The real TSR.2 - the Folland Wasp

[rickshaw]

6 April 1965 is considered an infamous anniversary in the minds of many aircraft enthusiasts.  On that date, The BAC TSR.2 was cancelled.

But what if, instead of attempting to buy the moon, the RAF had accepted that it needed to trim its sails to suit the available cloth?  Perhaps a smaller, ligher, more versatile and above all else, much cheaper aircraft such as proposed by Teddy Petter should have been accepted as the TSR.2?

I give you the Folland TSR.2 Wasp.  Powered by twin afterburning Rolls-Bristol RB.153 engines, with top speed of Mach 2.4 the Wasp was a worthy successor to the legend of the Mosquito.  Carrying a single WE.177 nuclear weapon, it had a range of approximately 1,500 miles.  Carrying two crew and terrain avoidance radar, stationed well forward in West Germany, the Wasp was capable of reaching Moscow if necessary.

[img  width=640 height=480]http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/6788/cimg0948q.jpg[/img]







Built from an ancient and largely inaccurate 1/50 Kader Gnat F.1, I extended the fuselage, added two seats and added twin engines at the rear.   Came out rather well, I thought.

[NARSES2]

I like that, looks right 

[tc2324]

Love the seating arrangment on this.  

Solves the ejection seat firing sequence rather well.

[Caveman]

The folland light bomber! And such a great representation!

(from secretprojects.co.uk)



Im so glad that someone made one! I would love to make one myself but i really havent managed any modelling for a while now...

[lancer]

Incredible bit of scratchbuilding and a lovely end result.

[rickshaw]

The Kader kit is an ugly little thing.  Real 1950s technology - massive huge raised rivets all over it.  I sanded them all off. I tried to make two seats fit the existing cockpit but couldn't do it so had to lengthen the nose.  That meant a new canopy, which I just happened to find in the spares box (no idea where it came from, came in a second-hand box of missiles and other stuff).  Even so, the windscreen has to slide forward and the canopy backwards for the pilot to get in.  The twin engines were perhaps the easiest thing of the lot, they're made from brass tubing and putty, with a bit of plasticard as well.

I'm glad everybody likes it.  If you look at it in plan form, its surprising how much it reminds me of the Grumman F111.

[PR19_Kit]

A probable compatriot would be the Hawker P.1173, as modelled by our own 'Overkiller' here :-

http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php?;tpstart=10

This project eventually morphed into the Jaguar.

[NARSES2]

I'm glad everybody likes it.  If you look at it in plan form, its surprising how much it reminds me of the Grumman F111.

I had similar thoughts

[kitbasher]

Grumman F111 or F-11?  Confused.

Either way, very nice model that reminds me of a design in Secret Projects but don't recall what it is.  Must go and check.

So here's an idea for a GB/TB.  Take a large scale model and make it something to a smaller scale.  For example, I've always thought a 1/72 Me P1099 could easily become a 1/144 Me737-ish sort of thing.

[Hobbes]

The Scale-o-rama GB a couple of years ago used that idea.

[Mossie]

Very nice mini-TSR.2!  I can hear the teeth-gnashing of the Air Staff if they were forced to take it, but at least they would have got something!

Grumman F111 or F-11?  Confused.

Either way, very nice model that reminds me of a design in Secret Projects but don't recall what it is.  Must go and check.

So here's an idea for a GB/TB.  Take a large scale model and make it something to a smaller scale.  For example, I've always thought a 1/72 Me P1099 could easily become a 1/144 Me737-ish sort of thing.

Take a 1/48 Gnat & it's quite similar to a 1/72 F11F-1/F-11 Tiger.

[NARSES2]

Grumman F111 or F-11?  Confused.

Ooops - I meant F-11