Intruders and Prowlers and Growlers 17 Nov. An update at last!

[Yankymodeler]

Stories and rumors to the contrary, the absence of a timely update is not indicative of; my being ingested by one of my own Intruder intake castings, being trapped in the veritable forest of sprue trees containing Intruder and Prowler parts while attempting to retrieve landing gear legs components, nor curled into a fetal position under my work desk muttering "Intruders and Prowlers and Growlers, oh my!". I simply became engrossed in the build and lost track of time!

Sniveling aside, here is some progress to report.

The Prowlers at last begin to catch up with the Intruders. As mentioned in a previous update, the Prowler cockpits needed to be trapped as the fuselage halves were joined. In fitting the cockpits a couple issues became apparent. First, a large gap was found between the side of the fuselage and the edge of the resin tubs. This was closed by adding styrene strips and sanding to fit.

As the cockpits settled into position, something didnt quite look right when compared to my reference pics. The problem was soon traced to the sills. The inside of the sills were not vertical but angled outward at the bottom.

Styrene strip was glued into position to add some material to work with, then a sanding block and files were used to form a vertical edge. The result is a much improved representation.

One deserved criticism of the Kinetic kit has been thick trailing edges on the wings, I felt this detracted too much from the overall look to ignore. Not wanting to damage the detail on the top of the wings, I chose to sand the lower surfaces. The leading edges and the wing tips outboard of the speed brake hinges were also thinned. The result was a much better appearance.

A bit of a milestone occurred when the wings were attached. This was of course reason enough for an impromptu and totally imprecise comparison with the Revell Intruders using the time honored Mk 1 eyeball.

While the thinned leading and trailing edges greatly improved the overall look, when compared next to the Revell Intruder wings the Kinetic wings still looked somewhat bloated by comparison. The culprit was when viewed directly head on the thicker section is particularly noticeable, so I decided to experiment a bit and see if I could come up with a solution that would also emphasize a definite family lineage, I would adapt the wings from the Revell Intruder to the Kinetic fuselage. How hard could it be?

The Prowler wing was similar to that of the late Intruder but with a slightly different inboard leading edge fairing and wing fold covers. I decided to combine the lower inboard section of the Kinetic wing (to keep the fairing which is pretty good on the Kinetic wing) with a set of Revell Intruder wings. I used a set of Revell EA-6A wings as they had a clean inboard section that would make mating with the Kinetic section easier. This choice also means that hinges for the wingtip speed brakes and the Prowler type wing fold fairing must be fabricated.

To start, I cut a section containing the leading edge ECM antenna fairing, landing gear bay, and engine exhaust from the Kinetic wing and used to replace a corresponding section of the Revell wings. This swap gave me the Prowler leading edge and a good fit along the rest of the underside. The pictures are easier to understand.

Here the Kinetic wing (top) is compared to the adapted Revell wing ( bottom)

The EA-18Gs have not been ignored, I hope to have an update posted tomorrow.

Thanks for your interest!

Eric, aka The Yankymodeler

Edited March 1, 2014 by Yankymodeler

[heloman1]

Eric, those cockpits are looking superb, I think once you have the intrument panels fitted along with the seats they will exquisite. Glad we hadn't lost you.

Colin

[woody37]

The're getting there, and your sanity and sense of humour are holding up well!

Those cockpits are stunning

[Yankymodeler]

Thanks guys, I have to admit the break I took from this to work on the Spitfire Mk XIV project was a good decision (even though the Spit project ended up with it's own frustration)

Isn't this hobby supposed to be relaxing?!?

Still working on the EA-18G update, hope to have it posted in a day or two.

Eric aka The Yankymodeler

[Yankymodeler]

Just a quick moment to post this while I'm finishing my coffee before heading out for yet another session of clearing snow here in the northern Shenendoa valley.

Meanwhile the Growlers have not been ignored.

The EA-18G has different access panel configuration in the nose than the other Super Hornets. The kit is based on the E/F so therefore needed a bit of filling and scribing to more accurately represent the Growler.

I still need to add fastener detail



The decks behind the cockpit were fitted. As the aftermarket set was designed for the Hasegawa kit, a bit of styrene was need to carry basic detail between the Aires resin and the end of the cockpit cutout. Small strips were used to blend with the detail of the resin section.






