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Legendary Blackbird - Part 1: A-12 Oxcart (Italeri Conversion)


Serkan Sen

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Here is the famous Italeri kit to be used as base for this kitbash:

1021.jpg

 

The kit was partially built as I bought it from Xbay:

1025.jpg

1026.jpg1027.jpg

 

Also the injection molded parts have very rough surface quality as we identified 🙂

1022.jpg

 

But all of these issues are not problem because the kit will be extremely modified/sanded/butchered 🙂

 

Serkan

 

 

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1 hour ago, Robert said:

Looking forward to this Serkan as l was looking for a companion to my U2 l did recently. No mention of the Hasegawa/Academy SR-71 is there a problem with it ?

 

Regards

Robert

Hi Robert,

 

Building a correct SR-71 is real big problem directly OOB. In Fine Scale Modeler forum there is a nice thread about the Blackbird kits available in market (click here).

 

Regards

Serkan

Edited by Serkan Sen
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@billn53,

 

Amazing! Somebody who knows what photographs to take for modeling! Amazing detail photos- thanks so much for sharing them. I have saved these puppies for future reference. Wonder what the deal is on those rust-colored walls on the nose wheel bay? Composite material or titanium? Just curious, I guess!

Mike

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On 9/21/2019 at 6:09 PM, Serkan Sen said:

Please let me know if I missed anything else to be modified/corrected which is not listed above.

 

Serkan

 

One other feature I believe is unique to the "first flight" A-12 is separate rudders on the vertical stabilizers (later revised to "all moving" verticals).

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5 hours ago, Serkan Sen said:

 

Also the injection molded parts have very rough surface quality as we identified 🙂

1022.jpg

 

But all of these issues are not problem because the kit will be extremely modified/sanded/butchered 🙂

 

Serkan

The attractive feline assistant obviously thinks it makes a good scratching post.

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42 minutes ago, CT7567 said:

One other feature I believe is unique to the "first flight" A-12 is separate rudders on the vertical stabilizers (later revised to "all moving" verticals).

Do you have any reference picture? The pictures I have found do not show any rudder.

 

60-6924_a-12_98.jpg

60-6924_a-12_12.jpg

60-6924_a-12_15.jpg

 

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26 minutes ago, Serkan Sen said:

Do you have any reference picture? The pictures I have found do not show any rudder.

 

60-6924_a-12_98.jpg

60-6924_a-12_12.jpg

60-6924_a-12_15.jpg

 

Unfortunately nothing definitive, but the photo in post #26 *may* show this - you can see the rudder area distinct from the adjacent vertical tail surface. 

 

This drawing from the Aerofax 'Blackbird Family' book is my basis for the initial comment:

 

spacer.png

 

The above image is included in the section with A-12 and YF-12 three-views so is presented as more than simply a design study, however the text doesn't seem to have any reference to this design change so as I said this isn't definite.  Obviously there wasn't an abundance of cameras at Groom Lake to make this easy to resolve. 😕

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22 minutes ago, CT7567 said:

Unfortunately nothing definitive, but the photo in post #26 *may* show this - you can see the rudder area distinct from the adjacent vertical tail surface. 

In post #26 do you refer the photo with my cat? 😁

 

60-6924_a-12_15.jpg

The engine run test photo shows that both inboard and outboard elevons are there and upward deflected. Also from the same photo it seems to me that the vertical fins have no rudder.🤔

 

But in any case I won't deflect the control surfaces in my build. 😀

 

Serkan

 

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19 hours ago, Serkan Sen said:

I definitely accept your kind offer regarding to have some detailed pictures of A-12. I haven't found any picture that shows Q-Bay positions on real aircraft... It would be great if I could get some pictures of exact position of camera windows. I think it should not be matter how many times she has been repainted as long as the windows are still there 🙂

 

Serkan

 

 

I'll contact the Space & Rocket Center and ask permission to crawl under their Blackbird for photos & measurements. That might take some time.

 

- Bill

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4 hours ago, billn53 said:

I'll contact the Space & Rocket Center and ask permission to crawl under their Blackbird for photos & measurements. That might take some time.

Thanks lot Bill. May I ask for further help please?

I have some doubts about the windshield and canopy dimensions. Yesterday I have compared Italeri/Testors parts with Revell/Monogram ones and they are significantly different. To me none of them has the correct shape. Revell parts are too wide and Italeri parts are narrow. Would it be possible to get dimensions of windshield's triangle shape width (base) and height?

 

sr71.jpg

 

Thanks in advance

 

Serkan

 

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Ok, before starting lift off surgery I need to know which parts to be removed and what to be modified. Therefore I needed a reference top and side view photos of A-12 plane. There are many side view photos but it was not easy to find top view one...

1045.jpg

 

And here is the planform view of Italeri kit:

1046.jpg

 

I made top view drawing based on reference photo:

1047.jpg

 

Here is my drawing (not completed yet)

1048.jpg

 

And then I mapped this drawing onto kit surface:

1049.jpg

 

To be continued 🙂

 

Serkan

 

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Here is the side view check.

1059.jpg

 

And the close views of side and top views:

1060.jpg

1061.jpg

1052.jpg

 

From above drawings moving cockpit area forward by 6.15mm, correcting chine shape and nose cone will fix the issues.

 

Another solution is to add an 6.15mm insert to the end of nose part and reshape only chine and nose cone. This requires reinforcements at nose and chine area from inside before starting reshaping.

 

To me the second option is easier than moving all the cockpit area forward.

 

Serkan

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I'm following this with great interest. Much nice research here! I have the intention to build a 1/72 YF-12A some day, and have understood that it was based on the A-12 and preceeded the SR-71. A pity that the Italeri 1/72 YF-12A is out of production, but it may be possible to backdate a SR-71. 

 

Ragnar

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On 23/09/2019 at 18:36, Serkan Sen said:

The pictures I have found do not show any rudder.

This can help:

spacer.png
 

There’s not an all-moving surface:

spacer.png
 

So... I’m in!:popcorn: The Blackbird is a greatest plane ever made, it’s ahead of its time and that time, too! Good luck, Serkan! And please, some more pictures of your beautiful companion/inspector... 😸

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2 hours ago, Nikolay Polyakov said:

This can help:

Thanks for these beautiful SR-71A photos Nikolay. The question was related to first A-12 during the first flight.

 

Also I am greatly appreciated for your very kind message 🙂.

 

By the way I am still working on my Flanker projects in parallel. As you can see in my profile picture "Flankerstein" is very close to RFI. 🥳

 

Serkan

 

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On 24/09/2019 at 21:28, Serkan Sen said:

Ok, before starting lift off surgery I need to know which parts to be removed and what to be modified. Therefore I needed a reference top and side view photos of A-12 plane. There are many side view photos but it was not easy to find top view one. After long search phase in web I have found one which shows 60-6938 in front of "Battleship USS Alabama Memorial Park Museum" Aircraft  pavilion.

1045.jpg

 

 

 

I made top view drawing based on reference photo:

1047.jpg

 

Here is my drawing (not completed yet)

1048.jpg

 

And then I mapped this drawing onto kit surface:

1049.jpg

 

To be continued 🙂

 

Serkan

 

Interesting that the chine seems to be a straight line on the real one from probably about just aft of the cockpit.

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