Don: She's lookin' cooler and cooler!!!

I wouldn't worry about the prop decals unless you're modeling the prototype as she actually looked.

It's standing on its own legs now- got the LG struts all in.  Still have some work on the vertical tail surfaces.  The wheels, gear doors ready to put on.  Still working on the props!  Eight blades, wood grain plus two colors- tips and roots different colors.  Two sets of decals each blade!  Well, I'll get there.

Hi Don !

 Now I must say really .That reminds me of a failed jet that was not popular with it's pilots - The Chance-Vought  Twin Tailed " Cutlass " monstrosity the Navy flew ! Whatta weird looking jet and besides the forward visibility must've been weird too !

 Now I will say this .You are doing a bang up job !

A warning to anyone building, or planning on building this kit.  The gear door attachments are very fragile.  I keep knocking them off when I work on other areas!  Also, the door hinges are tiny seperate parts.  The slots in the door where these glue to are too narrow for the hinges to set into.  Also, the C-shaped hinges have the sprue attachment on the inside of the C.  This recess is needed to clear a lip of skin.  But it is very hard to trim this area on a 3/16 x 3/32 part!  The sprue attachment should have been on the outside of the C.  Hope you have some good pliers.  I'm leaving the doors that come off on the bench for now, will install as last step.

That is so often one of the real weak points in little jet kits. I think my Navy jet shelf has little parts all over it.

Sometimes a piece of overscale aluminum is the way to go, allows for some "bendability".

Don, that's exceptionally nice work on that old kit. I'm glad you're building it so I can see how it should be done.

I'm still grateful to you for your masterful build of the Lindberg Jenny to which I will refer when I get around to mine ... It's always good to have someone's quality work to look at when attempting to build one's own model.

I have the 1/72 version from Hasegawa I started on, promptly spilled liquid cement on the undersides and put away at the back of the stash. You've almost given me the impetus to try again...

Hi Don ;

 Watching this and the looks it is sure to get , I am thinking about maybe finding one . I will probably smile all through the build .

Hey Don, checking on you and your project. This one looks fun! Cool!

Max

Latest hangup.  There are mass balances on the elevon mounting spars.  I ended up breaking all four off during painting and final assembly.  This means butt joints on small diameter parts.  And, I lost two of the four.  I am trying to make replacements from brass rod, but will need to drill the leading edge for these, and it is a very sharp leading edge- having trouble drilling it with a 25 mil drill :-)

When you get very far along with this kit it becomes a porcupine.  There is no good place to pick it up without endangering some fine, breakable detail.  I recommend leaving those mass balances off until very last, but keep redrilling the mounting holes after each coat of paint.

Ouch! Good luck there Don. I hate stuff like that- either attach it before painting and take the chance of knocking it off or leave it after painting and take the chance to marr the finish attaching them. 

It is finished!  I could do a little more, but am tired of it. Hope no one will notice outboard mass balances are too small- I should make them a bit bigger.  And yesterday was clear for photography, though 90 degrees.

Looks pretty nice, Don.  Just looking at it in 3D makes you wonder how the structure could be stiff enough to handle all the loads from those props on the end of those long stalks.

That's incredible. Didn't expect the bonds ad, that's pretty sweet.

I just noticed the nose dome- I quess to line up takeoffs between the pilot's knees.

Reminds me of pictures I've seen of the crew chief of a P-47 laying on the wing holding on to a gun barrel with one hand and signalling the pilot where to go with the other.

Very special model there, Don.

Oh wow, she turned out fantastic!!! 

Love the wooden props! 

John- I wondered about that too.  I do have a cutaway that shows the details.  The housing that surrounds the prop shaft is labled as nacelle. It must be pretty beefy!  But then, looking at the whole airplane, it looks like it would tend to be inherently tail heavy.  So, the extra weight needed probably is okay.  Sort of reminds me of my old rubber flying models- how on a plane with a short nose moment arm I had to add so much weight to balance it!

Greg- the dome covers the gun camera and landing light.

Very cool, Don. A tough build but very well done. I really like how you did the wooden propeller blades. Really nice.

I'm always amazed at the daring concepts that were developed during WWII. The McDonnell XP-67 Bat, the XP-55 Ascender, and the XP-56 Black Bullet and so many others that never reached production.

fotofrank

Very cool, Don. A tough build but very well done. I really like how you did the wooden propeller blades. Really nice.

I'm always amazed at the daring concepts that were developed during WWII. The McDonnell XP-67 Bat, the XP-55 Ascender, and the XP-56 Black Bullet and so many others that never reached production.

 

Built the bottom one.  Would like to find kits for the other two.

US had many experimental planes that were just as weird and advanced as the German ones.  But the TV shows like the History Channel and Discovery ones never show them.