Note the styrene plugs at the aft edge of the cockpit. The hinge cutouts are incorrectly located on the ‘flat’ section of the spine of the fuselage, they should be on the raised ‘turtle deck’ behind the canopy.

The ECS vents have been replaced with Quickboost castings, greatly improving this highly visible detail.



As you may recall, only one of my Super Hornet kits had the additional tree containing the Growler specific antenna, so a number of copies were cast. After a final inspection to be sure the aft fuselage was reasonably free of defects and the scribing acceptable, the castings were epoxied into position.



A bit of trimming and test fitting were required in order to fit the pilot’s instrument panel, styrene used to fill in any gaps around the coaming. While test fitting the windshield I noted there was a definite step where the clear part met the fuselage, this was especially noticeable at the front were the windshield sat a good .020 inch below the fuselage!

Once again out came my infamous Mk 1 Eyeball measuring device and the time honored TLAR* comparison tool. These un-calibrated and highly inaccurate tools corroborated that indeed the entire windshield appeared to sit a bit low on the fuselage.

So out with the styrene, shims were cut and added around the perimeter raising the entire windshield. These will be filed to shape after the windshield is installed. Already a much better fit and improved appearance.



The wheel wells have been criticized as a bit sparse and inaccurate. Casual inspection reveals that although not spot on replicas, the wells are adequate enough representations considering their location and how very difficult they are to see when the landing gear legs and doors are installed. In deference to keeping work load reasonable, I tend not to add a lot of detail in areas that will not be seen. I did fill a few gaps with styrene strips and to add bit of implied structure to bulkeheads.


*That Looks About Right

Eric aka The Yankymodeler

[Yankymodeler]

Just enough time for a quick update. With the majority of work on the basic Growler airframes complete, installation of some of the more delicate components can begin.

The Aires cockpit set includes a photo etch fret containing the HUD framing, this was attached to the glare shield with epoxy. The reflecting plates were cut from clear plastic stock slightly thicker than what is provided with the set. Inspection of reference pictures revealed that the upper plate is slightly wider than the lower. The lower of the two reflector plates was glued in place also with epoxy and before installing the upper plate, the upper frame was carefully expanded with fine tweezers.

The windshield was then glued into place providing a bit of protection. Some filling will be needed to fair in the frame with the fuselage, but overall looks pretty good.

The rear deck was given some very lightly dry brushed highlights, just enough to give some texture. The area on the real Growler is relatively monochromatic.

Here the new canopy hinge recesses can be seen.

Simply repeat three times!

Next.Installation of intakes and ducts on the Prowlers

Eric aka The Yankymodeler

Edited March 21, 2014 by Yankymodeler

[heloman1]

Coming along nicely Eric.Keep going mate.

Colin

[Bigmick]

I don't think I can bow any lower in respect, genius teetering on the endge of lunacy, and to think I got confused with 3 Airfix Fw 190's at once

Edited March 21, 2014 by Bigmick

[Yankymodeler]

Bigmick, Thank you very much, and I'm afraid I have long past gone over the edge!

I beg you not to bow at all, but as long as you're down here with me, please help me find whatever small part has fallen into the lair of the carpet monster this time!

Eric aka The Yankymodeler

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

You are so consistent! All 3 of those Growlers cockpits looks pretty much identical. I know that's the idea, but we all know how hard it is to achieve. Fab.

[Wafu]

One of the top three builds I have ever seen on this site, hats off to you.

It's remarkable to build from the box but you have taken that way beyound the next level.

Eric your the man.

[Yankymodeler]

Thank you very much guys, this build has turned out to be quite a challenge.

Not much of an update this time, just enough to assure anyone following that the project is still moving forward although not as quickly as I’d hoped these last few weeks.

The intakes have been installed on the Prowlers, and the ducts and fans prepared. I had hoped to have them in tonight, but I just couldn’t get the modeling mojo activated! Well, perhaps tomorrow.

Rebuilt leading edge antenna fairings, a bit more refining needed, but the general shape is improved

The wings have been attached to the final two Intruders, and so the final airframes are basically assembled.

And a group picture of the final lineup, I swear there will be no more additions!

3 EA-6Bs, 4 EA-6As, 2 A-6E, 1 KA-6D, and 3 EA-18Gs

[url=http://s1115.photobucket.com/user/modelpicposter/media/Intruders%20Prowlers%20and%20Growlers/DSC02754_zpsb77fd590.jpg.html]

[heloman1]

Fantastic work Eric, I'm struggling to get two model together let alone thirteen. Certainly a mamoth project.

