Jump to content

1:72 Planet Models Grumman XF10F-1 Jaguar


Navy Bird

Recommended Posts

On 5/17/2013 at 22:14, Tailspin Turtle said:

If you haven't cut off the portion of the wings that you would have to for a butt join, you might consider doing what I did. See http://tailhooktopics.blogspot.com/2012/06/xf10f-pictures.html

 

Too late! But thanks anyway! :)

 

I'll be having the wings swept back, and this unfortunately means that the wing with be attaching to the fuselage where there are multiple compound curves (especially the front of the wing root). Nasty, nasty, nasty. I thought I could sand to fit, but it's proving very difficult. I'll have to reinforce the wing/fuselage joint somehow, and then fill the gaps. Ugh. Plus, the inboard edge of the wing has an angle cast into it, presumably to set the slight anhedral of the wings. If you join at that angle, you actually get a dihedral. More ugh.

 

Due to the difficulty that I expect will surface trying to get both wing anhedral angles set, and have them aligned well with the landing gear so the wingtips are the same height off the ground, I'll be altering my plan. I'll close up the fuselage and get the landing gear set and aligned (no easy feat itself) and then use some kind of jig to set the wings at the right angle.

 

Cheers,

Bill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brilliant job you're doing Bill. The Jaguar is really a fascinating aircraft, although it's probably not what I'd call a top-model of aircraft design.

The picture of the mock-up is very interesting too. Was this studied as an alternative to the swing-wing or was it a separate design ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brilliant job you're doing Bill. The Jaguar is really a fascinating aircraft, although it's probably not what I'd call a top-model of aircraft design.

The picture of the mock-up is very interesting too. Was this studied as an alternative to the swing-wing or was it a separate design ?

The XF10F began as a swept-wing study contract provided to Grumman along with the original F9F Panther contract. Requirements growth resulted in it getting bigger and heavier in successive design iterations. The variable incidence (actually two position like the F8U) wing was the penultimate step to the final variable-sweep wing configuration, which provided a lower approach speed and better cruise performance (long-range escort was one of the drivers in the design) and avoided the low-speed handling-qualities problems of the swept wing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks to Tommy for the excellent data concerning the XF10F development. If anybody knows this stuff, it's Tommy! :)

 

Some more s-l-o-w progress. My mojo is not real high with this kit (probably because nothing has fit "quite right" yet), but I think I'll get past that once we have the fuselage closed up. So let's get up to speed - first, I was quite sure that the weights in the nose wouldn't be enough. I verified this by taping everything together and seeing where the balance point was. It was obvious I needed some more weight, and the only real place to put it was behind the cockpit. So I got out my Mk. IV Nuclear Grade model aircraft weight and epoxied it to the back of the cockpit.

 

100_3446

 

I then re-taped everything together, and yup - it's enough weight. Maybe even a bit too much. We'll see how well the high-strength resin landing gear legs hold up!

 

I painted the rear deck flat black, and the emergency air bottles Floquil Old Silver. The canopy actuator is Testors Flat Steel. I'll be adding the ADF dome later, and will do some additional paintwork then.

 

After dry-fitting the fuselage together, including the rear deck and the exhaust, it became apparent that light was still sneaking inside somehow and you could see through the intakes into the fuselage. The model has no intake trunking (nor do I want to build any!) so I decided to add two plugs, one on each side of the rear of the cockpit to block it off. I had to match the curvature of the fuselage (a wee bit of trial and error here) and once I was happy I painted the plugs flat black and attached them. Here's the one on the port side:

 

100_3448

 

I think the inside of the intake was aluminum, but most pictures I have don't show this area well. Maybe Tommy has the answer. If they are aluminum, then I have a method in mind for painting them after the fuselage gets its nice coat of glossy sea blue. If the actual colour of the inside of the intakes is "dark" then I may just paint them the fuselage colour.

