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1/32 ERA-3B Skywarrior - 3D printed / scratchbuilt


Starfighter

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Dang. Sorry to see that, but believe you have the right attitude! I immediately thought of my large 1/48 USS Franklin dio that took a gainer off the shelf. I’d already been working on it for a year plus and almost cried at the carnage. In the end I finally finished it, and used the saga as a chance to make things better. I’m sure you’ll do that in spades!

-Peter

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Thank you all again for your encopuraging words. It's good to know someone out there knows my pain... whilst it's really annoying and I felt like crying as well, the split fuselage makes it actally easier for me to build a simple ECM operator compartment behind the cockpit which would have been very difficult with the fuselage closed. Just don't tell my wife...

 

I have also drawn and printed a proper front landing gear bay which I will install very soon as well. Sadly, there is a small visible Z-axis layer shift, but with some careful sanding, this shouldn't be much of an issue in this area.

 

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Here is the newly printed tail extension.You can see the limitations of the LCD screen resolution when printing rounded parts; the steps look much worse than they actually are, though. They are easily sanded away. 

 

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The ECM operator seats are very similar to the C-2 Grey hound seats I have printed a few years ago. I will only install one together with a rudimentary console as I have serious doubts any of this will remain visible with the canopy installed. 

 

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It's an absolute horror to get the surface back to the same level it was before the crash - this will take several weeks at least. I was hoping to finish the Skywarrior for a show late March 2021, but this is definitely going to be dificult rigt now. We'll see. 

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The only advantage of the of the crash is the fact that I can quite easily work on the ECM operator compartment. The fuselage is covered with fabric on the real a/c. I have used lead foil to simulate this:

 

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Seatbelts were added using lead foil and Verlinden PE belt buckles. A quick paintjob and that's how the seat looks now:

 

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Then, I built the forward part of the ECM operator's console from plasticart.

 

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No need for too much effort and the second operator's seat as most of it will be hidden. Now imagine the fuselage being closed and the canopy in situ... 

 

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Some decals and (ugly) Eduard pre-printed PE should do the trick.

 

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With the rear compartment being finished, I can move on to the cockpit and front landing gear bay and then hopefully close the fuselage again soon. Stay tuned! 

 

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Thank you all - your positive comments have helped me to keep motivation high. 

 

Brian, no need to imagine that - the ERA-3B was never deployed to a carrier due to its weight. The carrier based versions like RA-3, EA-3 etc had turnable seats for the operators in the back.

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