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1:72 Emhar McDonnell F3H-2N Demon


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9 hours ago, general melchett said:

 

Don't tempt fate Bill, it'll scar you for life. I've been through this with him, it's all quite hair-raising....the straightjacket and Haloperidol have been arranged and on their way to him as we speak but I fear it may be too late.

 

 

Too right, your Generalship. He has been warned! By the by, the straightjacket fits quite well, and the Haloperidol is delicious!

 

With Kindest Regards,

 

Jason (from the Guadalupe County Mental Health Center [sic])

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Still alive and well - all done with that silly pneumonia thing. Better yet, the Demon is entering the home stretch. This part of the build is always the fiddly stuff, so here is a quick list of the additions:

  • All gear doors painted, edged with a red Sharpie, and added to the model. Lightening holes were drilled into the interior surfaces of the nose gear doors.
  • The vents on the nose gear doors are homemade decals, as are all of the antennae (the gold coloured circular and octagon-shapes on the underside and the port nose gear door) and the vents for the cannons.
  • Added wing spoilers.
  • Added catapult bridle hook.
  • Added the arresting hook (stripes are decals) and the tail bumper.
  • Added four rocket pods (with aero covers), two Sidewinder pylons and AERO1A launchers.
  • Wheels and tyres added to landing gear (yes, the nose wheel actually looked like a simple disc).
  • Tailplanes mounted in typical drooped position.
  • Black Future wash applied to turtle deck to bring out some detail in the resin.
  • Shell ejection chutes added by decals, deflector shields are from card stock.
  • Decals applied to speed brakes and mounted to fuselage.
  • Engine compartment cooling inlet on top of spine (aft of the turtle deck) simulated with homemade decal - I know it's cheating but that was a lot easier than trying to open those holes up in the plastic.
  • Fuel dumps on lower aft fuselage modified from kit parts which were straight - actual fuel dumps had a bend in them.
  • Mount (made from brass tubing) added to top of starboard outboard wing to hold the static pressure boom.
  • Model received an overall coat of MRP Super Clear Matt finish.

Some pix:

 

IMG_6484

 

IMG_6485

 

IMG_6483

 

IMG_6488

 

IMG_6486

 

Several tasks left to finish:

  • Add exhaust nozzle
  • Add ejection seat and control column
  • Add instrument panel and coaming
  • Add windscreen and canopy
  • Add static pressure boom (which has an odd bend at the front end)
  • Add AIM-9B Sidewinder missiles
  • Add beacon to top of spine
  • Add navigation lights to wings
  • I may add the photoetch covers for the top two cannon ports - maybe not
  • and whatever else I forgot...

So that's where we are. There is light at the end of the tunnel, and it's not a train. It's one of those boring machines with lots of sharp grinding teeth.     :)

 

Cheers,

Bill

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Very colourful!

Good to hear of your recovery,  I'm looking forward to seeing this finished now, she's really looking good!

 

Ian

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n.b. "Black Angels" was the nickname that the squadron chose for itself at some point. The "orange" trim was standard for the 4th squadron in the air wing after the gray/white scheme was introduced:

 

Transition from Blue to Gray/White

The date of the transition was July 1955 out of overhaul (for natural metal experiment only?). It took some months to fully implement. One aspect of the change was that the second squadron trim, which had been white, was changed to yellow. That meant the fourth squadron color, which had been yellow, became orange.

Squadron    Was        Then

1xx        Red        Red    

2xx        White        Orange Yellow

3xx        Light Blue    Light Blue

4xx        Yellow        International Orange

5xx        Light Green    Light Green

6xx        Black        Black

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Right! Now that you're shipshape and Bristol fashion, Bill, I expect, nay demand to see a triumphant conclusion to this model-making endeavour! I do look forward to the finished product - she already looks splendid!

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

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1 hour ago, Brandy said:

Good to hear of your recovery,  I'm looking forward to seeing this finished now, she's really looking good!

 

Thanks Ian. Silly pneumonia lasted about two weeks. Pretty miserable, I don't recommend it.    :(

 

1 hour ago, giemme said:

First, I'm glad you're through with pneumonia :thumbsup2:

And then, the model looks glorious in her colourful scheme! :clap:

 

Thanks Giorgio. At this point, she's looking better than I first thought it would when I opened the Emhar box and looked at the sprues!    :)

 

48 minutes ago, Tailspin Turtle said:

Squadron    Was        Then

1xx        Red        Red    

2xx        White        Orange Yellow

3xx        Light Blue    Light Blue

4xx        Yellow        International Orange

5xx        Light Green    Light Green

6xx        Black        Black

 

Great info, Tommy! Now I know where the orange came from. I guess today, all the squadron colours are grey.     :(

 

40 minutes ago, Learstang said:

Right! Now that you're shipshape and Bristol fashion, Bill, I expect, nay demand to see a triumphant conclusion to this model-making endeavour! I do look forward to the finished product - she already looks splendid!

 

Thanks Jason. Although, I don't think I've been shipshape for quite some time. Unless it's some worm-eaten old Roman trireme.    :drunk:

 

Cheers,

Bill

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Good to hear that you are over the pneumonia Bill, very good news indeed 👍

 

The Demon is looking sooooooo good. She is certainly going to be head turner!

