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

[easixpedro]

1 hour ago, MARU5137 said:

Peter,

EXEMPLARY  Workmanship. 

 

Heck, those seats are very busy and so detailed.

Thanks Maru!  Those are resin seats--if I learned anything from my 1/24th attempt, it was that I was not going to attempt and scratchbuild 4 GRUEA-7 seats again!  I just bought 2 sets for a Tomcat--essentially the same seat. Once I paint them, no one will know any different. Of course, some of that lovely detail will come off so I can put figures on them, but I'm hoping to save some of it--time will tell. Of course getting 4 crewmembers aligned and made to fit w/in the confines of a scratchbuilt cockpit may just send me to the funny farm!

1 hour ago, bdthoresen said:

 I’ve work, Pete. I was just scraping and resealing a bunch of fuel tank panels on the E-2D I am working on. Some kid had used a tongue depressor and slathered it over all of the seams on its last deployment, what a mess. I guess in the field it has to work. Here, that won’t fly!

 

THOR    

Ha!  I can just imagine it (although I'm shocked that you've already got E-2D's coming through...didn't that hit the fleet yesterday?!)  Sometimes you can only shake your operational level maintenance practices--even with all the improvements to the process over the years. At the end of the day, it's still a bunch of young men and women (kids) straight out of training getting things done.

I have a vivid memory of a good friend (had known him since he was a junior aviation electrician and at the time a Senior Chief), that was teaching these kids how to trace wires to find a faulty ground. We were in Afghanistan, and he was out on the tarmac with the entire schematic laid out--like a 10 foot long multi-fold schematic. They had rocks holding it down in the wind as he taught these kids. Not exactly optimal working conditions (It took several more months before they finally found the faulty wire during phased maintenance).

Another funny story: When I was a JO, our maintenance officer was a little aggressive in his aero-braking--that's when you pull the nose up after landing to bleed off airspeed. The planform will help decelerate the airplane before hitting the brakes, and helps save some wear and tear on both the brakes and tires. He ended up grinding off a major portion of the tail skag, the fuel dump mast and a good portion of the rudder. We were in Turkey doing Op Northern Watch at the time and weren't going to get a rudder anytime soon. The portion of the rudder he ground off was mostly fiberglass, so the airframers went to the medical folks and got a bunch of fiberglass that's used for making casts! It looked like crap, but the bird was up for the next days' sorties...!  I'm sure the I-level folks wondered what happened when the rudder was eventually turned in.

 

Was going through my photos as I started the cockpit--have a couple of good ones of your co-workers at the Depot that I'll share here shortly. They're old PA photos, but are a treasure trove of details of stripped cockpits.  More soon!

-Peter

[bdthoresen]

58 minutes ago, easixpedro said:

Thanks Maru!  Those are resin seats--if I learned anything from my 1/24th attempt, it was that I was not going to attempt and scratchbuild 4 GRUEA-7 seats again!  I just bought 2 sets for a Tomcat--essentially the same seat. Once I paint them, no one will know any different. Of course, some of that lovely detail will come off so I can put figures on them, but I'm hoping to save some of it--time will tell. Of course getting 4 crewmembers aligned and made to fit w/in the confines of a scratchbuilt cockpit may just send me to the funny farm!

Ha!  I can just imagine it (although I'm shocked that you've already got E-2D's coming through...didn't that hit the fleet yesterday?!)  Sometimes you can only shake your operational level maintenance practices--even with all the improvements to the process over the years. At the end of the day, it's still a bunch of young men and women (kids) straight out of training getting things done.

I have a vivid memory of a good friend (had known him since he was a junior aviation electrician and at the time a Senior Chief), that was teaching these kids how to trace wires to find a faulty ground. We were in Afghanistan, and he was out on the tarmac with the entire schematic laid out--like a 10 foot long multi-fold schematic. They had rocks holding it down in the wind as he taught these kids. Not exactly optimal working conditions (It took several more months before they finally found the faulty wire during phased maintenance).

