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


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This continues to be really quite impressive!

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Hi Eric. That's always a problem with a very large project like the one you're in the midst of. Keeping the enthusiasm going but please do you've created a strong following, so we need to you out there with file and sanding medium.

Just as an aside and if I may, what is your total investment so far?

Colin

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Thank you Colin, it's nice to hear there are other enthusiasts following this tale. I have developed a much greater appreciation for the capabilities of the big Grummans as I researched this project. That plus the connection through friends who work on and flew them help keep my interest up.

As for total investment, it's hard to say. A number of the kits were in my stash when my instigator friend (Tony M) and I began hatching this plan. It was Tony's previous service with VAQ-209 and his desire to give something to his friends and squadron that drove the project to the scope it has become.

I found one or two of the Revell E/A-6s at model show prices, but it was Tony who purchased most of the kits and resin. :clap2:

The build consists of 3 Revell EA-6, 2 Revell A-6, 3 Italeri EA-18, 3 Kinetic EA-6Bs. We have Aires cockpits for the EA-18s and 3 of the Prowlers (one will be built with closed canopy) and seats for the Intruders. A number of resin intake sets were used to develop the molds I used to cast copies for the project. I have not asked how much he has invested, but I'm sure it is substantial.

I don't want to even guess how much time is invested! After all, it's only a hobby isn't it? :banghead:

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Hi Eric. many thanks for the feedback, so some serious investment, not only in kits and AM parts but also the time and effort of mould making and casting. As you say, you can't calculate your investment of time, not unless you were doing it for a client.

I do admire your tenacity, plus I do like Gumman's best.

Colin

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  • 1 month later...

Seems to be a lot of work and time, has passed yet not much to show. Although I still have to install the intakes in the Prowlers, there is quite a bit of preparation and I admit to being burned out on the process. So I've turned my attention to the wings. The Kinetic and Italeri Prowlers were designed to allow the wings to be displayed folded. I noted a small amount of warping, particularly on the Italeri moldings so the upper inner and outer sections were glued laying on a flat surface and styrene plates used to reinforce the joint. When adding the bottom outboard sections, files were strategically clamped onto the the assemblies as they dried to keep the leading and trailing edges straight.

Note the armor located inboard, just ahead of the flaps.

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A check of the references showed a few corrections were needed. Intruders carry armor beneath the inboard sections of the wings just ahead of the flaps, this armor protects the hydraulic motors and actuators for the flaps and spoilers. EA-6As and Prowlers do not feature these plates.

As noted earlier in the build, the Revell EA-6A molds are derived from the A-6A molds. So it was not surprising when inspection revealed armor plate molded to the underside of both the A6 and EA-6A wings. What I did find surprising was the presence of armor on the Kinetic Prowlers! A bit of work with a motor tool, file and sandpaper soon removed the armor being sure not to get the two wings intended for the Intruders mixed in!

Kinetic/Italeri on the left, Revell on the right.

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The Revell kits feature raised panel lines, the Kinetic/Italeri somewhat soft recessed ones. As I prefer recessed panel lines and want the models to exhibit a definite family resemblance, I needed to scribe the Revell kits. I began the process by removing the raised lines, while I had a knife and file out, I also removed the wing fences as the Revell's seemed to be a bit short and the Kinetic much too thick as well as short. It was in removing the fences from the Prowlers that I noticed the outboard fence was missing from the left wing of the two Italeri boxings!

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Because I had 5 sets of Intruder wings to scribe, I made up templates from clear plastic recycled from packaging. The clear plastic allowed the templates to be easily positioned to reference marks and tape used to secure in place. A needle held in a knife handle is one of my primary tools for scribing.

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The upper surfaces are now complete, and there is a bit left to do on the lower so I best get back to work!

Thank you for the interest!

Edited by Yankymodeler
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Outstanding! I love the way you are using templates to ensure commonality - this seems to be to be as much an exercise in problem solving than anything else so far, and the results are really impressive.

