Vietnam Air War GB - Extended!

troublemaker66

Son Of Medicine Man

troublemaker66

I finally got the urge to resume work on my Skymaster yesterday. I`m at the point of painting the first coat of exterior color. Thinking I`m just gonna go out to the garage and spray...yeah, right.......the air valve assembly on my Badger 150 was shot. Luckily, a local HS had a replacement so I was able to get 2 coats on it. Once it starts looking like something, I`ll post a few pics....been tough to get motivated lately...missing my old shop.

Everyone is doing excellent work and it is very inspiring...hopefully it`ll keep me inspired as well!

Len

Hi Len,

It is good to hear from you again!  How are you holding up?  I am guessing that it was salt water that got into the Badger?  Has there been any work done on repairing your house yet?  I know you were fighting with the insurance company just to get the paper work straighten out.  Then the government was dragging their feet on releasing the funds.

Ken

 

Yep...salt water had to be the culprit. I picked up another valve and got the 1st coat on the kit. Zero construction on the house as it needs to be raised up onto pilings and the Township hasn`t accepted the new FEMA maps, which means the ICC money for raising the house is being held up until they do! FEMA screwed alot of people with their new maps and people are starting to walk away from their homes/mortgages because it`s too expensive to come up to code. It`s a nightmare with no end in sight.

Len

Wow, Len, that has to be so frustrating and heartbreaking at the same time.  I truly hope things work out for you and your family.  Please keep us posted, if anything, you can always let off steam here.

Ken

getting there now i just need to paint the tanks and maybe fit a winder on the spare pylon and sort the pitot

Hi Eatthis,

It looks a lot meaner with the pylons loaded up.  Great work!

Ken

tsr2 entered service and the f111 was still having major problems. vietnam was hotting up and the yanks needed 1 or the other but couldnt decide which.
the raf agreed to lend 6 tsr2 gr1s to the us for field evaluation alongside the f111 to see which worked best (or at all!)

sibling rivalry

eatthis

tsr2 entered service and the f111 was still having major problems. vietnam was hotting up and the yanks needed 1 or the other but couldnt decide which.
the raf agreed to lend 6 tsr2 gr1s to the us for field evaluation alongside the f111 to see which worked best (or at all!)

Excuse me Eatthis, but where did you get this information?  I am pretty sure the TSR-2 never made it past only three "flight ready" prototypes.  And it was in fact the other way around.  The RAF ordered 10 F-111Ks to evaluate.  The USAF never considered the TSR-2.

Ken

Those jets look fast and deadly just on the deck. Some bad guys will have very unhappy day if that ordinance finds its way to their playground! And I sure hope it does, yup yup.

finally up and running. the resin now fits (mostly). 

DSC02352 by omgpainful, on Flickr

When removing the front wheelwell the plastic became so thin it broke . Should be ok with plenty of epoxy tho'.

DSC02349 by omgpainful, on Flickr

As its (hopefully) going to be and inflight/ taking off model I opened these 8 "suction relief" flaps which ill box in / make doors for later. If anyone knows if there is anything else that needs to be opened up please say .

DSC02351 by omgpainful, on Flickr

DSC02350 by omgpainful, on Flickr

youre correct thats my what if story lol

the tsr2 saga pretty much killed the uk aviation industry stone dead!

technically it was brilliant the manedgement of the entire project was an absolute disgrace and a total farce from day 1!

techniaclly brilliant but murdered by polotics you guys poached most of our engineers after that too lol

looking good :)

Nice work there Talentless.  I know what you mean about fighting with the resin.  I am in the middle of doing the same thing myself!

Ken

eatthis

youre correct thats my what if story lol

the tsr2 saga pretty much killed the uk aviation industry stone dead!

technically it was brilliant the manedgement of the entire project was an absolute disgrace and a total farce from day 1!

techniaclly brilliant but murdered by polotics you guys poached most of our engineers after that too lol

Okay, now I understand.  Yes, Canada also had a project but actually looked to be a very successful aircraft that was cancelled.  The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow.  It also put Avro out of business.

Here in the U.S. a project that I have great interest in that has a lot of controversy was the Northrop YB-49 Flying Wing.  It was also cancelled, and all aircraft completely destroyed and melted down including the earlier YB-35s.  None survived.

Ken

Hey Len,

I hope you don't get slammed by the snow heading your way.

Ken

yeh the arrow is a very similer story to the tsr2 :(

the us probably got the arrow murdered i dont think they had any direct involvment in the tsr2 affair but they were certainly glad it died (there was a very real chance that it wouldve been better than the f111)

Son Of Medicine Man

Hey Len,

I hope you don't get slammed by the snow heading your way.

Ken

troublemaker66

LOL! Last thing I need! It`s just supposed to rain down here, we`ll see. Had an inspector for FEMA at the house yesterday to do paperwork for an SBA loan...so we can get moving forward. Bad news tho`...I guess in how you look at it...the house appears to be non-liftable, so...it has to be torn down and a new one built on pilings. We`ve been looking at modulars...pretty affordable and it`ll be  way faster to get back home than if it were built "stick and frame". Well, at least we`ve made a little progress but, have a long way to go.

are timberbuilt houses common over there?

almost all houses in the uk are brick what are the advantages of timber?

eatthis

are timberbuilt houses common over there?

almost all houses in the uk are brick what are the advantages of timber?

