1/72 RS Models Lockheed XP-79B Flying Ram

[TheRealMrEd]

My next effort will be the RS Models XP-79B, mostly because I don't yet have it in the collection,  but also, until now, I wasn't certain how to build it with a few added things I wanted to do.  I was also happy to find a kit review of the model over on Modeling Madness, by Scott Van Aken HERE

 

This helped alert me to some possible problems, but didn't supply all the answers.  So, here I go again, with something that I HOPE I know how to do!

 

Of course, the nickname "Flying Ram" is totally inaccurate.  Despite the legend that it was re-enforced to ram through enemy bomber formations, it was actually designed to carry 4 .50-caliber machine guns to do the dirty work.  Besides, being made almost entirely of magnesium, only a scratch or two wrong and the aircraft would have become a flying bonfire.  That was actually it's fate, the single prototype having crashed just 14 minutes into it's initial flight, when the aircraft began uncontrollably rolling to it's right, and the pilot bailed out.  Unfortunately, the aircraft struck the pilot and he was unable to open his parachute.  He died and the aircraft burned to a very small pile of ash on the desert floor.  For some odd reason, the U.S. Army lost interest in the aircraft, and the project was cancelled...

 

The kit:

 

 

The kit consists of 31 fairly small parts, and a decal sheet, apparently including some "what-if" markings for a British aircraft.

 

The drawing instructions, for me at least, were not crystal clear:

 

 

Above left, right out of the box, I thought that part #30 (the cockpit rear bulkhead was supposed to go where part #12, actually goes, behind the canopy opening on the upper fuselage half, which has two small padded lumps that eventually will be painted leather-colored. (To digress for a moment, I have thought long and hard, wondering about how the pilot was strapped to the airplane, and I could not imagine any harness that would allow him to lay prone, and still get out of the rig to bail out.  Guess it's amazing that he at least got out of the aircraft.)

 

Anyway, due to the usual fact that RS does not provide locating pins on it's models, the cockpit "tub" has to be assembled on it's bottom edge, free-standing.  Part #31 (the instrument panel) will be glued across the front, as seen above right, after the tub has been glued into place, which is largely a matter of achieving the best fit you can.

 

Next, I glued the connecting shaft for the control yoke to the yoke while it was attached to the sprue.  This allowed me to get it pretty much perpendicular to the yoke:

 

 

Above right, the shaft and yoke are glued into place, with the yoke just proud of the bottom canopy opening, after gluing the little "V"-shaped part to the floor.  The two "X" 's show ejection pins that must be removed.

 

It was after test fitting everything to this point, that I discovered that the instrument panel, part #31 set too far back to clear the yoke, so I sawed it off the model, glued on two small bits of scrap card.  When the glue is dry, these will be sanded to shape, and serve to simply extend the length of the IP so that it fits further forward:

 

 

Above right, I used fly-tying hackle pliers to hold one half of the two clear canopy parts, while they were glued together with G-S Hypo (watch) cement.  The pliers don't hold the halves together, they just give me something to hold the tiny parts while applying the glue!  They are very tiny, awkward  parts!

 

Next, the intakes were temporarily glued into place, to allow proper spacing for some tiny split shot that I  glued in with white glue, to get as much weight forward of the main gear as possible, a tip provided by Scott in his review -- thanks:

 

 

Next, the "belly pad" was added, along with two forearm pads, made up from scrap card, which RS did NOT provide.  Then,  everything was painted interior green, leather and black.  The kit plans call for the yoke to be painted aluminum; it was not.

 

 

And with that, I'll close for now. 

 

See you next time,

 

Ed

 

 

 

[TheRealMrEd]

Oops -- moderator, please move this thread to WIP ... Sorry about that!

 

Ed

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Yayyy first row seating, and I love the Ram as a design. 

[TheRealMrEd]

On 9/24/2022 at 2:51 PM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Yayyy first row seating, and I love the Ram as a design. 

Welcome aboard!

 

Ed

[TheRealMrEd]

Next up, the major addition to the model that I wanted to try and add, the instrument gauge backs and some wiring.  I'm not going to try to replicate everything, as I'm not sure even these will be seen when done, but for me, it's one of those learning things -- can I or can't I do it -- and get them to fit?

 

The gauges:

 

 

My attempt:

 

 

Above left, I re-installed the now-lengthened instrument "panel" (more like a strip, really!), which now sits a little more forward in the cockpit than originally.  I added some short lengths of plastic rod (stretched sprue would also do), with holes drilled out for .010 lead wire (available from your fly-tying supplies stockist.  This has the advantage of being fairly small and very flexible without breaking.  These are glued onto the back side of the I.P..

 

Above right, the wires are gently bent back into the cockpit area -- not exactly correct, but a compromise on where anything would fit in this tiny area!  They are routed, 3 to a side (trying to keep them from crossing each other), and secured in the back with a drop of CA adhesive.  They will be trimmed at the "X" 's when dry.  Not that they are along the cockpit sides, NOT under the edges.

 

 

Next, although they can barely been seen, Mike Grant Instrument gauge decals have been added, to the I.P. and right side panel:

 

 

 

 

Above right, Mike Grant switch panels have been added.  Again, not as many as real life, but just to add some detail.

 

Well, I made it this far  -- more later.

 

***EDIT***  AT THIS TIME, I JOINED THE WING HALVES.  I FOUND OUT LATER THAT I NEEDED TO ADD VARIOUS LANDING GEAR DOOR TO THE LOWER WING FIRST.  THIS IS EXPLAINED LATER IN THE BUILD THREAD !!!

 

Ed

 

Edited October 5, 2022 by TheRealMrEd

[TheRealMrEd]

In the end, I don't know that it's a very scale-like appearance, but I just wanted to give it a shot.

