English Electric P42....hypersonic

[general melchett]

Hi everyone I know it's a bit of a 'what if' really, but it was very ,very nearly built, in fact I spoke to a chap who worked for EE under Petter and his team ( I move in exalted circles don't you know ) and he told me it was a lot nearer being built than has previously been mentioned !! .Sorry 'bout this , but it's going to be a long one , here's my first attempt at a full blown scratch-build using only a toilet roll, brown paper , sticky back plastic, some beads and a bottle of Copydex !!. Actually this is hopefully the first of many experimental aircraft that I hope to build over the coming year representing types that only got as far as the planning stage.This first one is the English Electric study EAG.3280 , known as the P42. The idea was for a hypersonic aircraft capable of flying at around Mach 4.5 using conventional engines , Spey RB 168's in fact and employing compression lift as a means of attaining these speeds for short periods of time. No ramjets for this little baby ! (bear in mind this was the mid 50's a good 10 years before the XB-70 flew !!). The main problem was obviously one of kinetic heating so some pretty exotic materials were to be used in it's construction , including gold , titanium and a special thermally enhanced magnesium, all of which had to be developed at enormous cost to the British taxpayer. Due to cost and much other work going on at EE ( Lightning mostly), the idea was shelved , though it did appear once again in the early 60's , this time as the basis of a low orbit satellite launcher (with a widened fuselage to take the new payload).
Onto the model then, I based it on drawings found in Tony Buttlers fantastic' British Secret Projects' , Hypersonics book. These were scaled up to 72nd and transferred to litho for use as templates. I also used the fantastic art work of Josef Gatial as inspiration and have based it mainly on his interpretation of this awesome if somewhat ungainly monster.

The model is built mainly of the following ,
Body and engines and tail, 5 sizes of Evergreen Plasticard, plastic rod, brass rod and white metal,
Cockpit , ICM MIG 31 foxhound , cockpit area Revell X15,
Undercarriage , white metal TSR 2,
Wheels True Detail 1/48th P80 ( nose) and 1/48th Skyraider ( main),
and the afterburners also come from the ICM MIG 31 Foxhound.
Cockpit glazing courtesy of Humbrol Clear fix.


Construction started with the wings which were built up from 2 ply of Plasticard with a strengthening triangle section inside , then sanded to shape and scribed ( as was the whole airframe ,this was a royal pain in the ar #$ !!!!). Next came the fuselage /engine sides ,same again only this time one layer of card leading edges were all shaped. Room had to be made for the engine bays and U/C and variable air inlet ramps constructed. Engine turbine faces were used from a spare Academy SU27 ( though you can hardly see these !!).the pictures show it better than I can explain so I'll cut the waffle . The cockpit was tricky but in the end I opted for the ICM MIG 31 as the profile fitted perfectly and as luck would have it I had one knocking around , so I butchered it .!!.After filling the top side I needed a whole new cockpit , looking at the pics myself and Geoff B ( Thorvic ) decided that the Revell X-15 kit would be a suitable dionor , and guess what , I happened to have an old one in the loft !!. After quite bit of fiddling I got it to fit , all I had to do now was add new side windows with my Dremel. The undercarriage was also a bit of a poser , in the end the obvious choice was TSR-2 but I couldn't bring myself to use the Airfix ones , fortune smiled on me and Chris ( Falcon) kindly gave me a set of white metal ones he had at the Coventry show .I didn't use much filler as I knew it would have a NMF so I kept that down to a minimum ( thus doubling the build time !!!) The wheels were courtesy of Hannants (True Detail sets for P80 shooting star and Skyraider, low pressure filled with nitrogen was envisaged).

The whole thing was primed in Alclad gloss black and airbrushed with EVERY shade of Alcad 2 I had ( which was pretty much the whole range !!!).

The decals were from a number of sources , mainly Modeldecal , Xtradecal, and silver, dark grey stripes and solid block. The serial XJ220 was chosen from a cancelled Swift order , the date being correct for the estimated time frame

Hopefully the model will have an appropriate diorama base ready for Telford

Anyway if you've stayed with me this far , and have not yet lost the will to live and you're eyes haven't glazed over , I thank you and hope you like it , it was fun ( in a sort of put your hand in a Bunson burner kind of way !!).!!!!

Thanks again to Thorvic and Falcon for their invaluable help. ..................



.Right Matron's coming with a nice cup of steaming hot cocoa, a gag and a bullwhip ,!! off to the front ....Tallyho...............................





The pictures ( finally ),

This was the inspiration,








the plans

The build.

















cockpit took some work

































The final product , took a bit of work but I got there , what's next ??!!

Edited November 20, 2015 by general melchett

[AnonymousDFB1]

General I like that,

[kitnut617]

Cor!!!! that's brilliant, I really like what you've done there Andy. Did you scratch build the u/c or did it come from something else?

Robert

[bexwh773]

Andy,

Definately bonkers this time Shes a real beauty, even more so as shes one of Teddy's Dream Toys Youve outdone yourself this time and defintely one to be proud of

Bex

P.S: I notice youve done bugger all to the Sperrin then

[GreenDragon]

Fantastic job General Melchett Sir! Hard to believe that's your first scratch build, the only thing I might have changed is the X-15 canopy changed for an F-106 one. I've only kit bashed stuff before, never had the guts to try one from scratch, well done mate it's a stunner!

Paul Harrison

P.S. what's coming next?

