Variable Geometry: the Swing Wing GB

Eatthis, your new Tomcat is gonna look awesome!!  Keep up the good work!

I haven't had more than maybe an hour of bench time over the past week so I  haven't got that much done.  I did get the seams cleaned up on the upper fuselage and the engine nacelles though.  Now i gotta work on the underside.  

all of the bones look immense!

 iv started another whiff build
in the late 90s when it became apparant that the us navy intended to retire the tomcat the uk made a bold and unusual request for a few non combat ready cats to be leased to the raf. this request was promptly turned down not to be deterred the british labour government made a bizzare but in hindsight brilliant discission and asked baroness thatcher to try to persude the us goverment to reverse the discission. she arranged what can only be described as a private air display by the legendary red arrows using 9 in service tomcats needless to say the americans were bowled over by the sight .

 6 months later thatcher manadged to not only procure a dozen f14s but was also able to persuade the americans to provide them free of charge  on the understanding that they be stripped all sensitive hardware ie radar and weapons system etc and britain agree to pay the us to rebuild the fleet from the ground up thereafter the us would service and maintain the entire fleet
when asked by journalists how she was able to get the americans to agree to such an undertaking she just grinned and said "persistance dear"
 unnofficial sources in america claim tha thatcher terrorized and bullied american diplomats to the point where they wouldve signed nearly anything so long as she promised to return to the uk!

work began in 2005 the underbelly was filled in flush all the avionics and weapon systems were removed as was the tailhook and all other non military equipment the end result was a cleaner airframe that had been reduced in weight by over 25% from the service aircraft which gives the red arrows supercats steller performance and even with a full fuel load it still has a power to weight ratio exceeding 1:1


heres the only progress pic so far

It seems to have taken the US no more than 2 years to figure it out. The book simply implies that the Germans were working on it. And of course alot of prototypes don't look like the final production aircraft. The only thing i plan on changing are the added wing gloves. Not sure if the Germans would have done that, but seems to make sense to us now.

macattack80

...the more primer I spray on it, the more seams I have to rework.  Not a big deal anymore.  I am quite used to dealing with seams with this kit.  As soon as I can get all the seams smooth I will post a few pics......might be a while though

Yes, I also had a few rounds of prime and sand to smooth the fuselage and one or two parts of the engine nacelles.  Takes some time, but given the effort already expended in your build, patience is a virtue. 

Interesting, Bish.  Got to wonder how long it would have taken German engineers to solve the swing in flight issue.  And how the final solution would have looked.  Your solution will be cool to see.   

Don

I have some pics of the B-24 on the IMS IV GB. I will get some pics of the 1101 on here as soon as i have some progress. I am on the painting stage of the 24, so while its drying i am going to work on the wing gloves. Once i am happy with those, i know i can get on.

Bish, looking forward to seeing your build.  Post up a pic or 2 of the B-24.  That is one awesome bomber.  I love the beached whale look of it.

As for my B-1, it seems as the more primer I spray on it, the more seams I have to rework.  Not a big deal anymore.  I am quite used to dealing with seams with this kit.  As soon as I can get all the seams smooth I will post a few pics......might be a while though

Ye, i thought i had said Oct Nov, but always nicve just to chirp in now and again. I have to admit i have sort of started already. A couple of days ago while i was leaving the B-24 to dry, i wanted to try cutting out a part of the fuselage to adjust the wing. I managed to do it so i could move the wing forward but it has left a gap that would be no good on the real thing. My referance book doesn't say how the wings were moved, and i don't think my original plan of having ground crew move one wing will work as it is to high off the ground. But my book does say that the only reason from moving the wings on the ground was that the Germans had not yet worked out how to adjust them in flight. Seeing as i am building a possable produsction aircraft, and i think its safe to assume that the Germans would have worked things out, i am going to build it with proper swing wings as we know it today, with both wings forward for take off. To deal with the gap where i have to cut out the hole for the wing, i am thinking about adding wing gloves (i think thats the correct term), i can't see why the Germans wouldn't have thought of that. Now i am in the painting stage of the B-24, i might be able to work on that this week.

Good to hear from you Bish.  Wasn't worried; you've said all along that it would be November before you started.  It will be interesting to see what you've come up with. 

Don

Just so you know i haven't forgotton about this GB. I am getting along nicely with my B-24, so i hope to be starting on the P.1101 early in Nov. I have been doing some reading up, and i have decided to change the build slightly.

I hope to have both my builds finished before i go off to the Falklands again at the end of Feb. Both builds look simple enough and i don't see any problems.

raptordriver

Nice work! I bet you will be one happy guy when this beast is finished.

Louisville huh? On TV, it showed Louisville with a really big lobster plant.

