My Raf Scooter So Far

[upnorth]

Hello all:

I've got the majority of the fuselage work along with painting and decaling done over the summer. As the new teaching year is about to begin, this may be as far as I get with my RAF Scooter for a while.




The back story, for this individual aircraft, is that it is a GR.3 depicted very late in its career (11 Sqn. was less than a month away from converting to GR.5s) and thus it had taken on a rather grubbier appearance. By that point, the GR.3s were pure workhorses and not the least bit babied any more.

Earlier in the year, 1985 by the way, the RAF consolidated all of its British Skyhawk operations, including the OCU, at one base. Up to that point, there had been three British RAF bases with Skyhawks.

A bit of background on the model:

The base kit is Fujimi's 1/72 A-4C, additions include:
Harrier GR.5 nose from Quickboost
Semi retractable IFR probe is a reworked flare box from an SU-22 kit
ECM box under the tail is a reworked flare box from the Airfix Jaguar GR.3
various other additions from scrap styrene

You'll also notice that I gave it cyclic landing gear doors. I decided on this feature as I like the look and my Skyhawk is filling the void of the Harrier and Jaguar, both of which had that feature.

Still have a bit of touching up to do around the wing tips, but I like how its coming so far.

Hope you like it. All comments welcome.

[Howard of Effingham]

very, very nice!  ^_^  

[nev]

Mmmm, grey-green wraparound....

Not sure how 11 squadron would feel about giving up their Lightnings for a mud-mover though    

[upnorth]

Mmmm, grey-green wraparound....

Not sure how 11 squadron would feel about giving up their Lightnings for a mud-mover though  

11 never got Lightnings. They were slated to, but were diverted to Skyhawks; they were actually one of the first RAF Skyhawk units formed back in the days of the GR.1, which, by the way, was simply a second hand FAA FG.2 Skyhawk.

With both the Harrier and Jaguar falling through, a substantial number of Skyhawks were needed to fill the void, that translated into several units of aircraft. In the scramble to form squadrons some units, like 11, ended up losing their traditional roles for mud moving and CAS missions.

And no, the 11 Sqn. folks were not happy about the change of role.

[AeroplaneDriver]

Absolutely gorgeous!!!        

[Archibald]

Very well done, bravo!  

[Rafael]

Pics stored!!!

...and is not ready yet. I can't wait to see that girl totally ready!!!

Rafa

[Sisko]

Nice stuff mate!  

[upnorth]

Thanks so much for the kind words, with any luck at all I'll have her done sometime between now and Christmas. No guarantees though.

[Damian2]

Dude that Skyhawk is most excellent!!

Keep up the awesome work!

[Brian da Basher]

Yet another sharp-as-a-tack Scooter to join the ever-growing What-If Scooter fleet! Excellent work, Upnorth! I really like your camo paintjob! Outstanding!

Brian da Basher

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

And no, the 11 Sqn. folks were not happy about the change of role.

Yeah but they were happier once they got the Corsair GA1's, and now that they are flying Thunderbolt GA1A's.....

.....Coat time, right ?

Ian
Nice Scooter, BTW !

[ysi_maniac]

I like it bttb
       

[upnorth]

And no, the 11 Sqn. folks were not happy about the change of role.

Yeah but they were happier once they got the Corsair GA1's, and now that they are flying Thunderbolt GA1A's.....

.....Coat time, right ?

Ian
Nice Scooter, BTW !

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

Ian:
11 Sqn's tenure in mud moving was limited to the Scooter. They used it from the late 60s to late 1985.

They were slated to convert to the GR.5 from the GR.3, but the introduction of the GR.5 coincided with a Skyhawk force reduction and consolidation of the remaining force at a single base. 11 were briefly disbanded in November of 1985.

By mid December of the same year, the 11 number plate was given to the latest group of crews to graduate from the Tornado F.3 OCU. that put 11 firmly back into the fighter business. Of course, we all know the 11 recently became a Typhoon unit.

I'm not changing the RAF's history wholesale here, just a chapter of it. Tornado comes along just as it did. Skyhawk GR.3 gets a mid life upgrade that includes a dry RB.199 engine to replace the dry Avons they came into service with.

Scooters, just like the Buccaneers, entered RAF service as maligned navy types but left much loved, revered and fondly remembered. Except perhaps by 11 Sqn folks from the Javelin era who were salivating to get their hands on the Lightnings they had come so close to.

[BlackOps]

Very nice