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1/48 Airfix TSR2 questions


Harvs73

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I have managed to get to the stage of putting the fueslage together and trial fitting the canopy. I have noticed a big chunk of plastic missing from in front of the pilots front canopy. For those that have completed the Airfix kit, how did you fix the missing bit between the nose and the front canopy?

Second question. I am planning on doing a 'what if' and would like to arm it with something other than nukes, is there any idea of the types of pylons that were to be used on the TSR2 for bombs or anything like that? I am aware of the fuel tanks etc that are available in 1/48 but would like to try something else. My plan is to do the OP Granby colour scheme from Xtradecals.

Your help is appreciated.

Edited by Harvs73
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for my gulf war tsr2 i put a guided bomb in the bomb bay and hung f-16 fuel tanks under the wings using f-16 pylons.

i dont know what there was actually designed for pylons, but the mounting points for two sets of pylons are marked on the underside of the wing on the kit by small circles near the leading edge, 2 on each side.

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Spoken like a true Whiffer :thumbsup2:

It will be my first ever WIF, but I'm going along the lines of just about every aircraft I can think of has ended up being adapted well past its original design intent, as since I will be doing it Operation Desert Storm era, it will have had a long time to be adapted through its life. Sorry, i digress from the original post.

Dan

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Dan, my plan is pretty much the same thing - arm it as much as possible. It is also my first 'what if' so I reckon I may as well go all out! :-) My biggest thing is to work out what would be the best types of pylons and go from there. The bomb load could be LGB's or for that matter anything that the UK has used during the last 20 odd years.

As for the other problem I have, the image below shows the stp I would like to fix up. I have seen images of the nose of the real thing and it is a nice sweep up to the canopy, unlike the kit.

P1060556.jpg

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Dan, my plan is pretty much the same thing - arm it as much as possible. It is also my first 'what if' so I reckon I may as well go all out! :-) My biggest thing is to work out what would be the best types of pylons and go from there. The bomb load could be LGB's or for that matter anything that the UK has used during the last 20 odd years.

As for the other problem I have, the image below shows the stp I would like to fix up. I have seen images of the nose of the real thing and it is a nice sweep up to the canopy, unlike the kit.

P1060556.jpg

David,

You're ahead of me, as in you've actually started, mines still in the box, but that may chnage after I get some bits and pieces at SMW next weekend. Does yours have the standard cockpit in, or have you used resin..?

I can see what you mean from the picture, how do you plan to solve? Is this a magazine build?

Oh, and for pylons, I'm just going to go with what I have and adapt, and since all I have in 1/48 are from a Harrier, I'll be using them, and maybe some scratch built ones, which will in themselves probably take longer than one of my normal 1/72 WWII builds...

Dan

Edited by Daniel
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Hi Harvs73, this seems to be a problem with all the molds of this kit I have seen. Back in January when I first spotted this in my build, I e-mailed Airfix to tell them the front windshield seemed too short and were they aware of any issues with this part. They replyed that they were unaware of any problems with that and my part may be short moulded. They did kindly send me a new part, which was exactly the same!!

I got around the problem by mounting the front of the windshield about 1mm higher than the back, then filled in the 'missing' slope and also the 'new' gaps under the sides of the windshield part. Of course doing this alters the angle at the back where the opening part of the canopy meets it. So that needs a little bit of filling to fit. It was a bit of a pain to be honest. Hopefully the Aires cockpit set I have for my next one (big thanks to my mate Mark!), which comes with new vac-formed canopys, will sort it out!

Hope this helps.

cheers

Kirk

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Dan, the build is mostly for me but could be going to the local 'Toy Fair' next year for the importers display. The cockpit on this one is the kit one but I have anoher TSR2 in the stash which will have the Pavla cockpit in it. This one is going to have the cockpit etc shut where the next one will be wide open and bombed up.

Kirk, I am thinking I may install the front canopy and then build up some tamiya putty or something along those lines to make it look right. It will involve rescribing the front canopy I think but we shall see if i'm game enough to do it. I contemplated the way you did it but that could get a bit too complicated for me at this stage. :-(

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...Hopefully the Aires cockpit set I have for my next one (big thanks to my mate Mark!), which comes with new vac-formed canopys, will sort it out!

Kirk,

Is the Aires cockpit out yet, and if not do you know when it will be?

