Rc-135u conversion or reference

[Masc42]

Hi all..

Hope you all had a jolly Christmas and looking forward to a different (hopefully better) new year. 

I have been searching for a long long long.... Time for anyone who has the old maintrack conversion for the RC-135U failure resulting in a decision to maybe scratch building.  Is there anyone who has or knows where I can find some detail plans as most photos are either very grainy when zooming or lack a  good angle..

 

Many regards 

Simon 

[canberra kid]

On 12/28/2021 at 8:07 PM, Masc42 said:

Hi all..

Hope you all had a jolly Christmas and looking forward to a different (hopefully better) new year. 

I have been searching for a long long long.... Time for anyone who has the old maintrack conversion for the RC-135U failure resulting in a decision to maybe scratch building.  Is there anyone who has or knows where I can find some detail plans as most photos are either very grainy when zooming or lack a  good angle..

 

Many regards 

Simon 

I've got these if they help?

John

[e8n2]

The  diagram showing where all of the equipment is at has a noticeable error.  It shows the "Astro Tracker" being on the floor just aft of the latrine (the avionics junction boxes on a -135 are on the opposite side of the latrine).  The Star Tracker as we called them on the SR-71 program has a window mounted on the upper fuselage skin.  Even if it was a newer system than what the SRs had, it is still a sizeable piece of equipment and would not be on the floor.  I believe the Star Tracker on the FB-111s filled up most of the nose cone where it was positioned.  The Star Tracker is part of an Astro-Inertial nav system that uses a data base of star positions used to track the aircraft's present position.  If the data base knows that star A is supposed to be at a certain azimuth and elevation at the time it finds it, and it is actually at a slightly different position, then it will adjust the aircraft's present position to the nav computer accordingly.  The more stars it can track, the greater the accuracy of its present position indication.

Later,

Dave

[CT7567]

Another omission from the diagram (probably depending on era) is the "Have Siren" fairings at the trailing edge of each nacelle pylon (visible in the first and last of @canberra kid's photos above). These are tough to get good photos of due to their location and - at least during the Cold War era - relatively sensitive nature of the equipment.  Basically from what I've been able to determine from public sources, these are anti-Infrared missile devices, broadly similar to the more famous ALQ-144 "disco light" IRCM devices seen on numerous helicopters.  I've seen them with either a conical fairing pointing aft (as in John's last photo) or what seems to be an open cylinder with some type of lens or strobe device.  It's purely speculation on my part but I assume the conical fairings are an aerodynamic cover when the equipment is not installed.  These devices are present on at least some USAF E-3s, E-8 JSTARS, and members of the 135 family.  I think they may have originated on the 707/VC-137  incarnation of Air Force One (hence not being well-publicized).  The Maintrack RC-135U conversion included a set, which is the only time I've seen them depicted in any scale.

[Masc42]

Wow. Wow. Wow . Thank you so much for the info. I'm currently deep into a pair of f-15 aggressor kits. Blue and brown. As soon as I have them finished the scratching will begin.... 

 

Ta muchly

Simon