Yeah, my next build might be a simple weekender.   

Lobster plant?  Never heard of that.  We have bison herds, Ford trucks and GE appliances, but the only lobsters I know of are those flown in to the seafood restaurants by UPS. 

Don

Nice work! I bet you will be one happy guy when this beast is finished.

Louisville huh? On TV, it showed Louisville with a really big lobster plant.

Bone with the first pass with MM Gunship Gray.  Spray the top, then 48 hrs to fully cure.  Flip it over and repeat.  I still see some areas that need better coverage; this after using 2 full bottles of paint already.  So I'll probably repeat the procedure.  Might also give the top side a light sanding; seems like my first coat went on a bit too coarsely in spots.

Also attached teh sniper pod before painting.  This came from Shawn Hull and is a pretty nice rendition of the pod.  It has internal detail as well that is hiden by masking right now.

And just noticed that I have a seam to take care of in the pod before continuing.  Amazing how these things are so apparent in the photograph, but I didn't notice beforehand. 

This Bone will rest for a week while I travel again.  This time though, not on business but to spend a week with my daughters at the beach in Florida to celebrate their School Fall Break.  When I return, it's finish up the gray coat and prepare for decaling...

Don

  Thanks Kevin.  I'm doing the Gray coat as we speak!.  Will hopefully have some pics soon.

Don

I noticed we got bumped to the second page.........I cant have that.

pordoi

 What are you going to do with this thing once it's done? 

 

Don

Hmmmmmm........I have a small table that is not being used that appears to be of sufficient size to hold this beast.  If you want to place your model on a mirror, as I would if I did all the scratch work that you did, I think that a cheap door mirror would work pretty good.  They are like $10 at some discount stores.

Hey folks, just an overall update since we're nearing the midway point in the GB.  We've had about half of the BG members either complete or report on ongoing projects.  Finished projects are shown on the front page, so if you haven't kept current, I encourage everyone to visit page 1 and look at some of the GB completed work.  Nice stuff.

About half of the GB members have not started their projects yet, and other members are planning to add to their tally and build additional swing wing aircraft..  Although I know that sometimes other things come up to delay participation, there are alot of projects that I'm still hoping and looking forward to seeing in their WIP stages.  So if you're planning to join in for the second half of the Swing Wings, check in and let us know.  Thanks.

Don

macattack80

I got a primer coat on the upper section of the model last night. .... Slowly moving forward.

Kevin, as we both near finishing the Bones, one thought keeps recurring to me.  So I'm going to ask you first.  What are you going to do with this thing once it's done?  Do you have the display space available?  I started this after I saw the B-1 flyovers at the Louisville Thunder airshow and figured that I'd deal with the size issue later.  But now is later and I really don't know what I'm going to do with this monster.  Given that the landing gear will be down, that the bomb bay doors will be open and that a good deal of scratch building went into the bomb bays themselves, I want them to be visible. 

I'd like to display it on a mirror but the question is where.  This model has got one heck of a footprint.

Don

I got a primer coat on the upper section of the model last night.  There is just a few spots that need a little more work.  Not too bad.  It turned out better than I thought it was going to.  I am following in Don's path and using the gear doors as masks because they seem to fit ok.  Slowly moving forward.

eatthis

i think you've built the same cat as me but our colours look different am i right in thinking you've gone for gray all over rather than gray top white underneath?

ps from what i can tell i think youv got the gray colour better than i did

Looks like you both got the color schemes pretty close, at least from the photos shown here:

http://www.almansur.com/jollyrogers/jollytomcats.htm

Raptordriver:  The last batch of photos are fine.  Third time's the charm.  I'll update the front page.  Go ahead and grab your badge. 

Don

Eatthis: I don't know, tough call dude. My references said it was over all Lt. gull gray, but it could be wrong.

Alright, you know what they say, First worst, second same, last is best of all the game!

Lets hope that is true, but if not I will gladly try again.

lots of natural light ie outside is the best place to take photos ideally :)

i think youv built the same cat as me but our colours look different am i right in thinking youve gone for gray all over rather than gray top white underneath?

ps from what i can tell i think youv got the gray colour better than i did

Raptordriver:  Thanks for the extra photos but your white balance is off, or you changed your lighting source from the first round of shots.  Your first set of photos showed the Tomcat in it's natural gray whereas these recent photos depict it in  orange.  I like the 3rd and 4th shots; the 3/4 view with wings either extended or swept.  Try re-taking those in the lighting that you used for your first set of photos or adjust your camera's white balance to the second set of lighting conditions.  If you need additional advice to do this, just let me know.  Want to display your Jolly Roger in the best way possible.

Don

Well here are some extra pics, hope these are good enough, if not I can take some more.