Dan

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Unfortunately I think I may have to do some major work in the cockpit. I had a good look at the canopies as something was wrong somewhere and I finally found it. I found a few thinks that bugged me that lead me to have a better look:

- Pilot instrument panel cowl too high

- step in front of windscreen

- pilots canopy not sitting in the holes provided on the fueslage properly

- the pilot would not see out the front windscreen as is.

On further investigation I worked out that the whole pilots canopy was too low. The canopy needed to sit a fraction higher to sit correctly and the windscreen needed to be raised about 1 mm or more to merge in properly without resorting to serious reshaping. Checking out photos of the real thing shows that the reshaping would have made it look wrong so it needs to be raised.

P1060574.jpg

The photo makes the windscreen look a fraction high but from a better angle it will sit right. I will be building up the edge with some plastic card to get the right height then merge it in with putty.

Not happy Airfix! It actualy looks like the whole nose has slumped down for some reason.

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David,

Thanks for that picture, explains it nicely, and I think you are right, which is a shame really. Your fix looks like the best way forward, any chance you could post a few pics and lessons learnt as you go along with the fix, help the rest of us?

Thanks,

Dan

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Dan, my mistake! I've got the CMK cockpit set, not the Aires one. That will teach me to rely on my wonderful powers of recall and not actually look at what I've got! The CMK set is choc full of resin, etch and vac canopys, does look great and can't wait to use it. Not sure if Aires are going to do a set.

David, you have pointed out the problems I found too.

- I lowered the cowling by about 3 mm.

- The method you've come up with, to sort out the front of the canopy, actually looks easier to do than the way I tried to do it. Good luck!

I agree that it looks like something has happened to the front section, such a shame as I think it was a brave thing for Airfix to make this in 1/48. Still, at least it's not too difficult to remedy, unlike the bulge where the fusalage meets the top of the wings and the odd shape of the front fusalage forward of the intakes. Don't forget to reinforce/replace with brass, the main undercarriage bogie attachment pins too!

Despite all that, I still love this kit, looks amazing when built! Will be making at least two more :D

Cheers

Kirk

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Dan, I certainly will post updates on this little problem.

Kirk, I forgot to thank you for pointing me in the right direction. After I read your post it all 'clicked'. I like the kit as well as it still makes up as an impressive piece of plastic, unfortunately it is brought down by inexplicable mistakes such as this. Other little things like the five 'straps' behind each main wheel well that need to be removed as I believe are just fasteners on the real aircraft. I can understand basic and little detail due to cost but what is there should at least be close to real as it IS a British Aircraft afterall.

I do appreciate Airfix for doing it as an injection molded kit though.

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  • 1 month later...

Here are a few more images of the aircraft with the windscreen problem worked upon.

P1060696.jpg

P1060905.jpg

The cockpit combing comparison between the Airfix original, the Pavla update and the one I scratchbuilt in 10 minutes.

P1060694.jpg

P1060695.jpg

The bits on the wungs have been removed and replaced with card. These are still oversize but much better than the airfix blobs.

P1060698.jpg

The aircraft with the undefcoat on. I am planning on doing this one in an ARDU scheme at this stage of white/orange similar to a Mirage.

P1060902.jpg

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Been reading some of the online builds of this kit and so far the only aftermarket cockpit I have seen listed anywhere has been from Wolfpack Resin. The set looks good but I have to wonder if Aires is putting anything in the pipes soon??

Any inside information from anyone?? :undecided:

Still undecided how I will build this kit. As a what-if or a pre production aka white bird.

Regards,

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Michael, there are a few AM sets for the cockpit including Pavla and CMK. They both do the wheel wells, fonrt and rear, as well. I have the pavla cockpit and it looks quite nice. I'm not going to bother with the wheel wells as they wouldn't normally be seen with the aircraft on the ground due to the undercarriage doors normally being up.

My main wish for AM for the TSR2 is weapons pylons to hang stuff off of. Currently you need to spend a lot of money to buy weapons and fuels tanks from Cammett or someone like that to get the pylons or scratchbuild them. I intend to do my second TSR2 up as an Op Granby 'what if' and hang all sorts of bombs and missles off it but I need weapons pylons!

Here is a picture of the beast in white. I used the Tamiya rattle can TS-26 'Pure White' and it's one of the best whites I have seen to date - not yellow at all.

P1060921.jpg

P1060925.jpg

P1060926.jpg

Here's a VERY rough artists impression of what it will hopefully look like after I have finished (less decals):

TSR2_base2.jpg

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