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EA-6B Prowler (02 April: Done!)


easixpedro

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3 hours ago, JayW said:

Dude - you are fearless.  Like a few other modelers on this site, you are not afraid to dive in.  Plastering up the cheeks of that thing - well you must have skills I just don't have.  I need some of that courage - right now I am just too nervous with my project.  Oh, and the F-8?  I am drooling.  When I was a kid, I had a few favorite jets.  And the Crusader was second behind the F-100 Super Sabre.  The Intruder was not even on the drawing boards, I don't believe.

 

Dad was in the US Army, and we lived on army bases, like Fort Campbell, Bragg, etc.  As kids, he would take us to war game shows out in the reservation some weekends, watching artillery/mortar strikes, tanks maneuvering about, etc, and often a nearby airbase would send in a couple or a few aircraft to do a fly-by or even buzz the stands.   Still remember the metal stands.  An announcer would tell us what's going on at all times, and would announce that they were coming and to watch for them to the left or right or something like that.  So one day this is happening, we get the announcement, and we see ugly black exhaust trails off in the distance, then the specks of the aircraft themselves - a few flying in formation coming toward us and pretty low, and then in a flash they were on us, but not a sound.  Silent.  Until they went by, and then a giant boom and the deafening roar of jet engines.  F-100's.  As a kid, I was hooked forever more, and the crowd was blown away.  

 

Well - I bet Crusader crews have done that before too in the past.

Oddly enough...

 

My dad's a Nam vet. Armored Cav.  He really didn't / doesn't talk about it. But he always said he liked having Navy/Marine Crusader's flying close air support as he said the air force Phantoms were always up high and never close enough.  Always chalked it up to old man 'war stories,' and that it couldn't have been that different. Fast forward to 2000, and I attend a reunion his Cavalry Squadron was having in DC--they all went to Vietnam together on a troop ship and to this day are a very tight bunch.  Attended all the ceremonies and hung out with all the troopers. Funny side story--John Abrams (the son of Creighton Abrams, MACV after Westmorland and the guy they named the tank after, THAT Abrams...) was a Platoon leader back then--he was there as a 4-Star General. Comical to watch a bunch of draftees continually drink beer and tell unflattering stories that essentially left his aides cringing.

 

Anyway, at that reunion, someone had a photo album and I saw a photo that I wish I still had. It was a pic of a Crusader making a guns run in support of their Cav Troop. The damn thing was lower than the antennas on a couple of M-48s that it was flying in between! Although it was a blurry pic, you could tell it was a Marine F-8 because it said Marines on the side of the fuselage, but even more impressive was you could see the gun exhaust streaking down the side.  In my mind, it sure violated a whole host of principles about CAS that we use today, but certainly proved my fathers point.  I liked Crusaders before that, but that pic...my description doesn't do it justice!

 

As for 'fearless.' Not really. More like ham-fisted builder who is using putty to cover up his inability to glue two pieces of styrene together in a somewhat straight line! I think the car guys have a saying about "Bondo and paint make me the welder I aint!"

-Peter

 

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On 1/26/2022 at 11:01 AM, easixpedro said:

Oddly enough...

 

My dad's a Nam vet. Armored Cav.  He really didn't / doesn't talk about it. But he always said he liked having Navy/Marine Crusader's flying close air support as he said the air force Phantoms were always up high and never close enough.  Always chalked it up to old man 'war stories,' and that it couldn't have been that different. Fast forward to 2000, and I attend a reunion his Cavalry Squadron was having in DC--they all went to Vietnam together on a troop ship and to this day are a very tight bunch.  Attended all the ceremonies and hung out with all the troopers. Funny side story--John Abrams (the son of Creighton Abrams, MACV after Westmorland and the guy they named the tank after, THAT Abrams...) was a Platoon leader back then--he was there as a 4-Star General. Comical to watch a bunch of draftees continually drink beer and tell unflattering stories that essentially left his aides cringing.

 

Anyway, at that reunion, someone had a photo album and I saw a photo that I wish I still had. It was a pic of a Crusader making a guns run in support of their Cav Troop. The damn thing was lower than the antennas on a couple of M-48s that it was flying in between! Although it was a blurry pic, you could tell it was a Marine F-8 because it said Marines on the side of the fuselage, but even more impressive was you could see the gun exhaust streaking down the side.  In my mind, it sure violated a whole host of principles about CAS that we use today, but certainly proved my fathers point.  I liked Crusaders before that, but that pic...my description doesn't do it justice!

 

As for 'fearless.' Not really. More like ham-fisted builder who is using putty to cover up his inability to glue two pieces of styrene together in a somewhat straight line! I think the car guys have a saying about "Bondo and paint make me the welder I aint!"

-Peter

 

 

Great story! Abrams was also in the 4th Armored Division, and was considered the hottest Battalion commander and then went on to command one of the Combat Commands in the Division. 

 

I bought an RC tank with some bonus money, got it used, and was destroyed in shipping. I decided instead of fighting the guy for a refund, to keep it and fix it. The seller, refunded me enough to cover all the parts. So now, I have some plastic model building to do.  To this end, I bought an airbrush, and paints.  I will be painting the RC Sherman up as Creighton Abrams tank,  Thunderbolt IV. 