[general melchett]

Thank you all, very kind, glad you like it Mish, Kitnut cheers, the U/C is from a TSR 2 white metal set given to me by young Chris Payne (Falcon) , the wheels themselves are resin and come from True Details, ( the actuator scissors are from a PE 1/48th B1B set).

Bex LOL actually the Sperrin is nearly done ( all it needs are decal stripes on one side of the fuselage and a coat of semi matt and she's done , that pic of it in the background was taken months ago She should be my next post ( ish !!).

Paul thanks for that , I did consider the F106 but it has the wrong inverted 'V' shape and would have needed a fair bit of work fairing into the rounded spine, ( another option was theAmodel TU 128 Fiddler but that would have been an expensive experiment !!).

Thanks again peeps,

Andy

Next on the board is the Supermarine 559 , followed by the monstrous Handley Page 100......

Edited October 22, 2008 by general melchett

[miduppergunner]

That is really good - why not put it on Hyperscale and ARC as something secret from Boscombe Down - kits (Vac form) likely to be avaiible 2009.

[general melchett]

LOL....thanks mid upper old thing , great idea, I'm waiting for the first person to ask where they can get one from , hang on ,in fact two people already have , bit flattering really !!....I'll see what I can do ............................

[AnonymousA667]

Midupper, no matter how much I might approve of your suggestion inwardly (), for public consumption I'm bound to say you're a very bad person, stop it!

General, that is an outstanding piece of whifferery, I'm sure that if you could arrange to get it to Telford we would be able to find a little bit of space for it on the table.

peebeep

[general melchett]

Thanks there Peebeep , twill be so !! just out of interest here's a few size comparisons with other X-planes from the Asylums vaults....... This thing was enormous

Andy

With my P1127 and SR-53 for company,

[Alan P]

A lovely piece of craziness i can fully appreciate.

Well done Andy!

Al

[atdb27]

Andy,

Have to say that is one very very nice Scratchbuild.

The info and pics were informative and I might add a bit inspirational.

Like the use of various bits of kits etc.

The finish and shading is spot on as well.

I would be tempted to enter that at Telford?

Adrian

[DamienB]

Beautiful model of an ugly orrible thing. By far EE's worst looking design for the P42 - they came up with some much more elegant looking aircraft for the same project.

http://www.bisbos.com/rocketscience/aircra...hypersonic.html

[smuts]

Great whatif.

Andy.

[falcon]

Bloomin Brilliant.

[Mike]

That's and looks like the love child of a Mig 25, and an Avro Arrow

[general melchett]

Thank you all ( I think!)....LOL ......Al thanks , truth is I'm building up to attacking my B58 with all manner of Alcladiness , getting some practice in

Thanks Adrian,glad you like it, might consider Telford , ( it'll be there but not sure about comps ),

Damien , I totally agree with you , but it's that very 'orribleness that I find irresistable ( you should see the women I've been out with ......streuth !!),

thanks smuts old sausage , appreciated....

Chris thanks mate , nice legs by the way ....( thanks )

Mike, pretty accurate only I think it's more the afterbirth ..function over form ?? ( bit like me really !!),

Cheers all.

Andy

[Skii]

That's and looks like the love child of a Mig 25, and an Avro Arrow

great minds must think alike Mikey

Amazing work Andy, very impressive indeed and a fabulous example of proper modelling

[Geoff_B]

Superb Andy, well built and well finished look forward to seeing it on R&D at SMW, where no doubt we'll be discussing the next builds you have lined up.

Cheers

Geoff

[general melchett]

Thanks chaps, , skii, it's certainly a lot more satisfying than ' shake and bakes' , to me personally, a lot of hard work but also a lot of fun...at the end of the day surely what it's all about !!

Geoff , thanks for that( and thanks for your input , appreciated), from the overlord of ' scratch wiffery' himself, that's praise indeed ,(sounds like something to do with the black arts and the Devil himself !) . I'll talk to you later !, as for future builds I think you know what's next ......

Andy

Edited October 22, 2008 by general melchett

[miduppergunner]

Midupper, no matter how much I might approve of your suggestion inwardly (), for public consumption I'm bound to say you're a very bad person, stop it!

General, that is an outstanding piece of whifferery, I'm sure that if you could arrange to get it to Telford we would be able to find a little bit of space for it on the table.

peebeep

Huh - I always seem to get picked on -just because you are a global moderator. 'Spose you think that make you a world ruler??

[Overkiller]

HOLY BAT SMOKE!

That's fan-bloomin-tastic!

Just love it! R&D table at Telford? I'm in like Flynn to see that one!

Hopefully I will have my own 1st scratchbuild to go on the What-if SIG table at Telford, the Hawker P.1173. Working to get it finished in time.

Duncan

[Julien]

An outstanding job!

Very well done.

Is it me or does the fin on that look a lot like the one that ended up on concorde??

Julien

[general melchett]

Thanks Duncan , Looking forward to your 1173 , should be an interesting table methinks

Julien , thanks for that , You're right all this development work ended up on Concorde in one form or another !!

Andy

Edited October 22, 2008 by general melchett

[AnonymousA667]

Huh - I always seem to get picked on -just because you are a global moderator.

Yup.

Although in actual fact I'm supposed to be a mere GB moderator, but the admins seemed to have missed a trick!

'Spose you think that make you a world ruler??

That would be Buckley, I only wear size eights.

peebeep