Handley Page HP.80N Victomic - Finished Pics Page 19.

[The Wooksta!]

Matchbox or Airfix?

Having said that, there's a guy on a Facebook site that's done a fantastic job with a Rareplanes one.  I suspect there's less sanding in that than a Matchbox one, despite it being a vacform...

[Old Wombat]

I have it in mind to shorten one of the Airfix Victors by the same amount but then complete it otherwise OOB.  It would be interesting if anyone could pick it without having a standard one alongside.

I'll take all your cut-off Victor fuselage bits and glue them into an ULTRA long one. 

Then put them side-by-side at a show & see which the "experten" decide is the "accurate" one!

[zenrat]

Teaser.  Still got some washes to apply.

Victomic WIP 29-09-2020 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

[sideshowbob9]

Nice flaps!

Not something I say to just anyone you know!

[zenrat]

 

[Old Wombat]

 


Nice!

Big!

[NARSES2]

That really is looking the part mate 

[buzzbomb]

Just wow !

Really nice

[zenrat]

Handley Page HP.80N Victomic

Handley Page Victomic  - 11 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

Everett Truelove, chief test pilot for Handley Page looked out the cockpit window at the Farnborough crowds and thought to himself "let's make the '56 show one to remember".
Throttles to the stops the HP.80N leapt down the runway, the scream of her atomic turbojets somehow managing to both deepen and rise in pitch as Truelove hit the water injection to show the watching public a full combat power take off.  Banking steeply as she left the ground the Victomic turned and climbed until she was rising to the heavens directly above her audience who watched her climb, heads back and mouths agape amidst the fine warm drizzle of her exhaust.
In the crowd, 14 year old Kit Spackman, flipped his collar up and thought "glad I wore my new hat today".

Handley Page Victomic  - 5 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

The Nineteen Fifties was the dawn of the Atomic Age and nuclear power was going to change the world.  It was going to provide long-lasting, efficient and powerfull energy sources for everything from personal massagers to space ships.  Aircraft were obviously not going to be left out.
In the United Kingdom, while no official specification was issued for a nuclear-powered aircraft, government sources made it very clear to the British aircraft industry that anyone embarking on a private venture would be smiled upon and that development funding would be forthcoming.

Handley Page Victomic  - 16 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

The Victomic was the result of a joint venture between aircraft manufacturer Handley Page, engine manufacturer Rolls Royce, and industrial conglomerate GEC.  Based on the airframe of the Handley Page HP.80 Victor it was powered by Rolls Royce Phlegethon nuclear turbojet engines through which circulated molten thorium salts supplied from the GEC Ixion pumped fuel fission reactor housed in what had been, in a conventional Victor, the forward bomb bay.  Fuel tanks were repurposed to contain water which when injected into the engines increased the density of their exhaust, boosting power when needed.
Mounted on a detachable section of lower fuselage the reactor could be lowered and then removed for maintenance or repair with a replacement being swapped in.  Handley Page envisioned Victomics being towed into position over access lifts on which reactors would be lowered and raised to and from underground workshops and storage facilities.  The weight of the reactor caused the aircrafts centre of gravity to shift rearwards which was compensated by a 2.5m reduction in the length of the rear fuselage. 

Handley Page Victomic  - 8 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

The RAF were excited about the prospect of having a fleet of nuclear-powered bombers as their indefinite endurance would enable them to have the RAF nuclear deterrent constantly aloft and ready to go.  They proposed having aircraft carrying fused weapons on one week duty cycles flying figure-eight patterns over the UK.  Each one would have two full crews on board.  Senior officers thought that this would be possible with Victomics, and Handley Page proposed stretching the forward fuselage and integrating sleeping quarters between the cockpit and the reactor.  Handley Page also began work on a much larger and more powerful aircraft, the twin reactor, 18 crew, 250' wingspan Violator.

Handley Page Victomic  - 18 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

The prototype Victomic nearly didn't make it to the 1956 Farnborough Show when the Air Registration Board raised concerns about radiation safety.  However, following last minute consultation between the involved parties and the Atomic Energy Authority the planned demonstration flights and ground display were allowed as long as radiation warning symbols were added to the airframe for the public's protection.
Following Farnborough this first prototype was repainted in a more nondescript colour scheme and carried out a long test programme before being disassembled into its individual components and distributed amongst a number of Universities in order to allow them to study the long term effects of radiation at altitude on materials.

Handley Page Victomic  - 23 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

Three more prototypes were built, each one different from the rest in its own way.  The best known being the third prototype "Cthulhu" which, with Rolls Royce's more powerfull Styx engines fed by the improved Ixion Mk XI reactor, lengthened fuselage with a galley behind the cockpit and sleeping quarters in the aft bomb bay (reached by crawl tube through the reactor compartment) made the first non-stop London to Melbourne flight in 1959.  This was the aircraft which was tragically lost over Antarctica during the attempted "Greenwich Meridian/International Date Line" circumnavigation in 1960.

Handley Page Victomic  - 19 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

In the end, as we now know aircraft powered by fission reactors was a technological dead end.  However, without the pioneering work carried out by the visionaries at Handley Page, Rolls Royce, and GEC, not to mention the brave air crews, we wouldn't have the world girdling fusion powered behemoths we take for granted today.

Handley Page Victomic  - 28 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

The Model

Handley Page Victomic  - 31 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

A 1/72 Revell (Matchbox) Handley Page Victor met the razor saw, lost 35mm of its rear fuselage and was then garnished with a smattering of 1/144 Gundam parts.
Much putty was applied and then sanded off.
I will never attempt to build another Matchbox/Revell Victor as they are ill fitting piles of fetid flyblown roadkill.  Although, if a really cheap one came along I have some ideas for kitbashing projects.
Transfers are home made.

It's now put away and is hanging in one of the "big builds" display cases.

Handley Page Victomic  - 34 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

[PR19_Kit]

Bloody BRILLIANT Fred! 

And I just LOVE that backstory too. I don't think I've ever starred in one before. 

And that explains just why the hat I had in those days always glowed in the dark. It was very handy for finding my home from the pub in my middle to late teens...... 

[NARSES2]

That's come out really, really well mate 

[Rheged]

Superb!!  I like your RR engine nomenclature............it shows  a considerable knowledge of the riverine geography of the underworld! May we anticipate the RR Aornis, RR Cocytus  and RR Lethe  in future offerings?

[buzzbomb]

No words. 

Sold it completely. Nice subtle mods, great paint and finish, really another of those double take models.
Good to see it went "straight to the Pool room".
Well done.

Now, you have some space left in the big cabinet that needs filling....

[CammNut]

The backstory is brilliant, and well written (and that is praise coming from an "award-winning aviation journalist" - and fanatic fiddler with plastic...). Really well done! Makes me want to go all 'Thunderbirds' and smoke a cigarette as I lean against my nuclear-powered coffee maker.

[The Rat]