Alvis Salamander, Stalwart, Saracen, and Saladin series of 6X6 wheeled vehicles

PR19_Kit · May 25, 2025, 03:36:23 AM

Like the tale of the Grand Slam that modern day 617 Sdqn managed to 'discover' in a bomb dump 'somewhere in England'.

Having had it hauled by truck all the way to Lossiemouth to display alongside their Tallboy and Upkeep bombs, their Armament Officer inspected it, only to find it was not only still full of Torpex, but it still had its fuses in place!!!

That closed the station down for an entire day!

Weaver · May 25, 2025, 04:34:01 AM

There was a case a few years back where a neighbour of a tinkerer and hoarder inherited his collection, and then had to call the USAF in a hurry because there was an AIR-2A Genie nuclear air-to-air rocket in there! Turned out it was just an empty motor section from a drill round and perfectly safe, but I bet that got his heart pumping for a bit.

When I worked at Woodford, we got a Stingray torpedo delivered for fit checks with the Nimrod. The day they opened the case it gathered a crowd and provoked the customary oohs and aahs. A couple of days later, it disappeared again: turned out they accidentally sent us a live one instead of a drill round! Some time later, another, much bigger, case arrived, labelled "HARPOON MISSILE TEST FIT ITEM" or something like that. Again, the crowd gathered for it's opening, but were disappointed when it turned out to be a length of yellow plastic pipe with lead weights inside it and a NATO shackle on top...

frank2056 · May 25, 2025, 09:47:19 AM

Quote from: PR19_Kit on May 25, 2025, 03:36:23 AMLike the tale of the Grand Slam that modern day 617 Sdqn managed to 'discover' in a bomb dump 'somewhere in England'.

Having had it hauled by truck all the way to Lossiemouth to display alongside their Tallboy and Upkeep bombs, their Armament Officer inspected it, only to find it was not only still full of Torpex, but it still had its fuses in place!!!

That closed the station down for an entire day!

Reminds me of "Quatermass and the Pit" (one of my favorite SF movies).

Weaver · May 25, 2025, 11:33:07 AM

IIRC, didn't Coventry Air Museum get their Hind D delivered with a full magazine of cannon ammo and had to get the RAF to send an armourer round to unload it?

PR19_Kit · May 25, 2025, 12:35:59 PM

I think you're right H, I've heard that more than once. The crew just handed over the keys and got a cab to the airport terminal.

jcf · May 26, 2025, 02:02:55 PM

The outboard windscreen panels of the Salamander need to be bulged like the cockpit side windows of the S-61L/N
logging machines to look like its namesake.

BTW this is one of the S-61N Shortsky conversions I worked on at Heli-Pro in Bellingham, WA in 1995-1996. I was
in the Electrical/Avionics department, we did a complete rewire from a stripped airframe after it was shortened.
The S-61L and S-61N airframes were shortened by a little over 40". This was accomplished by removing the entire
nose back to cockpit bulkhead, removing the plug that had been added by Sikorsky to create the longer fuselage
L/N airliners, and then reattaching the nose. Removing the plug increased the load by over 1,000lbs simply by
reducing the fuselage area beneath the rotor disc. The helicopter was originally delivered to Hayes Forest Services
as C-FHHD, it was later acquired by Carson Helicopter as shown in the photo.

The forward fuselage of the L/N is the same length ahead of the engine intakes as the S-61R/HH-3E Jolly Green Giant.
If someone wanted to convert a regular S-61/SH-3/Sea King into the longer fuselage airliners, attaching the fwd.
fuselage of an S-61R kit to the centre/aft fuselage of an S-61 kit would get you most of the way.

You cannot view this attachment.

Rheged · May 27, 2025, 09:25:48 AM

To drag this thread from the clutches of Thread Drift Virus, has anyone considered modelling any of the following:-

Stentor Saladin body with HUMUNGOUS GREAT speakers for public address / crowd control /festival use
Psychotropic Salamander with festival foam or "pharmaceutical" spray for raves
Sentry As above with water cannon/ irritant or coloured dye spray for quelling the mutinous peasantry
Samovar Saracen body with armoured tea urns for front line NAAFI use

Any other suggestions welcome!

Weaver · May 27, 2025, 09:59:09 AM

Quote from: Rheged on May 27, 2025, 09:25:48 AMTo drag this thread from the clutches of Thread Drift Virus, has anyone considered modelling any of the following:-

Stentor Saladin body with HUMUNGOUS GREAT speakers for public address / crowd control /festival use
Psychotropic Salamander with festival foam or "pharmaceutical" spray for raves
Sentry As above with water cannon/ irritant or coloured dye spray for quelling the mutinous peasantry
Samovar Saracen body with armoured tea urns for front line NAAFI use

Any other suggestions welcome!

Alvis Saturn: a Stalwart fitted with a system for quickly dispensing anti-personnel mines. (Saturn was the Roman god of sowing).

Alvis Scylla: A Stalwart fitted with a mine flair at the front so that it can come ashore clearing a beach as it goes. (Scylla was a Greek sea monster).

Alvis Selene: A Saracen fitted with a huge, early image intensifier on an extending mast in place of the turret for night-time battlefield surveillance.
(Selene was the Greek goddess of the moon).

Alvis Sibyl: A Saracen fitted with ELINT/SIGINT gear for gathering intelligence by eavesdropping. (Sibyl was a priestess of Apollo who issued prophesies about things to come).

Mossie · May 27, 2025, 10:59:58 AM

Here's another couple of Sci Fi style Stalwarts used in TV and films.

From the 1996 movie Space Marines:
https://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_1050431-Alvis-FV-622-Stalwart-1966.html
You cannot view this attachment.

From The Grand Tour:
https://www.imcdb.org/v995766.html
You cannot view this attachment.

Martin H · May 27, 2025, 01:34:46 PM

Quote from: Weaver on May 25, 2025, 11:33:07 AMIIRC, didn't Coventry Air Museum get their Hind D delivered with a full magazine of cannon ammo and had to get the RAF to send an armourer round to unload it?

Not quite the case.i was there when the hind arrived at MAM. The gun was found to be live. But unloaded as it had been used as the prototype for a BAe update project for the Hind D. Hence its paint job. Which the museum is not permited to change due to terms in the hand over paperwork.
The museum had to have the barrels replaced with soild replicas and have the real ones scrapped to keep the local police happy.
Its rumored that the Hind at weston supermare was the one that was delivered fully tooled up. However the czech airforce is usualy mentioned as the guilty culprits. Yet the weston Hind is an ex east german example.......

Weaver · May 28, 2025, 05:06:43 AM

Quote from: Martin H on May 27, 2025, 01:34:46 PM
Quote from: Weaver on May 25, 2025, 11:33:07 AMIIRC, didn't Coventry Air Museum get their Hind D delivered with a full magazine of cannon ammo and had to get the RAF to send an armourer round to unload it?
Not quite the case.i was there when the hind arrived at MAM. The gun was found to be live. But unloaded as it had been used as the prototype for a BAe update project for the Hind D. Hence its paint job. Which the museum is not permited to change due to terms in the hand over paperwork.
The museum had to have the barrels replaced with soild replicas and have the real ones scrapped to keep the local police happy.
Its rumored that the Hind at weston supermare was the one that was delivered fully tooled up. However the czech airforce is usualy mentioned as the guilty culprits. Yet the weston Hind is an ex east german example.......

Ah, right - thanks for clearing that up.