Mud Shark II

[Weaver]

Okay I can't start this for at least a few days yet, and I'm making ZERO promises about finishing it given the way my life is going these days, but this is what I'd LIKE to do for this GB given half-a-chance.

Back in 2010, I entered a Pirate GB over on BTS and won a prize (can't remember where I was placed now, to be honest) for my Hard Corps Tornado, which some of you will have seen on the SIG stand at many UK shows:



This was based on a chapter from Canadian author and artist Ken Steacy's 1990 comic book 'Tempus Fugitive', which follows a time-travelling aviator from the future on a quest to save the world, through various eras of flight, pursued by two misguided by dogged 'time cops'. It features a mix of real, what-if and sci-fi aircraft, making it a real treat for the aircraft geek.




In the chapter in question, our hero finds himself in the Middle East, just after a semi-apocalyptic World War III. This war was a bit of a damp squib on the nuclear front since most of the missile and anti-missile systems pretty much cancelled each other out, but enough damage was still done to cause decades of chaos and turmoil. There he is captured by a bandit outfit called the Hard Corps, who have two pretty useful assets: an aircraft graveyard and an oil well. None of the aircraft are flyable, but they've got an eclectic collection of them taxiable and turned them into, essentially, jet-powered dune buggies, with wings removed, over-sized wheels and a smorgasbord of original and salvaged/looted weapons.

My Tonka was inspired by the Lightning in this pic. What I'd like to do this time is the successor to the A-6 Intruder called 'Mud Shark' on the left of the picture:



THe A-6 always struck me as a somewhat impractical choice for this role, since it has no guns and no more space than many other two-seaters, so what I thought is, when Mud Shark dies for whatever reason, the crew replace it with an EA-6B Prowler airframe. This has four seats, so with the rear consoles ripped out it can be equipped like an LRDG Jeep with various pintle-mount guns. It also struck me that they need neither the radar nor the ECM fin pod, so these could be replaced with improvised weapons (guns in the nose, rockets on the fin?) as well.

I have a Hasegawa EA-6B and I have a MUCH bigger collection of armaments and cargo/stowage stuff than I had in 2010, so this should be fun!

[buzzbomb]

Oh Yeah... looking forward to this one

[Dizzyfugu]

 

[steelpillow]

Love real aeroplanes. Love what-ifs. Love sci-fi. Love graphic novels. 
Why have I never heard of this before?

My choice would be either the manta-ray beast with the bubble cockpit, at the front of the time procession, or the canard Barnes-Wallis swooping through the loop. Gorgeous!

[Weaver]

Got the kit down last night. If anyone's got any qualms about me expending a Hase Prowler on this, let me explain:

The kit is part-started.
Half the front canopy is missing.
The bulkhead between the front and rear cockpits is missing.
All the transparencies are brown-tinted plastic which, as far as I know, is wrong.

TLDR: this is a trasher that's never going to get built from the box.

[Weaver]

Love real aeroplanes. Love what-ifs. Love sci-fi. Love graphic novels. 
Why have I never heard of this before?

My choice would be either the manta-ray beast with the bubble cockpit, at the front of the time procession, or the canard Barnes-Wallis swooping through the loop. Gorgeous!

They're actually the same aircraft from different angles: those are the 'time cops' aircraft.

The B-36-on-steroids bomber in the middle, complete with A-5 Vigilante parasite planes (yes, really... ) is awesome. I've seen a pic of Steacy posing with a scale model of it before now.

EDIT: found it:

[Weaver]

Looks like you can read Tempus Fugitive online for free here: https://www.zipcomic.com/tempus-fugitive-issue-1

[steelpillow]

Wonderful. Are all the issues as good as the first?

[Weaver]

Wonderful. Are all the issues as good as the first?

Yep  - it was only a four-parter, and they're all on that site.

[Steel Penguin]

all four are an interesting read, use the ones in the upload sections lower down the page and the immediate links dont seem to work for me..
but looking forward to this   

[ericr]

 

[steelpillow]

Think I'll go for the print edition!

[jcf]

Love real aeroplanes. Love what-ifs. Love sci-fi. Love graphic novels. 
Why have I never heard of this before?

My choice would be either the manta-ray beast with the bubble cockpit, at the front of the time procession, or the canard Barnes-Wallis swooping through the loop. Gorgeous!

They're actually the same aircraft from different angles: those are the 'time cops' aircraft.

The B-36-on-steroids bomber in the middle, complete with A-5 Vigilante parasite planes (yes, really... ) is awesome. I've seen a pic of Steacy posing with a scale model of it before now.

EDIT: found it:

The fuselage looks more like a B-29 with the C-74 Globemaster I double bubbles rather than a B-36.

[Weaver]

Realistically, I might never get time to work on this now.

The probate on my auntie's will has been approved earlier than expected, which means life has to get very busy now rather than a month from now. I've also had my bike stolen, which is going to take up more of my time.

[philp]

Well that sucks Weaver.

Hopefully you get to this one sometime as I really loved watching the Finn build.