Better late then never.......

[Heathrow Harry]

Ark Royal model started in 1992 is ready - BBC News (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-cornwall-42750033/ark-royal-model-started-in-1992-is-ready)

Ark Royal model started in 1992 is ready

It has taken more than 25 years of painstaking work, but a Cornish model maker has finally unveiled his masterpiece.


Dave Fortey's 13ft (4m) long model of the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal is radio-controlled and has working parts.


It will be on show this weekend at the London Model Engineering Exhibition (http://londonmodelengineering.co.uk/) at Alexandra Palace.

[Finningley Boy]

It is indeed impressive, saw it on Forces TV.

FB

[Heathrow Harry]

With Gannets!! And Buccaneers!! and real Rust!!!!!!

He does admit to being a bit obsessive..............

[MPN11]

I hope he can get it out o the workshop!

Amazing work :ok:

[Buster Hyman]

I bet it doesn't leak either!

[Martin the Martian]

He displayed it at an event at the Maritime Museum in Falmouth a couple of years ago. Superb work.

[thunderbird7]

Fantastic. That's what makes Britain great. Maybot probably saw it and thought it was a new addition to the fleet...

[brakedwell]

Wonderful model, I assume it is a private finance initiative :ok:

[Heathrow Harry]

Wonderful model, I assume it is a private finance initiative :ok:

Yes,£10 down & £ 5 million a year in "maintenance"

[diginagain]

I bet it doesn't leak either!With bilges full of Mastercrete, just like the real thing!

[PX927]

Here it is at the show ...

http://village.photos/images/user/d1614105-adc0-4f18-beb8-d9304878e81d/resized_3f722d95-fae2-4e20-86f6-a37f7750de3a.JPG

[FinelyChopped]

The London Model Engineering Exhibition? Blimey.
I remember going to that some 40 years ago with mates from school. The venue then was Wembley Conference Centre. The ideal opportunity for getting new goodies to add to the modelling stash!

[Wander00]

I remember taking sons, now 44 and 45, there about 30 years ago, with their youngest brother then a toddler. Don't know about them but I was blown away by the exhibits

[John Eacott]

Putting on a very faded anorak, Sea King HAS1 as shown here didn’t have six bladed tail rotors.

But the detail is surely magnificent from what can be seen in the photos!

[pr00ne]

That bloke is nicking a Wessex!

[MPN11]

Putting on a very faded anorak, Sea King HAS1 as shown here didn’t have six bladed tail rotors.
Who’s going to tell him? Who could be so cruel? :{

[roving]

It does float.

W1-A7vD66O8

Dc4V7VMT4J4

[John Eacott]

Who’s going to tell him? Who could be so cruel? :{

I guess the same bloke who would point out that in 1976 there was no COD Gannet, no 824NAS Wessex HAS3, certainly no Forth Road Bridge blade holds on the Sea Kings (they took half a day to instal!) and the 892 F4Ks all had the tail fin topped off with the RWR?!! :p

[pr00ne]

John Eacott,

I saw the COD Gannet in 1978 so it would certainly have been around 2 years earlier. Can’t argue with the rest though, and by 1976 wouldn’t at least the Buccaneer roundels etc be toned down?

[Rossian]

.....I think it's bloody fantastic. As Big Rick was fond of saying "Details bloody details - yes, I will have another bacardi and coke thank you".

The Ancient Mariner

[John Eacott]

Rossian, I quite agree that it’s a magnificent labour of love and said as much in my first post.

But as a Mil Forum we are surely entitled to comment on points that would make (in this case) the final effort even better?

pr00n, the COD Gannet on B Flight was replaced by a seventh Sea King on 824 (056) in 1973 but it may have reappeared later, was it permanently embarked when you saw it in 1978?

I once had the pleasure of picking up some ~120 sacks of mail from NAS Norfolk on a COD run, and had the ship turn into wind on my return with my choice of spot to land ;)

[pr00ne]

John Eacott,

Saw the COD4 visit Brize Norton when I happened to be in the Ops Room, stood on the balcony (ops being on top of the Air Terminal) amd watched it waddle in, it was from/to HMS Ark Royal on the strength of 849 NAS.

[Buster Hyman]

That Gannett patiently waiting for the Buccaneer to clear the flight deck must be low on fuel, surely?