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Concorde prototypes 001 and 002 - fin question


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I am building the original Airfix Concorde (Air France 60s livery) as one of the prototypes.   I know the real thing had a fairing each side of the fin, presumably to cover the rudder actuator.   However, looking at pics, it seems that, for some of the time,  they had two fairings each side of the fin.   They are not there now on the preserved airframes but what were they and when were the fitted and removed, please?  Test equipment?   Were they only removed on retirement?

 

Here's pics of 002's fin to show what I mean.

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David

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Hello, David

Auxiliary rudder actuator, perhaps? That fairing seems to be present on some photos and missing on others of the same aircraft. There is a large photo of G-BSST flying, seconds before landing, with only one fairing on the port side of the vertical tail, in Aircraft Profile publication booklet by Norman Barfield.

I do not want to interfere with your build but ill-fated Concorde type 101 F-BTSC was originally delivered as type 100 F-WTSC to Aerospatiale and used for air route proving, operational evaluation and PR work (appeared in Airport 79 movie) for quite some time. In this period, she had been painted in the old Air France livery:

 

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I found the photo above on this very useful Concorde webpage. There are three other photos of the aircraft in this livery on that page, and none of them shows the additional fairings. Cheers

Jure

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Thanks, Jure.  I agree F-BTSC looks lovely in the old Air France livery.   I can't build mine in that as the kit is of the prototype, not the production, Concorde.

 

David

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4 hours ago, Beermonster1958 said:

I don't know if you're aware David but, the original 1966 kit was also released (in 1969) with  Air France markings. Unfortunately, examples of that particular kit now go for totally silly money.

John

 

John,  that's the kit I am building. I've owned it over 50 years.    The collectors will not get this one.   Airfix plan to reissue it this year with BOAC decals but I'm building mine as one of the prototypes.

 

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David

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43 minutes ago, David Womby said:

John,  that's the kit I am building. I've owned it over 50 years.    The collectors will not get this one.   Airfix plan to reissue it this year with BOAC decals but I'm building mine as one of the prototypes.

 

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David

I got the same under construction at the time.

I will finish mine as shown on the box just for the fun of it.

Its wrong of course,but at the time of its release,it seemed to go look that way,when Airfix was releasing this kit.

I am also trying to use the kits decals where possible and add the rest and some details from my spares.

 

I guess the prototypes changed much during their testings,so my guess is,whatever you plan to do,will be right.You may just have to pick a timeframe of the aircraft you are building.The kits parts seem ok for early tests.

Looking forward to the prototype of yours

Alex

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Does anyone know of plans for aftermarket 001 or 002 decals?

 

I just bought 2 kits in the hope they have!

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On 4/17/2021 at 4:45 AM, David Womby said:

However, looking at pics, it seems that, for some of the time,  they had two fairings each side of the fin.   They are not there now on the preserved airframes but what were they and when were the fitted and removed, please?

 

Just a suggestion but the only thing that would make sense to me would be if the upper and lower sections of the rudder were separately actuated on the prototypes. Was this perhaps trialed initially? There is a prominent panel line across the middle of the rudder ....

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14 hours ago, Orso said:

Since the extra fairings move around and don't reach the rudder part of the fin I assumed that they were some sort of antennas or test equipment.

I think you must be right but the 'temporary' ones are situated directly opposite the true actuators.  Probably for aerodynamic reasons?

 

David

3 hours ago, The Tomohawk Kid said:

The Airfix kit as pictured up thread, is more the concept design rather than the prototype.

 

Tommo.

True but it's close enough for my purposes.

 

David

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Yes - the Airfix kit was based on the various artists impressions that were released before the prototypes started flying. However, the kit features two key features of the prototypes, the short tail cone and the solid visor.

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My Airfix Concorde arrived yesterday. Airfix are showing the years 1966 and 2020 on the box.

 

The prototype flew on 2 March 1969. I'm not sure exactly when in 1966 the kit was first released. The French Concorde prototype had been assembled by 1967 and was rolled out to the press in December of that year. So at least, Airfix would have (possibly) seen some images of the almost assembled prototype before they finalised their moulds. 

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2 hours ago, Eric Mc said:

My Airfix Concorde arrived yesterday. Airfix are showing the years 1966 and 2020 on the box.

 

The prototype flew on 2 March 1969. I'm not sure exactly when in 1966 the kit was first released. The French Concorde prototype had been assembled by 1967 and was rolled out to the press in December of that year. So at least, Airfix would have (possibly) seen some images of the almost assembled prototype before they finalised their moulds. 

 

It was available for Easter 1966.

 

Tommo.

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11 hours ago, Eric Mc said:

How much did G-AXDN differ from F-WSST and/or G-BSST?

I expect the Airfix kit to be closer to the two prototypes.

That is the one with the same long nose as the production planes and the short tail of the prototypes?

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