Vigilante

[Oldbaldguy]

You might want to do some research before losing your mind working on the tail of this thing.  The butt-heinies on the bombers went thru a number of iterations before NAA settled on a production version for the A-5A, which may or may not be the same as that found on the RA-5C.  I assume you are going to do one of the first three or four service and weapons test airframes because they are the ones that carried the funky red paint jobs while in testing.  Those airplanes went straight to the RAG, VAH-3, when they were done testing and were immediately repainted.  One - and the only one left - ended up at Pax River where it still lives on a stick.  The only operational squadrons to fly the A-3J were Heavy One and Heavy Seven.  Their history sites and cruise books would be a good place to start if you need shots of exhausts, fairings, tail cone and such on the later bombers.

[Dandiego]

OBG, I have all of the references,  what I am lacking is the 3d skill to render what I see. But each attempt gets "slightly" better. Working on the  bomber version. Had a different tail configuration vs the photo bird.

 

Dan

Edited October 30, 2021 by Dandiego

[BiggTim]

You sure are doing a great job on this, Dan!!

[Oldbaldguy]

I have complete and unfailing faith that you’ll figure it out - look at all the other esoteric things you’ve pulled outa your butt.

[Landrotten Highlander]

10 minutes ago, Oldbaldguy said:

look at all the other esoteric things you’ve pulled outa your but

I wish you hadnae said that, not an image I want in my mind....

[Violator1991]

Not an expert with the Fusion but I had spent some time with it in the past. It should have the tools to fillet and blend up surfaces by some rounding.

Definitely this is a learning curve and I'm sure it'll get better and better each time. This is a brave undertaking and you are doing so great so far!

[Dandiego]

1991, my first print is usually quite poor. Learn by doing, try not to make the same mistake twice. 

 

I know that version 2 of the tailcone will be better than the first. The real question is how many versions before I am happy with it?

 

Dan

[Dandiego]

Anatomy of a nose job.

 

I have stepped away from trying to get the tailcone modeled. Just can't make it work.

 

So I will be working on the nose of the aircraft. Since my knowledge of Fusion 360 is still rather limited I will resort to some rather low tech solutions.

 

I have the 1:48th model to use as a guide. I have cut the nose off of the model and am using the sections to use as cross section drawings to guide my 3d design.

 

Here is the cross section for the area immediately forward of the cockpit section. I will take a photo of the cross section from directly above and use it as an imported "canvas" to draw on.

 

 

And more cut up sections.

 

 

 

Decidedly low tech but it works for me.

 

Dan

[Aigore]

Low tech is surprisingly bug free...

Coming along nicely, wish I had any insights into 3D printing so I could be of use.....so I resign to only support you in your endeavour

keep up the good work!

[Ossington 1]

Noooooooooo! The Trumpy kit is wrong around the canopies! Don't trust their cross sections. On the real craft there is pronounced 'flaring' around the window seal/fuselage top area. Once you see it in photos, you can't unsee it. The Cutting Edge resin A-5J wasn't much better to be honest. I think the Trumpy kit is fixable, but I haven't seen mine for a few years, so can't be absolutely certain. Like most modellers I want my canopies open but I think it would be fairly straightforward to glue everything down and fill/sand/fill to get it right but I'm not good at polishing the glazing afterwards.

That said, I think I could scatch build the flying surfaces and undercarriage, so if you are considering selling parts sometime, I'm keen, a can of grain filling Halfords yellow  filler/primer is at the ready! Keep up the good work!

[Dandiego]

Ok to be clear work proceeds on the Vigi. I got frustrated with the tail, switching to the nose. An Lsp'er has been kind enough to offer his services and to 3d scan the tail. Hopefully this will provide the best solution. 

 

The physical model that I am using as a guide is the Trumpeter kit but with the Cutting Edge forward fuselage. Yes I know about the canopies and their shapes. Knowing the shape and then correctly modeling the shape is my challenge.

 

Stay tuned, work continues, 

 

Dan

[Oldbaldguy]

The Viggie is an enigma from the leading edge of the intakes forward to the tip of the pitot.  It is all things to all people and no two modelers will ever see its shape the same.  Other than somehow scanning the real deal and then committing that accurately to plastic, it is most likely that the best you will be able to do will have to be good enough.  I guarantee that whatever you produce, no matter how accurate you think it is, there will be those among us - probably me included - who will say, “Dude, it just doesn’t look right.  You missed it by that much!”  Still, you are a better man than I to attempt one in this scale and I can’t wait to see how this ends.  BTW, you are better of freehanding the front end rather then use the crap Trumpeter turned out as a guide.

[Iain]

Brilliant project Dan - and marvelous progress to date!  

 

Iain

[Dandiego]

Progress, albeit small.

 

I have printed engine faces and compressor blades that will go at the back end of the intakes. I don't think anyone will ever see them but, well,.....

 

 

 

Painted up at the deep dark end of the intakes they will be fine.

 

And I have printed up another section of the forward fuselage. It is glued in place with a little putty.

 

 

And finally I put a little primer on the intake area and it looks good.

 

 

Thanks, Dan

Edited November 4, 2021 by Dandiego

[Out2gtcha]

Cool!