 

Next up, the canopy goes on.  As you can see below, not a great fit:

 

 

Above right, the canopy has been glued into place with G-S cement, trying to get the best fit possible on the top side.  There is a larger gap at the bottom.  All the gaps were filled with additional G-S cement, and when dry, that was smoothed with 91% rubbing alcohol on a cloth, which was wrapped around a stiff round stick, to smooth it out a bit.  Next the canopy was sanded smooth with 1500 - 12000 grit sanding film, and then everything was polished.  Here is where I ran into trouble.  Apparently there were tiny gaps in the join of the two halves of the canopy, both top and bottom, and polishing cream worked its way into the canopy.  I have one trick that I will try to clear this up, but a little later on.  Also the two fins on the upper body have been added.

 

Below, the lower body fins have been added:

 

 

Short lengths of split plastic straw have been temporarily stuck into the tailpipes to mask that area, held in place with tiny drops of white glue, which will be soaked off with water, when the painting is done.

 

Below, the canopy has been masked with Parafilm "M", and trimmed to size:

 

 

Above right, pieces of a sticky-backed hobby foam are cut to shape and used to mask the major wheel well openings; the smaller ones will be touched up later.

 

And, she's ready for the paint shop.  Back later.

 

Ed

 

 

[TheRealMrEd]

Hello again.

 

Scott Van Aken, in his build/review of this kit (linked in first post, above), made a good case for the color of the XP-79B to have been painted in a light grey, something like that of the P-80A's.  I can't argue with his logic, but as other sources claim that it was painted white, like other early X-planes, I decided to go that direction, but to paint it a different shade of white, which could also account for the tonal variations in photos, between the aircraft color and the Insignia White (FS 37875 or 17875) of the US star markings.  I chose Alclad II Primer White, which will be over-coated with a slight gloss when done,

 

Anyway, after painting the aircraft, it was time to handle the landing gear, which is enigmatic.  First off, the front landing gear pair.  To begin, the front gear legs are not vertical, fore-and-aft, as they must align with the cutouts in the fuselage:

 

 

They also splay out a bit when viewed from the front:

 

 

So far, so good.  But now comes the first enigma, the fact that the front landing gear doors in the kit are molded in one piece each, and if you choose not to model the aircraft in a flying position, you have to cut them into the three pieces that they need to be.  Markings are indicated on the doors, but that significance is not pointed in the instruction, nor is how they mount made clear.

 

First, a sort of scary front view of the real thing:

 

 

Above left, two of the gear door pieces labeled "B" and "C" mount to the inside of the wheel leg -- and part "C" is supposed to fit into the vertical grooves in the kit fuselage sides, canted inward, while part "B" attached to the end of that door, but hinges inward to attach to the gear leg, as shown in the photo of the real thing.  One thing I can't figure out is what covers the grooves in the fuselage when the gear is retracted.  Maybe spring-loaded doors that pop out flush to the fuselage.  I haven't been able to figure it out, so far.  But, if you choose to model this kit in an in-flight configuration, you'll have to fill these yourself, as no doors for this are provided in the kit.

 

Above right, the separation line between doors "A" and "B" are shown clearly, you have to look on the outside of the doors to find the line where "B" and "C" are separated (below):

 

 

Above left, the arrow point to the line to cut, while the sort of squiggly line point to about where the "C" door needed to be shortened (it also needs to be sanded to a more slender shape to fit the fuselage grooves)> But, all these sizes you'll have to figure out by trial-and-error.  Above right, the small arrow on the left shows the two doors "B" and "C" in their proper relationship, and the part "C" arrow shows where the cut-out door "C" must be installed in the lower wing. Also, the larger, squarish main gear door is also flush with the wing, when retracted.  A smarter man than I would have attached all the various doors, wheels up or wheels down, before assembly and painting the wing halves.  I shall try to remember to edit that part of this thread to convey that warning!

 

Below, a picture trying to help convey all this info, but probably just over-cluttered!

 

 

Above left, the "X" 's show where the large main gear outer doors must be installed, and the "X"'s on the front gear wheels show where the "C" doors must be installed.  The little line shows where the "B" doors must span the gear leg and the previously-installed part "A" gear doors.  One side is already installed.  Above right the "C" doors are shown installed.  Some more paint work will be required, which would not have been necessary, had I figured all this out, sooner!

 

 

Above left, main gear outer doors installed.  Above right, we're getting there.

 

Stay tuned,

 

Ed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TheRealMrEd]

Hello again.  I got really busy the last couple of days, and neglected to take a couple of pictures,  mostly about removing the excess polishing stuff that had seeped into the minuscule cracks of the windscreen.  This consisted of mainly drilling about a 2.5mm hole in the underside of the fuselage, just back of where the pilot's hip pad was located, and then using a syringe to shoot in a liquid to swish around, allowing any debris to settle further back in the cockpit, where it couldn't be seen.

 

In this case, there was a slight conundrum, in that for these purposes, I normally use alcohol, because it evaporates faster.  In this case, since I had glued the canopy/windscreen halves together and to the fuselage with G-S cement (which is soluble with alcohol), so that was a non-starter.  Instead, I used water, which I was afraid of because I had not top-sealed the Mike Grant instrument dial decals, and was worried the water would wash those off.  I doubt that it really mattered, because you really can't see anything behind the rather "thick-ish" clear parts anyway, despite polishing, clear coats, etc.

 

Anyway, all that was left was adding the rest of the miscellaneous parts, which I did.  I will just post of the final pics here, as I'm not sure that otherwise, this would be much of an ending to a build thread!

 

The rest of the bottom parts:

 

 

 

Above right, the rest of the decals and the antenna mask.

 

 

 

And that's that.  For a simple and tiny model, it had it's share of "gotchas"!

 

See you next time,

 

Ed