Thanks Don!  Glad to be able to get back in the swing of things....pun intended....Good haul on the burner cans!  Like you said, they are hard to find and very pricey if you do happen to find them.   At least you can finish this the way you intended. 

Hey Kevin, welcome back.  And sorry to hear about the family illness.  Good to hear that everyone has recovered. 

I'm kinda locked in to a recent Bone with the towed decoys and sniper pod, so it's either a fantasy build with the turkey feathers or find an alternative.  I played around with the PE set again today and further convinced myself that metal is not my medium.  It was fairly straightforward to scratch build the bomb bay components from plastic, but I just don't have the knack with brass; at least for now.  Consistent with your comments, I found several sources that state that the F-15 exhausts are smaller diameter and not an option here.  I even tried scratch building a burner can from Evergreen plastic.  I did get something put together but the quality was not good enough for my liking. 

Then the break through;  another search of Ebay turned up a recently posted advert for a Cutting Edge set!  Expensive, but below what I've seen these sets go for recently.  So  given my efforts to find an alternative and my poor PE skills, I swallowed hard, figured out a way to camouflage the purchase from the better half and pulled trhe trigger.  The CE set is on the way.    Modern Bone build is back on track.

Regarding the wings; I knew that I was in trouble when the epoxy joint snapped.  Guess that I just didn't get the pivot joined properly.  My choices were to either break the assembly down and try again or hope that it wouldn't create additional problems.  Chose the latter and I lost that gamble as the play in the pivot allowed the wing additional leverage to stress the fuselage joint.  In the end, it's still a Bone.

Gunship gray first coat scheduled for tomorrow.

Don

I'm still here.  Just a bit of drama so I wasn't able to work on the B-1 for a while.  The whole family got sick whiile we were out of town.  We are all feeling much better so I should be able to get to the bench tonight. 

Raptordriver, Nice job on the Tomcat and congrats on finishing your build! 

Don, sorry you are having some more trouble with this kit.  Especially the wings being stuck in the extended position in your swing wing GB.  Kind of ironic......but also sad     Nice job on the vortex generators.  I know the Eduard set came with 9 per side for an earlier Bone set up.  It's a shame but an early bone is still a bone I guess.  As for the exhaust, the F-15 uses a different engine and is quite a narrower.  I read somewhere that someone was going to try and use a set of 1/32 scale F-15 burner cans to try and make up for the size difference.  I am not sure if it will work.  Maybe you can contract out the building of the PE burner cans

Thanks Don

I will post another pic later. I am glad you understand about building these monogram beasts. Believe it or not, I have been watching this build every since it has begun.

As for your problem, I wish I could help, but I honestly have no idea.

raptordriver

I am finally finished    Thanks for the fun GB.

OK, back home from the business trip;

Raptordriver:  Nice job on the Jolly Roger and glad that you enjoyed the GB.  Hope that you follow on to see some of the other current and future builds.  For the front page, can you post another shot of your tomcat from more of a side or 3/4 view?  I could use one of the two top views above if you wish.  Thanks.

I had a bit of time last night and spent it mostly repairing sections of seams that became apparent after the priming.  Also made a first attempt at the Eduard PE exhaust cans (read below).  I figured that I'd take a few photos to show the Bone in its current primed form with now permanenetly extended wings.  It takes up almost the entire bench...

and the underside...

Since the bomb bays will remain opened, I played around with masking them and in the end found that the bomb bay and wheel well doors fit so well that with just a little blue tack to hold them in place, masking is complete.

Here are the vortex generators made from 0.01 plastic strip, following Macattacks lead.

Lastly, this was the seam that prompted immobilizing the wings.  Due to the weight of the wings and the play in the wing pivot mechanism, this seam between upper and lower fuselage halves started to split.  Now that the pivot has been glued tight, it will bear the brunt of the wing weight and should spare any further damage.

And finally, I now find that I'm in a real bind because my first several attempts to assemble the PE exhaust cans failed miserably and convinced me that I just don't have the skill at this point to build them cleanly.  I've put too much effort into this model to screw it up with poorly assemled PE exhausts.  So my dilemma is that I've configured a modern Bone but have no alternatives for the exhausts other than finding a resin set from the defunct Cutting Edge (for a price that I would not be willing to pay) or using the kit supplied exhausts which are incorrect.  I thought of using Aires F-15 exhausts (still inaccurate and expensive but more reasonably priced than Cutting Edge) but I read that they are not the correct diameter.  Can anyone confirm?

Also, I'm open to other suggestions and might even explore the option this weekend of scratch building the exhaust cans from plastic. 

Don

I am finally finished

Thanks for the fun GB.

After seeing all these Bones I think I might have to get one eventually. Can't wait to see them finished.