Derek Bradshaw Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 A few pictures of my Welsh Models 1/144 Nimrod MR.1 (converted from a MR.2). The undercarriage bays have been boxed-in, and engine fans and intakes have been added (the intakes are plastic tube lollipop sticks, and the engine fans are white metal items from another Welsh Models airliner kit - I can't remember which one!). I had to cut the wing tanks. reposition and fill them in order to prevent them pointing skywards as moulded (a limitation of the vacform process). I also had to break and re-set the wings in order to correctly set the dihedral angle. This is another long-time-awaiting-to-be-done type build. Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thx6667 Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 Wow, that's some neat work there Derek. Really tidy (and not just your work surface!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest les Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 Nice shape the Nimrod, Well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perry Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 Marvellous work Derek, love the look of the engines, keep the good work up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seanrgb Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 Great stuff Derek ..nice work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary West Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 Don't see too many of these on here - An early White scheme then? Good job so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Bradshaw Posted September 5, 2007 Author Share Posted September 5, 2007 Thanks guys for the nice comments, they are much appreciated. Jonathan: Believe me, my work top is never that clean normally (I normally only have a 6" square area to work in ) - I only cleared it for the purpose of taking these pictures (what you can't see is the mess on the adjacent table top! ). Gary: It will indeed be the early white/grey scheme. I'm not 100% sure without checking my references, but it may even be one of the two prototype Nimrods, finished as described, but with a large area of the fuselage painted artic red! Cheers Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thx6667 Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 Thanks guys for the nice comments, they are much appreciated.Jonathan: Believe me, my work top is never that clean normally (I normally only have a 6" square area to work in ) - I only cleared it for the purpose of taking these pictures (what you can't see is the mess on the adjacent table top! ). Gary: It will indeed be the early white/grey scheme. I'm not 100% sure without checking my references, but it may even be one of the two prototype Nimrods, finished as described, but with a large area of the fuselage painted artic red! Cheers Derek Derek, glad you mentioned the prototypes, I'm look at photos of XV148 right now (some pics from airliners.net and the Testing Colours book by Adrian Balch) but can never find anything showing the upper and lower wing roundels - would they have had white surrounds? Also were the serial numbers carried under both wings, one, or not at all? Sorry for all the questions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Bradshaw Posted September 5, 2007 Author Share Posted September 5, 2007 Hi Jonathan, That's quite OK. I have found out that my Nimrod shall indeed be the prototype aircraft (XV148) finished in the later RAE Boscombe Down trial scheme with artic red bits! I shall try to check out the markings for you within my own information, as there is precious little out there on the net. My gut feeling is that XV148 would have first flown without wing roundels or serial numbers (apart from the one on the fuselage). It appears that later on in it's career, it conformed to the rest of the Nimrod fleet and aquired roundels and serials - this is still subject to confirmation. With regards to wing roundels, XV148 would have carried standard type and size roundels (in four locations) as per the rest of the Nimrod fleet (no white outer ring - this was only reserved for certain Boscombe Down aircraft with dark blue wings, such as their Comet fleet, hence the need to distinguish the roundel colour from the rest of the airframe). Wing serials for XV148 - if carried - would also have conformed to the standard size and positioning (one under each wing facing forward and aft). XV148 appears to have always had the radar di-electric radome painted gloss light aircraft grey (like the rest of the lower fuselage), unlike many other early Nimrod aircraft, which had matt black or black/brown (when faded) radar nose panels. HTH Derek Derek, glad you mentioned the prototypes, I'm look at photos of XV148 right now (some pics from airliners.net and the Testing Colours book by Adrian Balch) but can never find anything showing the upper and lower wing roundels - would they have had white surrounds? Also were the serial numbers carried under both wings, one, or not at all?Sorry for all the questions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thx6667 Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 Fantastic, thanks for that Derek. I had an email from Adrian Balch who says that XV148 had the normal roundels with no white outline and serials under both wings. As for the red, its my understanding that it was BS381 537 Signal Red as per other RAE aircraft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Bradshaw Posted September 5, 2007 Author Share Posted September 5, 2007 Cheers for that Jonathan - I'll let you know what I find. Derek Fantastic, thanks for that Derek. I had an email from Adrian Balch who says that XV148 had the normal roundels with no white outline and serials under both wings.As for the red, its my understanding that it was BS381 537 Signal Red as per other RAE aircraft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grant Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 Sweeet! Those front compressor blades look good. Sadly missing from my resin example, which is in about the same state as yours. Waiting for some paint. cheers Grant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Bradshaw Posted September 5, 2007 Author Share Posted September 5, 2007 Nice one Grant - I've never seen a resin one, what make is it? Mine needs some work yet before it's ready for paint (scribing and detail work). I would like to see yours? Cheers Derek Sweeet! Those front compressor blades look good. Sadly missing from my resin example, which is in about the same state as yours. Waiting for some paint.cheers Grant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Bradshaw Posted September 6, 2007 Author Share Posted September 6, 2007 (edited) OK, here we go...as Adrian Balch correctly asserts, XV148 did indeed fly with wing roundels and serial numbers: Below is XV147, the second prototype Nimrod to fly (it retained it's Comet Avon engines): And finally, a general shot of a production Nimrod MR.1: I am currently unable to locate my copy of a reasonably recent (i.e. a few years ago) Scale Aircraft Modelling (SAM) magazine containing Nimrod colour schemes (in full colour). This particular edition