Need some scratchbuilding and casting help

[Supertom]

OK everyone, after some discussion with Thorvic I'm just about ready to start my next Whiff.  First off I need to scratchbuild and cast several of these:

http://designation-systems.net/dusrm/m-124.html

It's basically an anti-tank mini-Maverick developed in the 70's and 80's.  I have the measurements and tomorrow I'm going to start doing some scale calculations. 

Forming the tube and rear radome will be easy.  What I'm wondering is, how the heck am I going to scratchbuild the forward cone?  I was thinking of carving out the master from wood, or a combination of plastic tube for the tube section and wood carving for the nose and tailcones.  Once I clear that hurdle, I'd like to cast a ton of 'em (I need at least 10 myself) and was wondering if there's anyone Stateside who could help me out with that.

Anyway looking forward to your suggestions.  Thanks y'all.

[Amphion]

Well, the original picture didn't show but I took a gander at the site mentioned. As I understand it it's the launch pod you're making and not the actual missile?

It seems to hold 8 missiles in a circular order, each missile is 20 cm i diameter making the the pod what? 80 cm in dia, roughly 11 mm at 72-scale.

Question: You have access to a lathe? 'Cause then I'd go one of maybe two ways.

1. Out of wood (fine grained) or maybe plastic turn a piece with the basic shape you want of the pod, then carefully drill out the 8 "holes" or recesses with your Dremel^TM or equvalent (I can see the difficulty in gettin' all 8 recesses in perfect register).

2. Around a core of wood arrange 8 small tubes, each (20 cm in 72-scale) ≈ 2,7 mm, in fashion like the original and thereafter turn the piece to get the shape. You would have to build up the cone first with putty or something machinable to get the right shape.

In essense in both cases you'd be sanding/filing more than turning the pice and the lathe will help you keep i centered.

All-in-all it's not an easy task, gettin' it right and looking good. I wish you good luck.

[Hobbes]

From that picture I'd say the launcher holds 10 missiles, not 8.

You could try finding some plastic tubing of the correct diameter for the missile launch tube, and a plastic rod that will fit in the center of the tube cluster.

1. Shape the rod to get the nose cone shape.

2. Arrange the tubes around the central rod.

3. Use filler to blend the front of the tubes to the nose cone.

[Rafael]

This missile, along with the contraptions built and/or proposed for the "Assault Breaker" program are my favorite weapons designs of the '80s. I believe you will be going for the pod, which is the planned way of deploying the missile.

....And some more photos for reference....






Good luck!

Rafa

[Scooterman]

Tom, I can help with the resin casting.  Drop me a PM.

[Hobbes]

Found some more data: the launcher has 6 tubes, loaded with 2 missiles each, as shown on the drawings Rafael posted. The launcher weighed about 900 kg/2000 lbs in this configuration. I've also seen a mention of a launcher with 8 tubes and 16 missiles. Fighters would carry 2 launchers, the Tornado and A-10 could carry 4. What do you need 10 launchers for?

[Supertom]

Hey guys, thanks for the help!  My responses are:

1) What on earth is a lathe?! (this guy can't even nail a hammer right)

2) Building up the cone around 6 tubes with putty sounds like the way to go.  I think I'll get the main tube made of wood, drill the 6 holes into it, then mount 6 plastic tubes, build up with putty and shape it as I go.  That way if I screw up I can just yank the tubes out and start over.

3) Yep, Senor Carton's right.  6 tubes...12 missiles.  Crazy huh?

4) Scooterm PM inbound.

5) Hobbes - well, to arm my planes to the teeth, of course!

[Hobbes]

Lathe:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lathe


In a pinch, you can use an ordinary drill instead. I've done this to create a nice round or pointy nose for scratchbuilt missiles: place the plastic rod in the chuck, run the drill at about 1000 rpm and drag the rod over some sandpaper.

[Weaver]

Don't know if I'm being thick here, but why do you need to model the individual tubes? This thing is just like a Matra pod with fewer, bigger tubes: what you need is a pod tube (easy) a tailcone (fairly easy) and a nose cone. My inclination for the latter would be to start with a solid cylinder, drill 6 holes right throught it, and then clamp it in the lathe/drill and turn it down to shape: the complex shape of the angled tube ends will then emerge naturally.

[Hobbes]

You're right, that would be easier. The only problem is getting the holes to align properly. I haven't managed that yet. And you need a column drill.

[GTX]

My info indicates the pod was to be about the size of a standard 370 US Gal Drop tank.  I also believe it was proposed that they could be carried separate from the pod.  Interesting weapon - I wonder if Brimstone would have been developed if this went into service?

Now the important question - what are you going to put them on?  I've seen proposals for the WASP pod(s) to be carried by Harriers, Alpha Jets, A-10s, F-16s, F-4s, Tornados, A-7s, and Jaguars.

Regards,

Greg

[Jeffry Fontaine]

1.  What scale do you want this in?

2.  Depending on scale, you could use a smaller scale AGM-65 shape to scale-o-rama into your AGM-124 but it is not identical in shape or size.  According to the dimensional data from the same source as your linked image the AGM-65 is much larger than the AGM-124. 

AGM-65:
Warhead 57 kg (125 lb) WDU-20/B shaped-charge 136 kg or (300 lb) WDU-24/B penetrating blast-fragmentation
Length 2.49 m (98 in)
Wingspan 71.9 cm (28.3 in)
Diameter 30.5 cm (12 in)
Weight 209 kg (462 lb) to 304 kg (670 lb) *(weight of missile will vary depending on model and warhead that is fitted)

Data for AGM-124:
Warhead 20 kg (45 lb) (weight of warhead based on size and similarity to AIM-7 Sparrow which is the same diameter as the AGM-124)
Length 1.52 m (5 ft)
Wingspan 51 cm (20 in)
Diameter 20 cm (8 in)
Weight 57 kg (125 lb)


3. A good candidate for conversion to your AGM-124 is the AGM-114 Hellfire or the Brimstone in the same scale.  Diameter of the Brimstone and Hellfire is 7.0" which is close to nil when you consider the small parts that you are working with in 1/72nd or 1/48th scale.  The overall length of the Hellfire can be reduced to match the length of the AGM-124.  The real trick is to creating the truncated cone shape that appears as part of the missile after body section where the fins fold.   

Data for AGM-114:

AGM-114B/C AGM-114F AGM-114K AGM-114L
Warhead 8 kg (18 lb) shaped-charge or 9 kg (20 lb) tandem anti-armour shaped-charge
Length 1.63 m (64 in) 1.80 m (71 in) 1.63 m (64 in) 1.78 m (70 in)
Wingspan 33 cm (13 in)
Diameter 17.8 cm (7 in)
Weight 45.7 kg (100 lb) to 50 kg (110 lb) *(weight of missile will vary depending on model and warhead that is fitted)

[Aircav]

Looking at the missile pod you really need a miller and a dividing head to get the hole equally spaced or it will just look awful.

[Supertom]

Don't know if I'm being thick here, but why do you need to model the individual tubes? This thing is just like a Matra pod with fewer, bigger tubes: what you need is a pod tube (easy) a tailcone (fairly easy) and a nose cone. My inclination for the latter would be to start with a solid cylinder, drill 6 holes right throught it, and then clamp it in the lathe/drill and turn it down to shape: the complex shape of the angled tube ends will then emerge naturally.

Uh, apparently it's because I'm not very bright 

[Aircav]

The Russians have some large caliber rocket pods may be you could modify one of them