MUSTARD glider

[Weaver]

Everything except the canopy's on now. Leaving the canopy for an hour to make sure all the superglue fumes have cleared.

Man is that undercarriage fragile....

[Weaver]

BAC's MUSTARD LSTG
(Low Speed Test Glider)
1968

Prior to the full-scale MUSTARD (Multi-Use Space Transport And Return Device) being approved in 1970, British Aerospace cannily decided to build two Low-Speed Test Gliders (LSTGs) with company funds. The purpose of these aircraft was to test the low-speed handling characteristics of the unusual lifting body shape, particularly for landing, since this would be very fast and at a very high angle of attack. The modus operandi was to tow the glider into the air using RAe Farnborough's DC-3, and then have it make an unpowered landing back on the runway. To give the pilot a go-around capability should he misjudge the unusual approach, a De Havilland Spectre rocket motor was fitted at the rear, together with small fuel tanks near the centre of gravity. A special fast-acting electronic sequencer could fire this rocket in under two seconds from a simple GO AROUND button being pressed in the cockpit.

First flying on October 6th, 1968, in the hands of test-pilot Jim Coleman (no relation, but suspicious choice... ), the two gliders built made 52 flights over the next four years, establishing the basic control laws for the lifting-body shape and it's unusual split control sufaces. The rocket motor only had to be fired on four of those flights, although it was also fired on the final flight for spectacle, since the staff of the RAe and the film crew were all watching to mark their retirement.

Almost as important as their flight test work, however, was their publicity impact. Painted yellow (of course) the LSTGs generated huge publicity and much public and political support, BAC being more than happy to do have them do photo opportunities with everyone from the newly-appointed Minister for Space to the Colman's Mustard company. The latter virtually adopted the aircraft as their own, using footage of XV170 firing it's rocket in their famous, "How Hot Is Your Mustard?" commercial.

XX170 now resides in the Science Museum in London, while it's backup, XV171 (which only flew six times to validate it's handling) can be seen at the RAF Museum at Cosford.

[Weaver]

Model: Freighdog MUSTARD glider, built straight out of the box
Paint: Montana Yellow spray paint, Plastikote matt varnish, Humbrol enamels & Windsor & Newton inks.
Decals: from the kit.

Note: I haven't photographed the underside of the finished model yet because the canopy kept falling off while I was doing the topside photos, so I won't risk it until the new glue (third attempt!) is 100% dry.

EDIT: Underside, now that the Canopy's FINALLY decided to stay on and I've got a charged camera battery:




In the jigs:

Tilt Jig with foam inserts to protect the decals:




Edge jig, left side:




Edge jig, right side with handrest:

[PFJN]

Wow, that looks great.  :

[PR19_Kit]

Nice one H! 

I could say that it really 'Cuts the Mustard', but I won't.   

Do the photo alignment crosses come with the kit decals?

[Weaver]

Nice one H! 

I could say that it really 'Cuts the Mustard', but I won't.   

Do the photo alignment crosses come with the kit decals?

Cheers Kit.

Yes they do. You get six crosses in the kit. I presume the idea is to put two on top, two underneath and one on each side. However, on reflection, I thought the underside ones would be a waste of time, since it would spend so little of it's time high enough for them to be of any use, so I put one on each end on each side so that angle of attack would be easier to deduce from the film.

[Freightdog862]

That looks bloody good! I've only got one left in stock, I think I will order some more. You seem to have got the main legs attached straighter than I did. 

Colin 

[Weaver]

That looks bloody good! I've only got one left in stock, I think I will order some more. You seem to have got the main legs attached straighter than I did. 

Colin 

Cheers!

The main legs wern't great to be honest. The mounting holes aren't perfectly symetrical, the legs leave the wheels toed-in towards the nose, and one strut or the other of each leg kept popping out after the superglue was supposed to be dry. leading to some messy bending and re-gluing.

I'm going to post the pics on Twitter ("X" ) in a bit, so I'll mention that you'll be getting some more in. If I can get Dan Sharp to retweet me (it's happened before) it might get quite a bit of traction.

[zenrat]

Good one H.
 

[NARSES2]

I like that 

[Steel Penguin]

a lovely looking kit    and a simple but elegant backstory   

[scooter]

So no catastrophic crash footage to be used for the into to the Six Million Pound Man?