contains a side and plan profile of XV148 during it's time with Boscombe Down, in it's grey/white/signal red scheme...if anyone has a copy, could they please scan it for me? Cheers Derek Edited September 6, 2007 by Derek Bradshaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thx6667 Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 Great pics Derek! Can't quite place an issue of SAM with colour artwork of XV148, the August 2003 issue (Vol 25 No 6) has colour Nimrod artwork but it riven with so many inaccuracies (Underwing D roundels on the new CG scheme for example). Talking of Nimrod serials, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on them Derek. They appeared to be under both wings of MR.1s right up to, and including, the introduction of the Hemp scheme and some of the early MR.2s in the old grey/white scheme also had both, but the Hemp MR.2 crossover around 1982 seems to be when they switched over to just one serial number under the port wing. When the Nimrods switched over to the large low-viz roundels in the mid-late 80s they retained the underwing serial but I'd be interested to know just how late into their careers they retained them - when the Nimrod fleet started to wear white serials and code letters, underwing serials appear to have been removed (and there was a crossover period when white codes were carried with the large low-viz roundels before the smaller roundel was introduced). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Bradshaw Posted September 6, 2007 Author Share Posted September 6, 2007 Hi Jonathan, It sounds like you have it pretty well correct, and your synopsis matches my in-service memory of the changes (I served in the RAF from 1976 to 1988). Most of the changes you mentioned would have occurred gradually during the major servicing of the aircraft, which is when they are generally repainted. You are correct about the underwing serial changes. If my memory serves me right, the move over from the old grey/white colour scheme occurred from about 1980 to 1983. By the mid-late 80's, when just about all of the Nimrod fleet were in hemp/low-viz and white code markings. The tactical (blue/red) roundels were fairly short lived (generally early to mid-80's) - the low-viz (toned down) markings were introduced pretty well coincident with the same markings for fighter aircraft (Lightning and Phantom - early to mid 80's). Mid to late 80's would probably be OK for low-viz roundels and black markings, with a gradual change over to white markings during this period. I'm sorry for being a litle vague and somewhat general with the dates here, as I'm relying purely on memory (which isn't perfect), however, I'm sure that someone may well come up with more authorative information than that which I am currently supplying. HTH Derek Great pics Derek!Can't quite place an issue of SAM with colour artwork of XV148, the August 2003 issue (Vol 25 No 6) has colour Nimrod artwork but it riven with so many inaccuracies (Underwing D roundels on the new CG scheme for example). Talking of Nimrod serials, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on them Derek. They appeared to be under both wings of MR.1s right up to, and including, the introduction of the Hemp scheme and some of the early MR.2s in the old grey/white scheme also had both, but the Hemp MR.2 crossover around 1982 seems to be when they switched over to just one serial number under the port wing. When the Nimrods switched over to the large low-viz roundels in the mid-late 80s they retained the underwing serial but I'd be interested to know just how late into their careers they retained them - when the Nimrod fleet started to wear white serials and code letters, underwing serials appear to have been removed (and there was a crossover period when white codes were carried with the large low-viz roundels before the smaller roundel was introduced). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandy Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 I`ve got the mag with the nimrod colour schemes - was looking at it last night. Will scan it later and put it on this thread Sandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Bradshaw Posted September 6, 2007 Author Share Posted September 6, 2007 Much appreciated Sandy - thanks Derek I`ve got the mag with the nimrod colour schemes - was looking at it last night. Will scan it later and put it on this thread Sandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandy Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 Derek , think these are the images you where after - the pics may take a while to load as they are scanned Sandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thx6667 Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 Mmm, not the issue of SAM I was thinking of! Now are we talking Scale Aircraft Modelling here or Scale Aviation Modeller? Any chance you can give me an cover date and issue number Sandy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grant Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 Nice one Grant - I've never seen a resin one, what make is it? Mine needs some work yet before it's ready for paint (scribing and detail work). I would like to see yours?Cheers Derek It is a kit I bought of E-bay about 4 years ago. I don't have the details of who anymore. I also don't appear to have taken any photos of the kit during the build, apart from the this one - an LED for the search light. Having ordered the paints for it I ought to start taking photos. cheers Grant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Bradshaw Posted September 6, 2007 Author Share Posted September 6, 2007 Nice pic Grant...I like the idea of the LED for the searchlight (mine shall be 'solid', as in fact, I think they were on the original aircraft). Derek It is a kit I bought of E-bay about 4 years ago. I don't have the details of who anymore.I also don't appear to have taken any photos of the kit during the build, apart from the this one - an LED for the search light. Having ordered the paints for it I ought to start taking photos. cheers Grant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandy Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 Mag the scan was taken from is Scale Aircraft Modelling Vol 25 No 10 Dec 2003 Sandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Bradshaw Posted September 6, 2007 Author Share Posted September 6, 2007 Thanks for the scan Sandy, that appears to be the one, although like Jonathan, I'd be grateful for the month, year and maybe a description of the front cover picture (this would help me find mine more quickly). Jonathan: It is (I believe) Scale Aircraft Modelling (SAM) magazine - I think the article was one of those 'occasional colours' features, where they rework/reprint some of the older aircraft in detail type profiles in the newer full colour format...I'm sure that Sandy can confirm this? Cheers Derek Mmm, not the issue of SAM I was thinking of!Now are we talking Scale Aircraft Modelling here or Scale Aviation Modeller? Any chance you can give me an cover date and issue number Sandy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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