STOVL Canberra

[kitbasher]

Regarding the nose - don't be tempted to ugly it up.  When the Tornado was in the very early stages of project development it was known as the MRCA (Multi-Role Combat Aircraft). Some wag at Warton explained the acronym as meaning 'Must Refurbish Canberra Again'!
So keeping in that vein a Tornado GR1/GR4 radome graft would look good.

So rumaging around the stash and spares box, came up with a couple of noses,  Tornado nose sounds nice but it's too small, but what about this Javelin nose, or this Harrier AV-8B Plus nose ( 1/48), it will need to be blended in somewhat if I use it.

Javelin!!!

[kitnut617]

Javelin!!!

  Thought you might say that ---

FLIR turret under the nose, I think the fairing needs reducing in depth though if I go with this.

[kitnut617]

Parts I ordered have started to arrive, here's the new fan fronts, they're just a tad bigger than the fan in the GR.5 kit, just what I was looking for.  I'm not sure how I will replicate the thin band near the blade tips though, I might just leave it as they are.

[Weaver]

Then I found this in the Airfix Nimrod box, some sort of FLIR turret and fairing.  But the instructions don't show it or which version it's supposed to go on, anyone got any ideas ?

I'm thinking under the nose just in front of the u/c bay

It was an optional fit under the wing. IIRC, it was a bit of a quick lash-up and the resulting aircraft didn't get a mod. number.

[kitnut617]

Then I found this in the Airfix Nimrod box, some sort of FLIR turret and fairing.  But the instructions don't show it or which version it's supposed to go on, anyone got any ideas ?

I'm thinking under the nose just in front of the u/c bay

It was an optional fit under the wing. IIRC, it was a bit of a quick lash-up and the resulting aircraft didn't get a mod. number.

Thanks Weaver, I found it on the instructions now.  It goes under the starboard wing  of the MR2P version and fitted to the BOZ/Sidewinder pylon attachment point.

[corsair220]

Javelin!!!

  Thought you might say that ---

FLIR turret under the nose, I think the fairing needs reducing in depth though if I go with this.

Oh, thats dirty. I like it

[kitnut617]

There you go --- nice find Jon.  That's something along the lines of how I'm doing mine, do you have any info as to why the u/c was to be so stalky

No info in the book (Gloster Aircraft since 1917) however based on other writings dealing with VTOL research,
its probably related to re-ingestion and ground reflection issues. Too close to the ground and the engine thrust
from the inboard nozzles is going to be bouncing right back into the fuselage. Could be a nasty problem.

Jon

I was thinking about my project last night and I think I know why the u/c is so long, the engine would have to come out from underneath the nacelles as the wing spars would be running above the engine.  I don't think a transport would have a removable wing to do this like the Harrier and I certainly don't want my project to work like that either.  I will have to think about some longer legs for mine.

[kitnut617]

I think I've come up with a way for a simple engine removal on this project which will allow shorter u/c legs.  My plan it to make the nozzles not much higher than where they are on a Harrier when it's sitting on it's wheels so dropping the engine downwards through the bottom of the nacelle isn't an option, taking it up through the wing also not an option so after looking at some photos of how engine changes are done on airliners it occurred to me that the engine section on this project could work the same way.  I would have it so the whole engine, nozzles and bodywork would detach from just forward of the u/c bay and the outer wing leading edge, a trolley could be moved into position from the front, connect to some lift points on the sides, then some small panels and the main carrier bolts removed, then dropped down and pulled away. Re-installing would the the reverse.  Hmm! I wonder if I could model that -----

Anyway, while waiting for the two Airfix GR.3's to arrive (I'm wondering where they are, the place I ordered them from is in Utah, a package of bits I ordered last week from Aeroclub the same day, arrived yesterday already  ) I've been working out how to graft the new fan fronts onto them.  Not as easy as you might think as it's not a case of just cutting the cockpit fuselage part off, the fuselage arounf the Harrier intakes and front nozzles flares outwards, something that doesn't need to happen if it's just an engine nacelle.  I think I will have to cut the fuselage something like this below but I need to keep the front nozzles where they are so I've got to cut around them (I'm still using this GR.7 fuselage for my planning but it shouldn't be much different to the GR.3 fuselage)

[kitnut617]

Where I'm going to cut the fuselage either side of the nozzle, it measures out to 1" wide and where it needs to contact the new fan front it has to be 3/4" wide (dia).  I'm going to make a new nacelle fronts which will taper down to match the new fan fronts so I drew it out and developed the layout using my AutoCad program.  What I will do is make a decal of the pattern in the top photo, once it has thoroughly dried on a piece of card I will cut it out like in the second photo.  Once that is done I'll curl all the 'fingers' up into a curve like in the third photo and then after it has been made round, it should end up looking like the forth photo.  I've done this using paper at the moment as a test to see if the layout works, which it seems to do, afterwards it will be a session of PSR for a while but with all the 'fingers' it shouldn't need to much.  

[kitnut617]

Each 'finger' has a slightly curved edge to each side which when curled up and then made round, should make all the edges contact each other.

[kitnut617]

The GR.3's arrived Friday and I've started to chop plastic.  First off though I had forgotten that the kit assembles differently to the GR.5/7 kits but this works into my favour, and another thing is the kit is quite a bit smaller in diameter when I measure the two kits in the same place, a point just aft of the forward nozzles.  The GR.7 kit is 1" (a couple of thou under) but the GR.3 kit measures 7/8", that's almost 9" in real world terms.  But once again this works into my favour as the transition bit I have to make won't be so barrel shape now.  I will have to make some front nozzle fairings though as the GR.3 ones are totally different and all the wrong shape for what I want to do.  I'll probably make them the same in appearance as the rear ones because the majority of the nozzle is under the wing now.

I've chopped the forward fuselage and tail fins off (the ventral one too) and inserted the new fan front into the hole, and in the side profile it looks about right but you can see how much I have to do in the plan view.

[kitnut617]

I've chopped of one of the original nacelles but immediately discovered a problem, from appearances it seems I don't have enough wing now.  I think I will just have to concentrate on the new nacelles before I go any further with this. 

I'm going to go with some 1/48 Harrier main wheels and u/c gear for the main u/c too and at first I was going to go with these from a Monogram kit only I don't have a second set.  Walrus on the ATF forum posted some pics of the Airfix gear which he had spare but they look a bit plain and I don't really like them so I wrote to Ian at Heritage Aviation and asked if I could get some main gear from his set and he has told me I could.

[kitnut617]

I'm going to use a number of bits from other kits, a lot of parts from the GR.7 kit, missiles from the Buccaneer kit, and some pods and air scoops from a Nimrod

[jcf]

Of course now your Canberra will need a tactical companion. 

[kitnut617]

Of course now your Canberra will need a tactical companion. 

Maybe the nacelles aren't so close afterall ------ hmmm!

Here's the office after some careful filing, interesting thing about what I've done is that the rear bulkhead moves back a bit --- about the same amount that it was moved forward when the Canberra was made into a PR.9, 14 1/2". so looks like I've got to move the front wheel bay (or maybe not    ):