TSR-2 BAC Eagle in RAF Operational Markings

Model Alliance Decals, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

HyperScale is proudly sponsored by Squadron.com

If there ever was an aircraft that has attracted the attention of the “what if” brigade of modellers then it would have to be the British Aircraft Corporation’s TSR-2.  In case you were wondering, the TSR-2 stood for Tactical Strike and Reconnaissance  and the -2 for Mach 2.

The story of the TSR-2 is a long and intriguing one and best left for another time.  Type TSR-2 into a search engine and you will see what I mean!

The 1/48 decals have been produced for the new Airfix kit and if you are yet to lay eyes on it I can assure you that it is BIG! 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 

Thumbnail panels:

The decals on this sheet are more or less an extrapolation of the camouflage schemes and markings that the TSR-2 would have worn in RAF squadron service had it have got past the politicians and actually made it into service.  Puzzlingly, the name “Eagle” has been applied to the aircraft and try as I did, I could find no reference to that name in conjunction with the TSR-2 so it’s my guess that it is a result of a further trip into the “what if” world.

The sheet provides markings for 16 different RAF TSR-2s in all details of each are as follows:

• BAC Eagle GR.1 DB (Development Batch), XS663 of the Aircraft and Armament Evaluation Establishment (A&AEE) as it may have appeared in 1968.  Camouflage scheme is dark sea grey and dark green over white with a white fin cap, nose and intake cones.

• BAC Eagle GR.1 DB (Development Batch), XS667, 'B' of 237 Operational Conversion Unit as it may have appeared in 1969.  Camouflage scheme is dark sea grey and dark green over white with a white fin cap, nose and intake cones.

• BAC Eagle GR.1 DB (Development Batch), XS946, 'E' of 237 Operational Squadron as it may have appeared in 1969.   Camouflage scheme is dark sea grey and dark green over light aircraft grey with black fin cap, nose and intake cones.

• BAC Eagle GR.1, XS668, 'L' of 9 Squadron as it may have appeared in 1972 during the 'Spotswood scenario' armed with two WE177B nuclear bombs carried internally and a full load of external drop tanks.   Camouflage scheme is dark sea grey and dark green over light aircraft grey with black fin cap, nose and intake cones.

• BAC Eagle GR.1, XV669, 'X' of 45 Squadron as it may have appeared in 1972 during the 'Spotswood scenario' armed with two Blue Water missiles and carrying a 1435 gallon ventral drop tank.   Camouflage scheme is dark sea grey and dark green over light aircraft grey with black fin cap, nose and intake cones.

• BAC Eagle GR.1, XS949, 'A' of 40 Squadron as it may have appeared in 1969.   Camouflage scheme is dark sea grey and dark green over light aircraft grey with black fin cap, nose and intake cones. 

• BAC Eagle GR.1, XS954, 'Z' of 32 Squadron as it may have appeared between 1969 and 1972 during the 'Spotswood scenario' and shown fitted with four 36 tube, 68mm Matra pods on underwing pylons.   Camouflage scheme is dark sea grey and dark green over light aircraft grey with black fin cap, nose and intake cones.

• BAC Eagle GR.1, XV884, 'P' of 6 Squadron as it may have appeared in 1972 during the 'Spotswood scenario' armed with two WE177B nuclear bombs carried internally and carrying two underwing drop tanks and a jettisonable 1435 gallon ventral fuel tank.   Camouflage scheme is dark sea grey and dark green over light aircraft grey with black fin cap, nose and intake cones.

• BAC Eagle GR.1, XV890, 'F' of 81 Squadron as it may have appeared in 1972 under the provisions of Plan 'P' armed with two Blue Water missiles and carrying a 1435 gallon ventral drop tank.   Camouflage scheme is dark sea grey and dark green over light aircraft grey with black fin cap, nose and intake cones.

• BAC Eagle GR.1, XV892, 'O' of 14 Squadron as it may have appeared in 1972 during the 'Spotswood scenario' armed with two WE177B nuclear bombs carried internally and two underwing drop tanks.  Camouflage scheme is dark sea grey and dark green over light aircraft grey with black fin cap, nose and intake cones.

