Lockheed Jetstar Ideas

[upnorth]

Hello all,

Having recently snapped up a Roden 1/144 Jetstar at one of my local shops and another on order from elsewhere, I have an idea for going "WHIFF" with one of them.

I was thinking an RAF variant in the EW or ELINT roles. It occurred to me that if I wanted to go British with it that it would be inappropriate to use the four engine configuration when the aircraft was originally intended to run on a pair of Bristol Siddeley Orpheus engines.

I've found a few pics of the Jetstar with Orpheus jets installed, so I know the general look, but I can find no dimensional information about them or drawings from which to base a scratch build.

Does anyone know where I might find such info or, better yet, know of another type of biz jet that used the Orpheus that is in kit form and I could rob the engine pods from?

Alternately, does anyone have any suggestions for a possible later engine fit? The thought crossed my mind to track down an Airfix BAC 1-11 kit for the Speys, but I'm not sure they wouldn't be overkill.

Also, with a change of engines, would those big fuel tanks built onto the wings still remain in the design? If they had to feed two instead of four engines, would there be a need for them?

This is a longer term project, so I'm quite open to any ideas and inspirations you may have to offer my project.

Of course, feel free to ponder your own Jetstar possibilities too. It was, and still is, a beautiful jet. 

[Old Wombat]

Also, with a change of engines, would those big fuel tanks built onto the wings still remain in the design? If they had to feed two instead of four engines, would there be a need for them?

If you're doing an EW or ELINT bird?

You bet they would! :)

The direct result would be increased range & increased time on station, the 2 bywords in those types of operations.

[elmayerle]

Engine change?  How about a pair of CF34s?  I don't know if there's a S-3 kit in that scale, but I A_10 could provide long-cowl engine nacelles.

ISTR there was a RL mod effort to replace the JT12s with two Garrett ATF3s, but finding those nacelles in any scale would be a chore.  Again, ISTR that there was a study of replacing the JT12s with TFE731s but I don't know if that was every followed through to hardware.

[upnorth]

Thanks for the input, guys.

There is a Revell 1/144 A-10 at one of my local shops right now, so I could snap that up. The Revell 1/144 Canadair Challenger kit would also be a source of CF34s, no?

Ideally, I'd like to stick to British engines if I could. Somehow, I think politics might dictate it as they did in the Phantom/Spey combination.

[Rickshaw]

Just go with what is available, the A-10's and say that is the Orpheus nacelle.  Who's going to contradict you?   

[elmayerle]

Yeah, the Challenger would be a good source for CF34s.  Heh, you could always claim that the A-10 nacelles were a turbofan derivative of the Orpheus, derived, in part, from its "big brother", the Pegasus.

[upnorth]

Yeah, the Challenger would be a good source for CF34s.  Heh, you could always claim that the A-10 nacelles were a turbofan derivative of the Orpheus, derived, in part, from its "big brother", the Pegasus.

I hadn't thought of the Orpheus/Pegasus connection, but that could work for sure. Thanks for the idea.   :)

[GTX_Admin]

I have a 1/48 kit that I was thinking of doing as a RAAF VIP jet.

[upnorth]

I have a 1/48 kit that I was thinking of doing as a RAAF VIP jet.

That sounds cool. Where does one get a 1/48 Jetstar kit from?

One of mine will be built from the box as a VIP jet, but I'm not sure if I'll go real world or WHIFF with it. I'm quite tempted to order up a set of Luftwaffe decals for it from HaHen as I thought the Jetstar looked quite good that way.

I'm also tempted to use part of an IPMS Austria decal sheet I've got kicking around and try to make a WHIFF VIP machine.

[ysi_maniac]

Alternative and enlarging JetStars