Cal Fire Grumman S-2T Turbo Tracker COMPLETE

Great subject!  I heard these guys a lot over the radio frequency in Sacramento when I flight instructing over the summer.  Great build!

Thanks ultra.   Another Sacramento dude

Whoo Hoo !

 Now that's a beautiful Job on an unusual subject ! Planes like this and others are seemingly forgotten by most modelers . Great Build and impressive finish on this project .

Thanks TB.  Ive been doing more non millitary birds...though still love the fighters 

Nice job with that KeavDog! I've got to get me at least one of those conversions.

Thanks lewbud.   Its a really well cast conversion.  And the draw decals are great.

Nice work!

Thanks cbaltrin - a labor of love.  She's not a contest model, but represents the overall livery.  Cal Fire must have spent some time on making this bird look good!

Wow, great finish. Nice representation.

Cool - be sure to post your build thread.  Are you doing the 1/48 Kinetic S-2F?  Where do you get the engines from?  Draw decals has a 1/48 set as well as the 1/72 set.

So I was looking at my local bi-weekly publication and with all the fires around town, the cover is an in flight action shot of the exact plane I did.  Kinda cool.

Wow, that is satisfying that you even found a magazine showing your exact plane.

I wanted to get a tripled of all the planes of one airport. I started planning out 1/48 with the Bronco and tried to find all the pieces for the two S2s. I reached out to the person you got the conversion kit from and he has it only in 1/72 but not available. I may scale down to 1/72 but my goal is to get the lead plane and both tankers done. 

Once I have something to show (and not embarassed about) I will open a thread and show my progress :)

Keavdog,

Sorry I didn’t see this the first time around. You did a magnificent job on this. I’m glad I could help out in some small way. Very cool with the magazine cover of your plane, maybe frame and display it?

JayJay, what decal set did you get, by chance?

Hi John, Somehow my question for you ended up on page 3. Don't understand Wolf's site.  Any tips?  Thanks AARDVARK

Thanks for the kind words.  I'm doing the bronco next.  I have the academy kit and draw decals.  Unfortunately its from an older style of cal fire markings but it's still cool.

Aardvark Send him an email at oder@wolfmodel.de. 

Found here in the right column: http://www.modellwolf.de/conversion/conversion.html

Let him know what you want.  He was very responsive and I cant say enough about the quality of the casting.  

Okay Now !

 Listen here Toshi ! The car that served me best for much of it's life was a 2003 Kia Sedona L.X. Fully loaded . Boy do I miss her ! Note - They can take a T-Bone hit without hurting you much !

Hi K/D :

 Question . How does this A/C refill ? Does it have to land and fill up  ? The reason I ask is it looks like that's the only way she gets filled up ! By the way , beautiful job on that model !

Thanks TB it was a fun project.  They have to land to refill.  There's a couple pics in the thread that show the refill nozzle on the tail of the plane on page 1.  The attack bases store the Phos-Chek retardant.  Good operations video here (for a different fire attack base) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8LT_v22arU

Another first class WIP totally missed by me.

What a nice job you did on this CalFire aircraft. It's neat that you have two living at your home airport.

, and thank you for sharing this WIP of an interesting model, John.

keavdog

: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8LT_v22arU

Watching those tankers fly is something else. 
Particularly compared to the C-2 I've seen--which use a lot more flap.  But, those were loaded differently, and had radials, not turboprops.

The cockpits all seem a bit topsy-turvey with most of the center console stuff in the center overhead.  Those CalFire pilots make it look easy to manage that much aircraft single-handed, too.  Kudos to them.

Kudos also to this WIP.  Outstanding.

Thanks Greg.  Thanks CapnMac.  I was thinking the same thing, one hand on the flight controls and I assume the overhead is thrust/pitch and perhaps tank controls.  And the way the fly nape of the earth over such conditions!  We really appreciate all the fire crews out here.

If I remember the cockpit layout (and it's been a very, very long time)

The controls are Landing Gear; Propellor pitch, Throttle, flaps.  At least on a C-2.

C-2 used radials, so the supercharger was geared to the shaft; flight power was from the turbo,  So, you could use a "set" throttle, and vary blade pitch   Turboprops run better at a fixed throttle setting, too, so blade pitch is good management tool.

I wondered about how they triggered the drop.  Problem being there's not a lot of good places on the yoke to put a thumb switch.  So, it's probably a switch in the overhead.

Or not.

keavdog

I have the academy kit and draw decals.  Unfortunately its from an older style of cal fire markings but it's still cool.

Same here, as I could not get the conversion kit for the S2 I got the academy model first. I ordered decals for the S2 and some testors decals for printing. I sort of how the Cal Fire decals of the S2 will fit in size because you cannot print white. My goal is to get the complete set of the Bronco and the two S2s of the airport done, but I will take my time with it.

For the S2 conversion kit I actually found another supplier also who even has the nozzle at the back for the fire detergend refill. But I have not received my order yet, so I cannot tell yet if they are legit.

 Looks like my question sort of revived this thread. It is a beautiful model.... btw. did you tint the two roof windows of the S2?

I tinted the windows with tamiya clear blue.  Post up that conversion kit when you get it!

What I did was cut off the bulb and insert a small piece of brass tubing at the approximate angle then cut a small  piece of sprue and painted it red for the cap.

BTW - put a lot of weight in the nose.  I thought I added enough and she's still a tail sitter - hence the clear sprue tail stand.