So did they lower them out, unfold the wings and then unhook?
Or did they do it the more fun way (the way they would do it in an anime) and drop out of the bay with the wings unfolding as they fell?

Please say it's the second way.

Quote from: zenrat on April 27, 2023, 03:22:39 AMSo did they lower them out, unfold the wings and then unhook?
Or did they do it the more fun way (the way they would do it in an anime) and drop out of the bay with the wings unfolding as they fell?

Please say it's the second way.

Sadly it was the first way, sorry.

But if I use the X-13 as an escort for the B-54B, it'll have to be dropped, and even, carried with the wings out as they're too big to fit inside the bomb-bay with them folded! 

Sorry Fred..Kits had it there ..they lowered it on a trapeze frame ..held the Goblin in place and the wings unfolded..then it basically just dropped off ..flew around and came back to hook up ..turbulence caused it to bounce around and it crashed into the frame..a ture bugger moment if there ever was one 😕
Oh the Goblin never was launched form a B36..only from a B29 .

One other idea they had was I think it was a P80 and it just seemed to plug into a simple frame which lowered the plane down a little bit and the plane just left..and this worked a treat..they released and captured the plane in flight many many times without any real issues.

Quote from: Wardukw-NZ on April 27, 2023, 01:43:26 PMOne other idea they had was I think it was a P80 and it just seemed to plug into a simple frame which lowered the plane down a little bit and the plane just left..and this worked a treat..they released and captured the plane in flight many many times without any real issues.

That was the RF-84K Thunderflash PR aircraft, and that hooked up to the B-36J carrier (called the FICON project)  to carry out long distance PR missions but they never did use it operationally AFAIK. The carrier frame was pretty clever as it was a beam that stretched alongside the LH side of the RF-84K's cockpit with one latch that connected with a retractable hook on the Thunderflashes nose, and then two other latches that attached either side of the rear of the canopy. That meant the bean held the Thunderflash at the correct angle to the airstream for 'take-off', and as you say it worked pretty well.

I know all this detail because I've been buildng just such a combo for over 30 yrs, and it's got no further than the fuselage of the B-36 and the fuselage of the RF-84K! 

Here's the real thing being loaded into the GRB-36J



I did have a whole lot written about the umpteen fins on the F-85B but I've had SO much trouble uploading that last pic I just give up at the mo.....     





 

Where was that picture taken, Alaska? Those guys are seriously rugged up!

Guy they did mention the base and I think it was in California and trust me..it can get cold out in the desert there.

Kit..30yrs?? ..I did think for a mo you were building a real one 
Definitely not enough coffee today 😒

If that picture was out in the Mojave, it rarely gets below 10F/-12C; annoyingly cold (especially when you wake up in the morning and have to get out of your tent or car for a bathroom break) but not arctic cold. From the Wikipedia FICON Project page this may have been in Washington state, which probably gets colder than the Mojave.

I've got a whole book on the FICON Project back at home, and from memory they dug two of those loading pits, one at Edwards AFB for trials and the operational one was at Fairchild AFB in Washington State, as Frank suggests.

Yes, I started my FICON around 1995 or so, and I still haven't even started on the wings.   

The GRB-36J fuselage has a telescopic radio aerial glued into the centre so the trapeze, complete with Thuderflash, can slide up and down, but the stopping point was the shape of the bomb-bay doors that close around the parasite. I tried 4-5 times to make a pair and failed every time.

I might get back to it later, but in  RAF camo and with a Hunter FR10 in the bomb-bay.   

Trying to make cockeyed curved shapes is a massive PITA and it sucks...Ive always had a problem with that and after "The Incident " it got worse .
I try to avoid it like the plague.

Quote from: Dizzyfugu on April 26, 2023, 07:55:52 AMWell, there were/are technical solutions for longer wings... 

Someone should animate that to have it dancing to Walk Like An Egyptian by The Bangles.

Quote from: Weaver on April 28, 2023, 04:07:07 AMSomeone should animate that to have it dancing to Walk Like An Egyptian by The Bangles.

And you can bet someone of here could do it too! 

Ah, the Bangles   

Posted on behalf of Kit

The somewhat worn box of the MPM XF-85 Goblin kit.

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Posted on behalf of Kit

And the rather sparse contents. Quite why they needed a box that big I'm not sure.

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Posted on behalf of Kit

Original post by Ratty - Will the Goblin get longer wings?