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Shortly after the end of the the first Gulf War the Royal Air Force decided it was in need of a maratime patrol aircraft to supplement the aging Nimrod. The Ministry of Defence opened up a competition for a tried and tested ASW aircraft, the contenders were the Breguet Atalntic and the P-3C Orion. The contest was won by the Orion and in 1994 the Royal Air Force purchased 3 ex USN P-3C Orion aircraft. These 3 Aircraft were based at RAF St. Mawgan in Cornwall, Not utilised in there intended role they were used to patrol the English Channel to disuade the Spanish fishing fleets from entering British waters. In 2006 the Orion MR.1 as it was known, was deployed to Basra with the duty of patrolling the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The aircraft was finally used in late March 2007 to search for 15 Royal navy personnel that went missing in the Persian Gulf, at which point the Orions were handed to the German Navy.

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Cockpit painted.

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Wings ready to go.

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Fuselage buttoned up.

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Inboard engines on. Filler added so I can blend them into wings. Filler also added on fuselage joints.

Amazed at the speed of this build so far.

Edited by flankerfan
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Having real problems with engine nacelles as they come off when sanding.

Quick update, inboard engine nacelles nearly faired in, give the beast a shot of primer tomorrow over the sanded areas to highlight any issues.

Edited by flankerfan
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Well as they say, so far so good! All the sanding and filling appears to be done. Outer engine nacelles gone on fine, certainly better that the inboard ones.

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I decided also to add an IFR probe from an Italeri C-130 just to give it a bit of extended patrol range.

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Apologies for bad quality of pictures as they are taken using my camera phone.

Edited by flankerfan
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Final Update for today.

I've given her a shot of homebrewed Hemp and I have to say she is looking mighty fine in Hemp with her IFR probe on top.

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As she is drying I've noticed a few runs developing but nothing that can't be fixed with a bit of wet and dry tomorrow.

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In the process of decalling her, although once I've finished I will overspray the wing walk areas with a misting of hemp just to tone them down a little bit.

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Yes that is an Airfix Nimrod in the background, I used the decals and the instructions to aid placing of them.

Edited by flankerfan
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Very nice build. I know the Orion has long legs, but I always wondered as I watched them in Brunswick why the USN did not add the IFR capability in one of the upgrades.

Edited by mhoupt
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