Colin

[Yankymodeler]

I have to admit I did take a short break from the Intruders/Prowlers/Growlers, but I didnt intend to be this long between updates! For some justification I did manage to finish my Spitfire Mk XIV kitbash and get a bit of work getting my shop into working order, but yet again I cant believe how much time has flown since my last update!

The EA-18Gs have made quite a bit of progress. Raising the windshield mountings allowed me to shape the transition from the fuselage to the windshield itself to at least simulate the bulged contour that Italeri missed of the windshield on the real Growler. The 'pizza box' antenna seen in front of the windshield was fabricated from sheet styrene.

On the subject of missing, Italeri also molded a cutout at the top rear of the two inner pylons. I can almost understand the mistake as in a number of photographs I used for reference a shadow cast on the pylon looked just like a cutout! A bit of styrene sorted things out fairly quickly though.

The outer pylons have a pretty good overall shape but needed a bit of work with styrene to produce an attachment shackle similar to that on the inner pylons.

The fuselage centerline station supplied in the kit was absolutely unacceptable. Much too short and thin, a more accurate pylon was made up from styrene strips.

Turning toward the landing gear, because of the complexity I decided to attach it earlier in the build sequence than I normally would. This was fortuitous as when it came time to add the various rods and springs so prominent on the real aircraft, the kit supplied parts bore very little if any resemblance to the real thing. I used styrene rods and bits along with a wound wire spring to produce an acceptable representation of the prototype. Although not perfect, the appearance of the landing gear legs are much improved.

Simply repeat three times!

Thanks for the patience, Ill post and update on the Intruders and Prowlers in a few days.

Eric aka The Yankymodeler

P.S.

For those who require a doctors excuse or a note from home for my absence, here is some proof of my distractions.

G-ALGT (1/48 Hasegawa/Airfix/Academy kitbash:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234960314-spitfire-mk-xiv-148-rhapsody-in-blue-rolls-royces-g-algt/?hl=yankymodeler

And my shop (Soon to house a full scale aircraft project):

Edited June 11, 2014 by Yankymodeler

[heloman1]

Hi Eric, as usual you have managed to entertain us royally. Very tasty Spitfire, I'm sure it kept you sane!

Nice workshop, I have something vaguely similar but most of the times it's occupied by my wife's car and my baakie (pick-up). I have two corners, one with my 12" contractors table saw and 'spray booth' (card box) and a free standing bandsaw. Now, a 1:1 aircraft project that sounds very interesting.

Colin

[phildagreek]

Nice to see some progress, like that workshop & it's potential!

[Yankymodeler]

Thanks guys! Up until this past spring you couldnt even walk from the front to the back with all my 12 years of accumulated junk, at that time the barn wasn't even insulated. My son and I spent quite a bit of time over the winter getting things in shape, I hope to get our project, my 1950 Cessna 170A, into the shop by this fall.

Eric aka The Yankymodeler

[Yankymodeler]

And now a bit of update on the work going on in the Grumman shop

The intake ducts and fans have been installed in the Prowlers. The fans and the depth of the duct are to scale and add a lot to the overall look.

The ladder wells are boxed in on all the Intruders and Prowlers, Im anticipating that fabricating and installing the steps will be quite tedious!

The inner faces of the intakes have been trimmed, (VERY carefully so as not to breach the inner wall!!) with a Moto tool to provide clearance so the nose wheel well will fit between them. This is probably the most stressful part of installing the intake ducts.

I think one more session with filler to remove a few scratches and imperfect corners will complete the work on refining the shape of the wing root leading edges. The next step will be to fabricate and add the stall strips. At the moment Im planning on tapering strip styrene stock, time will tell.

Intruder:

EA-6A:

Prowler . Which on first glance looks like the Intruder but is a much more refined design with a sharpened leading edge radius rather than the added on strip on the Intruder.

Here a comparison of the Prowler (top) and Intruder (bottom) leading edges can be made. Note the different treatment around the wheel well.

[arfa1983]

Ok. You've had long enough. How's about an update!

[Yankymodeler]

Right you are arfa! So at long last, an update:

As can be seen from the date on my last posting, a bit of time has passed from my last update. I attribute some of this to a busy summer and beginning of fall, but I have to admit that my allowing this project to grow to a state where it has become overwhelming in scope to be the major cause of for the temporary shutdown of the production line. The combination of the extent of work on each model, multiplied by the quantity of models under construction has resulted in the project consuming all available modeling mojo for this simple assembler.

