Four For Telford?

[Gondor]

I thought that a progress picture would be in order as a change in this thread.

So I introduce to you the fuselage of the AEW BAC 1-11



If you look towards the top left corner of the picture you will see what is to be the Radome of the aircraft. The pylon for the radome, or should that be raysphere  , is made from a section of florists wire and a section of small plastic tubing which I have crushed. The tube was glued over the wire and is awaiting me getting around to smothering it with filler so I can make an aerodynamic strut from it.

The real fun part will be building a base for the finished aircraft as it will have the raysphere deployed. Don't worry, and no need for suggestions, I have a cunning plan.........

Gondor

[Gondor]

A few pictures of the work recently done on the AEW DC-10

First up is a picture of the nose weight. After using up the last of the wing nuts that I had, replacement items were needed. Fishing weights of some description were sourced and put to use. One of my favourite modelling items at the moment, plastic tubing, was used to stop the weight moving too much and copious amounts of super-glue made sure that the weight moved even less.



In part this build draws on the MPA version of the DC-10 seen here although I have incorporated improved methods where needed such as the mounting points for the vertical tail.



You can see from the picture above that I have dispensed with having the tubing mounted on plastic spacers and have gone for a mounting plate which allows the upper part of the tubes to me solidly fixed in place. This in itself is a modification as I had originally intended to not have the tubing protrude through the holed in the upper plate. However aster several attempts to get the tube to stay exactly in the place I wanted it to be, I realised that I should have the tube extend further upwards through the plate thus being supported in place at the top so that then would be fewer problems glueing the lower end in place.



With the supports for the vertical tail fixed firmly in place I was able to glue the fuselage half's together.

Next step is fixing the cockpit windows in place then breaking out the sanding sticks again to PSR the fuselage joints and cockpit area,

Gondor

[NARSES2]

I like the engineering of this - quite educational

[Gondor]

I like the engineering of this - quite educational

Thank you NARSES2, I try to offer the method behind the madness as I may provide a solution or two for other peoples modelling problems. Sometimes I might be a little over elaborate, but at least I can show what I have done in pictures which I hope can be worth the proverbial thousand words.

Gondor

[Gondor]

I am a little worried about size 

Size dose matter, is bigger better? 

In this case it might just matter and its probably too late to do anything about it 

The picture below shows the difference in size between two 1/144 aircraft. On the left in the BLUE corner is an old Revell E-3A AWACS and on the right in the RED corner is the contender! The E-11 AWACS.



I have balanced the rotodome from the E-3 on top of the E-11, its not in its final place which will be roughly the same as it was on the E-3. However it does look rather small on the E-11. Maybe I should have gone with a 1/72 scale rotodome from an E-2 instead? Anyway, rather too late for that now.

Gondor

[kitnut617]

In my stash I have a rotordome for the AWAC 767 in 1/72.  It is exactly the same as the E-3D 'dome.  My 1/72 767 and DC-10 have nearly the same size fuselage so I don't think you have anything to worry about Gondor ---  

[PR19_Kit]

Yes indeed, the JASDF E-767s look severely 'under-domed' in their piccies, but I understand there was no option when they bought them as the last E-3 airframes had already been built and delivered so they had to have 767s instead.

[Later] you put 'E-767' into Google and it comes back with '-764.281718172'. 

[kitnut617]

I've read that now the 767 is ""the"" tanker for the USAF, they will start getting the AWAC 767 too.  I've also read that the AWAC 767 was a response to the cramped office the E-3's have  ---

[PR19_Kit]

I've read that now the 767 is ""the"" tanker for the USAF......

Yes, perish the thought that the USAF should ever fly anything that wasn't designed and built in the USA.........

[Cynic mode off, maybe.....]

[Gondor]

I've read that now the 767 is ""the"" tanker for the USAF, they will start getting the AWAC 767 too.  I've also read that the AWAC 767 was a response to the cramped office the E-3's have  ---

No problem with a cramped office in my E-11 and plenty of room for the electronics below the cabin floor as well.

The cockpit glazing is now installed, it feels as it its a little on the large side but at I will be using a decal for the windows reducing the plastic is not going to be a problem.

Gondor

[Gondor]

I am hoping to glue the upper surfaces of the wings onto the E-11 today, followed by the rest of the wings and the under-fuselage area which contains the main undercarriage. I am faced with a quandary. The kit I am using as a basis for this build had a third main undercarriage unit where as the kit that my MPA version is based on dose not. I cant make up my mind as to weather I keep the undercarriage as it is or to swap versions, which would be potentially heavier? I have lots to do still but would like to glue the relevant airframe section in place before I go to bed tonight so any help would be appreciated.

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

The third main gear leg was fitted to all DC-10 variants after the -10s, so the -30 and -40 had them as it enabled the aircraft to support the weight of the extra fuel tanks in the extended range versions.

I reckon an extra tank would have been worthwhile for your mission so I'd go with the third leg.

[Gondor]

The third main gear leg was fitted to all DC-10 variants after the -10s, so the -30 and -40 had them as it enabled the aircraft to support the weight of the extra fuel tanks in the extended range versions.

I reckon an extra tank would have been worthwhile for your mission so I'd go with the third leg.

Both the MPA and the AWACS can benefit from extended range though. Might have a look at scratching the middle leg so I can do both as "Jake the Peg's" especially as I have just found that the Airfix kit of the DC-10 I have can provide the required parts! Result!!

So I am now going to make an appropriate depth wheel well in a centre fuselage component without knowing exactly how deep it has to be, isn't modelling fun 

Gondor

[Gondor]

So I decided to do some maths 

I needed to find out how deep a hole I need to make when I build the centre undercarriage bay when using the Airfix parts on the Revell aircraft.

The end result of all this is finding that I need to make a bay roof 4.55 divisions deep, on my micrometer, from the sides of the hole. Not going to do that for this build as I don't have the time, probably should not be sat at the PC typing this, probably should be getting on with the PSR. Fascinating problem PSR for me. I test fitted the fuselage half's of the DC-10 together and saw no problems, this included the support structure for the new tail, but once the parts were glued together 

Oh well, more filler.....

Gondor

[kitnut617]

So I decided to do some maths 

I needed to find out how deep a hole I need to make when I build the centre undercarriage bay when using the Airfix parts on the Revell aircraft.

The end result of all this is finding that I need to make a bay roof 4.55 divisions deep, on my micrometer, from the sides of the hole. Not going to do that for this build as I don't have the time, probably should not be sat at the PC typing this, probably should be getting on with the PSR. Fascinating problem PSR for me. I test fitted the fuselage half's of the DC-10 together and saw no problems, this included the support structure for the new tail, but once the parts were glued together 

Oh well, more filler.....

Gondor

Gondor, check out this, everything you need I think but remember it is for a 1/72 scale one:

http://www.aim72.co.uk/DC-10-30-BCal-inst-initial%20issue-A5-A.pdf