• BAC Eagle GR.1, XV926, 'M' of 3 Squadron as it may have appeared in 1972 during the 'Spotswood scenario' armed with two WE177B nuclear bombs carried internally and two underwing drop tanks.  Camouflage scheme is dark sea grey and dark green over light aircraft grey with black fin cap, nose and intake cones.

• BAC Eagle GR.1, XV930, 'G' of 617 Squadron as it may have appeared in 1972 during the 'Spotswood scenario' armed with two Blue Water missiles and carrying a 1435 gallon ventral drop tank.  Camouflage scheme is dark sea grey and dark green over light aircraft grey with black fin cap, nose and intake cones.

• BAC Eagle GR.1, XV940, 'H' of 12 Squadron as it may have appeared in 1975 during the 'Spotswood scenario' armed with four TV guided Martel missiles and carrying a 1435 gallon ventral drop tank.  Camouflage scheme is dark sea grey and dark green over light aircraft grey with black fin cap, nose and intake cones.

• BAC Eagle GR.1, XV910, 'B' of 81 Squadron as it may have appeared in 1971 under the provisions of the 'Spotswood scenario' fitted with a belly reconnaissance pod and carrying two underwing drop tanks.  Camouflage scheme is dark sea grey and dark green over light aircraft grey with black fin cap, nose and intake cones.

• BAC Eagle PR.1, XV935, 'D' of 13 Squadron as it may have appeared in 1972-1973 fitted with a belly reconnaissance pod and carrying two underwing drop tanks.  Camouflage scheme is dark sea grey and dark green over light aircraft grey with black fin cap, nose and intake cones.

• BAC Eagle PR.1, XV944, 'G' of 58 Squadron as it may have appeared in 1972 during arctic exercises over Norway fitted with a belly reconnaissance pod and carrying two underwing drop tanks.  Camouflage scheme is dark sea grey and white distemper temporarily replacing the dark green for the exercise over light aircraft grey with black fin cap, nose and intake cones.

The placement guide is in the form of a 20 page booklet (A-4 in size folded sideways) which provides left and right hand side and upper and lower surface views of each option in full colour.  The booklet also provides a single page of six full colour images of the one to one scale TSR-2s taken at the Duxford and Cosford Aerospace Museums.

The decals themselves are a product of The Fantasy Printshop and are first rate indeed.  They are thin and glossy and have been realised using the silk screen and offset litho process.  You get four very large sheets in all.  The printing is really something with everything in perfect register including the intricate squadron badges which you can actually read (under magnification of course).  These latter mentioned designs have been printed as single piece decals too!   The colours are all vibrant too and range the spectrum from plain old white through to gold and my bet is that they are dense enough to prevent any bleed through of the dark camouflage colours that they are going to be applied over.

When you come down to it, you get enough markings to produce a single machine as there a single set of (welcomed) stencil data.  You could probably do two if you want to use the kit supplied stencil data.

The placement guide booklet and the four decal sheets come packed in a clear plastic zip-loc bag which was a tad too small to close over the larger of the decals sheets.

The sheet is available in both 1/48 and 1/72 scale (48-172 and 72-172 respectively).

The sheet retails for £17.00 for the 1/48 scale sheet and £12.00 from the Aviation Workshop website http://www.theaviationworkshop.co.uk/decals/premier/MA-172.php which is not cheap but when you consider what you are getting it is certainly worth it.

If you want to take a trip into the world of “Wiffery” go out and get a sheet but act quickly as I can’t see these (or the Airfix TSR-2 for that matter) being around for too long.

Thanks to Aviation Workshop / Model Alliance (UK)  for the review sample

Model Alliance products are available online from the Aviation Workshop.

Review Copyright © 2008 by Brett Green
Page Created 27 March, 2008
Last updated 27 March, 2008

Back to HyperScale Main Page

Back to Reviews Page