Legendary Blackbird - Part 4: A-12B "Titanium Goose" (1:48 Italeri/Testors Conversion)

[Serkan Sen]

Hi all,

 

Here is another build of Oxcart/Blackbird series: A-12B "Titanium Goose" based on 1:48 Italeri/Testors kit. I had built this kit 30 years ago but during some house moves (one of them was international) as many of my other models this bird was also heavily damaged. I decided to recover this model 2 years ago and applied the black primer to complete the build. But after the announcement of 1:48 Revell Blackbird kit release this projects was suspended till today. As many of you I had pre-ordered my Revell sample too and this new kit has arrived in beginning of December. Recently @Alan P has started a work in progress topic here:

I follow this topic with great interest and it helps a lot to see the areas/parts that need to be improved. I decided to launch here this topic to share the results using the 3D printed parts developed in my another topic:

 

In this topic I will convert 1:48 Italeri/Testors SR-71A/B "Blackbird" model into A-12B "Titanium Goose". It will be also a good test bench to check how all these printed parts look like in 1:48 scale and if they fit the kit...

 

I wish you all merry Xmas.

 

Serkan

 

 

[Back in the Saddle]

Sounds like an interesting project, I’ll watch this one with interest!

 

Merry Christmas to you too!🎄

[Serkan Sen]

5 minutes ago, Back in the Saddle said:

I’ll watch this one with interest!

Me too... 😁

I hope the result will worth all the efforts.

Serkan

[Serkan Sen]

This is the box art of the 1:48 Italeri/Testors kit (identical to 1:72 boxing except the scale) :

 

Here is a pair of Italeri/Testors Blackbird kits in 1:72 and 1:48 scales:

 

The first modification will be replacing the engine parts with new printed intake and exhaust assemblies. Here are the models which are ready to print:

The intake parts:

 

And the exhaust parts:

 

Next is to perform fit test of the printed parts.

 

Serkan

 

[Retired Bob]

36 minutes ago, Serkan Sen said:

In this topic I will convert 1:48 Italeri/Testors SR-71A/B "Blackbird" model into A-12B "Titanium Goose". It will be also a good test bench to check how all these printed parts look like in 1:48 scale and if they fit the kit...

This will be interesting Serkan.  I had a good look at my Revell SR-71 today,  has anyone else noticed a fine line of moulding flash around the rear cockpit?  It looks like Revell plan to make a SR-71B. 

Sorry if this is not news, but hey ho.  A merry Christmas to you all. 🎄

[Serkan Sen]

25 minutes ago, Retired Bob said:

This will be interesting Serkan.  I had a good look at my Revell SR-71 today,  has anyone else noticed a fine line of moulding flash around the rear cockpit?  It looks like Revell plan to make a SR-71B.

Thanks Bob. I have not unboxed my Revell kit yet. But definitely I will do this very soon, at least to check if the printed parts will fit to Revell kit. If I were a Revell engineer, I would have made the model to let to build other versions too. I did this in my Oxcart model:

 

Serkan

[Alan P]

So pleased to see this from the beginning, well done 👍

[Serkan Sen]

The first set of parts are ready. The entire nozzle assembly parts were printed in two jobs (around five hours for each):

 

I did in the past some print tests to find the best setting for printing nozzle details:

 

Here is the final version which has all rivet details included:

 

Next step is to print intake parts.

 

Serkan

[Retired Bob]

33 minutes ago, Serkan Sen said:

Here is the final version which has all rivet details included:

Impressive Serkan.  All I've been able to do is to fill in the sink holes on any kit parts, just plain old sprue gloop. 

[Serkan Sen]

2 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

Impressive Serkan.  All I've been able to do is to fill in the sink holes on any kit parts, just plain old sprue gloop. 

This is a part of our daily work Bob. I was also doing only casting, sanding, filling in my builds but I entered a new era after buying my first 3D printer 3 years ago as a Christmas gift to me. Last year during Christmas sale I bought a new model (still unboxed) and this Christmas another one with 4K display up to 0.035mm resolution (ready to make first test print). I think I should wish something other than 3D printer as a next Christmas gift... 😁

 

I use computers and CAD tools as a part of my daily work and I do also engineering programming. I built several years ago a 3 axis CNC machine but I must say that I haven't used it for any modelling purposes yet.

Serkan

[Serkan Sen]

The intake parts are also ready after more than 13 hours printing time:

 

It seems that the first rotor stage blades have been modeled too thin to print reasonably. The blades were warped/deformed. The model has been updated and these two parts will be printed later. But I can still use them to check if the parts fit well together or not.

 

Here all 1:48 scale printed parts together (The NLG well, strut and a pair of seats were printed before to check the print quality and level of detail):

 

Next step is to test whether these parts will fit to the model or not...

