Cold War GB 2018 Inspiration

[Weaver]

It occurs to me that the RAF were talking about mounting a pair of Douglas Genies on the Lightning at around that time.

Now I also have a J model Scorpion and it includes two Genies in the kit........

Well to be picky, we were so short of fissile material that they were talking about mounting one Genie on each Lightning with a 2" rocket pod to balance it, before they had to give up on the idea completely. Freightdog and Odds'n'Ordnance have both done Genie/Lightning sets with the correct pylons.

This must be the only circumstance in which, if you somehow survived the detonation of a Genie and the interceptor came back for a second attempt, it wouldn't seem particularly scary to have a 2" rocket pod fired at you...

I wonder how many AA missiles a B(I)8 Canberra could lift, especially if it had lengthened PR9 wings and larger engines? Hmmmmm......

Well, it's max bombload was 8000lb. I guesstimate the gun pack (which I presume you want?) at 2000lb max*, so that leaves 6000lb. A Firestreak weighed 300lb plus maybe 50lb (? - pure guess) of support pack per missile, so weight-wise, you could get 17 on there...

Space-wise might be more of an issue, of course, plus any that you mount in the bomb bay will have a lousy seeker view once extended if they're IR homers (not that that stopped plenty of such things from being schemed, mind you). Also, if you load it up to MTO, it's going to be a one pretty sluggish fighter until it's burned some fuel and/or fired some weapons.

I don't see any reason why you couldn't mount 8 x Firestreaks under the outer wings though. You could have six on pylon and two on the tips, but putting the latter under the tips as per the bomb pylons on Aussie Canberras, for example) seems more appropriate somehow. Also you could perhaps move the gun pack to the forward bomb bay and fit the Napier Double Scorpion rocket motor plus fuel in the rear: there's a molding for the rocket nozzles in the Freightdog P.12 conversion set.


* The weight of 4 x Mk.V Hispanos plus 500 rounds/gun in a 50/50 mix of HE/AP ammo (based on US ammo specs) comes to 1600lb, plus you have to allow for structure and support equipment.

[Weaver]

The idea of very bad nuclear bombers has inspired me to recreate my Very Bad Ideas thread here:

http://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,44868.new.html#new

[PR19_Kit]

Trash the gun pack, carry the Genies in the bomb bay (they don't need to 'see' the target, they can't 'see' anyway) attach cut down Scorpion wing tip pods stuffed with Firestreaks and load two Red Deans on the wing pylons.

A weapon for all seasons..... 

Note the 'Larger engines' in the original post...........

[Weaver]

If you're going to stuff Firestreaks in the wing tip pods you're going to have to stretch them, not cut them down:

DH Firestreak : Length = 10'6", Wingspan = 30"

Falcon (AIM-4) : Length = 6'6", Wingspan = 20"

[PR19_Kit]

Nononononono, I plan to delete the forward un-guided missiles and the extra fuel, a Canberra's got huge fuel capacity in the wings and fuselage anyway, and lengthen the missile bay in the tip 'tanks'.

That way there's enough room for the Firestreaks, with folding wings and fins of course........ 

And it works in the plastic, I did some test measurements without cutting or gluing anything. 

[PR19_Kit]

A few others I'm thinking about, no way I'll build al of them, but maybe a couple might be possible in the time.

The B-64 Navaho, what an AWESOME device, and in NMF with full SAC markings it'd look amazing. But I'd need to scratchbuild the launch platform. 




The F-85 Goblin, about as small as you can get, but needs some radical Whiffing to work in this GB. I have a cunning plan, naturally.......... 




And the two seat Mirage F1B, to my mind the best looking version of the Mirage, maybe the best looking French fighter ever? I have a cunning plan for one of these too, as well as two of the kits.

[rickshaw]

Would the Mirage F.1B be the Heller kit, Kit?  Watch out for the undercarriage.  It is a real bugger.   

[PR19_Kit]

Both of them are, yes.

Thanks for the warning, perhaps I should go for some white metal replacements? 

[rickshaw]

Both of them are, yes.

Thanks for the warning, perhaps I should go for some white metal replacements? 

I made mine from folded paper-clips.  Anything is easier than the Heller contraption!   

[PR19_Kit]

I've ordered a Special Hobby Mirage F1B in their 50% sale (I didn't even know they made one!) which hopefully will sort out the landing gear problem.

I'm spending too much time in The Loft obviously as I keep on coming up with ideas. Here's a couple more :-



This is a LOT of plastic but two ideas come to mind, SAC NMF finish complete with star spangled banner on the.......er, nose. Or maybe an RAF Northrop Norwich B1 in grey/green camo? What do you mean, 'stealth'.....?




And I've had this for a million years, and it's about that long since I've built an armour kit too! Did the Royal Artillery ever have these on charge? And if not, what would they have called it and what colour scheme would it have used?

[Rheged]

I don't think the Royal Artillery ever had this precise piece of kit, but it would have had a religious name if they did.  Perhaps the ARCHDEACON, PRIOR,RECTOR. PREBENDARY or even ARCHEMANDRITE?   They'd already used ABBOT, BISHOP, PRIEST and DEACON.

[Mossie]

Bronze green in Europe, light stone in the trops.

By the seventies, NATO green/black for Europe, lightstone/NATO green for the trops.

[PR19_Kit]

Scope for Whiffing it then, thanks for the tips. 

I know as much about armour as I do about brain surgery........... 

[Weaver]

The British Army didn't give names to the M-107, M-110 and M-109 in UK service, so they probably wouldn't have given one to that M-55 either.

[PR19_Kit]

The British Army didn't give names to the M-107, M-110 and M-109 in UK service, so they probably wouldn't have given one to that M-55 either.

Does that stop me giving one a name in WhiffWorld though? 

It's a weird looking thing, as if the turret's about to fall clean off the back of the chassis!