Airfix 1/48 BAC TSR-2 Prototype XR219

[NellyV]

A mate and I decided we would both build a model of the iconic TSR-2 during COVID lockdown, so we both shelled out massively and bought the 2009 vintage Airfix 1/48 kit via ebay, only for me to realise when it arrived that the kit has some accuracy problems which required a number of aftermarket items and some fairly drastic plastic surgery to make a reasonable facsimile. The panel lines on this Hornby era kit are also more like tramlines and this means the end result looks very much like a diecast. I decided to build the only flying prototype XR219 in a clean configuration, with bomb bay doors, airbrakes and main gear doors closed, because this best fits my recollection of the sleek aircraft that broke this 8 year old boy's heart when it was cancelled in 1965😒 Here's hoping someone like Eduard will bring out a higher quality kit that better represents this iconic subject.

Aftermarket items used were:

• CMK 4220 TSR-2 Interior Set - Includes replacement vac formed canopies and windscreen, detailed ejection seats, colour photo etched instrument panels and instrument coaming. My first time working with vac form canopies, but they seemed to come out OK and I do like the thinner scale profile. As I suspected, the extra cockpit detail was however lost once the canopies were in place.
• Scale Aircraft Conversions SAC48026 White metal UC set- These do correct the angle of the main gear oleos, but rather disappointingly are in all other respects a direct copy of the rather crude and somewhat inaccurate kit parts.
• Armory AR AW48413 Wheels - Weight on resin wheels with some nicely detailed "drop in" photoetch hubs.
• Alleycat Models Odds and Ordnance OAO 48001 Fin and Tail-planes - The fin has the cooling air intake that's missing in the Airfix kit and the tail planes have better shaped flap actuator housings than the kit parts
• Air Master AM-48-118 Pitot tube - A finer and more robust replacement of the kit part. I accidently bent it within minutes of fitting it, but was able to bend it back into shape. The plastic part was way to wodgey and would have snapped easily!

Paints used:

• Tamiya grey rattle can primer coat
• mig acrylic white
• Future clear coat

Surgery involved removing the dorsal  "dromedary hump" on the fuselage wing interface, substantially narrowing the cross section of the aft-forward fuselage where it meets the wing and removing the un-aerodynamic step in each intake trunk. Although there may have been enough material to file and sand back the "hump", I elected to cut it out with scalpel plus razor saw and replace the offending section with plastic card. At this point I thought the job was done, but when dry fit checking the assembly I noticed that the spacing of the longitudinal panel lines on the upper forward fuselage was wider than the spacing of their companion panel lines on the wing upper mid section. A BAC 3 view GA drawing clearly showed these panel lines should run parallel and continue at a fixed width through to the wing junction. I hummed and ahhd over the problem for a couple of nights but finally took the plunge and removed a wedge of plastic from each fuselage half with a razor saw. I only cut wedges out from the upper fuselage and in retrospect it may have resulted in less distortion if I'd also narrowed the bottom fuselage. Interestingly, narrowing the fuselage allowed the intakes to be easily set away from the fuselage sides to better replicate the boundary layer splitter plate gap missing in the kit built out of the box. Although the resultant fuselage side profile was much improved, there is still the hint of a hump if you look closely enough. I'd approach these issues slightly differently if I were to build this kit again, but overall I'm happy with the end result, although I still have work to do improving my paint finishes as this was the first subject I finished using a new H&S Infinity CR+ airbrush. Apologies for the model's dusty appearance in the photo's, but I have yet to identify a large enough display case for this one.

[Spitfire31]

Very impressive model!

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

[SAT69]

That's some excellent work you've done. Congratulations!

[Gary Brantley]

Well, I'm very impressed!   That is an excellent model of that very cool aircraft, great work on that one!  

[F-32]

That's turned out really well, looks great

[Plasticbasher]

Really nice work, the changes you made really do make it look more prototypical (if you’ll pardon a poor pun!). I built the 1/72 kit a few years back and it has similar issues. Almost tempted to hunt one down and try to emulate your magnificent creation!

[exdraken]

Looks rather great!

Congrats, must be massive!

Eduard fdoing one? Joking  right

 

 

[NellyV]

On 09/06/2021 at 21:34, exdraken said:

Looks rather great!

Congrats, must be massive!

Eduard fdoing one? Joking  right

 

 

Maybe not Eduard, but someone other than the Thomas The Tank Engine crew at Hornby 😉

[Gary Brantley]

Incredible work on an equally incredible aircraft!  Well done Nelly!