BAe Pegasus Air base in 1/72 ( New pictures 08/11 )

[Project D]

No photos i know  This is down to me using any spare time painting ground crew, security forces and vehicles for the base which is now set up in the sales room at work with my nightbird bucaneer on it. My security force is painted in an urban camo uniform with blue berrets similair to the ones used by the REME, they have a couple of black mercedes vito minibuses and a larger black mercedes sprinter aswell as other bits of kit. They're split into two squads, the urban camo group ( Blue squad ) are assigned to base security and have full use of the security vehicles. There is another group in full black SAS gear ( Red squad ) that are used securing aircraft and personnel that other forces may not want other people to have access to, this squad also have full use of all the security vehicles as well as a small boat for sea entry to areas. I've decided to let the name of this unit be chosen by the people that read this. Also working on an F-20 competitor based on the airfix F-5 but with a new digital cockpit, delta wings and canards.

[Project D]

Finally got some pictures while i was at work.

The new Briefing room next to the control tower.



The finished F-16 agressor after a short stay in the paint shop.



Another finished build, the Nightbird Bucaneer. Starting to show its age with lots of replaced panels and being used to transport bombs and supplies in the large baggage pod to the base.





Another Testbed based at Pegasus, A Jaguar with upgrades and a rocket on the centerline being tested.



Yet another Testbed built by Pegasus, The F-20 competitor based on the F-5 with upgraded avionics.





And finally the Blue squad is made active as an aviation spotter decides to take a closer look at the base.





Thanks for looking 

[giraffeboy]

WOW! Thats great Ih have a model railway, and am contemplating adding an air base to it.... There's a slight difference 1/72 & 1/76, though its hardly noticeable

Can i ask how you've made your runways/taxiways/other concreted ground?

[McColm]

Impressive stuff. Is that a Segway up in the breifing room? Great Bucc and F-16. Jaguar is very impressive, the open top canopy!!
I've noticed most of your vehicles are left-hand drive, is that for our continental cousins and those living in America to admire?

[Project D]

Thanks for the comments 

The concrete is the road set from scalescenes download website, think it was about £3 for the file but has a lot of usefull sheets inculded in it and there is no limit to how many you print which is a bonus.

Segway? don't remember one  unless you mean the ejector seat made into the CO's chair?

The vehicles are slowly being converted to right hand drive, its just cheaper and easier to get them and then convert them rather than beinglucky and finding what i'm after in right hand drive and then paying through the nose for them.

[Hman]

I love the Buccaneer!

[Project D]

Thanks Hman, it looked rather boring and normal in grey so i decided to add some fiberglass and odd panels as well as a few other decals to make it a bit different. It's only my second Whif but I'm pleased with how it turned out seen as i had no plan or idea what i was doing.

Finished the Jaguar today and will get some pics on Monday. Also not far off painting the PR-19 so I'll get some pics of that too on Monday. Took a bit of time to write some of the history behind the base while i was working, this is only the first part but let me know what you think 

The Story behind BAe Woodford
June 15th 1987, A joint proposal from BAe and the R.A.F. Special Evaluation Squadron is issued requesting a private and secure facility for current and future projects to be secretly developed. The BAe production and development team were based at BAe Warton while the R.A.F. Special Evaluation Squadron ( S.E.S. ) were based at RAF Conningsby. This presented several problems, mainly due to each airfield being on the either side of England. Design teams would have to travel from each base during development stages and when the aircraft was finished it would have to be transported in crates by road or flown at night to avoid sightings. Another problem was sightings occurring while the ACMI was active at Waddington and Conningsby being used as an alternative base.

The M.O.D. decided a shared base would be best and chose Woodford as it was in the middle and was mainly used for storage which would be used as a cover for the new operators. Woodfords location also offered areas in the Peak District for training and testing. The base facilities began to be improved, the main runway was extended and the south east end of the airfield began to be improved. A single small sized fighter hangar was built with a separate control tower to handle the secret flights. The set up was for aircraft to be built at Warton and flown to Woodford at night, the aircraft would then be maintained and operated from Woodford with parts and spares being flown in from Warton. Staff, Groudcrew and pilots were picked from the top 10% of each squadron and base, individuals were picked and offered an opportunity working at one of the BAe front companies to avoid any pattern being made from staff leaving and all joining BAe. After they had accepted the offer they would be given a location and a date to be at, these were often side roads where no one was around. Depending on where they were based they would be picked up by one of the black minibuses used and driven to Woodford or be taken to a deserted airfield and flown to Woodford.

By the end of August 1990, there was a small selection of aircraft based at Woodford and a small number of personnel but enough to operate the evaluation squadron. At this time there was know to be a Hunter T.7, a fully developed TSR2 and also a passenger version of the TSR2 ( the 2 airframes never went to Cosford and Duxford ) there was also several Harriers, Canberras and Jaguars based at Woodford. Also a PR-19 was allegedly flown to Woodford and began to receive updates for its secret missions but this was never confirmed. After a while Woodford became a British equivalent to Groom lake and personnel began to call the base "Disney land for pilots"  while the aircraft based at Woodford may not have been as exotic or special as those at Groom lake but they were still interesting. These ranged from the TSR2s to development test beds and a Jaguar used as a rocket and ramjet test bed.

[Project D]

Finally got the pictures of my builds i promised. Hope you enjoy and let me know what you think.

First up is a german polution control F-86 that was converted by pegasus.



The F-86 was updated with a fixed refueling probe and various sensor pods. I hope to finish this one tomorrow as i'm not far off now.



Next is my TSR.2 being repainted.



My attempt at an updated PR-19.



The F-20 competitor is also nearly finished



The Jaguar test bed is also finished.



One of the MIG-21s transferred from Groom lake as part of the SR-71 deal.



Another aircraft transferred from Groom lake as part of the SR-71 purchase deal is this F-104 converted to an SR-71 familiarisation aircraft for new pilots to use before they are let loose in a SR-71 and is being used for training.





Thanks for looking.

[McColm]

Great work!!

[PR19_Kit]

I've just noticed the 'developed' PR19!!!

Amazing, that looks pretty darn good! Which engines did you use eventually?

[Project D]

Thanks for the commets 

I went for the snap kit A-10 fan fronts with the original kit exhausts and then the enlarged intakes over them and a thick layer of filler in over the engines to create an even surface between the fans and exhausts. Its a lot of work but it looks worth it already and i've only just started sanding the top half of one engine.

To be fair it only has the same amount of sanding as the Jaguar, YF-20 and my TSR.2 Liner has taken.

I was talking to my lhs owner and he mentioned a b-2 concept painting he attempted to build in 1/72, he used a 1/72 B-1 for the fuselage and wings and a 1/48 YF-19 for the forward fuselage and the intakes but i can't find this picture anywhere  if anyone has a copy of it or has seen it i'd be grateful if you could help as i may attempt this after i finish my TSR.2 Liner.

Thanks