XW626: the Comet testbed for the Nimrod AEW system (and Comet in general)

[Hobbes]

I'm working on a Comet 4C model. I'm using the Airfix Comet 4B as the base.

As far as I can find, there are the following significant differences:

- the 4C uses a longer wing than the 4B. It looks like all Comets except the 4B use the same wingspan.
- the 4C has (unique) bullet-shaped tanks on the outer wings

There is a Comet 4C conversion, but it doesn't include the wing extension, just the tanks.

I grabbed a Nimrod model for comparison, this has the same wingspan as the 4B, so that's no help (even though AIU the Nimrods were converted from 4Cs).

I found some 3-view drawings on the internet, but they all seem to be the 4B version!

So, the question is, what did that wing extension look like?

[PR19_Kit]

I'm not sure the 4C did have a longer span Harro, I think all the later Comet wings were the same span from the 3 onwards. Somewhere I've got a couple of Comet books so I'll have a look.

I have at least two Comet 4 conversion kits, which include the pinion tanks and the wing tips, and I'll see if I can find them too.

[kitnut617]

Looking on Wiki ----

""Comet 4B: Originally developed for Capital Airlines as the 4A, the 4B featured greater capacity through a 2m longer fuselage, and a shorter wingspan; 18 were produced.
Comet 4C: This variant featured the Comet 4's wings and the 4B's longer fuselage; 23 were produced.""

[Hobbes]

From the BAe Systems website:

http://www.baesystems.com/en/heritage/de-havilland-comet-1---2
http://www.baesystems.com/en/heritage/de-havilland-comet-3---4

On the Comet 3, pinion tanks were added. The fuselage was extended by 15' 5" from the Comet 1/2.
The Comet 4 had the same dimensions as the Comet 3.

The Comet 4A had a reduced wing span compared to the Comet 4. (this variant was not built).
For the Comet 4B, the fuselage was extended again for a total length of 118 ft, and the pinion tanks were deleted. Wing span is the same as on the 4A.

The Comet 4C had the fuselage of the 4B, and the wing of the Comet 4. Nimrods were based on the 4C.

The site quotes the wing span of the Comet 1 as 115ft, and the Comet 4 as 114' 10". Close enough.

[AS.12]

As the other chaps have stated, there was no 'extension' for the 4C.  It was the inverse, the 4[AB] wing was shortened by 7ft 2in to 107ft 10in overall.  I'll try to find a comparison planform.

[Hobbes]

I found comparison drawings on Britmodeller. The full wing is the 4B version, the loose outer section the 4C.

top view:


bottom view:

[kitnut617]

Harro, you'll just have to get the Aircraft in Miniature kits to compare   

http://www.aim72.co.uk/page85.html

[Hobbes]

Kit generously provided me with a resin conversion set (1) which includes the pinion tanks and (appropriately) the wingtip extension, arrived today and I've started sawing away at the Comet wings immediately.

1: by Andy Young. No idea if he's still in business, a quick search hasn't turned up anything.

Two Six Decals have a different conversion set which has the pinion tanks, but not the wingtip extension...

[PR19_Kit]

I think Andy only did two conversions, the other one was the fourth engine for the Trident 3B, but you had to do the fuselage and wing conversions yourself. I did have one of the 3B conversions but was persuaded to exchange it for some serious money some years ago, so I've no idea how well it worked.

The Comet tips are excellent though, I used one for an RAF Comet C4 and have another set left.

[Hobbes]

I'm building XW626 at the moment, and I'm having some trouble finding a good color match for the grey underside.



I can't find an online reference for this scheme.

I tried Humbrol 166 ("light aircraft grey", but that looks more beige than light grey. It doesn't match the H166 color swatch in my Humbrol paint chart either). I've opened a pot of Humbrol 147, but that's too light.
I'm tempted to go with H127, or is there something else I should try?

[zenrat]

Wow, talk about the ugly stick...

[Hobbes]

I've tested a mix of Humbrol 128 with white, and that looks promising.

Still, I'd like to find out a bit more about this color scheme. Was this unique to the A&AEE?

[PR19_Kit]

Was this unique to the A&AEE?

Almost EVERYthing was unique at Boscombe Down! 

The test aircraft colour schemes seem to have changed on an almost weekly basis in those days. There's at least one book on it, called 'Testing Colours', which I have, but no idea where it is just now. It's full of pics of various A&AEE schemes but very light on naming the actual colours sadly.

[kitnut617]

A couple of good books to read are Battle Flight and The Air Staff and the AEW Harro.  There was even a proposal to use a Nimrod sans the pannier just as that Comet was tested.

[Gondor]

Humbrol 196 maybe   

Gondor