Thought I'd already posted in this part of the boards, guess I was wrong. Here's the box



The plan is to give it better engines, in this case the Rolls Royce Avon. Let's see the difference between that and the Westinghouse J-46

THRUST
J-46:  4,600 lbf (20 kN) thrust each dry, 6,000 lbf (27 kN) with afterburner
Avon: 12,690 lbf (56.4 kN) dry, 16,360 lbf (72.8 kN) with reheat
Staggering!

WEIGHT
J-46: 2116 lb (952.5 kg)
Avon: 2,890 lb (1,310 kg)
Strange, thought I read somewhere that the Avon was lighter. No matter...

DIMENSIONS
J-46: Length: 198 in (5.0 m), Diameter: 28 in (0.86 m)
Avon: Length: 126 in (3,200 mm), 35.7 in (910 mm)
Avon fit would be snug, but doable in my universe.

The increased airflow needed for the Avons requires enlarging the intakes. This was done by just cutting them back a bit. Raised markings have been sanded off, silver paint applied to spot flaws and rough spots.




Scratching splitter plates would be nice, but cones will be easier. Thank the modelling gods for all those spare drop tanks. 

This thing is as old as me, but in better shape.

A magic idea, the Cutlass should slice through the air like butter with a couple of Avons.

(Did you see what I did then?  )

Quote from: PR19_Kit on January 19, 2024, 02:31:51 AMA magic idea, the Cutlass should slice through the air like butter with a couple of Avons.

(Did you see what I did then?  )

   

They sure loved rivets and moulded on rondels in the 1950's! 

salute for taking on these vintage kits. The Cutlass does deserve better! 

Looking forward to seeing this done, I don't usuallly comment until the build is complete, but this has my attention for a possible future F.A.A. build. 

I did one with J79s in it - I had to increase fuselage width by 1/3 to accommodate them, as well as enlarge the control surfacees to handle the increased weight.  It was fun to build - I hope you have as much enjoyment of yours. 

Quote from: Scotaidh on January 21, 2024, 02:26:41 AMI did one with J79s in it - I had to increase fuselage width by 1/3 to accommodate them, as well as enlarge the control surfacees to handle the increased weight.  It was fun to build - I hope you have as much enjoyment of yours. 

 

Cones are in place, obviously the intakes need some clean-up.

  

Had an old ballpoint pen tube that was just the right size for some bigger exhaust, 0.30", but not polystyrene, very difficult to work with, so I'll soon be off to my local to pick up some proper tubing. Once they're in place I can get around to attaching the vertical stabilisers, they'll just get in the way if they're on right now.

Better engines would certainly have gone a long way towards making the Cutlass a good fighter.  Possibly even better than the F-8 in some respects.  Imagine that thrust to weight ratio 

Dry thrust of the 200 series RR Avon is about twice that of the Westinghouse J-46, so it should be capable of much more than the original.

This will be neat. Go Rat !

Always thought the Cutlass might could do with a single J-79 or F404, but that would make for a pretty long tail extension or some serious intake extensions...

Two Avons, that'd sort it.