easixpedro Posted August 9, 2020 Author Share Posted August 9, 2020 Quick update as I was on a roll... Finished shaping the hook. Not going to mount it just yet, as I work my way through the major construction. Not that I’m afraid of it breaking, rather it’s a large fairly pointy piece of metal and I don’t feel like stabbing myself with it! Here it is compared to the kit part. You’ll note mine is about a mm wider. Otherwise, it looks good and is very stout. I drilled through the hook fairing part, so it’ll slide in. You can see how I bent the rods so it’ll rest on the fuselage and abuts the bulkhead. I’ll cover it liberally with JB Weld on the top and bottom. It’s really about maximizing the contact points that will help support it. Frankly overbuilding is good. Here’s a side profile shot. Note how the hook actually extends further than the hook point. That’s what will get inserted into the wooden base and support the entire deal! and one last view. Note I filled in the holes Trumpeter has on both sides. Also filled in the little dial on the right side. It’s a gauge to check dashpot pressure—that’s what keeps the tailhook ‘down’ when it hits the steel deck. It was pressurized at 1,000 lbs to keep the hook from slapping back up and hitting the airplane. That’s it for now. I’ll concentrate on getting the horizontal stabs situated and the antennas on the tail. -Peter F`s are my favs, leoasman, red Dog and 18 others 21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmel Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 That is so cool!!! Great progress!! easixpedro 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easixpedro Posted September 8, 2020 Author Share Posted September 8, 2020 Well... I was REALLY hoping to post an update after this long weekend, but life kind of got in the way. That and my scratch building skills. Seriously, I built and rebuilt the HF antenna fairing 3 times this weekend. (It’s the long skinny fairing in front of the tail). I didn’t bother taking pics as they were that bad. On the plus side, after some introspection, I have a way forward. Hopefully will have some pics to post later this week. More soonest! -Peter Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RadBaron Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 That looks fantastic, Peter! easixpedro 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Nice! easixpedro 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easixpedro Posted September 10, 2020 Author Share Posted September 10, 2020 Thanks folks! Always nice to know someone is following along in the ether. Managed to make the HF antenna that was kicking my rear end. Looks a little rough, but should be acceptable under primer. Still have to go back and cover the eleventeen billion rivets, so it'll get shot once that task is done. You'll note that I also added the antennas on the vertical stab. Part of the ALQ-99 receivers. They'll get blended in a bit too. I also added a square panel out of litho for the horizontal stab. Note how I cut off the attachment points Trumpy provides in order to replicate it with tubing like the real deal. Here's the stabs themselves I filled the rivets with perfect plastic putty. For the panel lines, I used Tamiya putty laid down between masking tape to replicate the caulk that's used in those panel lines on the real deal. Point to remember here, is that seam sealant is usually applied by young airmen ...imagine your best caulking job at age 19-20! Now do it hanging 15 feet off the ground! And this 8022 sealant is horrible. It smears and doesn't clean up with a darn in real life. It's usually applied in excess above the panel line, so I'm not too worried about the unevenness of it. That's it for now. Hope to get some more bench time soon so I can something to share. Hoping to start working on the foreward sections to block out the basic airframe shape before I start on the wings etc. Thanks for following! -Peter Out2gtcha, daveculp, dodgem37 and 12 others 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 Lovely work! Cant wait to see more - wish we had one of these OOB chrish and easixpedro 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Youngtiger1 Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 Wonderful work Peter. I am jealous for sure. I sure wish there was a kit of this jet in 1/32. I was trying to convince Paul Fisher few years ago about doing a conversation but he said he wouldn’t be surprised if trumpeter didn’t come out with one since it such an icon of a jet in naval aviation. So, for the time being I will indulge myself with your work. Keep up the good work. Mike easixpedro 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easixpedro Posted September 11, 2020 Author Share Posted September 11, 2020 23 hours ago, Out2gtcha said: Lovely work! Cant wait to see more - wish we had one of these OOB 23 hours ago, Youngtiger1 said: Wonderful work Peter. I am jealous for sure. I sure wish there was a kit