to tackling that kit again (I've got a GR4 and Eduard's "Desert babe" boxing waiting for their turn).

So a quick session with the hacksaw and all was well!

 

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The aftermarket FLIR pod from Freightdog was a dream to work with, nice crisp detail and no problems adhering it to the model.

 

We now skip a few steps and get to the painting/decalling stage.

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(The fixed flaps, hurrah!)

 

As always, the Xtradecal decals were simply sublime and bedded down exceptionally well with a bit of Humbrol DecalFix.

And with those final few pictures bringing the Tornado build to a close, I'll be uploading the RFI snaps later on today. Next up, and the final piece of this trio, is the Lancaster!

 

Thanks again for having a look :)

Best wishes,

 

Sam

 

 

Edited by cathasatail
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