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

[MattBlack33]

Hi, Eric. I've just stumbled on your WIP and I must say I've enjoyed every minute of getting up to date with your work, most impressive! I'm wondering if you're still working on these as it'd be great to see where you're up to!

[Yankymodeler]

Hello Matt!

Thank you very much for your interest, the project has been a challenge to be sure! Sorry to have not gotten back to you sooner, I have been a bit preoccupied with a new job and some shop projects. I have been working away on the Intruders. Prowlers and Growlers and have a bit of progress to report. I'll get some pics together and hopefully be able to post an update tonight.

Eric aka The Yankymodeler

[hairystick]

I'm thinking of the Short Solent, and the Mk 4 at that! I love the big boats and when I came across a pic of a MK 4 in the wonderful Teal markings I just had to look into building one.

That sounds very much like the Solent on display at MOTAT museum. Just down the road from me.

http://www.motat.org.nz/collection/collection-themes/aviation/

A beautiful aircraft with a superb interior display, arranged inside the aircraft, which can be viewed through the windows via a special viewing platform. Very well thought out indeed!

[Yankymodeler]

That sounds very much like the Solent on display at MOTAT museum. Just down the road from me.

http://www.motat.org.nz/collection/collection-themes/aviation/

A beautiful aircraft with a superb interior display, arranged inside the aircraft, which can be viewed through the windows via a special viewing platform. Very well thought out indeed!

That is exactly the type, and the very aircraft I may be depicting. I have been using pictures of the MOTAT Solent for much of my research, it looks absolutely gorgeous in those colors!

Now if I can only find a good set of drawings of the Solent hull...

Eric aka The Yankymodeler

[Yankymodeler]

A long overdue update, although stalled for some time the production line is back in motion!

Not much to show in pictures but plenty of work has been done in shaping and scribing. For a brief period I thought I might be able to get a couple of the series finished for the IPMS US National Convention in Columbus, that hope was short lived as I found that even with the use of templates the scribing was just too overwhelming. By breaking the task into sections (ie Intruder engine bay doors then Prowler engine bay doors ect) I was able to complete the task without losing my sanity. Then a coat of paint revealed much more work was needed to refine the scribing to an acceptable state!

I am happy though to report that I did find a method to help myself achieve the necessary state of model building zen….





So with a plan like that, how long could the process possibly take?




The Kinetic Prowlers needed a few panel lines to be added to that provided in the kit notably engine access doors, and a couple upper fuselage lines removed.







The curved engine bay doors were a challenge even with the use of a template, patience and frequent breaks being key to acceptable results.





Another scribing challenge was the access doors under the inboard leading edge of the wing due to the curved surface and awkward location.




The EA-18Gs are a bit further in progress. The ALQ-218 receiver pods required a little bit of work, shocker there! The front and rear caps needed to be tweaked to match the subtle curves seen on the prototype, easily done with sand paper. Inspection of reference pictures also showed a long rectangular unit on the inside of the pod with what appear to be intake and vent openings on the ends. Fortunately these straightforward to fabricate from styrene channel and were attached to the inside of the pod before mounting to the wing. Simply repeat six times!






Once the pods were installed onto the wingtips, the triangular antennas were attached.

A coat of the final color has been applied and a few small imperfections revealed themselves and have been attended. The lowered flaps and ailerons will be fitted before the final painting.

Like I said, a lot of time was spent on the scribing but doesn’t show up well in pictures so you’ll all just have to trust me! Thanks for watching

Eric aka The Yankymodeler

[heloman1]

Lookin' good Eric, nice progress, this certainly is marathon build. I see you sampled the hydraulic fluid, you can't model without some liquid refreshement.

Colin

[kev67]

Looking really good, I can fully understand about scribing it can be a chore, I scribed a couple of my models, as they are vacform they were void of any panel lines and door and inspection hatches, have you tried 3M 471 blue tape, as I have found this excellent for rounded surfaces and is much better than dymo tape, and lasts longer as it retains its adhesion, so you are able to reuse it more.

[batcode]

great to see you back with these not long seen the thread and really enjoyed it, got admit most would of been put off or thrown in the towel on a project on this scale!!! so my hat goes off to you for sticking with it and none being used as projectiles!!!! some superb scratch building and very nice detail work, they look great so far and looking forward to next update ...

