Kallisti Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 (edited) This will be a continuation of an 'alternate history' series of builds I started a couple of years ago which posits the idea that Spectrum from the Gerry Anderson show Captain Scarlet was founded in 1960s rather than 2060s. So what equipment would they use? The first entry in this series was the F-104 Spectrum Angel Starfighter Which was eventually replaced, after some tragic crashes, with the Spectrum Angel Mirage: The timeline now moves on to the early-mid 1980s and the alien threat is being managed in secret by the SHADO organisation while the Spectrum front is being deployed as a UN peacekeeping force in the Middle East where the old Mirage jets they were still using were underperforming badly against the more modern aircraft they were coming up against in the region. Not being a particularly well funded organisation as it was ostensibly nothing more than a PR misdirection to cover from the activities of SHADO, they sought alternative aircraft from friendly suppliers and it was the Royal Danish Airforce that came up with the goods, offering them some refurbished F-35 Drakens that were coming out of service, being replaced by General Dynamics F-16. The Drakens were refurbished and upgraded with more modern avionics and were formed into an additional Spectrum air unit called the Dragon Squadron. Still following the ethos of the Angel Squadron, the pilots were all female, however following a cease and desist complaint from the Tolkein estate, the pilots codenames were changed to become the now familial musical names, Harmony, Melody, Rhapsody, Symphony along with sympathetic other names such as Destiny, Serenity, Trinity, Mercy, Honey (which was eventually removed after complaints from the pilots), Chastity (also removed from the list after the pilot was caught up in a scandal), Dynasty (removed after a TV series with the same name became popular), Verity and Modesty (usually given to the least modest of the pilots). So that is the background to the idea, this is the kit I will be using to build it Inevitable sprue shot: I'm really not quite sure how this will turn out - it will be white like the other Angel Interceptors and you can see in the above pic the Spectrum roundels I'll be using but this build gives me some lee-way in how to finish it. Dacals will be sourced from the spares box for most things... Edited March 8, 2023 by Kallisti 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galligraphics Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vppelt68 Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 Brilliant! V-P 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted March 11, 2023 Author Share Posted March 11, 2023 (edited) Progress has been made, the cockpit has been built except for the seat and installed in the two halves of the main fuselage: I've not done anything fancy to the cockput, just applied the decals supplied int he kit over the moulded parts but it looks quite decent as is Looking at these pics, it looks like I need to add some extra dials in the central panel that are missing from the decal supplied. I've got some aeroscale decals that will do the job! Loads of other parts assembled ready to be added Its a nice Hasegawa kit, everything fits well, the plastic is hard and sands well, details are lovely. Edited March 11, 2023 by Kallisti 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted March 17, 2023 Author Share Posted March 17, 2023 Progress this week - first of all the main body was assembled and given a greyt primer coat to find the problem joints. there were some issues with the nose which werecleaned up. next was white primer - this is Tamiya white primer and it ended up needed two coats to give a good even coverage: The white primer colour is ideal for the aircraft so I won't be applying an overcoat of matt or gloss white, its just not needed. Now I hear you asking why is there yellow masking tap on the fuselage? Well its because on the underside is this... Masking for a large "A" on the underside The undercarraige doors have already been given their white primer coats and are held in place with blue tac for the painting of the black A... 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted March 18, 2023 Share Posted March 18, 2023 Love the masking! That "A" fits so well on the double delta. Regards, Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted March 18, 2023 Author Share Posted March 18, 2023 Thanks and here is it after the paint was applied and masking removed... 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted March 19, 2023 Share Posted March 19, 2023 Brilliant! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AV O Posted March 19, 2023 Share Posted March 19, 2023 On 08/03/2023 at 15:20, Kallisti said: This will be a continuation of an 'alternate history' series of builds I started a couple of years ago which posits the idea that Spectrum from the Gerry Anderson show Captain Scarlet was founded in 1960s rather than 2060s. So what equipment would they use? The first entry in this series was the F-104 Spectrum Angel Starfighter Which was eventually replaced, after some tragic crashes, with the Spectrum Angel Mirage: The timeline now moves on to the early-mid 1980s and the alien threat is being managed in secret by the SHADO organisation while the Spectrum front is being deployed as a UN peacekeeping force in the Middle East where the old Mirage jets they were still using were underperforming badly against the more modern aircraft they were coming up against in the region. Not being a particularly well funded organisation as it was ostensibly nothing more than a PR misdirection to cover from the activities of SHADO, they sought alternative aircraft from friendly suppliers and it was the Royal Danish Airforce that came up with the goods, offering them some refurbished F-35 Drakens that were coming out of service, being replaced by General Dynamics F-16. The Drakens were refurbished and upgraded with more modern avionics and were formed into an additional Spectrum air unit called the Dragon