1/72 Rareplanes AJ-2P Detachment Queen

[UberDaveToo]

Every Port in a Storm

 

 

I squeezed the second rack of photo-flash bombs into the truncated AJ-2P bomb bay, making it ready to install. I borrowed a "caution" decal from a Super Scale F-4 Phantom stencil sheet and put it on one bomb. To my eye, it just looked like a black smudge, but the camera don't lie, you can almost make out the word caution and the smaller stenciling is too uniform for a smudge so I may add more.

 

 

It's part truth-part fiction but looks the part.

 

 

I've boxed in all the camera ports an inserted the camera lenses, one of the final steps before closing the fuselage.

 

 

Except one small side port, I'd just completed the job, and it was still wet. It will get a lens sometime today, once it's dry. It's a bit off square but that too can be fixed when dry.

 

 

...Leaving only the lower center, which will have to wait until the fuselage is cemented and filler applied, for correct centering.

That ought to be completed by the weekend.

Dave

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Looks real good so far. 

[AdrianMF]

The all-seeing Savage!

 

Looking good.

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

 

[UberDaveToo]

Look Ma! No Tape...

 

 

 

I've even gotten a bit of a start puttying the wing shoulder. 

 

 

I'll have to repaint interior sidewalls with a brush and add instrument panels after the fact, easy-peasy.
 

 

Loads of putty on tap.

 

 

Now on to engine nacelles, props and spinners, landing gear...

Dave

[UberDaveToo]

Smooth Move

 

 

I've added back decking to the canopy area.

 

 

I slathered her with about a gallon of Mr. Surfacer and sanded the bulk of it smooth, I haven't gotten to the wing shoulder yet, it will need a few more coats.

 

 

Every spot showing grey or bright white is depressions that has been sanded smooth as a baby's behind
 

 

I raised the canopy sill about 0.10mm with sheet plastic, then puttied with Milliput smoothed with a wet finger.
 

 

While I wait for it to cure, I'll work on engines n' wheels n' things...

Onward and upward,

Dave

[Mjwomack]

This is meticulous work. I can't say I'll ever find this plane beautiful, but this is a thing of beauty and craftsmanship

[UberDaveToo]

Smoothing it Smoother

 

 

Minor update. sanding around the cockpit sill is complete.

 

 

Sorry for the shadow, could figure out how to make it go away. But I'm happy with the canopy area.

 

 

Notice I assembled one of the engine nacelles.

 

 

I managed to cut away the main gear doors with no trouble, I wont bother with interior detail, it won't be seen anyway and I'd like to finish this in the current century. It too will need a ton or so of putty and Mr. Surfacer...

Dave

[2996 Victor]

Great progress, Dave, this is coming along very nicely indeed!

 

Cheers, 

Mark 

[AdrianMF]

Looking good! The nacelles seem to blend into the wings very well. Hopefully both pointing in the same direction!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[UberDaveToo]

Get'n it Together

 

 

I've nearly finished the the second nacelle and test fitted it with tape. The canopy is too.

 

 

It appears much closer to the finish line with both nacelles in place.

 

 

I've fitted the rudder and completed sculpting the tail tip.

 

 

A little more filler and sanding will be required before it's permanently attached. For my next feat, I'll complete the empennage.

That'll bring her up to "zoom around the room" status.

Dave

[2996 Victor]

Looking great, Dave, this is really coming together beautifully!

 

Cheers,

Mark

[UberDaveToo]

Attack of the Milliputians

 

...Apologies to Jonathan Swift.

 

 

I've mounted the port nacelle, in the same direction as the other.  Even after grinding away as much excess plastic as I could, the remained a considerable gap where it meets the wing, so I pressed on a sizeable blob of Milliput. I think about 20% of the weight of this model so far is Milliput.
 

 

I'd zapped the nacelle with grey Mr. Surfacer 1000, I'd used up the last of a rattle can, then dropped it on the floor while it was still wet. It was no big deal since I was going to sand most of it away. But I had to pick a lot of hair out of it. You can see a ridge where the gap was from forcing the Milliput into the gap.

 

 

I'm working toward finishing the empennage. I found a hefty trench where the seam for the jet section was grafted on and I've resurrected some panel lines here and there. More grinding to do but, as Miller Lite commercials once claimed, less filling.

More on tap...

Dave 

[UberDaveToo]

We Control the Horizontal

 

...The vertical, not so much.
 

 

 

While sanding off filler on the port side nacelle, I discovered the vacuformed plastic was a bit too thin in the radius and a hole had appeared. "No biggie" I thought, "I'll just treat it with a drop of glue and started stuffing bits of plastic card into the hole." Only it just made the hole wider, so more drops and more plastic and a gob of putty later, I called it filled and sanded it down.

