1/72 EKA-3B Skywarrior/Whale - DONE! 09/20/2015

Thanks a lot, DevilDawg! It will probably take me some time to finish this one, because I build slowly, but I hope it will turn out nice. Thanks again and have a nice day

Paweł

Wow! That is one great job you've got going so far. My eyes are getting too bad for 1/72nd scale stuff. Can hardly wait to see the finished product. Keep up the good modeling!

Hello again!

It's been a long time and I got some things done, today I got to photograph it.

First, I built up the engines. The result is rather nice:

The insides of the oil coolers (inside the intakes) are very nicely detailed.

I'm also preparing to close the fuselage:

I installed the cockpit, the "hallway", and the wheel well in the fuselage half. I glued a piece of resin casting block between the cockpit floor and the wheel well roof to prevent the wheel well from falling inside the fuselage. I have determined, that he model doesn't realy need a nose weight, plus there is a lot of space in the forward electronic blisters, so I'm not installing any more in the nose for now. I also put some styrene sheet between the main gear bays to do the tunnel connecting them and blank off the gaping hole that would be there otherwise.

Now I'm going to glue the fuselage halves together, filling the seams will probably be a lot of fun...

Thanks for reading, have a nice day

Paweł

H-3 - Big M*u*t*h*a! (Nannybot got this one as well!)

But I'm curious, about that other Viggie nickname - maybe code it or sumthin'?

And also A-4 - Scooter

Thanks for your comments, have a nice day!

Paweł

The Nicknames

F-4J = Rhino

A-7 = S.L.U.F.

S-1 = Stoof (reference to original designation S2F)

E-1 = Stoof with a roof

A-3 = Whale or *** Whale, earlier All Three Dead (original designation A3D)

A-5 = Viggie (also an x-rated name I won't bother to type)

A-6 = Don't remember

H-3 = Don't remember

Hello!

I went on with the exit "hallway". It leads from the cockpit to the exit hatch on the underside of the aircraft, and to the bomb bay (the atomic weapon had to be armed in flight). The three doors that are necessary were done fixing the undersize etched Eduard parts to correct sized styrene sheet parts:

I also went on to build the engines. As I read here: http://modelingmadness.com/review/viet/laskodia3.htm , I cut off the intake part of the nacelle, and filled, sanded and painted it separately - otherwise it could be really hard:

Now I'm off to do the second engine and the forward wheel bay. Thanks for reading, have a nice day

Paweł

subfixer - thanks a lot for the great graphic - where did you get it from? It will help me a lot with other models and the paint scheme for the Whale is also interesting, that will give me something to think about! Thanks again and have a nice day

Paweł

Sorry to take so long to get back to you, Pawel. I was on Ranger from 1972-1975,

Hello!

Sorry, I didn't know how extensive the book was. Cockpit shots? I would love 'em! Maybe I can improve a thing or two. Thanks in advance and have a nice day

Paweł

Everything??? That could be a full time job.  But I will certainly post up some helps.  How about a cockpit shot or two?

Marty - glad I could help you some. That panorama from the museum is definitely captioned EA-3B. That book must be really something - written by the man who designed this aircraft! If you would be so kind, I would as you to post everything that relates directly to the EKA variant here in this thread - that would also be a request for other readers too! Thanks in advance and have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel,

Yes, I'm doing an EA-3B.  Those are somer great links. I will be using them.  My guess is the cockpit is an A3D-2T aka TA-3B, which would have had the permanent pass through and no position for the 5th EWO. (the old bombardier or tanker operator station). I've got Aerograph 5 by Francillion and Heinemann so if you have a questions or need a picture just let me know what you want and I'll see if I can locate something for you.

Keep up the good work, I'll be watching, and as soon as I finish up a bird for the Dornier 335 GB I'll get back on my project.  I've done quite a bit of work since my last posting in my *** whale thread and I'll get a post up there in the near term.

Best, Marty

MAgather - Thanks a lot for your comment! You're building an electronic Whale - right? I don't know if the Obscureco cockpit would be good for you in that case. Eduard detail set would be OK, though, with modifications - it even has the correct lower crew hatch for your version. Let me post two links for you, maybe they will help you:

www.navalaviationmuseum.org/.../virtualtour

tailspintopics.blogspot.com/.../mighty-skywarrior.html

Thanks again, have a nice day

Paweł

Hey Pawel,

I'm building a whale too, and also recently found the Obscurco cockpit.  You are doing amazing work! I needed a break because I've got so many 'firsts' in my build and am scratching a bunch of stuff way beyond my skill set.  But your 'pit is looking fantastic.

Hello!

Thanks a lot for your comments and your kind words, subfixer! Do you remember any squadrons you had on the deck then? What year was it? I'm tempted to do the VAQ-130 tanker with those five black stripes across the tail, but for now I'm still open to other ideas. Thanks again, have a nice day

Paweł

I had to scroll back to confirm that this cockpit is 1/72, excellent work, Pawel. I was thinking that it was 1/48 scale at least. I was stationed on Ranger during Vietnam and remember these aircraft well.