Squadron. Still following the ethos of the Angel Squadron, the pilots were all female, however following a cease and desist complaint from the Tolkein estate, the pilots codenames were changed to become the now familial musical names, Harmony, Melody, Rhapsody, Symphony along with sympathetic other names such as Destiny, Serenity, Trinity, Mercy, Honey (which was eventually removed after complaints from the pilots), Chastity (also removed from the list after the pilot was caught up in a scandal), Dynasty (removed after a TV series with the same name became popular), Verity and Modesty (usually given to the least modest of the pilots). So that is the background to the idea, this is the kit I will be using to build it Inevitable sprue shot: I'm really not quite sure how this will turn out - it will be white like the other Angel Interceptors and you can see in the above pic the Spectrum roundels I'll be using but this build gives me some lee-way in how to finish it. Dacals will be sourced from the spares box for most things... I like that. Welcome into the world of fiction and comics : https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/29221-comparing-sizes/page/2/#comment-1547449 https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/29221-comparing-sizes/page/2/#comment-1548042 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted March 28, 2023 Author Share Posted March 28, 2023 Well what can I say, apart from... its finished!!! After masking and painting the A underneath, it was just a matter of applying a panel wash over the whole thing, assembling and painting the undercarriage and underwing stores and then decaling and final assembly. I appear to have forgotten to take any photos of these stages! The decals were mostly from the spares box plus a few stencils from the kit, I even used a few decals left over from the previous build of the Panter 5x5 Fire Tender So here goes, with Serenity Angel showing off her hew Spectrum Angel Draken It appears they sourced the wrong sort of ladders for the Drakens for the publicity shots... There has been a lot of speculation as to what the black stripe markings on the wings mean - some say its concealing highly advanced sensors to detect bursts of cosmic ray particles that can be used to detect object travelling faster-than-light, but others say that this is ridiculous! Here it is joining my Angel Interceptor collection... I'm not obsessed, honest!!! 15 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted March 28, 2023 Share Posted March 28, 2023 Lovely collection there! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjorn Posted March 28, 2023 Share Posted March 28, 2023 Fantastic! Love it! And the collection too! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted March 28, 2023 Share Posted March 28, 2023 Love it! I always thought the Draken was straight out of science fiction! Fantastic modelling too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliGauld Posted March 28, 2023 Share Posted March 28, 2023 Another beauty, Love the family shot too. Brilliant stuff. Cheers, Alistair 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galligraphics Posted March 28, 2023 Share Posted March 28, 2023 Looking lovely. A positive host of Angels (or, given their musically-linked call-signs, a choir of Angels?) . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpoud117 Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 I'm not a sci-fi / What-if guy but this looks really cool 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 Very nice! You could get a decent "A" under an F-102 or 106... just sayin' Regards, Adrian 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galligraphics Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 Logical next step would be a Viggen, surely? I always thought it looked very futuristic... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted March 31, 2023 Author Share Posted March 31, 2023 23 hours ago, Galligraphics said: Logical next step would be a Viggen, surely? I always thought it looked very futuristic... My thoughts exactly, the Viggen would be good for the Angels during the 90s and then for the 2000s the Rafale or Gripen or Eurofighter would fit - in fact the Gripen would be ideal continuing the Saab involvement with Spectrum up to the present day... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted April 8, 2023 Share Posted April 8, 2023 Well at least it has a more balanced armament that Gerry Andersons - on big rocket on the nose and maybe some cannon as I recall. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted April 8, 2023 Author Share Posted April 8, 2023 Yes the original has some rockets in the the nose either side of a cannon. No missiles at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted April 8, 2023 Share Posted April 8, 2023 (edited) 44 minutes ago, Kallisti said: Yes the original has some rockets in the the nose either side of a cannon. No missiles at all. Sorry - I was thinking of the Moonbase interceptors in UFO - they had what reminded me of the bomb from a PIAT gun on the nose! Pete Edited April 8, 2023 by PeterB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted April 9, 2023 Author Share Posted April 9, 2023 Yes the UFO Interceptor idea is decent but executed badly, you need more than 3 of them because the tactic to attack a spaceship flying at near the speed of light is not to shoot AT it but to lay down a field of shrapnel for it to fly through. The missiles on there are supposed to be nuclear but a nuclear explosion in space, in a vacuum is so much less damaging that one on the earth where you get the interaction with the atmosphere and overpressure blast waves in the air. What they should be using is the Napoleonic era cannister shot and to be honest you don't need one large missile for that, lots of smaller micro-munitions that spread a field of ball bearings - or even sand in an area would utterly destroy a vehicle travelling at a significant fraction of the speed of light. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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