 

 

I glued up a spar for the horizontal tail planes and tacked 'em on. I eyeballed them straight and level with each other...

 

 

...This is a patently awful pic but proves a point. The vertical stab is off just a few degrees to the right. We all know SOP for wonky plastic model parts is dipping it in very hot water for a minute or so and tweak it to correct it. Which might be tricky on a vac kit since the plastic is formulated to soften easily.

 

 

I used a new can of black Mr. Surfacer on the right cowl and finished spaying out a can of grey on the left. I kinda makes the right one appear as if it came from a Japanese fighter. The props are just tacked on for demonstration purposes.

 

 

I plugged in that center camera port too...

 

 

...It came out a little smaller than the other ports but;

 

 

...I've thought of a way to fool the eye into believing the port is much larger. 

My research has found very little on Detachment Queen except that they flew missions over Manchuria, North Korea and Vladivostok and continued to do so until June of 1954. A standard, unmodified Savage had a top speed of 471MPH, and a 40,000 foot ceiling, During the war a Soviet MiG driver caught an RB-45 Tornado over China and shot it down, killing the crew but the pilot survived only to disappear into some communist dungeon for the rest of his life. The Tornado was nearly 100 miles an hour faster than the Savage. With a pair of Pratt & Whitney R-2800-44W Double Wasp 18-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines, 2,400 hp, it could scoot along 50mph faster than a P-51D. But I think the Navy Photo crews had to do some dicey flying to outrun MiGs. Lastly I learned that two AJ-2s armed with atomic bombs were sent to K-3 Air Base (Pohang) South Korea in July 1953, these machines were instrumental in encouraging the communists to sign the armistice.

On that historical note, it's time to press on to reach the painting and decaling potion of the program...

Dave

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

40 minutes ago, UberDaveToo said:

Lastly I learned that two AJ-2s armed with atomic bombs were sent to K-3 Air Base (Pohang) South Korea in July 1953, these machines were instrumental in encouraging the communists to sign the armistice.

 Never heard this before ? I guess it makes sense though. 

[UberDaveToo]

1 hour ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

 Never heard this before ? I guess it makes sense though. 

Same here. I remember the Gregory Peck film "Pork Chop Hill," A lieutenant leads a platoon of soldiers up a hill that the reds are determined to take while their leaders dragged their feet at the peace conference. No one wanted to be the last casualty of the Korean War. The Savage wasn't a forgotten airplane, outside of the Navy's heavy attack squadrons, few knew the Savage existed. I suspect the North Koreans were aware that SAC could nuke them from anywhere in the world, I haven't seen any evidence that Silverplate Super Forts were ever moved to Kadena AFB or anywhere else within range of Pyongyang. The nuclear Savage deployment seems like Uncle Sam breaking out the Big Stick, but keeping it on the down-low... 

[UberDaveToo]

One Step Forward

 

...You know the drill.

 

 

In our last thrilling episode, I made note of an upcoming attempt to correct out of control wonkiness.

 

 

At that attempt I was successful, but at a price. The vertical stab had a curl to it, after softening it, I managed to make an S shape of it, the dipped it to get it reasonably straight. but there was that left tilt. So I wrenched it pretty hard and heard a popping sound. The seam at the jet section had split. I tweaked it straight and the split opened, I let it go and it was crooked again. I shoved a .05mm plastic card shim and it stayed straight. Also, I was really annoyed by that droop in the wings, in hindsight, maybe I should have put in a wing spar to hold it in place, but i was way past that notion. So trying go with the same attempt to soften and straighten, I heard more popping and crackling, so I went with shims again. Although it worked well, the AJ's wings ought to be dead flat across the upper surfaces, and show a slight dihedral on the lower, I'll have to refill some inconveniently opened holes.

 

 

Like here at the wing root.

 

 

And here.

 

 

And here.

 

 

And here.

 

 

Not to mention butterfingers fumbling the thing and snapping the tip-tank fin.

Next up, a post on getting all this fixed and going on to catch that number three wire...

Dave

[UberDaveToo]

Filets and Fillers

 

Remember the joke about a book titled "50 yards to the toilet seat" written by Willie Make it, illustrated by Betty Don't?

 

That's sorta where I'm at with this project.

 

 

I had a day off from the model desk. When I got back to it yesterday, I made some filets for the tail. All the gaps and holes are filled and sanded.

 

 

A closer look.

 

 

A look under.

 

 

 Other side is much the same. I fixed the tip tank fin too, more soon...

Dave