Another funny story: When I was a JO, our maintenance officer was a little aggressive in his aero-braking--that's when you pull the nose up after landing to bleed off airspeed. The planform will help decelerate the airplane before hitting the brakes, and helps save some wear and tear on both the brakes and tires. He ended up grinding off a major portion of the tail skag, the fuel dump mast and a good portion of the rudder. We were in Turkey doing Op Northern Watch at the time and weren't going to get a rudder anytime soon. The portion of the rudder he ground off was mostly fiberglass, so the airframers went to the medical folks and got a bunch of fiberglass that's used for making casts! It looked like crap, but the bird was up for the next days' sorties...!  I'm sure the I-level folks wondered what happened when the rudder was eventually turned in.

 

Was going through my photos as I started the cockpit--have a couple of good ones of your co-workers at the Depot that I'll share here shortly. They're old PA photos, but are a treasure trove of details of stripped cockpits.  More soon!

-Peter

Ha! Too funny. I am part of the Mod Team that is installing air-to-air refueling capabilities on the first 45 E-2D’s. Huge job. Interestingly enough, one of the birds I am working this minute was one I helped build on the assembly line two years ago......she has been assigned to a rag squadron since we delivered her, and it shows. She’s beat up already. But I do love fixing them up and handing them back.....Turns out NG figured out that I was a far better aircraft mechanic rather than a factory assembly worker.....

 

I would love to see some photos of the old B-ship program. Bunch of my co-workers here were on that program. Who knows, you might have a few photos of them! 
 

Anyway, enough of my jabber. Great work on the Prowler- I am loving it!

 

THOR    

[Derek B]

Impressive work Peter, well done! 

 

Derek

[easixpedro]

So I searched my computer,  but couldn't find the pics I'd saved earlier...but fortunately I'd printed them back in the day. Found them on a NavAir PA release. Some good details of the forward cockpit. I won't be doing all the wiring,  but still gives one the idea.

 

 

I love this photo too. Classic example of what Thor and I have been talking about. Some great details in the photo, if you can get past the Sailor working on the seats. Look at how he's squatting/sitting across the center console and 2 ejection seats! Also check out the general grunge and worn paint on the consoles.

 

Also, if you haven't seen this sight, I highly recommend it. It's a search engine for images at the National Archives and is a bit easier to search than their website. Also scrolls through DVIDS. A simple search of EA-6B gave 750 photos across some 40 years. Good stuff!

https://nara.getarchive.net/search

 

More as soon as I can get time to build something...

-Peter

[jeroen_R90S]

Nice work again, Peter!

I just lost a lot of modelling time browsing your link!

[easixpedro]

3 minutes ago, jeroen_R90S said:

Nice work again, Peter!

I just lost a lot of modelling time browsing your link!

Haha, yes it can be a rabbit hole for certain. I spent a good amount of time there the other day...a trip down memory lane as I knew a bunch of the folks. It’s a boon for those looking for pics from the 70s-2000s. Some fascinating NavAir shots in that era as they moved from gray and white to low-viz. Some great Desert Storm stuff too! Even better, is it’s all Public Domain so no copyright.

[jeroen_R90S]

Yes, certainly neat stuff -I first searched for aircraft types and unit designations and such, but though less useful for a model, when I searched for a carrier name or designation some very nice pictures showed up -sometimes with aircraft in the back, sometimes "just" people doing their jobs.

Thanks for sharing -in The Netherlands we have similar site, but they pictures can't be downloaded, only screenshotted unfortunately.

 

Jeroen

[jeroen_R90S]

On 2/28/2021 at 9:35 AM, jeroen_R90S said:

I'm following along how you go about that... I'm probably going crazy, but I'm actually considering getting an A-6E for a similar setup...

 

On 2/28/2021 at 2:48 PM, easixpedro said:

Good to know I’ve sent someone over the edge! Always good to have competition at the funny farm. Did an Intruder eons ago, (no pics though). Just using the plain kit would be imminently easier though!

