Entry #2: BAe Super Spitfire OA.60

[Spey_Phantom]

now that the verry old spitfire is finished, its time to get cracking at the very latest modern spitfire.

BACK HISTORY:

during the gulf war 1991, the RAF used the Venerable old Spitfire GA-Mk.49 in a close air support role. the Mk.49 was a ground attack version of the F-Mk.32 witch entered RAF service in 1964 as a replacement for the spitfire F.22. the aircraft was starting to get badly outdated and the RAF needed a new ground observation/CAS/COIN aircraft as the Jaguar GR.1 could not carry the ammount of weapons needed for a CAS mission and the Tornado GR.1 did not have the durability to fly over the battlefield for longer then 2 hours. BAe, who now owned the rights to produce the spitfire, proposed an advanced, new build replacement for the Mk.49.

the design was, compared to the original spitfire, more advanced, had a strenghtened composite airframe, kevlar armour plating arround the cockpit and fuel tanks, a more fuel efficient Allison T55 turboprop engine and an advanced cockpit with color display screens. the design also featured a 2-seat cockpit with dual HOTAS control functions, so the copilot/WSO can take over control in case of an emergency.

the new "Super Spitfire", the OA.60, was rolled out at BAe Hamble on April 7 1994. the aircraft recieved 7 external stores and can carry up to 5 tons of armament, including a 50cal gun pod with 250 rounds. the OA60 was also equiped with a FLIR system for observation tasks, but can also guide GUIDED AGM-65 maverick missiles to a target. in 1997, the aircraft also recieved a LAser Designation system, so they could be equiped with Hellfire missiles, and a new Datalink.

a total of 64 OA.60's have been build for the RAF and 200 were exported to India, Indonesia, Australia, New Zeeland, Malaysia, Italy and Turkey.

THE MODEL

the model i will be using as a baseline is the academy 1/72 Spitfire Mk.XIV. it has 2 sets of canopies so that makes it perfect for the conversion into a 2-seater. the engine block comes from a scrapped Italeri 1/72 C-130J.
the cuttinglines have already been applied with a green CD marker. these will be cut out to house the 2nd cockpit and the new engine. still need to scratchbuild a few pylons 

[Spey_Phantom]

Quick Update

i just carved out the rear part for the 2nd cockpit, and man it fits perfectly.
before cutting off the merlin engine, i just thought i would post a picture of the extra canopy fitted behind the 1-piece front canopy. doesnt she look good 

[Brian da Basher]

I think you've got a real eye-catcher in the works there, Nils! I love the look of the second canopy!

Brian da Basher

[Spey_Phantom]

UPDATE:

these are things i did last night

-clipping the wings to fit the Sidewinder launch rails
-assembly of the 5-bladed prop
-drilling in the engine to make the exhausts (from pieces of drinking straw  )
-making the screens for the cockpits out of styrene card (0.3mm thick)
-making the second intrument panel (spare from an airfix firefly Mk.5)
-modifying a spare seat
-made a new larger scratchbuild rudder

today, i will be spending most time on the building of the cockpit, since thats gonna take some time to paint & glue together.
also im gonna be looking through the spare weapons for a payload.

here's a progress pic 

in the red box: the front panel, fitted with 2 new display screens
in the blue box: the turboprop engine that will replace the merlin 

[Ed S]

Looking good Nils.  I like this concept with the Spit.

Ed

[kitbasher]

Novel idea with the canopy.  Must remember that!

[Spey_Phantom]

UPDATE:

Pic.1: a view of 1 side of the cockpit, after this pic was taken, some more finer painting has been done on the inside.

Pic.2: the other side of the cockpit, this side just shows the stick in the front cockpit

Pic.3: main assembly has begun, fitted the fuselage, wings, rudder and the engine.
although i underestimated the size of the engine block a little, thats something to keep me busy tonight.

Pic.4: a vew of the cockpits after the 2 halves of the fuselage were glued together 

im gonna start on the landing gear tomorrow.
as for a paint job, im thinking 2-tone grey with decals from an Italeri 1/72 EF2000 kit 

[sotoolslinger]

Wow , very slick cockpit carving

[Brian da Basher]

The drinking straw will make an excellent exhaust! Great thinking Nils!

Brian da Basher

[Weaver]

This is looking good Nils: tidy cockpit work and I may nick the drinking straw idea.....

[nev]

Wingtip SIdewinders reminds me of a Druids Spitfire that Radish did many moons ago...

[AeroplaneDriver]

Looking great so far, and I love the concept!  One observation; it looks like you have the stick on the left and throttle on the right, typically that would be reversed.

[Spey_Phantom]

UPDATE:

its been a while since i last posted an update, but there has been some progress.
the aircraft is for about 70% done 
i already aplied a first layer of 2-tone grey and under the wings are 6 external stores.
as for the armament i have sellected 1 gunpod, 1 jamming pod, 2 Matra SNEB rocket pods and 2 CBU-97 cluster bombs.

but im not to satisfied with the single tone grey paint on the top of the aircraft, im thingking of adding some more darker grey spots, or dark grey splinter camo.
for the prop, i got the insperation from the PC-21, so most of my concentration will now go to the prop and the painting of the weapons.

although nearly not visible on picture 2, under the centerline of the aircraft is a conformal FLIR housing. the pics are a bit bad because its dark here now  , i will try to post better pictures tomorrow 

[puddingwrestler]

I do believe we will require a larger bucket to contain all the insanity. This is somewhat awesome. It's look rather nifty painted up in the red arrows scheme (even if that doesn't make much sense!)

[Spey_Phantom]

she's FINISHED 

i painted her up in a 2-tone grey camo scheme. the propellor with the silver lines was inspired by the PC-21.
the weapons are from the spares box (2 rocket pods, 2 CBU-97's, 1 gun pod and 1 jamming pod).
the decals were leftovers from a 1/72 Italeri Typhoon allong with other decals from the spares 

(the reson why the tailwheel in the pics is a a piece of styrene is because the paints still wet  )