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Found 1 result

  1. Hello everyone. Since my last WIP I've been very busy, both modeling and whatever else you call the rest of the time (NOT-modeling, I suppose!) In any event, I've been working on some old projects, completing my F8U-1 (or F-8A) early Crusader conversion, and Col George E.Laven's colorful F-104C. Finally, I have time for a small WIP, an F-84B conversion of the Heller F-84G Thunderjet. Why the Heller kit and not the more detailed Tamiya? you might ask. Basically four reasons: 1) The Tamiya kit wants to have it's gun door left open, and that's not what I'm after on this build; 2) The Heller kit has the option for the early 4-hole air brake, which the Tamiya does not; 3) The Tamiya canopy is too thin to sand off all the F-84G canopy reinforcement, while the Heller has enough plastic to do so, and 4) The Heller kit is available for less money at auction! There are several things required to backdate an F-84G to an F-84B version: (1) The fuse has to be shortened by one scale foot (4mm), just ahead of the wing. Technically, you should also remove three scale inches from behind the wing as well, but as the fuse slopes dramatically in that area, and the 3" equals 1 mm, I ain't goin' there! (2) As mentioned above the canopy has to revert to the old, non-reinforced model, as well as needing to be shortened that same 1 scale foot or 4mm. (3) The refueling door outline at the leading edge of the wing, next to the fuse, on the left wing, needs to be removed (4) The auxiliary air inlet doors ahead of each wing need to be filled (5) The multi-holed later style air-brake needs to replaced by the aforementioned 4-holer. (6) The trim tabs on both ailerons and the rudder need to be modified. (7) The pitot tube needs to be relocated to the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer. (8) Earlier style ejection seat. There is some difference of opinion here, with some experts saying that the first few B models had no ejection seat, while others say that the seats were there, just that the pilots were NOT authorized to use them.... must have been a bit dodgy there! Let's see "should I pull the handle and get the heck out of here before I die, or do I slide back the canopy, unhook the seat harness, roll the aircraft over and hope I fall out and miss the tail.... Sorry sir, I must have been out of my mind when I pulled that handle..." Anyway, I began by sawing the fuse in half on both sides, right at the panel line in front of the wing, removing one scale foot on each side with a razor saw. Then, I glued both pieces of each half together, taping the fuse parts together temporarily as needed, to align everything: As usual for me, the fit was not perfect, and requires a small shim of plastic card on the right side (arrow) to line things up. Figure "A" shows parts of the kit read decking that I removed, and figure "B" is the slice (4 mm wide) that I removed from each side of the fuselage. Below the arrow is where the auxiliary intake doors where filled. Next, we see some modifications needed on the wings: Figure "A" shows the trim tabs that need to be removed from both wings. Figure "B" shows the type and location of scribed trim tab that needs to be added to the right wing. Figure "C" shows removing the fin on the fuel tank, which was not on the "B" version; and figure "R" shows the refilling doors that need to be sanded out. Both wings should then be asymmetrically similar. Next, we have the cockpit: Figure "A" is the Heller instrument panel, and figure "B" is the Heller cockpit. I will use a resin copy of the Tamiya cockpit, (bottom), which will be sawed off at points "C" and "D". Point "C" so that the cockpit can be installed one scale foot further forward than on the original Heller fuse half, and "D" must be shortened anyway, or a scratch built replacement made, as this one is too long. I will, however, use the Heller instrument panel, because (1) it will fit, and (2) I am lazy. However, the next item will require some work, and is the thing that usually puts modelers off from trying this conversion, yet it's "Duck Soup" if done properly. That is to desecrate and remodel the canopy: First off, we have the canopy, with the reinforcing frame sanded off, using both sides of the 220/320 nail sanding stick shown above. The four-gritted stick (bottom) will be used later, thru each of it's four successive grits, from rougher to smoother. It is important NOT to skip a grit! Oh, and the grey thing is just a bit of neutral grey card, used for white balance when shooting the photo, but in this case, it was also to be used to set the canopy upon, to make it stand out a little better. Below, a closer shot, showing the reinforcing strips having been wet-sanded off, with the 220, then the 320 grit stick: followed by a shot after wet-sanding with the #1 grit (blue quarter) of the lower sanding stick. Then two shots showing the #2 and #3 grit progression from this stick: Then, after wet-sanding with the #4 grit: Probably, most rational people would have polished the canopy AFTER sawing off the extra 4mm. I didn't, because the existing front canopy frame was a little thicker than the rest of the canopy, and I felt that it might help resist inadvertent shattering of the plastic while sanding, etc. In the end, I had no problems, so I'll chalk that up as a brilliant decision by Ed! Next we prepare for the surgery: The canopy has been marked with a piece of tape 4mm (1 scale foot) back from the leading edge. MY next step will be to make one very perfect pass along the edge of the tape with the razor knife. This helps guide the scriber (bottom) with which I will make a couple of passes to make a line to guide the razor saw while it saws off the unneeded front. Results shown below: Then after a little cleanup with the sanding file on the cut edge, one coat, then another dip into the Future or PMF or whatever it is by the time you read this, drying between dips: And we now have a usable F-84B canopy. More next time, Ed
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