1/48 Orange Javelin - XA778

[prowler93]

Hi all,

After many months of consideration, I finally bought the Airfix kit and dived straight into tearing it apart.

Many people have built this particular aircraft, however the reasons I would like  to have my own replica are quite possibly different.

My all time favourite aircraft is an F9F-6 Cougar sporting a similarly striking paintjob. The only problem is that there is no kit available for an early Cougar especially in larger scales.

I got tired of waiting for a mainstream manufacturer to release a decent kit, so I decided to model it in 3D. 

Making a start was relatively easy, but with my modest 3D modelling skills soon it has proven to be much harder and time consuming than I expected.  

 

Since I discovered it, the idea of an orange Javelin has kept growing on me, and looked like a perfect test bed for faded orange paintjob trials. 

After reading raving reviews about the Airfix kit, it appeared to be a decent starting point and the conversions required for backdating it are also a good  practice for designing 3D printed parts.

 

There are many things to like about the kit, but I already found a few disappointing mistakes that could have been avoided. 

Sink marks, and ejection pin marks are amongst these, but it was surprising to find an oversight in the shaping of the nose.

 

Pin marks on the inside of the jet intakes and exhausts are a bit painful to eliminate and the intake lip sink marks are also something to forget.

 

However the oval cross section of the nose is a baffling mistake. Why couldn't the designers stick to an obvious circular shape is beyond me.

 

Some head on photos of FAW5 and FAW9 aircraft as a reference:

 

XA778 had a short nose, so it will be replaced anyway, but it makes the transitioning to the rest of the nose much harder. 

 

I started modelling the tail and the nose replacements, hopefully I will have some test prints later this week.

Otherwise I will be busy with removing sprue attachments, sink marks, flash and mould misalignment marks before I can present a meaningful update.

 

Thanks for viewing, happy modelling everyone!

  

Edited April 15 by prowler93
Added some photos

[prowler93]

Hi all,

I spent some time gluing and filling parts, but I have been mainly working on the 3D printed parts while the adhesives evaporate. 

In my first post I might have come across a bit arrogant, but it was mainly disappointment fuelled by extremely high expectations that I felt. 

Since then I have become a bit more forgiving for the quirks of the kit. 

Fit is pretty good and I do not mind the soft thick plastic, (which I later realised will come very handy  )

I used the pylons to fill the holes where they are meant to be attached, it was fairly straightforward. 

The movable ailerons have been designed quite well, but I do not like how they restrict the sequence of assembly. 

I cut a few little openings next to the original holes, so the stabliiizer can be inserted after filling and sanding the middle bit:

I also cut off a few mounting tabs, so the main wheel well and the cabin can be installed later.  

 

Next time I will show the first draft print of nose and tail replacement parts.

Happy modelling!

[prowler93]

Hi, 

Some photos of the first FDM prints I did for testing fit.

 

I will keep tweaking the 3D model for a good fit at the tail.

 

 

 

Whereas I will do the opposite for the nose and bend the plastic of the fusalage around the nose cone.

 

 

Happy modelling!

 

[prowler93]

Hi all,

I have been busy this week, so big update is coming

After about five rounds of test prints I finally consider the desing phase completed. 

I am already very happy how the nose looks, and the transition to the rest of the fusalage was easier than I ever hoped. The thick soft material could be bent without breaking the parts, and after that the fit already looks promising.

On the photos parts are held together with sticky tape only, with a bit of force applied everything should line up nicely. FDM prints have the tendency to shrink, so the final resin prints should have a better fit. 

This week I received my first set of Master Model pitot tubes, they are truly beutiful.

 

I like making my nose weights as small as possible, and they work more effciently when they sit in the tip of the nose.

I printed a cone that replicates the inside face of the nose cone and poured plaster around it.

Than I melted lead and poured about 40g of metal into the mold.  I will need to check if it is heavy enugh when I have the resin prints.

 

The tail was meant to be easier to model, but it still took a few attempts to get the shape more or less right.

There is a photo in Adrian Balch`s Testing Colours book that shows the underside of the aircraft, which prompted me that many access panels in the wings will need to be filled and redone, so I started filling those panel lines.

I also cut the first set of vortex generators and buckles out of paper. There is more to come, next week I will try to cut out all the seatbelts too.

Happy modelling!

Edited April 13 by prowler93

[TeeELL]

I understand your pain in getting 3D printed parts to match the plastic!  I don’t know how many prints I did with my 1:72 correction for the old Heller/Airfix kit, not helped by the lack of symmetry of the kit at the joint!

as far as the nose section goes, the fuselage transitions from a ‘rounded corners’ rectangle just in front of the front screen to a circle for the nose cone.  When I create the shorter nose conversion I will have to play with ‘lofting’ from the rectangle to the first section of ‘round’ and then add the rounded cone shape on the front of that.