I built the old a-6 kit some time ago and though was old kit did enjoy it and came out ok, just picked up the old monogram prowler lol, so not sure what ive let my self in for!!!! I know its raised panel lines but will leave them . but doing them all in VMCJ-2 the (playboys) squadron,

[Yankymodeler]

Colin,

I'd like to claim that I need the foil from the top of the bottle for the seat belts, but yes the magic red fluid has helped keep me focused when I get to the 6th or 7th model!

kev67,

I've not tried that tape, I have a selection of straight edges and flexible metal templates. I will certainly give that tape a try with your recommendation, Thank you!

batcode,

Thank you very much! I hope I can keep steady progress to completion now as I would like to have them on display at the Columbia Nats next year. Nothing wrong at all with raised panel lines especially on the Intruder/Prowlers as each panel has a sealant applied when the panel is replaced and could very well have a 'raised' joint! Do a bit of research on the wing, Monogram used the wing off the Intruder and it's not quite right for a Prowler. Be sure to post your project, I'd love to see your work!

Eric aka The Yankymodeler

[heloman1]

Hi Eric, yep, treid that excuse too with my wife. I then treid another tack with a bottle which has no lable just a card tag attached with an elastic band to the neck, Told her I got a free bottle with and elastic band! I should have know better but yes a a drink or two does help with the modelling.

looking forward to your next post.

Colin

[Hoefie]

Hi Yankymodeler,

Can i ask if you have more pictures of the fitting of the aires cockpit in the prowlers? Just can't get to grips on what to add or what to remove.

Regards Andries

[Yankymodeler]

Hi Yankymodeler,

Can i ask if you have more pictures of the fitting of the aires cockpit in the prowlers? Just can't get to grips on what to add or what to remove.

Regards Andries

Sure thing Andries, give me a couple days to get home from the IPMS/USA National Convention and find them in my files. There is a bit of fiddling to do, what I did is add a strip of styrene to widen the resin to avoid a slight gap. If you want to get really fussy, the sills of the canopy opening need to be refined. I'll find the pics and get them posted.

Eric aka The Yankymodeler

[Hoefie]

Hi Yankymodeler,

Any chance on those pics??

Regards Andries

[Flashman]

^{Now that really is some building!}

[Yankymodeler]

Andries,

I must apologize for not getting back to you earlier. Id like to be able to blame some monumental event, but I cant think of a believable one at the moment, things got busy and I lost track of time flying by!

So in answer to your question; fitting the Aires cockpits into the Kinetic Prowler was not difficult at all., the top crown portion fits fairly well, if IIRC I only had to trim off the locating pins on the top of the kit fuselage halves on the section between the front and rear crew stations. The sides needed a bit more attention, I found there to be a bit of a gap between the side of the cockpit casting and the fuselage sides. I epoxied styrene strips, I cant remember what size but youll want to adjust to fit your particular kit anyway, to the sides of the cockpit casting taking care to align the top of the strip so as to give the appearance of the continuation of the side console. You may need to extend the filler piece up the bulkhead side a little ways

I did find a couple of pictures of the filler strips before they were painted.

Then it is a simple matter of test fitting and sanding/filing to fit into the fuselage halves.

Another tweak if you are so inclined is to add a strip to the cockpit sills to fill them out a bit and correct the slanted inside faces to be vertical.

The pic here is not the best but unfortunately its the only one I took before I closed up the fuselages.

Anyway, hope this helps some, best of luck with your project!

Eric aka The Yankymodeler

And yes....I do have an update being prepared,progress on the Super Hornets

/Growlers. I hope to have it posted by this weekend!

[phildagreek]

Good to see you back at it, looks good!

[Yankymodeler]

Once again an inordinate amount of time has transpired since my last update. For any readers who have ever followed my clumsy attempts at a coherent WIP thread you should be familiar with my disappearing (usually allowing me to cower under my desk) Thats not to say no work has been done, its just amazing the impact of the number of models in this project has on restricting the pace of progress. For those of you whove lost count the project consists of: 4 EA-6As, 3 EA-6Bs, 2 A-6Es (one of which will be a test and development aircraft) 1 KA-6D, and 3 EA-18Gs.

Work has continued on the seemingly never ending task of refining the vast amount of scribing on the Intruders and Prowlers. There does appear to be an end in sight though, as most of the work is gotten to a level close to my rather undemanding standard. Even though the refinement is difficult to see in pictures, I a photograph showing tiny scratches on a field of grey primer as evidence of headway. Suffice to say this has been a most time consuming and least rewarding part of the project.

The Prowlers have a protective cover that prevents damage to the angle of attack probe on the right intake from being stepped on by crews boarding the aircraft. This cover is spring loaded and flips out when the boarding ladder is lowered. As I intend to display the Prowlers with the ladders in the lowered position, the well was carved into the resin intake with judicious use of a fine bit in a motor tool and knife. I will fabricate and install the cover closer to finish, I also see I have more work to do cleaning up the top of the ladder well!