 

The last thing to add before the fuselage is closed up is the exhaust. The resin exhaust face didn't have a lot of detail on it, and what's there is fictitious. What to do? How about adding a fictitious piece of PE? This is 100% inaccurate as the XF10F never had an afterburner installed during its short service life, so these ignitor rings would not be present. Still, it adds some depth and if anyone looks in there they'll get a stern warning from me not to say anything about it. I painted the exhaust face Alclad Steel and added a black wash. Like most of the parts of this kit so far, it doesn't fit right if you mount it as intended (on the lip) so you have to fiddle (fettle?) with it a bit, all the time checking to see if it's centered in the fuselage and mates well with the other half.

 

100_3449

 

You'll notice that I did not paint the inside surface of the jet pipe, and this is because the XF10F had a "Mullaney Shroud Diffuser" in this area that has a very distinctive corrugated appearance. The kit does not attempt to represent this, but I'm dumb enough to try to. Thanks to Nobby, I'll be having my first go at using thin aluminum from a beverage can. You learn the craziest things from guys like him! :)

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. 10 points to the first Britmodeller who can correctly identify which aircraft I stole the exhaust PE piece from.

 

PPS. Giorgio, I don't know if it's brilliant but it is a job. Too bad I don't get paid for it! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looking good, I always liked this comment about testing the aircraft;

"An English test pilot made the following complete report about another airplane he had flown, and it fit my total assessment of the Jaguar perfectly: 'The entrance to the cockpit of this airplane is most difficult. It should have been made impossible.' "

Julien

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/25/2013 at 02:00, Julien said:

Looking good, I always liked this comment about testing the aircraft;

"An English test pilot made the following complete report about another airplane he had flown, and it fit my total assessment of the Jaguar perfectly: 'The entrance to the cockpit of this airplane is most difficult. It should have been made impossible.' "

Julien

 

That's great, thanks for sharing. Which aircraft was the English test pilot referring to? And do you know the pilot? The quote I included with Post #1 (from Corky Meyer the XF10F test pilot) also has that great English sense of humour about it.

 

Cheers,

Bill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Mates,

 

This weekend's progress:

 

I glued the fuselage halves together! This is not something I would ordinarily get all excited about, but it seems like it's been a long time coming on this model. I always fret a bit when using superglue on a resin fuselage, as you don't have a lot of time to align and adjust. In this case, I started along the bottom edge and worked my way around. Luckily the alignment came out quite nice. The next step will be to attach the landing gear.

 

Tailspin Turtle has a nice "tip" concerning the landing gear parts of this kit, on the web link he provided. Essentially, the upper wishbone is too long - much too long in fact. In order to get the proper "sit" for the landing gear, it must be shortened. I did this for the port side, and while working on the starboard side part I dropped it. I watched it fall and land on a paper towel laying flat on my bench. And then it disappeared - as in vaporized. As in passing through a portal into another universe. If it had bounced and "zinged", it must have been been supersonic as I never saw it. I looked for over an hour and could not find it. (It will show up a model or two from now).

 

So, I had to scratchbuild a replacement. This photo shows both landing gear, the severely shortened kit wishbone in yellow resin, and my clumsy scratch-built part in grey. Exact replica? No, but it's serviceable. Plus, it will be hard to see under the landing gear door! Always plan your mistakes so they are difficult to notice! :)

 

100_3450

 

Next, I attached all the landing gear parts and - the bird has legs! :)

 

100_3454

 

100_3451

 

100_3452

 

The vertical tail is just sitting atop the fuselage for the photos.

 

According to the photos and line drawings that I've gathered, the main landing gear wheels have a very slight positive camber angle, and I've assembled the parts to that effect. I think this head-on shot shows what I mean:

 

100_3453

 

I've intentionally rotated the front gear around its axis to mimic a photo in the Naval Fighters XF10F book. I like a steering pose like that as I think it adds interest to the model, even though it is not always completely authentic (pilots normally straighten out the steering wheel before parking.)

 

The kit does not depict any other parts to the front gear other than the strut itself. Since the strut retracts rearward into the bay, there must have been a retraction linkage of some kind. Does anyone know the answer? I studied the superb cutaway drawing in the Naval Fighters book, and I can't see anything. If no one knows, or if I can't find any photos or documentation I'll just make something up.

One thing I can say about the higher strength resin provided for the landing gear is that its acts just as advertised. It's very strong, and there should be no problems holding up the weight of the model.

 

That's it for now. Next up is figuring out how to attach the wings...

