1:72 AZ Model Supermarine Attacker

[Navy Bird]

Don't you just love it when you break off the starboard wing in your over-zealous attempt to cut off the wingtips? Maybe now I should use it to build this as a diorama:

 

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-royal-navy-fleet-air-arm-supermarine-attacker-aircraft-crash-landed-124300766.html

 

Now, for another topic. I received the 1:72 Revell of Germany F-14D Tomcat kit and now I feel obliged to build it for a variety of reasons. The kit looks reasonably nice in the box, but I've read it's not stellar in the fit department. I don't mind building it, but I am getting tired of Tomcat models with all that weathering. Heck, I even did one of those myself. I know they got pretty beat up, but I prefer the aircraft in its pristine, right out of the paint shop look. Like all those photos of VF-1 and VF-2 birds in 1976. So I guess I'm asking which scheme is a good one for a pristine D model? Wasn't one painted in a special scheme for the last flight ceremony? And why do I think that anyone following this Attacker build would give a hoot about a Tomcat? I'm getting old...

 

Cheers,

Bill

[perdu]

Oh...

 

[Timmas]

There's no doubt a man of your abilities can fix it Bill and no-one will ever know.

 

I saw a bird with a broken wing

And thought it's time was nigh.

I gently nursed it back to health

And returned it to the sky

[Aardvark]

21 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

So I guess I'm asking which scheme is a good one for a pristine D model? Wasn't one painted in a special scheme for the last flight ceremony?

Muhaha....that day and that posting when you feel like a serpent tempter:

because for last flight ceremony Russian decal studio UpRise:

http://scalemodels.ru/modules/forum/viewtopic_t_69229.html

http://scalemodels.ru/modules/forum/viewtopic_t_67561.html

maked decal:

http://scalemodels.ru/modules/forum/img_1441849_1514188169_1508526837_3.jpg.html

http://scalemodels.ru/modules/forum/img_1441849_1514188170_1508526954_IMG_20171020_213440.jpg.html

http://scalemodels.ru/modules/forum/img_1441849_1514188170_1508526955_IMG_20171020_213450.jpg.html

which has some unique features 😲😶, if you can call it that😁, which is shown by the red pointer on this photo:

http://scalemodels.ru/modules/forum/img_1441849_1514188169_1508516657_IMG_20171020_190843.jpg.html

 

But it seems You will have to hide Tomcat with such an emblem on tail, from small children for a while until they become adults!

In order to avoid answers to the

children question: "What is this part of the cat's body called?"

😁

 

As, I written here:

I do not have decals of this company and I have nothing to do with them, but the feedback on their products on the Russian forum is positive.

 

B.R.

Serge

 

P.S. As for my, best variant F-14 Tomcat it's  VF-111 with shark teeth, but that's my personal opinion.

 

[Navy Bird]

Ha, interesting stuff Serge. I wasn't aware that the boys in the VF-31 paint shop had added gonads to Felix for the last cruise. But I'm not surprised.  

 

But I was thinking about the last flight, not the last cruise. I was remembering that there was an old-fashioned Light Gull Gray over White scheme with high visibility markings on a D model Cat just for the ceremony. A bit of Binging and here it is:

 

 

This should work. It's a D and it ain't dirty. Plus, and I like this part of stash hoarding, I actually have these markings!  

 

OK, back on topic - none of that populist Top Gun stuff around here. We've got an Attacker to build!  Or, build twice as the case may be - ha! I'm such a schmuck. I mean, come on, breaking off the wing? How old am I? How many models have I built? How many wings have I broken off? I'm not going to answer any of these questions. I plead the fifth.

 

The wing has been reattached. The putty has dried and the sandpaper is ready. I'll be back in a bit.

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. Ah, the wing tips came off nice and clean. The photoetch set from Airwaves have parts that represent the internal framework and details that are exposed both on the wing proper and the tip when the wing is folded. Interestingly, they are attached to each other, so you just need to do a quick ninety degree bend. This will be one of the last stages of the build, so for most of what's to come the Attacker is going to look pretty stubby. You'll get used to it.

[Navy Bird]

Hi mates, the canopy has been cut open without any difficulty. The two pieces have had their Future bath and are drying overnight. I might have mentioned this before, but the version of the kit that I have only has the original canopy design - the more traditional "bubble" type. The FB.2 canopy had additional bracing and framework on the sliding portion, which I will fake replicate by simply masking and painting the framework onto the bubble. I don't think you'll notice this in 1:72. Once I've masked the sliding portion, there is a bit of the original framework that will need to be sanded off.

 

You may recall that the exhaust pipe was too large for the opening in the rear of the fuselage, which could have been due to the extra spreaders I put in the starboard half of the fuselage  so it will match port. In any event, I had this hare-brained idea to use the center section of an F-104 tip tank and make my own exhaust pipe, as the tip tank was just the perfect outside diameter. However, once I glued it together and cut out the center section I realised the wall thickness was huge!! I am so stupid sometime, like I shouldn't have seen that one coming. Anybody need the one remaining F-104 tip tank I now have?  