Not to worry though, the lights are back on in the shop and the project is moving forward again. So without further sniveling or whining, for inspection the latest progress:

Before the work stoppage the main gear of the Growlers had been up graded with a couple of details, a minor addition and a light coat of primer get thing finished up here.

Attention turned to the nose gear, initial inspection reveals the stock Italeri part disappointingly simplified and unsatisfactory for the level of this build. As on the main gear legs, bits of styrene sheet and rod were used to add a semblance of detail.

As part of the solution to a wing rock issue at high angle of attack, fences were added to the wings of the Growlers. Inspection of photographs show the fences are mounted to a plate attached to the upper surface of the wing. On marking out the location, it became apparent that the plate crossed a number of access panels and would render them inaccessible. Now aircraft designers dont cut holes in pieces unless there is something under there that needs to be maintained, so something had to allow access to those access panels, a puzzlement indeed! Looking closer at the photographs revealed joints corresponding to the location of the access panels, running across the mounting plate and up and over the fence itself, mystery solved! A few pieces of styrene sheet and a bit of simple scribing, a reasonable facsimile is produced.

On to the Grummans;

At the end of the last episode the intakes, ducts and first compressor stages had been installed and the ladder wells boxed in. The last major hurdle (I certainly hope the last major hurdle!) is to install the nozzles and tailpipes. The tailpipes were previously fabricated with castings from a custom mold.

The nozzles were cast from a copy of the nozzle from the Hasegawa A-4 as both aircraft used the J-52 engine. At first I thought I would be able to simply sand the conical outside taper of the castings cylindrical to fit into the Intruder/Prowler airframes.

The test piece worked fairly well, though the shaping of the resin casting took more time than I anticipated, but two issues popped up. First: I had opened up the fuselage section as much as I dared to accommodate the nozzles, but despite my best efforts to construct identical airframes, there were enough variances that the nozzle castings were a slight press fit into some of the fuselages. Even though I was careful and tried to keep the openings as round as I could, this was enough to slightly squeeze the thin casting oval. Two: The edge of the nozzle extended a little bit beyond the lower part of the fuselage. Because the resin casting was very thin, I was concerned that it would be subject to damage during the rest of the construction and be difficult to repair.

My solution was to use ring cut from brass tubing to represent the outer heat shield ducting and use the inner more detailed section of the casting to represent the tailpipe itself and the radial spacing tabs. The brass tube being strong would retain its circular shape, be resistant to damage and still be thin enough to look the part.

A prototype part was fabricated to check the concept and looked good enough to put into production.

Now I just had to devise a method to cut 20 identical length rings from a brass tube. To make a long story short, I built a jig to hold my motor tool with a cutoff wheel in the chuck and incorporated an adjustable fence to allow me to reproduce any number of rings of consistent length.

Now that the method was developed it was only necessary to start mass production!

To prepare each casting for the brass ring, the end of the heat shield needed to be removed, this was fairly easy to do with a sanding block.

The rings were then epoxied to the cast resin inner tailpipe detail.

To install, the nozzles were epoxied into place first, aligned and allowed to cure. Then the tailpipe assemblies were epoxied into position, making sure to line up inside tube.

The result after all this work is an almost impossible to see turbine wheel at the end of a dark curved tube! But as is often heard echoing through these hallowed halls, I know its in there!

And thus the production lines once again begin to move forward! Thank you all for your interest,

Eric aka The Yankymodeler

[heloman1]

Hi Eric, good to see your back on the build line. I do like your jig/clamp idea for the Dremel motortool as a cut-off tool. I might just have to steal that idea.

Colin

[nimrod77]

Amazing amount of work that you are putting into these little beauties. Keep it coming mate 👍

[phildagreek]

Good to see you're back at it, impressive work indeed & I like your jig too. Good effort.

[arfa1983]

Yes! Keep at it mate. Fantastic work.

[Yankymodeler]

Thanks y'all! It's good to have the building mojo back, I don't think I'll ever take on this big of a project again! I hope tonight to get the weights into the Intruder noses so they won't be tail sitters. The amount of resin in the intakes helps but is not quite enough. The massive aftermarket Prowler cockpits are more enough by them selves.

Eric aka The Yankymodeler