 

Cheers,

Bill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's coming along nicely, Plant Model kits are always a bit of a challenge!

oh dear carpet monster +1

You are a right to be a bit concerned about the landing gear, PM's undercarriages' are notorious for sagging and especially so if the beasty is a bit heavy. It doesn't happen quickly, it’s a slow process where it gives in to gravity little by little, even worse if it’s a bit warm…….but I guess you’re in the UK so you’re ok there! :P

If it was a larger scale I would have recommended inserting pins in each leg, or replacing them altogether. Not so in this case, maybe a couple of clear sheet supports to support the fuselage when sitting on the shelf, they shouldn't be to noticeable and would protect the gear.

It's going to look great when done, and something completely different for this build! :thumbsup:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bill, I rather like it the way it is now. Just paint some eyes on it and it could be the star from a children's show - "Hi, I'm Jaggy the XF10F-1!". Okay, I watched a few too many kiddie shows when I was little. Nice job getting through the difficulties of the kit, though; I'd rather fancied having a go myself as I like the look of the Jaguar, but now I'm not so sure. I'm not afraid of a few difficulties as I've built more than a few limited-run kits in my day, but this looks to be a bit of a handful. Still, good luck!

Regards,

Jason

Edited by Learstang
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/26/2013 at 22:24, trickyrich said:

It's coming along nicely, Plant Model kits are always a bit of a challenge!

oh dear carpet monster +1

You are a right to be a bit concerned about the landing gear, PM's undercarriages' are notorious for sagging and especially so if the beasty is a bit heavy. It doesn't happen quickly, it’s a slow process where it gives in to gravity little by little, even worse if it’s a bit warm…….but I guess you’re in the UK so you’re ok there! :P

If it was a larger scale I would have recommended inserting pins in each leg, or replacing them altogether. Not so in this case, maybe a couple of clear sheet supports to support the fuselage when sitting on the shelf, they shouldn't be to noticeable and would protect the gear.

It's going to look great when done, and something completely different for this build! :thumbsup:

 

Actually, I'm in the US near Rochester NY. We don't have to worry about the sun and warmth much either, other than a month or two in the summer. :)

 

Thanks for the nice encouragement. This is my first Planet kit, and the only other resin kit I've ever built was a CMR Buccaneer which pretty much fell together. I read that Planet (CMK) chose the strong brown resin so that it wouldn't sag over time. I'll check back in in a decade or so and let you know!

 

On 5/26/2013 at 23:55, Learstang said:

Bill, I rather like it the way it is now. Just paint some eyes on it and it could be the star from a children's show - "Hi, I'm Jaggy the XF10F-1!". Okay, I watched a few too many kiddie shows when I was little. Nice job getting through the difficulties of the kit, though; I'd rather fancied having a go myself as I like the look of the Jaguar, but now I'm not so sure. I'm not afraid of a few difficulties as I've built more than a few limited-run kits in my day, but this looks to be a bit of a handful. Still, good luck!

Regards,

Jason

 

I like it! Jaggy the XF10F-1! Still needs the wings, though, don't you think? So he can flap them around a bit. Speaking of the wings, they're going to be the toughest part. The shape that the wing root is cast in isn't even close to matching the fuselage when the wings are swept. I see lots of filler in my future!

 

Cheers,

Bill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ok new resin for the U/C legs, anything would be better than the old creamy coloured stuff!

Not a bad spot in the world to live, heard it's really lovely up there.

For a second resin kit you're doing great, once you get use to them they are actually a lot of fun to build, plus there is an interesting range to chose from.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looking great Bill!

I've only just seen this, and it's a very interesting (and entertaining!) read. I've looked at the kit a few times but can't bring myself to part with the £40+ asked for.

Can't wait to see it progress to completion!

Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/27/2013 at 16:58, trickyrich said:

ok new resin for the U/C legs, anything would be better than the old creamy coloured stuff!

Not a bad spot in the world to live, heard it's really lovely up there.

For a second resin kit you're doing great, once you get use to them they are actually a lot of fun to build, plus there is an interesting range to chose from.

