What if Hawker had designed the Thud?

[kitbasher]

Well of course they didn't, but they did come up with the P.1116 and P.1121 designs (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_P.1121).  The latter was, you could say, a conceptual equivalent of the F-105A-D.  The 2-seat P.1116 preceeded the P.1121 but it doesn't take too much stretch of the imagination to think of it as the basis of a two-seat P.1121 that would equate to the F-105F-G.

For a few years I'd inexplicably yearned after an Airfix F-105 - I know it's flawed but I fancied a quick OOB build - and came close to buying one (but never did).  Then at SMW 2023 we were presented with Rolead's Very Generous Box of Freebies.  There was an unbuilt Airfix F-105 in it!  In a bag, no instructions or decals but looked pretty complete to me - only when I got home and checked the parts I realised the pylons and weaponry was mission.  BUT!  There were actually nearly enough parts to build a second kit.

Decision.  Donate the almost complete Thud to Models for Heroes when I can and whif the less complete kit.  As you'll see from the picture a couple of parts had been assembled and there'd been some surgery - to return it to a single seater?

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Thud parts for whiffing

A new fin would be required to capture 'essence of Hawker'.  I've one from Wooksta that looks P.1121-ish with an RVR fairing that's for use on another project but can act as a templated for a plasticard item (that or a modified Su-9 fin)

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The Wooksta-supplied fin

So work has begun.  F-105 fin/rudder and ventral fin have been removed, the cockpit tub assembled - note the 'Hawker Thud' will be a two-seater - and the 'office' given an inital coat of Humbrol 27.

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work to date

Next tasks will be to finish the cockpit and assemble the fuselage.  Kit seats will not be used, will instead be using a pair of Freightdog tandem two-seat Hunter seats recovered from a donated build, parts of which have been assigned to something else.

Tailplanes have quite a Hawker feel to them so I don't foresee much modification being needed there. 

The wings will be modified to get late-Hunter style wing slats; toying with a couple of possible ideas concerning the engine intakes but the intention is to make them look more Hunter-like - probably similar to those of the very early (January 1955) lightweight single-seat Hawker P.1103 as illustrated on page 45 of Dan Sharpe's 'RAF Secret Jets of Cold War Britain' bookazine.  The F-105's intakes have always looked so odd to me, I can't recall that configuration being used by any other design.  Anyone know why they were designed that way?

There's no nosewheel or undercarriage doors, so I'll raid the spares box for a suitable replacement for the former and the pylons and use the almost complete kit's parts as templates for the latter.

[PR19_Kit]

The F-105's intakes have always looked so odd to me, I can't recall that configuration being used by any other design.  Anyone know why they were designed that way?

There's one other US design that used the Ferri intake, designed by Antonio Ferri, that flew and that was the F8U-3 version of the Crusader.



And another which was designed but never built, the Republic XF-103. Ferri had a hand in that design too.



With both these two the intake orientation was vertical rather than horizontal as with the F-105. The prototype 105 had conventional intakes, derived from the preceding RF-84F Thunderstreak design, but the Ferri intake offered much better supersonic performance.

Quite a few modern Chinese designs use similar belly mounted intakes too, so maybe it's catching on? 

LOVE your idea about a 'Hawker 'chief' though, should look great in RAF camo.

[jcf]

The paint job on the F-105 in this Republic ad from the '50s gives it a very Hawkerish look.
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[kitbasher]

It does indeed.

[jcf]

Drawings of the proposed Mach 3 Arrow show Ferri intakes. The Regulus II missile also has a Ferri intake.
 

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[kitbasher]

Thanks chaps for the intake info, I'd totally forgotten about the Crusader and Arrow intakes, despite seeing pics on numerous occasions.  The F-103 and Regulus I'd also seen in the dim and distant but hadn't really taken much notice of them.

[PR19_Kit]

That Mach 3 Arrow needs a larger fin....................           

[scautomoton]

That Mach 3 Arrow needs a larger fin....................           

What about this?

[PR19_Kit]

Yeah, that's getting there anyway. 

[scautomoton]

no directional stability issues with that Bad Boy

[Wardukw]

no directional stability issues with that Bad Boy

Just the chance of being blown over on a mildly windy day 😄😄😄

[The Wooksta!]

The fin donated looks like a P.1129 one. IIRC I moulded the one I had, just in case, to use up some pretty horrid rubber.

[kitbasher]

The fin donated looks like a P.1129 one. IIRC I moulded the one I had, just in case, to use up some pretty horrid rubber.

Tvm for clearing up the fin identity.

[The Wooksta!]

I can supply another fin - 1121, 1121 naval or 1129 - if need be.

[Gondor]

I can supply another fin - 1121, 1121 naval or 1129 - if need be.

What's the difference between them?

Gondor