What would you say this started life as??

[chrisonord]

I was watching UFO the other day, and on this episode was a transport aircraft I had not seen before, looking at it it looks a lot like a Yak-130 trainer, shape wise, but....this was the early seventies so what else could it be. If you look at the pictures, you will see that there is what looks like a painted over large canopy, anyhow have a look and see what you think.
Cheers,
Chris.

[B777LR]

Maybe a 2 seat Jag for the front fuselage?

[jcf]

There is a photo of the model under construction on page 87 of the future was fab: The Art of Mike Trim
and it appears to be at least three feet long.

Many of the models in the later Anderson productions were unique designs by Meddings and/or Trim and the
basic forms were fibreglass shells or shaped from wood. Model parts were used as detailing 'gubbins', but
didn't form the basic structure.

Jon

[Cobra]

guys, they showed a Comparison pic of the SHADO Mobile Transporter & the C-17!!!!!!!!! it was on www.cloudster.com!!!!!!!!!!! check it out!!!!!! Dan

[puddingwrestler]

The SHADO transport was a scratch build; I've also seen in construction shots in a book in my youth. (21st century visions by Derek Meddings).
Most of the stuff used in UFO was scratch built, which may explain why it didn't feature a crazy new plane per week like Thunderbirds, Stingray and Captain Scarlett so often did.
As to the inspirations etc; the wings do remind me of the B-58, a perenial favorite of GA designs.

[Weaver]

It looks like it has DC-8 engines grafted to Hustler wings.

[jcf]

The trailing edge of the B-58's delta wing sweeps forward, on Trim's SHADO transport design the trailing edge is swept aft,
and it also appears that it may have a kinked leading edge. (Edit: or not, kink appears to be a trick of lighting in the screen captures.)

http://www.cloudster.com/Sets&Vehicles/UFO_ShadoCargoPlane/UFO_Question_of_Priorities_116.jpg
http://www.cloudster.com/Sets&Vehicles/UFO_ShadoCargoPlane/Man_Who_Came_Back_213.jpg

From reading the Trim book it is clear that while influenced by existing technology, he also has a very original design sense
and aesthetic.

[ysi_maniac]

^^^^^
A whiffer at WORK!

[chrisonord]

I need one of those in 1/72nd scale, no.. I do really
Chris.

[Weaver]

Whilst I accept that it's an original design rather than a kitbash, you could still do something very like it using B-58 wings and DC-8 engines. The fuselage from any large transport would do, and you could then make the sleek nose by grafting bits of fighter fuselages onto it.

If you wanted to save a bit of dosh ('cos this is starting to sound like an expensive kitbash), you could turbofan-ize the original B-58 engines by adding oversize fans to the front of them.

[puddingwrestler]

Lookin at the pics and thinking sideways, I reckon you might be able to sue the fuselage of a F-104 starfighter and scale-o-rama it, say by using a 48th F-104 and 72 B-58 wings. You'd need to change the rear end of the starfighter fuselage for the loading ramp etc, but I think the nose and general shape would work. You could add some bulges along the bottom from spare drop tanks or something.

[jcf]

Seeing as its so slab-sided, why not just use a block of wood or foam to form the basic shape?
Sans the cockpit area which could be made by using a large drop tank half, ditto the
lower side bulges.