Most of the noticeable progress has been on the EA-18Gs. So continuing with the plethora of tweaks to bring the prototype-based kit up to configuration of the production aircraft; Super Hornets have a shallow recess on the side of the fuselage to provide clearance for the upper missile fin of missiles that might be carried on stations 5 and 7. This recess can be difficult to see at times as it is under the wing in shadow and often hidden behind anything hung on the inboard wing pylons. Also I recall reading somewhere in a blog posting from a maintenance crewmember, that there are two covers that can be used on these stations. One is used when the fuselage stations are needed to carry stores and allows access to the weapons mounts and electrical connectors. There is an alternate cover that can be used when those stations are not needed, that in addition to covering the mounts and connectors also has a slightly different shape that fairs the recessed area a bit. This cover eliminates the notch that allows the fin to lie in the recess in the fuselage side and makes it that much more difficult to detect the recess.

My apologies for a long lead in explanation to a simple tweak, part of the satisfaction I get from building models is the facts and details I learn while doing the research. Because I have tried to capture as many of the nuances that distinguish the Super Hornets as practical, the recess was marked out and formed with files and sandpaper. I decided to opt for the weapons ready cover in order to help emphasize this feature by having the notch in the edge between the side and the bottom of the fuselage.

The EA-18Gs finally show significant progress with the installation of the flaps and ailerons! When shut down, Super Hornet control surfaces droop as hydraulic pressure bleeds off, the leading edge devices and rudders were modified to a drooped position earlier in the build. I put off installing the flaps and ailerons until I was reasonably satisfied with the rest of the airframes as they are vulnerable to damage when handling the model.

In order to prepare the flaps for installation, the inboard end needs a beveled recess on the underside. This allows the flaps to clear stores on the fuselage stations when the flaps are lowered. A file and sandpaper made quick work of adding this feature, and a bracket for the actuator was fabricated from sheet styrene and added to the inboard end of the flaps, and on the ailerons matching the location of the actuator fairing on the underside of the wing. The flaps and ailerons were then temporarily taped into place on the wing. Hinges were cut from styrene sheet and glued to the control surfaces using the part of the hinges mounted on the wing to locate the span-wise position and determine the proper height.

The flaps and ailerons were then installed. The hinges were joined while the flap was held in position with strips of tape. Actuators where then carefully fabricated in place using styrene rod. Once affixed, the actuators stiffened the assembly and the tape could be removed.

It was at this point I noticed I had (once again) made an error. I had installed a single rod for the flap actuator that attached between the brackets. While I was making the gap seals, I noticed a detail faintly visible in the reference pictures through the gap formed between the flap and the seal was not seen at all on the model. Closer inspection of reference pictures revealed that the flap actuators are two rods (redundant systems) which attach to a plate which in turn is attached to the brackets. Of course this was discovered after I had attached the flaps to the wing.

The single rod was carefully cut out with a freshly sharpened blade and double rods fabricated in place. A slice of hex shaped rod simulates the bolt attaching the actuators to the flap. The pictures I used showed the plate to be an anodized gold color, and I somewhat exaggerated the highlighting and wash as this detail will be in the shadow under the gap seals.

Finally, moveable gap seals were cut from styrene sheet and installed. The only challenge here was to form the inboard end that expands to cover the flap actuators. This was recreated by bending the end up to match the angle of the wing root and adding small triangular sections of tapered strip to the inboard leading and trailing edges to match the changing contour of the root section. Temporary spacers were used between the seal and the flap to maintain the proper gap while the seals were attached.

Overall the result is a reasonable imitation of the prototype, and the actuator rods are all but invisible.

I think its about time for the final color coats!

And yes, I agree the workbench is in desperate need of a cleaning!

A quick coat of white on the landing gear and wheel wells thankfully reveals all is well here. Soon will be time to get on with a wash to bring out the details.

Thank you all for your interest,

Eric aka The Yankymodeler.

[phildagreek]

Nice work, attention to detail is great!

[jrlx]

What can I say?... I just look in awe at your extreme attention to detail and superb craftsmanship :hypnotised:

I also admire your endurance as this very ambitious project is running for more than 3 years now!

Keep up the superb work

Cheers

Jaime

[heloman1]

Good work on the flaps Eric, I do like the fillets over the top. An untidy workbench is a sign of a busy modeller...

Colin

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

(Those are the oddest P-51K Mustangs I have ever seen).

As ever, your attention to detail and determination not to settle for "who's gonna see it?" second best is awesome. And you are incredibly consistent, too; mass producing scratch built parts so that come out the same is really hard.

Top stuff.

[Yankymodeler]

I also admire your endurance as this very ambitious project is running for more than 3 years now!


Cheers

Jaime


LOL!! Has it really been that long?!? Boy, I am a slow builder!

[Yankymodeler]

Good work on the flaps Eric, I do like the fillets over the top. An untidy workbench is a sign of a busy modeller...

Colin

Thanks Colin, but I have to admit the state of my workbench is also a result of my being in too much of a hurry (lazy) to put stuff away when I should!