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Great idea with the clear acetate for the scribing templates. I'll certainly be using this on my Merlin build. Thanks for passing that one on Eric. I might try the needle as a scribing tool too, although I have a sharpened dental tool I use for this purpose.

Colin

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Most excellent postings, Sir.

You are a real credit to the modelling community (albeit a little unhinged, as well)!

Please keep posting... this is some extremely interesting stuff.

Cheers.

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Most excellent postings, Sir.

You are a real credit to the modelling community (albeit a little unhinged, as well)!

Please keep posting... this is some extremely interesting stuff.

Cheers.

Thank you very much, so glad you find my cryptic musings of some interest! I'm beginning to wonder however, there have been a number of comments about the sanity level of this project! :mental:

Outstanding! I love the way you are using templates to ensure commonality - this seems to be to be as much an exercise in problem solving than anything else so far, and the results are really impressive.

Yes indeed this build has proven a challenge in construction sequence planning. I think the most difficult will be the Prowlers, I will need to assemble the fuselage while trapping the cockpit tubs (which need to be semi finished) before installing the intakes/ducts/fan sections. I'm concerned alignment will prove to be a challenge! :hmmm:

Great idea with the clear acetate for the scribing templates. I'll certainly be using this on my Merlin build. Thanks for passing that one on Eric. I might try the needle as a scribing tool too, although I have a sharpened dental tool I use for this purpose.

Colin

I first used clear templates for the CASA builds for the Battle of Britain movie stars series. (Another epic build. Will I ever learn?!? :dunce: ) I hope the technique works as well for you as it has for me! I think a needle will work best for the clear templates, as you don't want a sharp scriber edge to bite into the soft template.

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Good morning Eric. Thanks for the tip re the needle and the template, I've just cut that now for use a litle later onthis am. Just three access steps to scribe up the side of my Merlin build.

Colin

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Gosh, I'm finding it enough just building one EA-18G! I've got the Hase kit which I managed to pick up in a sale. That one seems to of come with all the additional bumps and lumps so I don't have to scratch them. If you want any photos for reference, drop me a message :)

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Good morning Eric. Thanks for the tip re the needle and the template, I've just cut that now for use a litle later onthis am. Just three access steps to scribe up the side of my Merlin build.

Colin

Anytime Colin! I hope it works well, I'll check your WIP to see how it worked!

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Gosh, I'm finding it enough just building one EA-18G! I've got the Hase kit which I managed to pick up in a sale. That one seems to of come with all the additional bumps and lumps so I don't have to scratch them. If you want any photos for reference, drop me a message :)

Thanks, I may take you up on your offer, starting to burn-out on the Grummans so I'll be getting onto the Growlers again soon. Perhaps I should have split this into 2 WIPs?

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Thanks, I may take you up on your offer, starting to burn-out on the Grummans so I'll be getting onto the Growlers again soon. Perhaps I should have split this into 2 WIPs?

Nah, people won't appreciate how nuts you are if you do!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Once again it seems like a lot of work , yet not a lot of progress to show. Just to assure I haven’t been dragged to the netherworld by an incensed carpet monster, here is a small update…
I had thought I would get back to the Growlers, but one last hurdle remained for the Intruders. Having reasonable success with the intakes and ducts for the Grummans, I turned to the tailpipes. Using the kit parts for the Prowlers, a two piece mold was produced and duplicates cast. The result was more like a vacuform kit than resin parts!
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After clean-up the halves were joined with epoxy care being taken to keep the inside as smooth as possible. Six sets of tailpipes were fabricated.
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The exit of the tailpipes was simplified on both the Revell and Kinetic kits, being molded as part of the upper and lower wing parts. A motor tool was used to open up the tailpipe exit.
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The J-52 engine was also used in the A-4, digging through the stash I found a Hasegawa A-4 kit and cast a number of copies of the nicely detailed tailpipes. A bit of file work and the casting slips into place, adding a nice bit of detail.
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The tailpipes are tested for fit.
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The sides of the fuselages needed to be opened up to allow the tailpipes to curve prototypically inboard.
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Finally some visible progress! The first set of wings is joined to an EA-6A fuselage.
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Thanks for the interest and support! Eric aka The Yankymodeler

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Hi Eric, great work with hte exhausts, the A-4 parts looks especially good and real progress with the fittingof the wings. That must have been amoment of quiet satisfaction, You may have to change your handle to Krazymodeller!