 

It's true, upstate NY is a nice place. We get a great variety of weather, but nothing really extreme, so if you like four seasons we have them! Sometimes all in the same day! Rochester is right on the shore of Lake Ontario and it is a huge influence on our weather. I'm south of the city near the start of the "Finger Lakes" region which is the wine-making heart of New York. Nice place.

 

Here is the build thread for my first resin kit, the CMR Buccaneer:

 

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234917891-hawker-siddeley-buccaneer-s2/

 

And the Ready for Inspection thread (read through to the end to see how I fixed the goof-up):

 

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234922426-hawker-siddeley-buccaneer-s2-xv864-809-nas-rnas-lossiemouth-1969/

 

Cheers,

Bill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Corky had no shortage of comments about the Jaguar. My favourite quote of his was, "I've never been to a test pilot school, but the XF-10F programme gave me the whole curriculum."

It's like the the plane set a new standard for dysfunctionality. And that doesn't even cover the Westinghouse J-40 engine. Good times.....

david

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the link.

What a wonderful job, it's beautiful!!! And for a resin first build!!! Think that build may have tipped me over the edge into greating a Buccaneer! Have been thinking about building one for ages, may have to track that one down.

Think it's all over for you now, you've got resin in your blood....well at least dust up your nose! You'll now have to join us crazy resin builders for a GB i'm hoping will get the vote for next year. if it goes ahead I think there'll be some amazing stuff there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/27/2013 at 19:42, trickyrich said:

Thanks for the link.

What a wonderful job, it's beautiful!!! And for a resin first build!!! Think that build may have tipped me over the edge into greating a Buccaneer! Have been thinking about building one for ages, may have to track that one down.

Think it's all over for you now, you've got resin in your blood....well at least dust up your nose! You'll now have to join us crazy resin builders for a GB i'm hoping will get the vote for next year. if it goes ahead I think there'll be some amazing stuff there.

 

Thanks! The CMR kit has everything you need (resin, PE, masks, etc.). It's all there, and very well detailed. The newer CMR kits are even nicer! I believe they've revised the Buccaneer kits since I bought mine, but I do not know what they changed/added.

 

A resin Group Build sounds good to me! Let's see, what's in the stash? All 1:72 - CMR Supermarine Scimitar, CMR de Havilland Sea Venom, Anigrand Republic XF-103, and Anigrand North American XF-108. Those last two are pretty crazy!

 

Cheers,

Bill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like it! Jaggy the XF10F-1! Still needs the wings, though, don't you think? So he can flap them around a bit. Speaking of the wings, they're going to be the toughest part. The shape that the wing root is cast in isn't even close to matching the fuselage when the wings are swept. I see lots of filler in my future!

Cheers,

Bill

Of course now the problem becomes, do we give him wings with hands (paws?), or cat-like arms (Jaguar)? Okay, I really do need to go back on my medication. I'm telling you, those kids' shows rot your brains out!

Regards,

Jason

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi mates,

 

It's time for the wings, I can't put it off any more, no matter how much I'd like to! So, first up I added some rods to help secure the wings in place. My intent is to use a strong epoxy instead of superglue. The rods are a very stiff metal with a plastic coating - I don't know where I got these, but in lieu of anything else handy they'll do the job. I used a small hand drill to make holes in the wing root to accept the short pieces of the rod:

 

100_3457

 

Then, of course, we also have to make holes in the fuselage. I used a slightly larger drill size here to allow for some fine tuning of the alignment. I wanted to do that in the wings instead, but they really are too thin. I'm sure the epoxy that I've chosen will be strong enough to hold everything together.

 

100_3456

 

You may have noticed that I've used some filler along the fuselage seam, top and bottom. It didn't require much, but there were some places where the two halves didn't match perfectly.

 

I mentioned earlier that the XF10F had a bit of anhedral to the wings. This is apparent in photos, and in the line drawings that I have. Measuring the drawing yields an approximate 5 degree anhedral. I always measure through the centerline of the wing.

 

anhedral

 

I thought it would be a good idea to also measure the anhedral as shown in an actual photo, and I found one which is a reasonably good "end-on" shot of the XF10F (after it had received the horizontal tail surfaces from an F9F). As can be seen here, the anhedral is a bit more than 5 degrees, but the wings are swept fully forward and I suppose it's possible that they may be sagging a bit more than they would have when they were swept aft (which is how I'll be modelling her).