[Yankymodeler]

(Those are the oddest P-51K Mustangs I have ever seen).

As ever, your attention to detail and determination not to settle for "who's gonna see it?" second best is awesome. And you are incredibly consistent, too; mass producing scratch built parts so that come out the same is really hard.

Top stuff.

Not to worry, the Cavalier Mustang project is still on the workbench. I use them for when I get too overwhelmed feeling with the jets!

Thank you, I have made a strong effort to keep everything at the same level The consistency is not to bad once I get an acceptable prototype made, a problem happens if I don't make enough pieces then have to go back and try and recreate the process!

Eric aka The Yankymodeler

[Yankymodeler]

It seems that what I consider to be the simplest of phases on this project turn out to pose some of the greatest amounts of work and time to complete. I will readily admit the biggest contributor to the is self-inflicted and owes much to this authors clumsy styrene hacking. After the successful installation of the flaps and ailerons on the Super Hornets, my intent was to get an initial coat of the final undersurface grey sprayed. I thought I could get the Intruders and Prowlers ready for a coat at the same time so I set about a final tweaking of the re-scribed panel lines and general tidying up of the airframes. As you may recall, I modified one of the Kinetic Prowlers to use Revell EA-6A wings in an attempt to come up with a more scale like wing thickness than the somewhat chunky stock Kinetic kit part. The experiment was reasonably successful though it did guaranty extra work as the Prowler wing has wingtip mounted speed brakes that the EA-6A omitted, so the prominent hinges would need to be scratch-built. Not a big problem, how hard can it be? Because I wanted the Kinetic/Revell Prowler-stein to have a definite lineage with the Revell Intruders I thought Id just copy the hinges on the Revell Intruders. Upon inspection of the stock Intruder kits the simplistic representation of the hinge hinted that simply recreating the stock kit molding was not going to be satisfactory. I began to get the feeling that this might get a little more involved than I first thought. (where have I heard that phrase before.)

Stock Revell Intuder kit molding

Indeed, going through reference pictures confirmed the hinges were far from the simple triangular shapes depicted on the kit, but were a complex unit having flared fairings for the heads of the rather large fasteners at the hinge points. These fairings result in T cross section and would not be possible to mold as an integral part of the wing, Im sure one of the main reason for the simplified representation seen in both the Revell and Kinetic offerings. In addition the inboard and outboard hinges are different sizes, and the top and bottom hinge design are unique as well.

A familiar feeling began at this point that things may be getting out of hand.

I have to admit to hesitating (In this case that word should be pronounced very similar to procrastination) while I attempted to figure out how much effort this was going to entail and would it be worth it. Once the decision to proceed was made, there is really nothing difficult about the actual construction. To start, the molded hinges were cut off the Intruders. The speed brake panel line was then scribed on the Prowler using dimensions taken from the Intruders. Of course after scribing the three Intruders and the Prowler, I discovered that I had not only had I scribed the speed brake panels too small but I also missed the correct orientation of the hinge line. The hinge line should be perpendicular to the centerline of the aircraft and each wing parallel. A bit of stretched gate material was used to fill in the error, and the line re-scribed using a long straight edge that spanned both wings to ensure the proper orientation.

The basic hinge is made up of a triangular core cut from .020 X .080 styrene and tapered fairings at the top made up from blanks of .015 X .030 strips. The bolt head and nut that make up the hinge pin will be cut from hexagon cross section styrene rod once the hinges are installed on the models. The fairings are pretty small so to form the taper I attached a blank to the core and trimmed the excess with a sharp blade and a little file work.

The time (and patience testing) part of the project was the sheer number of parts to produce. Because the Prowler and the three Intruders will be displayed together in the same collection I needed to produce four sets of hinges in order to have the group to show a definite family connection. In the end I could have just gone ahead and produced the parts in less than half the time it took me to think about it! I did go ahead and make up one extra set of hinges for possible future use

The desk top did get a little overwhelmed.

Even using trays to keep assemblies separate it was easy to confuse components and cut offs.

The completed hinge sets at last!

Close up of an upper outboard and lower inboard hinge.

While I was refining the wing tip area I took the opportunity to replace the solid molded fuel dump tube with a section of U channel.

So there is my long and sorted excuse-er-story of why Ive been so slow with getting an update posted. I keep waiting to get over the hump of time intensive scratch built portions of this build, the only one I foresee yet to tackle is the boarding ladders. Thanks again for your interest and the support!

Eric aka The Yankymodeler.

p.s. The Super Hornets are still waiting patiently in the paint booth!

p.p.s. I will also admit to spending a fair amount of time on research for the Trans Florida/Cavalier Mustang project.

Edited March 22, 2016 by Yankymodeler