Avro Avenger/Ambassador

Weaver · January 06, 2009, 06:03:45 PM

Okay now DON'T get excited 'cos I am NOT building this yet, but I want some opinions.

The Avro Avenger is a Patchwork World aircraft. The concept is that it's an attack aircraft/light bomber based loosely on the Avro 710, which was a never-built 1/2-scale Vulcan demonstrator (the Vulcan would never exist in Patchwork World, although the Atlantic delta-winged airliner does).

Now I got to thinking about how I could actually do this, and came to the conclusion that it would have to be based on a Javelin. I then produced the following profile for it. The fuselage is widened to take a side-by-side cockpit and a bomb bay, the canopy coming from a big cockpit Skyraider with the middle section cut out for the Avenger or left in for the Ambassador 6-seat VIP aircraft. The tail fin is removed and the halves of the tailplane are then used as twin tail fins (the profiles arn't exact to this scheme since I worked out the component details after doing them)

I was never too happy with the fact that this still looks (to me) like a hacked-around Javelin rather than an Avro product.

Now two things have occurred in short order which pull me in different directions:

1. I discover that Lindberg are re-issuing their 1/100th Vulcan. Scaleorama that to 1/72nd and it's about the size of a Canberra, which is a little bigger than the 710 but obviously about right for a light bomber. This would make the basis of a far more "authentic" Avro Avenger than the Javelin.

2. Playing with the Airfix Javelin, I found a way to make it MUCH cooler. Basically, the root chord and section of the fin turn out to perfectly match the root chord and section of the outer wings, which means you can substitute two fins for the outer panels, giving them sweep, and keep half the tailplanes as perfectly fitting tip fins.

(The tip fin is mocked up from cardboard)

Disadvantages are that a) you need two Javelin kits to make one Avenger/Ambassador and b) it looks even less like an Avro product, in fact Armstrong Whitworth keeps springing to mind, possibly because of the Aw.56.

So what should I do? Make the Avenger Vulcan-based (if I can get hold of one) and make the Ambassador a Javelin-based AW product, or stick to the original scheme of a Javelin-based Avenger but use the fin mod to make it look cooler? One thing I CAN'T do is make both Avenger and Ambassador Javelin-based, since that would need FOUR Javelins and I couldn't justify the expense.

Comments, criticisms etc.. all welcome.

pyro-manic · January 06, 2009, 06:15:13 PM

I think the engine intakes need work - fair them into the wing leading edges like the Vulcan's intakes, and it will start looking a lot more like an Avro product. It will also get rid of one of the Javelin's most distinctive features, which is a good thing.

It needs a couple of socking great guns under the fuselage - maybe built into the front of the bomb bay bulge, like the Lightning F.6 had in the fuel bulge? A few 37mm should do it.

fallenphoenix · January 06, 2009, 06:19:16 PM

looks like pyro beatt me to it as i was reading, was going to suggest doing something about the intakes as well to make them look more like the A.707's or Vulcans

Craig

philp · January 06, 2009, 06:28:46 PM

I like the scale o rama using the Vulcan (kid has one mostly built that he lost interest in).

I also like the Javelin with two tails even if it doesn't look like an Avro product. Maybe a different bird with this kit as a starter?

The Rat · January 06, 2009, 09:11:47 PM

A British Cutlass but with waaaaaaaaay better engines!

Weaver · January 07, 2009, 01:07:15 AM

I don't think there is such a thing as an "Avro Intake" to be honest: wing-root slot intake are more "British" than specifically Avro (Seahawk, Hunter, Vampire/Venom/Sea Vixen, Victor and Valiant all had them). The early Vulcan studies (698?) had circular intakes in a similar position to the Javelin's feeding stacked Avons much nearer the centreline than the final Vulcan's, and the projected 710 copied that (it would probably have changed to slots just as the 707's did). The basic 720 had a rectangular chin intake, and the developed version an F-86-style one, while the 727 had Gnat-style side boxes and the low-level bomber (702?) had various circular pods. The 730 of course, had various vertical wedge arrangements on its pods.

sotoolslinger · January 07, 2009, 07:28:05 AM

Not really too up on the Brit aircraft but the model would look cool if you just slice the intakes from wing root to fuselage to just continue the line of the wing.

Love the wing tip vert stab idea. Looks cool

Weaver · January 07, 2009, 07:40:51 AM

Hmm - just discovered something interesting: the Airfix FGA.9 (which is what I've got) is based on the Heller T.3 which Airfix also issue in a near identical box. Thing is, the T.3 is longer than the FGA.9, because they stretched the frontr fuselage to compensate for the lack of radar in the trainer variant. That all sounds good for my bomber, I need another one for it's tail, and what do you know, there's a T.3 on ebay.......

Weaver · January 13, 2009, 04:55:21 PM

Got the T.3 off ebay. Waaay too much money for me to chop up normally, but as it happens, the canopy and engine nozzle fairing will probably help me build a Lightning F.13 (three-engined, tandem two-seater) and there'll be enough bits left from both kits to still build another twin-tail Javeinish thing.