|
This
is the Trumpeter RA-
5C
Vigilante in 1/72. I build it as a RAF Vigilante Mk.2 of the 41 Squadron.
The model assembled quite well, only a small seam at the end of the
fuselage. I used Humbrol paints to paint the model.
Click on
images below to see larger images
The
Story:
The year is 1969, The BAC TSR.2 has just been cancelled in favor of the
F-111K which also got cancelled in 1968. The RAF was in need of an fast,
cheap and available attack bomber. Again they turned towards the United States.
In the mean time the Jaguar project got cancelled as well due to budget
over runs. The American company North American came to the rescue for the
RAF, they proposed a non-nuclear fast attack bomber version of the US
Navy’s A-5/RA-
5C
bomber/Recon plane. The plane kept the official name Vigilante with the
add-on Mk.1 for the first version. The Vigilante Mk.1 could be armed with
all US
and British dumb bombs, and unguided rockets. For the RAF paint scheme
North American used US
colors FS.36118 Gunship Grey and FS.34079 US Dark Green, these colors
stayed on the aircraft until the planes got repainted in the low-vis
grey-grey scheme during 1993.
In
the mid-70’s the Tornado project got delayed a lot the maiden flight was
pushed-up towards the mid to end-80’s, the project was nearly cancelled.
Because of this the RAF was in need of a precision strike capability (which the
Tornado was to deliver). For this North American updated the Vigilante Mk.1 to
the Mk.2 version. The major update was a new attack computer/radar, and the
laser designator pod under the belly. The pod was converted from the RA-
5C
recon pod. Now the pod contained a laser designator, a FLIR, and 2 SLIR’s
(Sideway Looking InfraRed). The FLIR made use of the forward 2 windows, and the
SLIR’s are stacked to the end of the pod, each one pointed to 1 side. The new
weapon load could now contain almost every guided weapon in the
US
and British arsenal. Later weapon add-on’s include AGM-84 Harpoon, AGM-84E
SLAM, AGM-88 HARM, ALARM, AGM-65 Maverick. The total weapon load could be as
high as
22000 pounds
.
The Vigilante MK.2 was retired in 1996/7 in preparation for the EF2000 Typhoon.
The aircraft depicted in the model was armed as it flew in 1982 to support the
Avro Vulcans during the Black Buck Raids. The Armament was 12 Mk.83’s and 4
GBU-10’s.
Björn
Click on
images below to see larger images
|
|
