Belvedere Gunship, finished

[Captain Canada]

You're working quick eh ? Nice ! I see a floor in there too ! I think ( well, I read somewhere, one of those reviews linked here I think ) that the sponsons were for life rafts ? Maybe either tho ?

Anyway....looking good ! Nice to see this one being built, as I've never seen the kit.

[sandiego89]

You're working quick eh ? Nice ! I see a floor in there too ! I think ( well, I read somewhere, one of those reviews linked here I think ) that the sponsons were for life rafts ? Maybe either tho ?

Anyway....looking good ! Nice to see this one being built, as I've never seen the kit.

Thanks, they are life rafts!  I could not find a reference for that. Ok got that sorted now. Yes on the floor.  The kit is a hollow shell inside with no floor or detail on the sides.  You could go crazy with seats etc, but only the section opposite the sliding door is really visible, so I just went with a floor and some styrene strips to suggest some frames.     

[sandiego89]

Belvedere Gunship- finished

No. 66 Squadron, 1968, Borneo.  Up-armored with Matra rocket pod, twin .50 cal on the starboard side, two 250 lb bombs on the life-raft sponsons, and .50 cal in the windows.

Backstory, rebels were beginning to fire on the early morning resupply runs, so engineers at with No.66 squadron up-armored two of the squadrons Belvedere's to allow suppressive fire.  The belly was also painted matt black to better conceal the aircraft.

The Kit: 1/72 Airfix.  @1959 mold.  Out of the box it is a prototype aircraft, a very basic kit with raised rivets. A tough kit compared to modern kits, but the only injection version available.  Main changes to bring to production version was to add the production tail and adding "spats" to the landing gear.  Other details include scratch rescue hoist, tires from harrier kits, scratch weapons pylons and bracing, scratch crew served weapons.  





twin .50 cal from scratch.  Ammunition feeds from bread twist tie.
 
 

[Weaver]

Splendid job - looks great! 

[Captain Canada]

Hey....we finally know the answer to what belongs on the side sponsons.....bombs !

Beauty job on this one. Really love the look. The camo with the black undersides is very effective. The weapons fit is awesome. Love the combo of MGs and rockets. Nice work for sure !

[The Rat]

 

[PR19_Kit]

Love that idea, I'm surprised the RAF didn't do it for real. 

[zenrat]

Bonza!  Really looks the part.

[NARSES2]

Now I do like that but I just feel the roundels would be more at home behind the rear window. Just me I know

[pyro-manic]

I know what you mean, Narses. Still a great idea though, and very nicely done.

[sandiego89]

Now I do like that but I just feel the roundels would be more at home behind the rear window. Just me I know

I did ponder the roundel placement quite a bit.  Seems they switched some time from behind the rear window, to the front of the side windows, or even between the side windows. My image search on the internet seems to show the camoflaged Belvedere's had the roundels in front of the side windows- so that is what I went with.  Apparantly the natural metal versions had them in either of three locations! Perhaps a specification change?  

[NARSES2]

I bow to your research mate  Just shows how few photo's of Belvedere's I've actually seen. Just looked at my Putnam's and it's in the same place as yours

[McColm]

Great build.

[lancer]

That is a real beauty!! Definately a 'Should have been'

[Leading Observer]

Brilliant! Firing the rockets would probably increase the range to the target though