John the Yank Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Cutting Edge from www.meteor.com has released Triple Plow I & II seamless intakes for Academy's 1/48 F-111's. Got mine on order last night. As a 20 year F-111 maintainer, 12ys. at RAF UH you can bet what my favorite aircraft is. Vaarks rule and RAF UH was the best damn assignment in USAFE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary West Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 You want to see UH today John, you'd cry mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John the Yank Posted April 9, 2007 Author Share Posted April 9, 2007 You want to see UH today John, you'd cry mate Gary, I get over to England every couple years to visit my wife's family spread out over Bucks. I went to UH and felt a little emotion, but time moves on and how England shaped my life, well, I would relive in a heartbeat. I had my first pint for 36p, Hook Norton Ale, another 12p for a pickled egg and packet of Walker's salt n' vinegar crisps and I was hooked for life. Man, those days you could get steamed for a fiver, met a lot of great friends and still enjoy visiting and havin a few in the Midlands! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 You think UH is bad, you should see Greenham. Downright wanton vandalism! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 Yep, that's a series of kits that definitely needed an air intake of any sort. Now we just need some Aires exhausts and decent wheelwells (that don't cost an arm and a leg. Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John the Yank Posted April 11, 2007 Author Share Posted April 11, 2007 Woo Hoo, That was fast, ordered Sunday night, received Wednesday afternoon. The intakes are nice, definately will improve the look from the front. Let's see Paragon flaps & slats ck, Paragon burner cans ck, Verlinden update set ck, Micro-Scale Decal sheet ck, still need Scaledowns wheel wells and possibly some pylons with BRU's. I'll probably collect all the bits and pieces and Trumpeter will release a new 1/48 kit, ah well when the new mold Vaark comes I'll be building quite a few. :whistling: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted April 11, 2007 Share Posted April 11, 2007 Sounds like an expensive project John... and a heavy one when you've finished! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted April 11, 2007 Share Posted April 11, 2007 Are the Paragon burner cans appropriate for an FB-111? I know the F-111F has different exhausts from the rest, but I've never been able to compare to see how similar/different they are. Is it like using GE nozzles on a supposedly P&W powered F-16? I hear a lot of good things about Scaledown, but their stuff seems rather pricey. $80 for a set of wheel well is more than I can justify, regardless of how nice it is... The cheaper option is to glue the model to the base:) Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John the Yank Posted April 12, 2007 Author Share Posted April 12, 2007 Are the Paragon burner cans appropriate for an FB-111? I know the F-111F has different exhausts from the rest, but I've never been able to compare to see how similar/different they are. Is it like using GE nozzles on a supposedly P&W powered F-16?I hear a lot of good things about Scaledown, but their stuff seems rather pricey. $80 for a set of wheel well is more than I can justify, regardless of how nice it is... The cheaper option is to glue the model to the base:) Jens They all have a version of the P&W TF-30, the external cans on the F model may have some minor different details but nothing like the differences between G.E. & P&W on the F-16. The Paragon bits are nice but some work is needed to give the afterburners depth and to represent the flame holder. The Paragon slats and flaps are nice and after some careful cutting and assembly will look beautiful. The P.E. seals do not look realistic, on the real bird the texture of these seals are like the fire brigade hoses. I thought about using white cloth medical tape to make the seals, some brands have the texture similar to the hoses. The Verlinden cockpit set is nice and you also get a nice ALQ-131V3 ECM pod. No doubt about it, and expensive build. Definately have to replace the wheel wells though, I may scale up the 1/72 basic parts and scratch build the details Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 Even back then I though that the Minicraft representation of the afterburners was fairly naff, and I cast copies of the Hasegawa Afterburner and flameholder for the F-14. Maybe the Aires afterburners for the Tomcat may be fitted, or just take the leftover kit pieces? The diameter of the Hasegawa F-14 exhaust is larger than the F-111, so some fitting and fiddling may be necessary. Was thinking too about using the Hasegawa F-111 for reference to scratchbuild new wheelwells. If my understanding of the subject is correct, the intake ducting is the sidewall of the main wheel well? How well can the CE intakes be integrated into such a plan? Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John the Yank Posted April 12, 2007 Author Share Posted April 12, 2007 Even back then I though that the Minicraft representation of the afterburners was fairly naff, and I cast copies of the Hasegawa Afterburner and flameholder for the F-14. Maybe the Aires afterburners for the Tomcat may be fitted, or just take the leftover kit pieces? The diameter of the Hasegawa F-14 exhaust is larger than the F-111, so some fitting and fiddling may be necessary.Was thinking too about using the Hasegawa F-111 for reference to scratchbuild new wheelwells. If my understanding of the subject is correct, the intake ducting is the sidewall of the main wheel well? How well can the CE intakes be integrated into such a plan? Jens That may be a good idea, the augmentor cylinder with flame holder should be the same diameter, so Paragon's cans should fit. The F model will be a different proposition, they have more of a con/di internal can as opposed to the iris style on the earlier marks. I did not consider how much interference the intake trunking would interfere with the wheel wells, that may be a harder problem to solve, maybe that is why Scaledown has not released an intake set yet. It is such a complex arrangement that maybe an intake/main wheel well arrangement has to be integrally molded? The Hasegawa arrangement is a fudge, but looks good in 1/72 scale. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 How fudged is Hasegawa's main wheel well? Would relying on it for reference for the basics (in addition to the Lock On book for the detail work) be an even bigger fudge? At least it will look better than what you get in the kit... As for the TF-30, would the F-111s (except the F) have an arrangement similar to the F-14? Maybe the closed Tomcat nozzles can be opened up and used as a basis for these versions? As the exhaust pipe from the Tomcat kit is quite wide, the open nozzle may be too large? Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John the Yank Posted April 12, 2007 Author Share Posted April 12, 2007 How fudged is Hasegawa's main wheel well? Would relying on it for reference for the basics (in addition to the Lock On book for the detail work) be an even bigger fudge? At least it will look better than what you get in the kit...As for the TF-30, would the F-111s (except the F) have an arrangement similar to the F-14? Maybe the closed Tomcat nozzles can be opened up and used as a basis for these versions? As the exhaust pipe from the Tomcat kit is quite wide, the open nozzle may be too large? Jens It is not that fudged the engineering is pretty slick on the 1/72 kit, what I did not like is the fan face and the 2/3 trunking that mates with the outer fuselage. The intake tunnels in the CE update have the smooth curves. The Hasegawa bulkheads for the well would be a great starting point but som careful integration to the seamless ducting will be in order. I have not seen any good complete photos and I have collected a lot of books. It is tough to photograph on the ground because of the angle of the speed brake/MLG door and how low it squats. I should have photographed the well when I had the chance, I used to look them over when they were in Phase Insp and on jacks with the Speed brake/MLG door disconnected from it's actuator, but the USAF frowned on unauthorized photography. If you use the Hasegawa as a template you would not be far off, I'm no expert and it would look right. Anyway with the speed brake positioned, you can not see a lot anyway. The nozzles on the F-14 TF-30 are completely different than the F-111, the cans on the Vark are pretty plain and represented well by the Paragon Nozzles except for the depth behind them (No criticism to Neil, I like his work, rock solid not over engineered), the depth is all that is needed except for the F model (slightly different external cans and the con/di internal nozzle. All other ones the Paragons will work, just remember to use the partially closed iris on the starboard engine only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 We seem to have monopolized this thread John:) Does the Paragon F-111F exhausts come with options open/closed? Looks like I need to dig out some F-111 references and the kit next time I'm visiting my parents (in a few months time). Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John the Yank Posted April 12, 2007 Author Share Posted April 12, 2007 We seem to have monopolized this thread John:) Does the Paragon F-111F exhausts come with options open/closed? Looks like I need to dig out some F-111 references and the kit next time I'm visiting my parents (in a few months time).Jens The Paragon exhausts do not represent the F model, they represent the A, C, D, E, EF, FB/G. The external can is motor driven moves back and forth under various throttle conditions, the internal iris is opening and closing controlling the thrust. The F model exhausts are similar externally, (there are some differences though) and the internal con/di can is completely different, more modern in appearance. To my knowledge the F-model cans have never been represented, I'll dig out a 1/72 Hase F model and check it out. I'm an E, EF, FB guy, I can talk Avionics but only know the about other areas from reading, discussion, and observation, so I'm not the expert, just armed enough with a little extra trivia. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 Thanks for that John, I'll pick up a set of Paragon F-111 exhausts at some point. Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julien Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 If you want some good burner cans then the scaledown ones are excellent, also there wheels. They also have pans to do the wheelwells I do believe Cjeck them out here http://www.f-111.net/scaledown/index.htm Julien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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