 

Serkan

[David H]

Serkan, with respect to the engine compressor section, is the front frame meant to be stacked onto the 1st compressor stage to give depth?

 

-d-

[Serkan Sen]

On 12/25/2021 at 7:32 PM, David H said:

Serkan, with respect to the engine compressor section, is the front frame meant to be stacked onto the 1st compressor stage to give depth?

 

-d-

Hi David, do you refer to left part in below picture? If yes this is the inlet guide vane section which sets the optimum angle of attack to leading edge of the first compressor stage blades.

 

There is a nice image from "enginehistory.org" (Richard E. Loftis):

 

Serkan

[Serkan Sen]

Oops, I realised from above picture that my first compressor stage drawing is not fully correct. I should have joined the blades with thin profiles with circular arc profile but not a ring with circular cross section. I will correct this before printing the new parts...

Serkan

[Serkan Sen]

Ok, lets see if the printed parts will fit to kit or not!.. Here are the parts going to be replaced with the kit parts:

 

By applying a bit force and using the x-acto knife I have managed to remove the original parts from the kit. I was not sure if the old plastic will remain undamaged or not but everything went fine. Here are the old three pieces original kit part assembly versus the printed ones:

 

Here are the printed parts with base plates and in fully assembled form:

 

And now the fit test: voila!.. The replacement assembly fits perfectly!..

 

The improvement is already very significant even replacing only the exhaust assembly. The next step is to replace the inlet assembly...

 

Serkan

 

 

[Retired Bob]

That looks really good Serkan, a vast improvement over the kit parts.  

[Serkan Sen]

8 minutes ago, Retired Bob said:

That looks really good Serkan, a vast improvement over the kit parts.  

Thanks lot Bob. I am also very happy to see how all the printed parts fit perfectly to the kit. I was also very surprised when I did this fit test in 1:72 scale Italeri/Testors kit.

Serkan

 

[David H]

Hi Serkan,

 

I'm not nearly as familiar with the shape nuances of the Lockheed Oxcart/Blackbird, but i agree its a huge improvement.

 

You could carefully wet sand the model back down to bare plastic (or maybe just half, right down the centerline) and install all the unpainted 3D printed parts on one side, and then install the 3D printed parts on the right side and paint and decal the right side of the model. It could be a useful marketing tool if you were going to tour the model contest circuit to market your products, if you saw fit.

 

just an idea....

[Serkan Sen]

2 minutes ago, David H said:

It could be a useful marketing tool if you were going to tour the model contest circuit to market your products,

Thanks lot David. Yes you are right, this is a brilliant idea. I can do such builds based on Revell 1:48 and Italeri 1:72 Blackbird kits to present the 3D printed part improvements. But in Germany it is not so easy to establish a small business without doing significant paper work with the tax office and having an agreement with the employers for such "side job" 🙃

 

[Retired Bob]

8 minutes ago, Serkan Sen said:

I was also very surprised when I did this fit test in 1:72 scale Italeri/Testors kit.

You're very good at this Serkan, again a big improvement.  

[David H]

2 hours ago, Serkan Sen said:

Hi David, do you refer to right part in below picture? If yes this is the inlet guide vane section which sets the optimum angle of attack to leading edge of the first compressor stage blades.

 

There is a nice image from "enginehistory.org" (Richard E. Loftis):

 

Serkan

Yes. What you refer to as the stator section, i refer to as the front frame.

I am sure it will look awesome once painted. Its amazing how lazy kit manufacturers are at depicting stators/fans/compressors on the fronts of jet engines. It wouldn't increase the parts count much, but many companies seem perfectly happy to just cast a round piece with a bullet and some radial wedges cast onto it and call it good...

 

-d-

8 minutes ago, Serkan Sen said:

Thanks lot David. Yes you are right, this is a brilliant idea. I can do such builds based on Revell 1:48 and Italeri 1:72 Blackbird kits to present the 3D printed part improvements. But in Germany it is not so easy to establish a small business without doing significant paper work with the tax office and having an agreement with the employers for such "side job" 🙃

 

Yes the Germans love their paperwork!!

[David H]

27 minutes ago, Serkan Sen said:

Thanks lot Bob. I am also very happy to see how all the printed parts fit perfectly to the kit. I was also very surprised when I did this fit test in 1:72 scale Italeri/Testors kit.

Serkan

 

Myself, i like the shape of the A-12 Oxcart a lot better.

[Serkan Sen]

9 minutes ago, David H said:

Myself, i like the shape of the A-12 Oxcart a lot better.

Me too...

 

 

[Retired Bob]

That is an impressive line-up Serkan.  

[Serkan Sen]

5 minutes ago, Retired Bob said:

That is an impressive line-up Serkan.  

Thanks Bob, but 1:72 A-12B "Titanium Goose" is still missing (although I have all the parts)...