Keep up the good work.

Colin

PS Made a template for the part I needed to scribe as per your tip above only to have the desk top monster immediately eat it! Off to make a second.

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Thanks Colin! The smaller transparent templates are certainly candidates for disappearing. I had the same thing happen with a set I made for scribing the tails!

I did finish getting the last of the wing sets installed on the Intruders last nite, the nozzle area looking quite encouraging. It's about time to get the Prowlers caught up.

Eric aka The Yankymodeler

Edited by Yankymodeler
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  • 3 weeks later...

My apologies for such a long time between updates, the summer season is usually a slow building time for me. However, some progress has been made. The wings have been attached to all the Intruders with much shimming and trimming to get the proper dihedral. Despite considerable effort expanded to obtain the best fit, a substantial amount of filler was required to fair in the roots and create the proper profile.

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Simply repeat 5 times!

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The cockpit tubes were now installed. With the intakes, nose wheel well and cockpit, the forward portion of the fuselage is a crowded place, To fit the cockpit tubs both the corners of the tub and the tops of the intakes needed to be carefully trimmed.

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As noted in the previous update, both the A-4 and the Intruder used the Pratt & Whitney J-52 engine, so to add a bit of detail to the exhaust exit, nozzles were cast from a master borrowed from a Hasegawa A-4 kit part. As the Hasegawa nozzle was designed with external contours for a Skyhawk a bit of sanding was needed to prepare the castings for installation in the Intruders.

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Turbine faces were cast using Prowler kit pieces, painted, highlighted and epoxied to the previously manufactured tailpipes.

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The tailpipe exit shrouds were refined with round files and sandpaper until the resin nozzles fit without distortion. A delicate touch was necessary at this point as the walls needed to be quite thin.

Much to my surprise, the pieces seem to fit ok.

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  • 1 month later...

Once again I find myself offering apologies for an extended time between updates. A combination of a busy summer schedule and builder burn-out conspired to dampen my enthusiasm for a time. My mojo now on the re-bound, it is time to continue to bring the Growlers up to an acceptable standard.

The vertical stabilizers were prepared for installation by refining the antenna and opening the vent. On the real Super Hornets as the hydraulic pressure bleeds off the rudders will move under the force of gravity and influence of any wind. The rudders were repositioned to represent this droop.

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With careful attention to reference pictures to obtain the proper angle, the tails were attached.

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Attention was then turned to the wing-fold hinge covers. The kit moldings are too rounded with heavy scribed hinge lines. To somewhat rectify this, the cover was removed and a more accurately shaped replacement fabricated with styrene.

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Both top and bottom wing-fold covers were replaced.

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As usual, simply repeat three times!

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The finished wing-fold is definitely an improvement over the original

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When it came time to install the flap and aileron hinges it was readily apparent that the kit pieces bear no resemblance to the real thing. A thin styrene strip was attached to the lower aft edge of the wing to represent the cove that fairs the flaps when retracted.

Next update will address fabricating new hinges.

The cockpits have been given a coat of grey. The styrene strip sill looks good and detail painting can start.

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Hi Eric. No apologies necessary I think you are keeping us all enthrawled. The cockpit deatil looks very interesting.

I think the template I made (clear acetate) has been sucked into the portal behind my chair! So it looks like I'll have to make another, make another, make another....

Colin

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