Strength is Victory: भारतीय ईगल of भारतीय वायु सेना

[Gondor]

Bought to replace the ageing Canberra Interdiction aircraft it had been flying for nearly twenty years, the भारतीय वायु सेना or Indian Air Force initially purchased twenty refurbished early production TSR2 aircraft. These aircraft were followed by another twenty aircraft being assembled from components supplied by British Aircraft Corporation as part of a package that included local manufacture by हिंदुस्तान एरोनॉटिक्स लिमिटेड, otherwise known as Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, located in Bangalore.
As production of the contracted seventy five aircraft progressed, an ever increasing proportion of the aircraft and its systems were locally manufactured until the final aircraft were almost totally produced within India.
One of the most famous squadron to be formed on what was locally know as the भारतीय ईगल or Indian Eagle was number 5 Squadron based at Ambala Air Force Station where it had reformed after converting to the Indian Eagle in the late 1970's. This squadron was formed after India was given Independence as up to that point the Royal Air Force had their own 5 Squadron operating within the country and to avoid confusion the Indian Air Force did not form it's own 5 Squadron until the Royal Air Force had left India.

The aircraft depicted in this build is from the locally manufactured aircraft and is loaded for a typical interdiction mission, the threat of which has helped keep the peace in the region for some time with the Indian Eagle only ever using live weapons on the ranges and practice grounds.

Gondor

[Gondor]

So my first posting in this thread was the background for the build.

So from here on in its the plastic side of things.

Cockpit has been assembled and painted and all the major parts for the fuselage have been separated from the sprue. Cleaning up of the engine air intakes has started so that they can be fitted to the fuselage when I want. Main wheels have also been glued together so I am hoping for a dry day so I can prime them prior to painting them.

Weapons have been selected and will consist of:
Bomb bay: 6 x BL577 fitted in two groups of three with the central weapon being above the lower two.
Inner wing pylons: 2 x 1,000 Lb in tandem on a bomb beam.
Outer wing pylons: 1 x UB-20-80 rocket pod.

The choice of Soviet weaponry may change but as I have a couple of sets of the Dragon Rocket and Bombs its possible that the 1,000Lb bombs could be changed for a Soviet equivalent.

Decals will be a mix of Model Alliance decals and whatever I find around that is useful.

Gondor

[Gondor]

In my previous post I mentioned the weapons load. Slight problem with fitting it into the weapons bay is the fitting that Airfix have put for their version of Red Beard. So with a not so gentle amount of persuasion and various tools I managed to remove the lump that is in the middle of the bay as the load I will be providing will leave that area fairly visible.
A couple of lengths of plastic card fitted in vertically, far easier to fit than if I had tried to fit the plastic card horizontally and it looks reasonable for now.




Gondor

[Captain Canada]

Interesting stuff, and thanks for the pics. I've been thinking of digging my Canberra out for this GB

[Gondor]

I was intending to have the kit's decals for the cockpit in place by now, however with so many ideas kicking around that will hopefully happen tomorrow. Most of the undercarriage has been painted, at least enough to save me trying to paint in very tight corners with a paint brush that just wont reach.

The main wheel hubs have also been painted but I still have to separate the nose wheels from the sprue/runner/tree. My excuse is that I had to glue the main wheel halves together so they were on the work bench when the Light Admiralty Grey was out it was just as easy to paint one side at a time.

The ejector seats have also been painted, need to sort out what I am going to do for the seat harnesses though.

Engine intakes have the major parts together, the joint needs sorting out so that will be done in the next couple of days during which I am hoping that there will be a dry spell in the weather so I can spray the inside of the intakes on all three TSR2's I have on the go 

Gondor

[Gondor]

Well the air intakes are in and I have just finished painting the main wheels so I am feeling as if I have accomplished something even if progress at the moment is rather slow. Not going to get much done for the rest of the week unfortunately but I do so hope I can get the decals on for the cockpit as that will enable me to close up the main fuselage.

Big steps to take will be making the under wing pylons and the bomb cradles for the bomb bay but that can be left for now.

Gondor

[Gondor]

Thought that some pretty pictures might be in order   

The ejector seats waiting for their straps



Main undercarriage legs waiting for the oleo's to be painted



The nose leg has some touching up to do before the assembly is ready to go into the fuselage



This picture shows that the brace? for the nose leg has been moved forwards. This is due to Airfix making the kit so that all the undercarriage bay doors are open, when you close the larger nose bay doors the brace/stay/whatever is impeded by the doors so it needs to be moved forward a bit. I simply moved it in front of the recommended locating position and reduced its hight by roughly a millimetre.



Now for some wheels.



Not 100% but they are close enough for me. Gloss and a wash are scheduled and should bring out the detail in those hubs.



Gondor

[NARSES2]

Very neat mate

[Gondor]

I was considering adding brake lines to the undercarriage legs.

Note, I did say "was" as I considered it way to fiddly for me in 1/72 scale especially as I have not attempted to add any before so I have decided to add the break lines to my 1/48 TSR2 when I get around to building/correcting that kit.

Gondor

[Gondor]

So last night I cleaned my tile 

OK, I know that's an odd thing to say but I have a ceramic tile that I use to cut PE on and I need it to do something else right now. This......


You see two strips of normal store bought masking tape that I have painted with enamel paint, roughly the same colour as the ejector seat belts used in the real TSR2. It's not going to be perfect but certainly far better then nothing at all.

The undercarriage bays and legs are progressing.



The nose undercarriage bay and leg are now almost ready to be installed



and the combined Main undercarriage bays/weapons bay is getting very close to the same point.



they just require touching up then glossed



The Weapon bay has had a single coat of paint as I still have to make two cradles for some of the load this aircraft will be carrying.

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

Have you read all the warnings about the main landing gear stub axles Alastair?

[Gondor]

Have you read all the warnings about the main landing gear stub axles Alastair?

No, should I be worried or terrified?

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

Be afraid, be VERY afraid! 

1) The stub axles from the main legs to the 'rockers' are too long so when you glue them on there's a gap between the 'rockers' and the main leg. As the legs splay outward there's a huge bending moment applied to the bits of stub axle that are out in the breeze and they slowly bend. Eventually the wheel pairs snap off............

2) One solution us to cut them off and replace them with wire, either superglued or epoxied in place.

I had exactly that problem with my time warped 9 Sqdn TSR2, see below.



Before modifications





Main leg drilled out





After modifications

My original write-up :-

'The negative camber of the main wheels I mentioned in the main build has been getting steadily worse since I built the B1 Special in August, so I just HAD to fix that problem before Telford. Today I took the model back to the work bench and sliced off the rockers just outboard of the main legs. I didn't have to try too hard either, the port leg almost fell off when I attacked it!

Then I looked out two short, like 10mm, lengths of piano wire and drilled out the rockers and the bottom of the main leg to suit. Then super-glued the stub ends of the wire into each rocker and waited till they dried off and then super-glued the assemblies back into place on the main legs. After a suitable curing time I plonked it back on my surface plate, a 9" mirror tile upside down, and the job was done.  '

[Gondor]

Thanks Kit, I shall tackle the problem before I get much further with the build 

Gondor

[Gondor]

Thanks Kit, I shall tackle the problem before I get much further with the build 

Gondor

This may take a week before I can tackle this problem as I don't have any metal rod of the correct diameter in stock and getting money fortnightly from DWP would have to be next week 

At least I know what to do to cure the problem and I can take the rockers with me to the store so I get the correct sized rod/wire

Gondor