 

Terry

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Exquisite post pneumonia work Bill - in keeping with the exquisite pre-pneumonia work.  Glad to see your recovered without detriment to your skills :D

 

(But seriously for a mo’.  Glad you’re fit and well again)

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Yes, Bill, it’s great that you are through the pneumonia! On the model front she is looking superb!!!!!! Those Emhars are a real challenge and you’ve managed to wrangle her in to a beautiful shape :)

 

Martin

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12 hours ago, Fritag said:

Exquisite post pneumonia work Bill - in keeping with the exquisite pre-pneumonia work.  Glad to see your recovered without detriment to your skills :D

 

(But seriously for a mo’.  Glad you’re fit and well again)

 

Thanks. I still have quite a bit of fatigue (I also lost about 14 pounds) but that should go away. Unless it's some old man thing that's here for good.    :(

 

On 30/07/2022 at 13:18, Terry1954 said:

Good to hear that you are over the pneumonia Bill, very good news indeed 👍

 

The Demon is looking sooooooo good. She is certainly going to be head turner!

 

Thanks Terry. It turns my head already 'cause I have to look at one side, then the other. Maybe if I did a painting I wouldn't have to turn my head so much.    :drunk:

 

11 hours ago, RidgeRunner said:

Those Emhars are a real challenge and you’ve managed to wrangle her in to a beautiful shape :)

 

Thanks Martin. Luckily I only have one other Emhar kit in my stash - the Loughead F-94 Starfire. It looks much better in the box than the Demon, so hopefully it won't be as big of a project. Plus, I have a really nice resin cockpit for it. True Details, I think.

 

*****

 

Back to work...

 

Cheers,

Bill

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Well, this has to be about the fiddliest thing I've ever built.

 

IMG_6490

 

It looks very much like the one in the colour photo in the Ginter book. The Demon had steps that came out of the fuselage side, but it looks very precarious to try and navigate your way from the wing walkway up to the cockpit. I suspect that's why ladders like this were also used. This will be painted yellow, as the one in the photo.

 

However, I didn't quite leave enough space between the windscreen and the sliding portion of the canopy. I really don't want to pop off the canopy...plus, even if the opening were large enough the ladder wouldn't set right (perpendicular to the ground). So we'll see - time for some noodling.

 

By the way, the photoetch for the ladder is on the same fret as the wing spoilers that came from Airwaves. I used Gator's Grip Thin Blend as an adhesive. I love that stuff for PE as it gives you time to position things compared to superglue. However, I don't think it's as strong of a bond.

 

The model is finished, I'm just putting a clear coat on the Sidewinders. Speaking of which - the Eduard resin/photoetch missiles look very nice indeed. Adding the PE front fins was a royal pain, but easier than I initially expected. And certainly easier than that ladder!     :)

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. I changed the nose wheel. I decided the kit wheel was too small. Luckily, I had one the perfect size and with a plain Jane hub. Where that came from I have no idea.

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4 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

PS. I changed the nose wheel. I decided the kit wheel was too small. Luckily, I had one the perfect size and with a plain Jane hub. Where that came from I have no idea.

Long shot... but perhaps, it came from an F9F-2?

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8 hours ago, Shalako said:

Long shot... but perhaps, it came from an F9F-2?

 

I don't recall ever building one, although I have the Hasegawa kit in my stash. I had a look, and the nose wheel for the Panther was very small - what I used for the Demon is closer in size to the main wheel on the Panther, but the hub/rim is very different.

 

Babysitting today. No modelling, just hide-and-seek and bead crafts. Joy.

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. Maybe I can sneak in a photo of the model.    :)

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1 hour ago, AdrianMF said:

You aren’t letting your grandkids play with grandpa’s new aeroplane??

 

No, but Carter did make an aeroplane from LEGO bricks. (I've learned not to call them Legos. It's amazing the knowledge that Britmodellers have.)    :)

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. Carter also has two snap-together kits he's salivating over. P-51 or Apache? What do you guys think?

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A momentary reprieve...Grandma took the little rascals bowling! Last time that happened, Leah dropped the ball on her hand somehow, broke a bone, and still finished the game. All the more amazing as she was holding the ball with the broken hand. These kids nowadays.

 

Anyway, the reprieve means I can give you guys a picture of the (mostly) complete model.

 

IMG_6491

 

You should be able to see all the stuff that's been added, along with that larger nose wheel. The pitot tube at the bottom of the windscreen was fun. It's surprising what can be found in the spares box. And that little baby actually looks like the real thing. (Which it may be - I recall thinking I was finished with the Pavla resin set and then adding the leftovers to the spares. Looking at the Pavla instruction sheet, they include the pitot tube. So that must be it!)

 

The canopy popped off with no effort at all - guess I didn't use as much glue as I thought! I therefore moved it back a few molecules (all that was needed to allow the ladder to fit). The ladder will get a coat of white, then yellow. I think the way I can make it set straight is to add some replica padding to the ladder where it contacts the upper portion of the intake, and make the padding thicker on one side. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

 

I think I need to add some black smudges with pastels to represent the residue left on the fuselage from the upper of the two vents on the fuselage side (right above the word NAVY). These are quite prominent in photos. Now, where did I leave the pastels...I think befuddled is the term.

 

The Demon will look good in my collection of McDonnell "Spooks." I liked it when McAir had all those names - Phantom, Banshee, Moonbat, Goblin, Gargoyle (missile), Voodoo, Demon. Great stuff. (I won't mention the Lil' Henry chopper. Oops, already did.) Then Douglas came to the party and the nicknames changed from spooks to "things that fly" like Eagle, Hornet, Goshawk, etc. Boring. At least they could have retained the Cobra name that Northrop gave the YF-17. More apropos. (Gets off soapbox.)     :drunk:

 

I'll get the ladder and smudges finished and call it a day.     :)

 

Cheers,

Bill

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2 minutes ago, Navy Bird said:

The Demon will look good

 

Correction Bill.  The model of the Demon will look typically Bill brilliant.  But the Demon will still look like an ugly bu**er. 

 

Great looking build, Bill.

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21 minutes ago, Fritag said:

But the Demon will still look like an ugly bu**er.

 

True, but ugly in a good way. Like the Gannet.    :)

 

Cheers,

Bill

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