 

What this all means though, is, I now have all my model making tools, paints, an actual air compressor, not a hobby one, and an airbrush.  So once the tank is done. I think I'm going to build a 1/35th scale Sherman. But after that, it will be my nearly 20 year old, 1/32 scale Tamiya Zero, the one with working landing gear... And after that, Tamiya's awesome 1/32 Corsair. 

 

I am back in the model building game Gents! and I'm pretty excited.

 

20220103_170030

 

Sorry about the Hijack! 

Back to your awesome build. 

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12 hours ago, JeepsGunsTanks said:

 

Great story! Abrams was also in the 4th Armored Division, and was considered the hottest Battalion commander and then went on to command one of the Combat Commands in the Division. 

 

I bought an RC tank with some bonus money, got it used, and was destroyed in shipping. I decided instead of fighting the guy for a refund, to keep it and fix it. The seller, refunded me enough to cover all the parts. So now, I have some plastic model building to do.  To this end, I bought an airbrush, and paints.  I will be painting the RC Sherman up as Creighton Abrams tank,  Thunderbolt IV. 

 

What this all means though, is, I now have all my model making tools, paints, an actual air compressor, not a hobby one, and an airbrush.  So once the tank is done. I think I'm going to build a 1/35th scale Sherman. But after that, it will be my nearly 20 year old, 1/32 scale Tamiya Zero, the one with working landing gear... And after that, Tamiya's awesome 1/32 Corsair. 

 

I am back in the model building game Gents! and I'm pretty excited.

 

20220103_170030

 

Sorry about the Hijack! 

Back to your awesome build. 

Love it, and welcome back to the fray!  

 

When I was in Jr. High, there was a Hobby Shop across the street from school. I spent a LOT of time in there after school as I took my time getting home. They had a used one sitting in the window--$100 at the time. I saved and saved and saved and finally bought it. That thing brought a lot of joy to a young teenager!

 

break break

 

For a quick update on the build, I just had to share this pic I took this morning.  Filler work is done and I scribed the radome last night.  Also added the rubber coating that's on the front of the radome. More on that as I get everything sorted. Even got the IFR Probe sitting on there--will update you on that process too once I take some better pics.  I'm just pleased she's starting to look like a Prowler!

20220128_054016

 

Need to finish scribing the boarding platform and the cheek panels, then a quick cote of primer to check everything. Then I figure she's ready for paint!  Hopefully this weekend, but time will tell. Daughter's last HS swim meet of the season is this weekend, so I don't expect much will get accomplished.

-Peter

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Thanks dudes!

 

Sitting at a swim meet and thought I'd share some quick snaps I took of the IFR probe. Essentially made the antenna fairing on the base out of styrene stock. It actually bulges out on one side only. Mimicked the 8802 sealant on the various seams. Also sanded the base at an angle, as the Prowler's probe was canted to aid pilot visibility. The Intruder was straight up and down. Last little bit was to sand the trailing edge flat. Not sure how the Intruder was, but the Prowler was flat, not streamlined.

 

20220128_180007

 

20220128_175849

 

Here's some great pictures from @jmel's Prowler Guide. Posted for fair use. Go buy it though, he's got all the details you need. Check out the amount of seam sealant everywhere! 

20220128_175816

Also check out how used and abused the probe is. Every single jet I flew was dented in some manner. Most leaked, hence the copious amounts of sealant. It was always easier to just add more sealant after a pilot tangled with the Iron Maiden than it was to try and pull everything apart and find the source of the leak. Especially because a jet flying several hundred miles an hour could create suction similar to cracking the window of your car, which could never be duplicated on deck. Slap some sealant on it and call it good!

-Peter

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42 minutes ago, Aigore said:

Awesome probe and pictures of the same......those 1:1 fillers would never go down with an ipms judge :P

Well, I guess we’ll see at this years Nationals in Omaha. Should be finished in time and it’s less than 2 miles from the homestead. I don’t expect it to garner anything other than ooohs and ahhs.

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1 hour ago, easixpedro said:

Well, I guess we’ll see at this years Nationals in Omaha. Should be finished in time and it’s less than 2 miles from the homestead. I don’t expect it to garner anything other than ooohs and ahhs.

 

Haha, same here. I'm hoping and thinking I can get the F7F done in time by August, but am not expecting anything out of it, as it will be far from perfect.

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  • easixpedro changed the title to EA-6B Prowler (30 Jan: Scribing)

Quick update as I’m deep in the midst of scribing all the stuff around the nose. 
 

Here’s how I scribe the one off shapes like the hand hold doors and various handles. Simply cut a piece of styrene and carve out the appropriate shape. Super easy and allows you to keep things symmetrical etc. you can see how I’d already done the boarding platform and the panels on the cheek.

20220130_100845


Here you can see the end result. Took all of about 2 minutes to make one handhold… you can also see where I’ve drawn out locations for the others. Also used Chuck’s trick of putting a wash in place to see how everything looks. Tough to see with the approximate 49.67 shades of gray on the nose.

20220130_101254


off to work on the hinges for the canopy, and all the panel lines on the turtle back (plus all those dzus fasteners).

-Peter

 

Edited by easixpedro
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Couldn't resist as I was tidying up my work area, before the in-laws arrive this week. Taped the pods and gear on to take a quick look. Obviously getting waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead of myself, but good for motivation! 

 

20220130_191152

 

Sat down tonight to make a punch list of things to knock out prior to masking and painting. Slow and steady wins the race in this case, and we've come so far, no sense in rushing things.

-Peter 

Edited by easixpedro
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