[prowler93]

15 hours ago, TeeELL said:

I understand your pain in getting 3D printed parts to match the plastic!  I don’t know how many prints I did with my 1:72 correction for the old Heller/Airfix kit, not helped by the lack of symmetry of the kit at the joint!

as far as the nose section goes, the fuselage transitions from a ‘rounded corners’ rectangle just in front of the front screen to a circle for the nose cone.  When I create the shorter nose conversion I will have to play with ‘lofting’ from the rectangle to the first section of ‘round’ and then add the rounded cone shape on the front of that.

Thanks TeeELL, The perfect nose conversion would be something similar to what AlleyCat did, but produced to today's standards. I do not want to go there, and I am happy how my replacement nosecone looks like. In the end that is what matters.

 

I made some progress with filling the trapzoid panels on the wings and removed all vortex generators. 

I could not resist trying out how the lasercut tabs look like,  1mm square plates appear to be the right size.

 

Weekend is here, so happy modelling!

 

 

[prowler93]

Hi all,

I previously noticed that early model Javelins had rectangular access panels near the wing root, and not trapezoid ones.

 

All 2D drawings I found had questionable accuracy, so I used photos instead to estimate the panel layout.

I could not find any photos for the top of the wings roots, so unless I find some I will replicate the two closest to the fuselage on top and bottom.

In addition to all thies, the square panels behind the wheel wells need to be fixed as well.

 

 

🙏 Please let me know if you have photos showing the front section of early Javelin wing roots. Any help would be appreciated.  

 

After studying the photos I found more panel lines to fill, but slowly getting closer to re-scribing the access panels.

I usually use superglue to fill panel lines in hard plastic, but I think Mr.Surfacer is fine for soft plastic like this.

 

I made some lasercut scribing templates, which make dealing with symmetrical layouts easier and come handy especially for panels with rounded corners.

 

And finally a few little things I did over the weekend, drilled some holes and hollowed out two air intakes.

The exhausts on the wings got a blnking plate too, so there is some continuation of the void.

 

Happy modelling!

[David H]

Very cool. A couple of questions:

 

1) i know you're building an earlier version, but have you included Antii K in the loop? He may have some references/ Info pertaining to your earlier questions about photos of the wings.

 

2) Is it possible to get copper BBs in Australia to use for nose weight, or are those generally unavailable as a result of the comprehensive weapons ban?

 

3) How well does the 3D printed resin sand out, in order to eliminate the inevitable "layer lines" associated with printing?

 

4) Were the vortex generators just a test fit? How do you plan to anchor them in place? Me thinks it would be best to hold off on installation as long as possible.

 

Forgive my curiosity.....

 

-d-

[Robin-42]

I finally got to see my first Javelin up close in Duxford. It is a beast! As a result, I am following your build with interest. What is your laser cutting setup? It has interesting possibilities.

[Graham Boak]

Orange?  The Boscombe high-altitude calibration Javelin was red and white, as the photo shows.  There is another thread where the red/orange discrimination  is discussed, but there seems to be no way of coming to any conclusion.  My understanding is that the Cougars were Red too.  It quite likely the US colour International Orange, which is red in other languages.

[Robin-42]

30 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

Orange?  The Boscombe high-altitude calibration Javelin was red and white, as the photo shows.  There is another thread where the red/orange discrimination  is discussed, but there seems to be no way of coming to any conclusion.  My understanding is that the Cougars were Red too.  It quite likely the US colour International Orange, which is red in other 

 

You made me look. XA778 is definitely a very loud orange no matter what your screen calibration is. XH897 is red and white. Did you confuse the two?

[prowler93]

4 hours ago, Robin-42 said:

 

You made me look. XA778 is definitely a very loud orange no matter what your screen calibration is. XH897 is red and white. Did you confuse the two?

 

4 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

Orange?  The Boscombe high-altitude calibration Javelin was red and white, as the photo shows.  There is another thread where the red/orange discrimination  is discussed, but there seems to be no way of coming to any conclusion.  My understanding is that the Cougars were Red too.  It quite likely the US colour International Orange, which is red in other languages.

 There were two calibration Javelins, I am building XA778 which was the the predecessor of red/wihite XH897. I added some photos to my first post for everybodies viewing pleasure

[prowler93]

6 hours ago, Robin-42 said:

I finally got to see my first Javelin up close in Duxford. It is a beast! As a result, I am following your build with interest. What is your laser cutting setup? It has interesting possibilities.

Thanks, I hope I can push this project all the way to the end, I have a tendency to stop at any point, 

 

I have access to a Universal Laser Systems VLS4.75 machine at work. 

There are many ways to use it, cutting paint masks or model bases, and parts that would be suitable for photoetching can be made out of lasercut cardboard.  

[prowler93]

6 hours ago, David H said:

Very cool. A couple of questions:

 

1) i know you're building an earlier version, but have you included Antii K in the loop? He may have some references/ Info pertaining to your earlier questions about photos of the wings.