 

I took the kit exhaust pipe, and by delicately sanding its outside surface for about an hour I was able to make it fit. I even think there is room for some paint on the outside of the pipe...

 

Once the windscreen is dry, it will be attached to the fuselage and faired in with some putty. Got to do that or it will look nasty. Once that is done, I can finally paint the EDSG and Sky for real. Does anyone have a good photo of the gunsight used on the Attacker? In a cutaway drawing that I have, it's listed simply as "reflector gunsight" but I suspect it's the same type as used on the later mark Spitfires, etc. The Mk. II gyro type I believe.

 

Lastly, what about armament for this lady? Rockets? Bombs? AIM-120?

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Aardvark]

11 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

The Mk. II gyro type I believe.

I believe, too....but for greater certainty I need to look at my deposits pilots note's.

11 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

Lastly, what about armament for this lady? Rockets? Bombs? AIM-120?

What a AIM-120???

😲

Only hardcore, only Blue Steel!!!

😁😁😁

 

B.R.

Serge

[Meatbox8]

On 11/12/2018 at 7:14 PM, Martian Hale said:

That's better than me then. I walked into the local model shop the other week only to be asked by the owner what I was doing there. I asked what did he think I was doing in a model shop and had he taken leave of his senses? He replied that the word on the street was that I was dead and had been for some weeks! Following further questioning, he assured me that he was not winding me up and that people really were going around saying that I had died. Now, I concede that sometimes I am not the most observant of aliens but I do think that even I would have noticed if I had shuffled off this mortal coil or at the very least that someone would have told me! I can only conclude therefore that BM not only has the distinction of being the only modelling forum to have an alien as a member but the only one to have a real live/dead ghost as well. 👻 I really should be charging you lot for this double honour!

 

Deceased of Mars 👽

Now you know how Paul McCartney feels.  Apparently people have been telling him he's dead since 1966.

[Martian]

4 hours ago, Meatbox8 said:

Now you know how Paul McCartney feels.  Apparently people have been telling him he's dead since 1966.

Yes but he gets paid squillions of pounds a day for the privilege. I even had to pay for my kit!

 

Miffed of Mars 👽

 

🎵Now I know how Paul McCartney felt when he got up to say, I've been dead since yesterday🎵

[Navy Bird]

Ah, I found it in the Pilot's Notes (thanks @Aardvark for reminding me to look there!). The gunsight is the Mk.4E gyro. Here are some pictures I found on-line:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let's see what I have in the Magic Box of Misfit Fiddly Bits that looks something like it. AZ provide a part to use as the gunsight, but it looks rather like a shoeshine kit, sans the brush. Let's see who's old enough to understand what I just said!   

 

The Pilot's Notes mention just Bombs and RPs as weapons. I assume RP stands for Rocket Projectile or something like that, especially since they are referred to as being "fired" instead of dropped or shot. The loading instructions mention Mk.3 fins and either 25 lb, 60 lb, or flare heads. I'll have to see if I can find some photos - I think there are some in the Bartles book. I have a lot of resin rockets left over from the CMR Scimitar and Buccaneer kits, and I'm hoping maybe I can use them. But if not, oh well.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Courageous]

That gunsight is very similar to the K-14 I believe:

A Quickboost part 

 

Stuart

[Meatbox8]

15 hours ago, Martian Hale said:

Yes but he gets paid squillions of pounds a day for the privilege. I even had to pay for my kit!

 

Miffed of Mars 👽

 

🎵Now I know how Paul McCartney felt when he got up to say, I've been dead since yesterday🎵

You'd think your Lazurus like appearance in your LHS would have warranted a free kit.  People are clearly very difficult to impress these days.  Probably something to do with the internet. 

[Navy Bird]

16 hours ago, Courageous said:

That gunsight is very similar to the K-14 I believe:

 

Thanks Stuart - great minds think alike as the saying goes. I have this Quickboost set, and the K-14 is already installed on the Attacker, masquerading in its 1:72 scale glory as the Mk.4E.   

 

I also added those two little air scoops on the top of the fuselage near the beginning of the vertical fin. The windscreen and sliding portion of the canopy have been masked and painted with an undercoat of flat black, and today the windscreen will be attached and faired into the forward fuselage. We're getting there!

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Navy Bird]

How about a couple more pictures? First, to prove I wasn't fibbing about the gunsight, here it is with its reflector glass mounted on the shelf below the windscreen:

 

 

When I cut out the tiny reflector glass from the film, I left the black border, as it makes it much easier to see that something is there. I added some spare blobs of plastic to represent the air intakes on the top of the fuselage. I wonder if these were cooling intakes for something? My cutaway drawing doesn't show them.

