Javarian A-5 Menaz

[John Howling Mouse]

On Planet Ten, all we have to do is think of a creation and whatever we imagine comes into existence.  This using your hands and eyes thing is still very new to me.

My cute wife just asked, "If you're under a deadline and running out of time, why do you spend so much time taking pictures and uploading them?"

I explained that I would not even be doing this sort of thing if not for the encouragement of you guys and the hopes that seeing how I do this barbarian modeling will inspire others to try.

Here is a very banged up elevator.  That's a twisted heavy-duty staple segment it is hanging from.





The engine.  I know, wrong kind.  Also, it looks terrible.  Think of it as merely filler.  Like American television.  Heh, heh (I don't have TV anymore).

[John Howling Mouse]

Did LOTS of work this morning on making the cowl look interesting and left out to rot.  I'm experimenting with CA glue and accelerator in order to produce some fibrous looking stuff, too.  Want some more organic gunk hanging out of some access panels....maybe some sort of insulation effect?  I don't know.

Here is the nosegear wheel well in place:



And a look at the internals of the cowl halves to see the anchor points for a bunch of wiring and other schmodz.



The cowl halves from the outside.  I partially filled in the mounting gaps for the exhausts.

[John Howling Mouse]

And this is something I hope you'll enjoy.  The onsite engineers would have a good laugh at this so-called "fueltank" (I have NO idea what a real fueltank would look like) but I needed something structurally sound to hold the extended cowl to the leading edge of the cut fuselage so I scratchbuilt this thing.

If I can, I'll still try to have some stringers and ribs around the fueltank but it will be the fueltank itself which actually holds the cowl to the fuselage.  And, before anyone points out the CoG problems, I figure if a Corsair can have a big fueltank right in front of the cockpit, so can an A-5 Menaz!

[Brian da Basher]

I'm just shaking my head in astonishment, Mr Howling Mouse. You never fail to delight and amaze me. Absolutely incredible! I really like how you added that little bit of line on the fuel tank. That's the touch of a master!

The downside is parts of your Menaz are beginning to resemble my poor car.

Brian da Basher

[GTX]

blooooody hell... 

Absolutely!!! And not that I'm bitter or twisted with envy, but wasn't there a suggestion that JHM should be banned from GBs - - - 

Motion seconded - give a chance for the rest of us mortals .

Seriously though, your work is first class!

Regards,

Greg

[Radish]

Now then, is Baz in line for the completely bonkers award?

[John Howling Mouse]

Still struggling to beat the clock.  I polished an F-15 canopy to make it look faded/murky like those you often see on derelict aircraft.  Then, to fit the modified Seiran's fuselage top, I cut the F-15 canopy down the middle---no worries about how crappy it might end up---the worse the better.



You can see where I carefully drilled and "cracked" the perspex.  It's funny, the stuff that looks the worst when doing a derelict aircraft are often the most careful and painstaking.



Of course, reducing the width of the canopy meant having to reduce the width of the canopy's frame.  Sorry, Monogram F-15: you would have been a fine kit in the hands of a normal modeler!



Then, the internal deck of the canopy frames had to be carefully removed, leaving only the framework that I wanted:



Canopy assembled to frame halves.  I will be painting a frame down the centerline of the larger piece.  The windscreen, well, that's just going to look very bad.  Maybe a birdstrike or ten?



I still plan on yellowing the canopy from inside using a yellowish-tint of Future.

[John Howling Mouse]

For what it's worth, the engine has been painted (you won't really be able to see this through the cowl's small access panels but at least you and I will know that it's in there:





Onto the scratchbuilt nosegear doors.  Nothing too fancy here due to time constraints.  Outer piece is 20 thou card complete with rivets.  Inner piece is 10 thou card with a few circles punched using the Waldron punch set, some rivets (pushpins come in handy), and some notches cut out using an Exacto knife:



Once put together and carefully painted, the final result is fairly convincing, at least, considering it is scratchbuilt.

[John Howling Mouse]

The prop has been carefully weathered and its tips bent back.  Apparently, the final landing for this poor bird wasn't of the textbook variety.



This is something I'm pretty happy with.  One wheel is nearly flat, the other was blown out long ago, only to rot in the sunlight.

The wheel on the right was sanded down to have a flat bottom then I applied Tamiya putty and sculpted it to represent the sagging bulge of the under-inflated tires.

The wheel on the left, well that sucker succumbed to some serious abuse from my Dremel.  I know it's over the top but I've seen blown tires and they aren't pretty.  If you look close, you'll see "rust" on the wheel well hubs and around the prop hub, too.

[cthulhu77]

I simply fail to believe that you are not just snapping photos of a real aircraft, and then superimposing them onto a digital backround.

You are truly the Sir Mouse!

[Brian da Basher]

This just gets more amazing with each update!

Brian da Basher

[John Howling Mouse]

Thanks guys.  I have a spreadsheet to help me get this done in the proper sequence without forgetting something nasty (like the interior!).  The basic airframe parts are primered.  To me, this is where the magic begins.  Although, in order to meet the deadline, the magic should have begun about a week ago!!!

I don't know if you can see in these pics but I did scribe a bunch of access panels (to create some symmetry for the arbitrary "panels" I cut out of the opposite sides).  They're actually the best I've done to date.  Naturally, you likely won't be able to see them once I hit this thing with the highly faded/weathered camo scheme.

Oh well.

[Eddie M.]

If I were a sane man and not under the influence of psychotropic drugs, I might just give up! Mastery at it's finest. This is what the hobby is about.
  Eddie

[cthulhu77]

I'm trying to clap, drink beer,and smoke all at the same time. Whhhooooza!  very nice work.

[Ed S]

Wow.  Madness & genius.  It should look great when you get it done.

Ed