Grumman F11F-1Q13 Static Cat, Douglas X-3r High Speed Reconnaissance project.

[Daryl J.]

No pix yet, the iSight camera in the Macbook Pro is woefully inadequate  so word pix only, photos this weekend possible once back in Vancouver.


F11F-1Q13 Static Cat:   Rescribed wings, marked out section cuts for fuselage extensions.   Electronic jamming suite to be carried just behind the pilot rather than on the tail like the EF-111.   Hasegawa RF-4E exhaust nozzle fits but just barely.  J-79 upgrade a possibility but not all that likely quite frankly.   Lindberg F11F-1 used, rubbery plastic and all.

Douglas X-3r High Speed Reconnaissance project:   Nods to Jeffrey Fontaine for the idea.   Forward nose may be able to hold one camera from the RF-4E and that at a straight down angle due to narrow bore fuselage.   Ideas for additional internal fuel and air to air refueling explored.   Am debating overall white or overall weathered black.   Engine changes may have to be spurious as fuselage is quite narrow.   


Daryl J.

[Edit]  Types re-designated per info from Jon as listed below. (Thanks!).    You guys/gals are great for honing 'near real' Whiffs.    But when it comes to the UAV Meteor and UAV Canberra, ya'll'll be left out there.      That's pure fantasy territory.   

[jcf]

Sounds like fun Daryl.

A couple notes on designations:
Prior to the 1962 tri-service designation standardization the USN suffix (not prefix) for an ECM aircraft was 'Q'.

So pre-1962 your Static Cat would be an F11F-1Q, post-1962 it would be EF-11A (the F11F-1 became the F-11A under the new system).

Your X-3 based recce most likely wouldn't be SR anything as that designator was invented in the early '60s with the SR-71.
From 1948 to 1962, 'R' was the USAF stand alone designator for purpose designed reconnaissance aircraft,
'R' was added to the base designator for role converted aircraft. From my print sources the 'R' designator was
officially used three times:
Hughes R-11(F-11), Republic R-12 (F-12 Rainbow) and Boeing R-16 (used for a short time on the RB-52).

So R-17 maybe?, changed to SR-17 in the '60s? 

Jon

p.s. while Lockheed did receive data from Douglas, the F-104 also built on Lockheed's own work
on the contemporary X-7 ramjet test aircraft. The chief designer of the X-7 was the concept chief
on the F-104 preliminary design team. 

[Daryl J.]

Static Cat saw cuts; two different lengths being considered and reference photo for comparison of a non cut fuselage.  Will likely go with the longer length as there is more room for an electronics bay behind the pilot.  Guns removed.   Wing to be somewhat enlarged but not by much.   Likely will avoid using a J-79 engine because I'm lazy.







Cut whilst a patient skipped their appointment.....don't those idiots know that doing that only raises their costs by HYOOGE amounts? 


,
Daryl J.

[sotoolslinger]

Neato  watching this one

[John Howling Mouse]

Whoa! You've got my attention now.  That's some precise (and bold) cutting going on there!   

[lancer]

Looking good. That is some seriously excellent precision cutting!!

[Daryl J.]

What was used was a dental saw of sorts used for lab work.      It's a serrated diamond blade that is incredibly thin driven with a dental lab handpiece which can spin anywhere from 1 to 300,000 rpm with massive amounts of torque.    Don't slip! It could potentially sever bone in less than a second.       But it sure does work well for separating plastic pieces quickly.   

The shaft fits into a standard Dremel collet but the blade is restricted to dental use only for obvious safety reasons.

The work above took less than 10 minutes and that was because caution was being used to avoid hand injury.


,
Daryl J.

[Captain Canada]

Very nice, Daryl. I have to admit being a little confused, tho.....the uncut model doesn't look anything like an F-11 to me ! Looking forward to seeing some more.

[Daryl J.]

http://www.lindberg-models.com/air_model70504.html

Lindberg's Tiger looks to be designed from a photograph of an early Grumman proposal that became the F11F-1 short nose as this kit varies considerably from the actual short nose Tiger.   The Tony Buttler book on American Secret Projects has a photograph of the in-house model and upon seeing it instantly thought that it looked like the kit in hand more than a true F11F-1 short nose.   

But starting with a kit that is already a bit spurious (or esoteric depending on point of view) is a jump start for this project with the extra-short nose coming in handy for this build.

Others may know more or have far more accurate information, but that is a start.

HTH,
Daryl J.

[jcf]

That's because Lindbergh's model is of the original F9F-9 (Grumman G-98) prototypes. 

"The F9F-9 designation was in use between August 1953 and April 1955
and was applied to the static-test airframe (BuNo 138603) and the first five
aircraft (BuNos 138604/138608). The F9F-9 was first flown by Corky Meyer
on 30 July, 1954, and the last aircraft bearing this designation was flown
on 12 March, 1955."
- Grumman Aircraft since 1929, Rene J. Francillon, Putnam/NIP 1989

BTW guys, in pre-1962 USN aircraft designations there is no dash between
the first letter and number.

Jon

[Daryl J.]

Hot Dog!  That's the lady!       Tony Buttler's book was talking about the G-98.   But is the designation another name game rather than an evolution of the Cougar?

And with that photo above, there ought to be plenty of opportunity for the F9F-9 in Whiffland.
Thanks!




,
Daryl J., who has now duly removed some dashes where appropriate.

[jcf]

G-98 is the Grumman model number for the Tiger, it actually did originate as an F9F
development but quickly moved down different paths. However, the Navy, for its own ever mysterious
reasons, stuck with the commonality myth and thus F9F designator variation for as long as possible.
So you had a situation where the realistically all new G-98 Tiger was the F9F-9 and the G-99
Cougar (truthfully a swept-wing Panther) was the F9F-8. 

Tommy Thomason's book U.S. Naval Air Superiority: Development of Shipborne Jet Fighters 1943-1962 is a good read on
the era. Tommy posts here, on Secretprojects and on Hyperscale as tailspin turtle.

Jon

BTW the pic of the F7U-1ish nose on the early F7U-3 is in Tommy's book.