 

 

As you can see, the starboard wing has successfully negotiated a trip to the maintenance shop below deck. A much better outcome than pushing her over the side! And you can see that the wingtips have disappeared.

 

While I was waiting for some putty to dry, I painted the sliding portion of the canopy with a coat or two of my favourite colour - Extra Dark Sea Grey. You may recall that the canopy included with this kit was the one for the prototype and early production models, but I decided to fake the production framework just by masking. I like it.

 

 

My cutaway drawing doesn't show a rear view mirror in the cockpit, but I suspect there was one. I'll look through the Bartles book again and see if he mentions one. That's it for now - I have to go and work on the engine for the big Spitfire. I can hear that Merlin growl already.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Courageous]

Looking rather smart. 

 

Stuart

[giemme]

1 hour ago, Courageous said:

Looking rather smart. 

 

Stuart

Agreed!

 

Ciao

[Hamden]

 

Nice save with the wing, coming together nicely now!

 

  Roger

[John R]

Hi Bill,

Only just seen this thread and it appears that you are building a production Attacker from a kit of the prototype. Regarding all the aggravation over the boundary layer bleeds - I think that the prototype may not have had them. If they were added on production versions that may have been the reason for having larger intakes. Is the AZ kit of the production version different?

Regarding the wing position I used the drawing of the E10/44 in Phillip Birtles book as a basis and my notes on my build say that I found it a pretty good match to the kit shapewise so I found this a good excuse not to fiddle about moving the wing.

It's in RFI here https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235012079-supermarine-e1044-attacker-prototype-ts409-az-models-172/

Which I know you have seen but others might not. I also contains a picture of it beside a Maintrack 510 - which has the later boundary layer offtakes.

John

 

Edited November 21, 2018 by John R
typo

[heloman1]

Looking good Bill, I do like the gunsights.

 

Colin

[Navy Bird]

3 hours ago, John R said:

Is the AZ kit of the production version different?

 

To my knowledge, the AZ kits of the production version, including the recent re-release of the kit, are identical to the kit of the prototype version. That's why the sprues include both vertical tails for instance. The instruction sheet covers all versions as well. The only part I know is different is the canopy - in the prototype kit you get the original bubble style, and on the production kit you get the style with additional framework, denoted by moulded-in ribbing.

 

I compared my kit to drawing of the FB.2 that is on page 37 of the Bartles book, as well as some drawings I found on-line (provenance and providence unknown), and it matched them all quite well. So I'm pretty happy that AZ has captured the size, shape, and proportions reasonably well. As usual, the big letdown in AZ kits are the clear parts. I probably should have gone for the Falcon replacement vacuform canopy, but I decided to use the kit part instead.

 

 

So, let's see - NOW I think she's ready to paint. I've faired in the windscreen to the fuselage, and added some of the Airwaves PE parts. These include the internal detail for the wing folds, and the boundary layer exit louvres. The louvres sit a bit proud of the surface, but less than what AZ had moulded in. If I hadn't been so lazy, I would have made the louvres flush the the outer skin of the fuselage - but that seemed like a lot of work. The PE part for the wing fold detail had to be trimmed to fit the AZ kit - you may recall that it was designed for the Frog kit.

 

She'll look a lot better when she has the proper paint on:

 

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Martian]

Looking good Bill! Amongst all the waffle about the paranormal, I had forgotten that plastic was being fondled here.

 

Martian 👽

[Navy Bird]

Ah, plastic fondling. Probably why I build so few models - I spend too much time stroking sprues.

 

I've been looking for a photo of the underside of WZ283, the scheme I want to use. I couldn't find any, but I did find a good view of the underside of a sister ship, WP290 which was also in 1831 NAS.

 

 

To me, it looks like the EDSG wraps around the leading edge of the flying surfaces into a bit of the Sky on the bottom. Does it look that way to you? Or is this an optical delusion of some sort? I've never seen another photo with this wraparound. I'm wondering if WZ283, from the same squadron at the same time, should be painted the same way. What do you guys think?

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Procopius]

7 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

To me, it looks like the EDSG wraps around the leading edge of the flying surfaces into a bit of the Sky on the bottom. Does it look that way to you? Or is this an optical delusion of some sort? I've never seen another photo with this wraparound. I'm wondering if WZ283, from the same squadron at the same time, should be painted the same way. What do you guys think?

I think so too. I've seen a similar style of painting with Royal Navy Phantoms, as you can see here:

 

 

Scimitars:

 

 

And Sea Vixens:

 

 

So I think it's a safe bet.

 

 

[giemme]

Agreed, it looks like a wrap around.

 

Ciao

[Martian]

The wrap round of the grey was standard as it prevented paint from peeling away from the leading edge of the wing which tended to happen as aircraft got faster and the demarcation line between the sky and the grey was on the leading edge, so you are on rock solid ground here Bill.

 

Martian 👽