In a word, cost.  It is much cheaper to build a house out of wood than brick.

Ken

thats it?! you have bloody awefull weather and still build houses on the cheap?

you have my utmost sympathy fella i hope you get what you want and i hope you dont have any more problems

eatthis

thats it?! you have bloody awefull weather and still build houses on the cheap?

you have my utmost sympathy fella i hope you get what you want and i hope you dont have any more problems

The United States covers a very large area.  Consequently the weather is quite different depending on what area of the United States that you are in.  There are areas that rarely go below freezing, areas that are quite humid, areas that are very dry, etc.  And a house that is built out of lumber can be made very strong and durable.  It is a matter of proper maintenance.

I think what you are talking about is the hurricane Sandy victims.  This was a very very rare occurance, not a normal type of weather event.  And the significant damage was flooding, so no matter what type of building material, it would have been destroyed if it was not high enough.

Ken

Son Of Medicine Man

eatthis

thats it?! you have bloody awefull weather and still build houses on the cheap?

you have my utmost sympathy fella i hope you get what you want and i hope you dont have any more problems

The United States covers a very large area.  Consequently the weather is quite different depending on what area of the United States that you are in.  There are areas that rarely go below freezing, areas that are quite humid, areas that are very dry, etc.  And a house that is built out of lumber can be made very strong and durable.  It is a matter of proper maintenance.

I think what you are talking about is the hurricane Sandy victims.  This was a very very rare occurance, not a normal type of weather event.  And the significant damage was flooding, so no matter what type of building material, it would have been destroyed if it was not high enough.

Ken

Any new construction in the flood zones have to be above the new FEMA heights, so all houses must be built on pilings and any exsisting homes must be raised upon pilings, or you won`t be able to get flood insurance. There are rumors about the new flood ins premiums being anywhere from 5k to 30k a year in the velocity zones, if you don`t raise your home! And...every house on my street would have to be raised `cause we`re in the "V" zone...amazing because there`s prolly 80+ houses on this block alone, not to mention the rest of the lagoon section, which have thousands of homes on "slabs"!

my comment looked more sarcy than i meant it im glad you took it as i intended and a honestly do feel for you!

we occasionally get bad floods over here (iv never seen any myself though) and it trashes everything APART from the actual houses. the odd old building becomes unsafe/falls down but 99.9% are fine

Hi Everyone!

I realized that it has been a while since I posted any pictures of my progress.  It is slow and tedious but here is how it looks so far.

In this first picture I have it all stuffed together and held together with rubber bands.  This is what I do to find where I need to file, sand, or cut next:

You can see there is still a small gap there in the top front.  That is what I am currently working on getting rid of.

In this next picture you can see the avionics bay.  You can see how it is sticking out towards the front.  I will be working on that next after I get the fuselage halves to meet.

 The next picture is from the bottom showing the front wheel bay:

 And now here is how it looks on the inside with the left side fuselage removed.  You can start to see how crowded it is.  Also take note of the sanding, filing, and cutting marks:

 This next picture shows the view from behind the cockpit.  You can see how it is flush up against the fuselage:

 And finally here is the view from the front of the cockpit.  Also note the cut into the avionics bay for the cockpit to fit into:

The sidewall of the cockpit is already paper thin.  When I hold it up to the light you can see right through it!

Ken

looks a bit snug!

was doing ok till this

sd by omgpainful, on Flickr

would just stich it back together , but no idead where the mising bit is  .looks like ill have to buy another damn kit, im never going to finnish this damn build, i know it 

Hi Talentless,

Looks like a "short shot", where the plastic didn't fill the mold all the way at the factory.  If that kit is still in production, you should be able to contact the manufacturer and they will send you a replacement.

Ken

Unfortunatly its not a short shot, the rest of it was t

here at one point, the other fuse half is cracking in the same place too, weel out of production i think so its off ebay

Hi Everyone,

I think I have the cockpit, avionics bay, and front wheel bay cut, filed, and sanded to where they are going to fit together.  Here is the front view picture:

 And here is the side view:

 Another shot a little closer showing the cockpit and fuselage seam:

When it is time to glue this all together it is going to be intense.  I will have to use 30 minute epoxy so I will have time to get everything lined up.  The avionics bay since it is going around a curve in the front will have to be pushed in at the front using a wedge under the rubberband while the epoxy sets.

The next step is to paint the auxillary air intakes so that they can be glued in place inside the fuselage before the fuselage halves go together.

Ken

Ok Here is my Seahorse, sorry for the lack of Wip's though.

Incredible work on the Sea Horse!! Looking awesome!

Found my build for the Group. F-104C Starfighter ' U.S.A.F.' ( 198th TFS Air Natinal Guard DaNang, VN.