S-3 Viking to ES-3B Eagle Eye: a FAR conversion

[FAR148]

Well, here's the first of many updates. This post I just want to show just what it is I want to do to my Viking. A few years ago I found a picture online of a AWACS Viking and thought that would cool to build. 10 years later.... So "What If" the S-3 was an AWACS...In the picture you see the new radar is a rearward facing triangle and not a disk like the E-2 or E-3. And the wings fold back like a Hawkeye. My ES-3B radar will not go into the tail and I will remove the underwing weapon stations. And since the ES-3B is a Carrier-based AWACS,  I will fold the wings.



Unlike the drawing, my Eagle Eye will be a little bit longer, extra space for the new crew members. The larger fuselage plug will be just behind the cockpit and a smaller plug just behind the wing. I will also add a new Hawkeye like intake over the wing.



Until later,
Steven L

[nev]

Oh wow.....if this is half as good as your A-10 we're in for a treat

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Is this a 48th scale project or 72nd scale?

[Captain Canada]

Cool !

[tigercat2]

This should be a great project.  I heard a very interesting story about the S-3 recently, from a retired Admiral.  He said that when a portion of the fleet was converted to the US-3, for a COD bird, the question of what to do with the pilot and co-pilot ejection seats was a major issue.  COD is for Carrier On-Board Delivery, and the C-2 is the primary COD bird.  Apparently several S-3s were converted to carry cargo and several passengers in the US-3 config.  After much discussion, the decision was made to remove the ejection seats from the cockpit, since the passengers in the back would have no ejection capability. 

I beleive several S-3s were used as COD birds for a while, but now they are all retired, IIRC.


Wes W.

[FAR148]

Is this a 48th scale project or 72nd scale?

It's 1/48 scale. Using the ERTL/AMT kit.

Steven L

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Is this a 48th scale project or 72nd scale?

It's 1/48 scale. Using the ERTL/AMT kit.

Excellent! 

I do like your Grumman style wing fold.

[FAR148]

How to stretch a S-3.

The first major construction on my Eagle Eye is to lengthen the fuselage. After studing the kit, I found two really good areas to cut the body and add plugs.




For the fuselage plug I'm using Ren-Shape. Ren-shape is a high density polyurethane material used in many industrials to make rapid prototypes. It can be turned, milled, filed, sanded, painted and scribed. It's a super cool material to work with. Here's a pic of the body cut and the plugs just taped into place.



Next I glued up the three parts of the body and came to my first problem. How to glue the plugs to the body? I want a super strong joint not just a simple butt joint. Here's what I came up with.



I first drilled holes on different angle into the ren-shape plugs.Then white glued them to the kit parts. Then poured resin into the kit, bonding the kit part to the ren-shape plug. And with the holes in the plugs, the resin can flow into the holes and locking the parts as one. So with two plugs, I have four resin joints. But before I can pour any resin, I must fill any holes in the fuselage so that the resin does not run out. So I super glued a few pieces of strip styrene behind the windows and a small vent below it.





Starting with the front and working rearward, the first resin joint was the easiest. I just poured the resin into the opening for the canopy. The second and third resin joint was a little tricker. Using a eye dropping, I pour the resin in the fuselage through the slot for the wing. I just poured it in until I felt I had at least 1/4in of resin.



The forth and final resin joint, I had to pour the resin into the fuselage through an opening in the tail. Again, I just poured it in until I felt I had at least 1/4in of resin.



After the resin set up, I started sanding the plugs to shape. All week long after work I would sat down and sand away. Once the plugs was sand down, I drew some rough panel lines on the new plugs. On the front plug, you can see where I'm going to scribe a new window and a new ejection seat access opening. I had no problem with the front plug, the rear plug....   



Here you can see the problem I ran into. Basically the body starts to taper at the rear of the wing to fuselage joint. With the new plug in place, the body starts to taper, grows parallel and then tapers again. It is worst on the bottom then on top. Not going to open a can of worms on trying to fix the bottom. The landing gear doors will hide a lot of it anyway.The top can be fix by blending the body into the plug. So I filled the area that needs to be blended with my favorite putty( Super glue & baby powder) and sand it to shape.



After work thursday, I shot a coat of Gunship gray to check the surface. All in all, her new plugs looks good. Still got a few minor fixs and fills but will work on those this weekend.



Until later,
Steven L

[nev]

This is 7 kinds of awesome

[Howard of Effingham]

well done!

this is styrene butchery i like! 

[FAR148]

Hello everybody,
Here's this weeks update on my ES-3B Eagle eye. I got the wings glued together and started wondering just how the E-2 folds it's wings. After a ton of research and looking at alot of photos, I think I figured it out. But the only problem was how do I put the same line in the same place on the other wing With a clear template made of polystyrene. I started by drawing the new fold line on the wing. Once I was happy with it I taped the outside of the fold line. 




I then double back taped the place of polystyrene to the wing. Next I taped the new fold line onto the polystyrene and cut it to shape( the red line)



After that I just remove the template and flipped it over, placed it on the other wing and drew the new fold line.



I then did the same for the underside of the wing too.



I then cut along the new fold line with my razor saw. Once remove, the wings still needed some work. The old fold line had to be remove and filed. Alittle super glue and some sand sticks, no problem.



On to the body, I glued the short ends of the wings to the body. The wing to fuselage joint need some loving too along with some minor body work. Note the radar in the background upside down.



Back to the wings, The old fold line was filled with super glue and sanded smooth. I also added some sheet styrene to the open end of the wings.



To the body again, I glued up the tails and glue them in place. On the line art, you can see the bottom has a bulge. I added the electronic bay doors from Ertl/AMT ES-3 kit to show that shape. I also added some styrene to the open ends of the wings on the body.




Week three, here she is with her wing in place just sitting on the tails, not glued into place.



Until next weekend,
Steven L

[Sauragnmon]

Very sexy work so far, Steve.  It's a beautiful piece of work.

[nev]

A masterclass

[NARSES2]

Nev beat me to it  Master craftsman at work 

[BlackOps]

Steven, this is looking really good. Beautiful work