 

2) Is it possible to get copper BBs in Australia to use for nose weight, or are those generally unavailable as a result of the comprehensive weapons ban?

 

3) How well does the 3D printed resin sand out, in order to eliminate the inevitable "layer lines" associated with printing?

 

4) Were the vortex generators just a test fit? How do you plan to anchor them in place? Me thinks it would be best to hold off on installation as long as possible.

 

Forgive my curiosity.....

 

-d-

Hi David,

 

1. No, I have not contacted him directly yet. Thanks for the suggestion.

2. I guess they are available, but have not looked. I could use similar fishing lead weigh, but I really enjoy melting lead to a matching shape. : )

3. The FDM prints I did so far are only for testing fit. I will ask a friend to print the final parts in resin, which will have almost invisible layers.

4. Yes, the vortex generators will be glued in place right before painting. I drilled 0.3mm holes where the original ones used to be and the little tab at the bottom of laser cut squares slot into those holes.

 

Thanks for your interest in the build!

[Robin-42]

14 minutes ago, prowler93 said:

Thanks, I hope I can push this project all the way to the end, I have a tendency to stop at any point, 

 

I have access to a Universal Laser Systems VLS4.75 machine at work. 

There are many ways to use it, cutting paint masks or model bases, and parts that would be suitable for photoetching can be made out of lasercut cardboard.  

Work equipment, the best kind. Don’t worry about a tendency to stop, it’s a hobby!

[Lord Riot]

FAW1 underside at Cosford museum …

 

[David H]

On 3/31/2024 at 7:37 PM, prowler93 said:

Hi all,

After many months of consideration, I finally bought the Airfix kit and dived straight into tearing it apart.

Many people have built this particular aircraft, however the reasons I would like  to have my own replica are quite possibly different.

My all time favourite aircraft is an F9F-6 Cougar sporting a similarly striking paintjob. The only problem is that there is no kit available for an early Cougar especially in larger scales.

I got tired of waiting for a mainstream manufacturer to release a decent kit, so I decided to model it in 3D. 

Making a start was relatively easy, but with my modest 3D modelling skills soon it has proven to be much harder and time consuming than I expected.  

 

Since I discovered it, the idea of an orange Javelin has kept growing on me, and looked like a perfect test bed for faded orange paintjob trials. 

After reading raving reviews about the Airfix kit, it appeared to be a decent starting point and the conversions required for backdating it are also a good  practice for designing 3D printed parts.

 

There are many things to like about the kit, but I already found a few disappointing mistakes that could have been avoided. 

Sink marks, and ejection pin marks are amongst these, but it was surprising to find an oversight in the shaping of the nose.

 

Pin marks on the inside of the jet intakes and exhausts are a bit painful to eliminate and the intake lip sink marks are also something to forget.

 

However the oval cross section of the nose is a baffling mistake. Why couldn't the designers stick to an obvious circular shape is beyond me.

 

Some head on photos of FAW5 and FAW9 aircraft as a reference:

 

XA778 had a short nose, so it will be replaced anyway, but it makes the transitioning to the rest of the nose much harder. 

 

I started modelling the tail and the nose replacements, hopefully I will have some test prints later this week.

Otherwise I will be busy with removing sprue attachments, sink marks, flash and mould misalignment marks before I can present a meaningful update.

 

Thanks for viewing, happy modelling everyone!

  

I like how you think.

 

[prowler93]

Hi, 

In the background I had a great discussion with Antti, and with his help I managed to make good progress with the access panel layouts.

Check out Antti's WIP topic if you like Javelins, it is an extremely informative read of an excellent build process. 

 

 

I will try to use his seatbelt design and I have already cut the blanking panels for the nose wheel wells following his build. 

First test prints to check seatlbelt sizes:

 

Another great tip I followed was to recreate the visible gap between the belly tanks and the fuselage. Scanned the tanks, traced the outlines and laser cut a packer out of card: 

 

After studying many many photos, it seems XA778 kept her FAW2 wings which means:

- two rows of small vortex generators

- no pylons and associated access panels on top

- square access panels similar to the ones on FAW1 wings 

- no drooped leading edge

 

Small vortex generators were easy fix:

The top side  access panel layout was a bit trickier but I settled with this arrangement: 

 

Straightening the leading edge also made me scratch my head a bit, but I decided to literally straighten the wings by bending the plastic back to a more or less straight line. 

The cross section will need to be sanded at the bottom, but I think this will give me a much better starting point. 

It is very hard to photograph what i did, but anyway left is drooped, right is straight(ish):

 

 The vertical stabilizer had a non-trimmable rudder, so the access panel layout only needs minor adjustments otherwise it is very similar to a FAW9.

 

I started 3D modelling some wheel chocks and designed a base for the model, next time I will show them as well.

 

Happy modelling!