 

anhedral3

 

The photo is also taken at a different vantage point, i.e. lower to the ground, and that has an effect on the perceived angle, making it appear larger. I think it's safe to say that 5 degrees is a reasonable number to use.

 

Using stacks of paper on each side of the model, you can create a "gluing jig" that yields the required 5 degree anhedral. The degree of adjustment in this jig (one sheet of paper at a time!) is a bit beyond what I'll need though! :)

 

anhedral2

 

So now that I have a method to my madness, I'll make the final tweaks to the jig (the starboard wing is a bit too high in the photo and I need to take out some sheets), and mix up some epoxy!

 

Cheers for now,

Bill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's great, thanks for sharing. Which aircraft was the English test pilot referring to? And do you know the pilot? The quote I included with Post #1 (from Corky Meyer the XF10F test pilot) also has that great English sense of humour about it.

Cheers,

Bill

I believe it was a Blackburn Firebrand, not sure on the pilot.

Julien

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi mates,

 

Much to show you! At last report, we epoxied the wings. After the epoxy had cured, the bond was tested and I think it will be OK. Unfortunately, due to the compound curve of the forward fuselage when the wings are put into swept position (remember the wings move forward as they are swept), it left a huge gap. And I do mean huge!

 

100_3460

 

100_3461

 

What to do? Well, there's filler...and, uh, filler, and I suppose it that fails we can use some filler! First step is to pack the gap as much as possible, and hope for the best! No doubt, due to the size of the gaps, this will take multiple applications.

 

100_3463

 

And, of course, it did. The sanding was a bit tricky as I did not want to end up with a filet radius between the wing and fuselage. Remember, the wings move so there should be a defined sharp line where the two meet.

 

Another rather tricky area was where the front of the wing meets the fuselage. On the starboard wing, the area in question wasn't fully cast, and a big chunk was missing. On both sides I had to try and sculpt a nice forward wing root, and Michelangelo I ain't! Perhaps I could do a diorama and have a maintenance cloth covering this area....

 

After I was happy with my sanding, I sprayed a little primer to see how bad it really was. Another application of filler and re-sanding followed. I did this until I was tired of it and didn't want to be bothered anymore. Luckily, it didn't end up too bad. :)

 

I added the unique "double delta" tail, sanded and filled a few more places, and primed the entire model with Alclad Gray (this is really good old automotive primer, isn't it? Sure acts like it and smells like it!)

 

100_3464

 

100_3465

 

100_3467

 

Now you have to admit that the XF10F looks rather cool in that last shot. It looks like a lawn dart! There aren't many photos of the plane that show this aspect of its design. This was 1952, and it's unfortunate that the Jaguar didn't make it into production. Damn that Westinghouse! They should have kept to radios and refrigerators. Oh, and steam turbines, too. And avionics, I forgot about that one. And radar, of course, the radar! Uh, there were those reactors for the submarines and carriers, too. And the roads, aqueducts, sanitation, of course those are all a given. :)

 

You may recall that I plan on building the model with the horsals that were installed beginning with the 17th flight. Horsal is an Americanization of "horizontal dorsals," the source making about as much sense as the word. These were aerodynamic surfaces applied to the rear fuselage to improve directional stability. According to Corky the test pilot, they did a good job on that, as well as improving several other nasty habits of the bird. I made the horsals out of card stock, but I want to paint them separately (due to the aluminum leading edge) and apply later. Here they are:

 

100_3468

 

They will look cool. More pointy things for a pointy aircraft! Well, that's it for now, the next step is to do some scribing to add back in the panel lines that got lost during the build. Then, it's on to Glossy Sea Blue! I haven't painted that colour in several years, and I'm looking forward to it.

 

Cheers,

Bill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice, Bill! Our friend "Jaggy" is looking good! That horizontal stabiliser assembly looks like a tiny delta-winged aeroplane was slapped on top of the fin. You're certainly not going to have anyone saying when they see the model, "Oh, great it's just another...", more like "Ye Gods! What is that THING!."

Regards,

Jason

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...