-Peter

I don't know what I was thinking, as I'm not much into doing multiples, but I just got a great deal on an A-6E.... I already had the AOA Intruder Sandbox decals for a while (I've learned to get decals when they are available and it saves on shipping to Europe).

Some parts off the sprues and bags opened, but it all seems to be there!

 

Thanks, Peter!

[easixpedro]

Slow going at the moment. Been too busy, hence no real updates. Have started on the aft cockpit. Lots of fettling about to ensure everything fits. I’m using drawings taken from the NATOPS manual and scaled down to size to check everything. So far so good. Generally going for broad representation, as it’ll be pretty busy in here, so I won’t bother with some things that will be buried (after building the T-Handle for the oxygen system). 
 

 

 

That’s it for now. Hopefully the next post will have some more substance to it.

-Peter

[easixpedro]

Red letter day around these parts--took the day off from work and managed to get some building done while everyone was still sleeping in.

 

Managed a couple of attempts at pulling a canopy.  On my third attempt, I finally got something that's workable.  Will need some polishing, but very usable!  I mentioned before that I'd made a frame for my earlier efforts.  Here you can see it cooking in our oven. Low temps are key, especially with clear sheets.  I start at 200F, until it gets soft and move it up from there. I don't remember which type of plastic does it, but certain ones will get bubbles in the plastic if you heat it too rapidly.  My sheets aren't labeled...(grabbed a bunch of different types at Hobby Lobby for about $2 for an 8"x11" sheet). 

 

 

Here it is after smashing it down over my wooden canopies I'd carved.  Couple of things to note: 1) I wore leather work gloves to keep from burning myself on hot plastic. Oven mitts would work too (although my wife isn't keen on melty plastic in the kitchen and touching things), but gloves allow me to use my fingers to help hold the plastic in the correct shape because I'm not vacu-forming it. 2) use something to clamp the plastic down to the frame--in this case I drilled holes and used thumb tacks as my clamps weren't big enough to go around the scrap lumber I used.  This will prevent the plastic from falling off the frame when it starts sagging. Also is helpful when you smash it over the mold.

 

From here, I gently used a new jewelers saw to cut around the mold. I also taped it up to keep from scratching, or worse, cracking the plastic.  No pics of that though. After a bit of sanding, here's the end result. As I mentioned before, a bit of sanding/polishing and I have a workable piece to start working on the canopy frames. They're pretty big bits of hulking metal on the real deal and wouldn't look right without them in this scale.

 

In this view, you can see I already started sanding. I had some weird ridge on this side, right along the bottom edge. Sanded right out and I'll be able to polish it and we're off to the races!  Fit isn't 'perfect,' but will blend in nicely and be hidden w/ the framing on the inside and outside.  Overall, I'm quite pleased with the result. This was going to be the show-stopper on this build if I couldn't get it sorted. Of course, now I've got to figure out a way to replicated the gold canopy to my satisfaction, but that's a different problem for a different day! For now, it's back to building out the cockpits. Just ordered some of peters bezels 'n such to fill out the instrument panels.  Still debating on anyz knobs, but will pull that trigger soon enough.

 

Thanks for following along,

-Peter

[LSP_Kevin]

Great work, Peter!

 

Kev

[allthumbs]

Smashing! Sorry, couldn’t resist. Project is coming along great...watching with lots of interest.

 

Rich

[easixpedro]

1 hour ago, allthumbs said:

Smashing! Sorry, couldn’t resist. Project is coming along great...watching with lots of interest.

 

Rich

Ha! Thanks! Happy to be over this hurdle...managed to get ECMO 2’s (that’s the back right seat) IP built out. Picks soon—too busy building!

[Padubon]

This is the gutsiest build I have ever seen!

[jmel]

Such a cool project!!  I sure wish there were a 1/32 Prowler kit for us sissies.