of this jet in 1/32. I was trying to convince Paul Fisher few years ago about doing a conversation but he said he wouldn’t be surprised if trumpeter didn’t come out with one since it such an icon of a jet in naval aviation. So, for the time being I will indulge myself with your work. Keep up the good work. Mike Thanks gents! I hear you on the wish for a kit. I doubt we’ll see one...we lived with that crappy Airfix and then Monogram one for eons before an OK rendering in 1/48th scale. I didn’t want to wait that long. Especially as I spent 2 decades around and flying the old girl. I realized that even though I’ve built darned near 20 smaller scale Prowlers, they were all as commission builds or as gifts over the years. So after seeing some of the epic builds on here, I figured I should try and make my own. Maybe I’ll finish in time for nats here in Omaha... More soon. Managed to fill the rivets on the empennage and spray some Tamiya primer. Looks good, but definitely have some stuff to work on. Planning on how to do the cockpit area and nose. Off to check Ben’s fabulous build for ideas! -Peter D.B. Andrus and Greg W 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael931080 Posted September 11, 2020 Share Posted September 11, 2020 Whoa! Serious modelling transformation! easixpedro 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red Dog Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 Impressive that you want this monster to be hanging on it's hook. I did this in the past with a F/A-18 and one thing to consider is the AoA of the aircrfat landing, so since inevitably it will sag a bit (or more) you might want to increase the angle a bit just to allow the nose to come down but still keep the right AOA. I'm sure you planned all this. In the end, I had a plan B on my hornet with a transparent support rod through the centreline external tank. And I had to revert to my plan B because the model picth down too much with only the rod cross. Hope you succeed where I failed. I'll be looking with interest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easixpedro Posted September 12, 2020 Author Share Posted September 12, 2020 Thanks for the encouragement! Will build it out some more to see how much it weighs before i fully commit. That being said, I've built about 10 smaller scale scenes, plus 2 LSPs. Goal is really to show others how its done--really quite easy! But you are correct that things will sag without good planning. Here's a Tamiya F-4C converted to B that I finished about 11 years ago. scvrobeson, dodgem37, Squizzy 78 and 13 others 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easixpedro Posted September 13, 2020 Author Share Posted September 13, 2020 Ok, quick photo to show how I spent tha afternoon. Was toying around with the front section. Check out Starfighter's build on here...my approach is similar. I cit the kit radome parallel with the trailing edge and then you have a perfectly usable radome up front. Will just have to build out the section in between. Also used the rear decking from the kit canopy. Did that after several attempts to plank it. There's a LOT of complex curves right in that area. I won't be using that canopy, so it gave me something to deviate from. More soon after I have some real progress to show! Peter Scotsman, Greg W, Dragon and 11 others 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easixpedro Posted September 20, 2020 Author Share Posted September 20, 2020 Ok folks, small update. Started a new job on Monday, which means a lot less travel. As such I managed a few hours at the bench the past week. Started planking in the nose section. You can see the graceful lines starting to come out. Not many would say that about a Prowler, but I'm here to tell you that girl had curves! Here's a real blurry pic to show the process. Didnt realize it was blurry till I'd uploaded it, and after I'd primed it... Here's the other side. You can see I kept the kit pieces that will allow my to use the kit's windscreen. Trying to make it easier on myself. The section of canopy I have left will be perfect for the aft cockpit. You can see the planking technique I used peaking through. Goal is to get these fuselage sides done and do the cockpit floors before attempting to make the section in the middle and finessing the canopies. After all that is done I'll piece together the wings to do a fit check to see if my plan for the hook works. Think I'm still good weight wise, but always worth checking a few times before I'm committing to something that won't work... Thanks for following along Peter JeepsGunsTanks, Landrotten Highlander, Marcel111 and 14 others 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbetty Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 (edited) very nice work. a vac front part would be of use.... Edited September 21, 2020 by blackbetty easixpedro 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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