Northrop N.63 in 1/72

[PR19_Kit]

As mentioned in my other thread here about the N.63 I've started on the build of this WEIRD looking thing.



Almost all the information I found on the N.63 came from one of Scott Lowther's amazing archives, and the gorgeous artwork was drawn by our own Sentinel Chicken, no less! I re-scaled it to 1/72 and re-arranged the drawings to suit my purposes and looked around  for suitable donor kits.  The one that came immediately to mind was the Pegasus Lockheed XFV-1 Salmon of which I had five  It's the only kit in the world with a 'thanks' to me printed on it as I helped Chris Gannon with his research into the model some years back, but I'm afraid it's not one of his better efforts, the Valom kit of the XFV-1 being miles better.

However while the XFV-1 is about the same shape and length as the N.63 it needs a LOT of modification to produce the proper, much tubbier, fuselage shape and I see a lot of Milliput in my near future! I had thought the XFV-1 prop and spinner would suit but it's much too long and fat so I used one from a Kopro Convair XFY-1 Pogo and sawed down the front portion to length, assembled the two front parts and added loads of filler. The extra-long tip tanks of the N.63 were made from the two XFV-1 tanks cut and shut to suit and they too needed lots of filler as they taper too much. The wing section came from an E-2C wing that was generously donated by one of our other members here  and the intake bulges came from the Pogo kit, but will need LOTS of filing and PSR work before they look right.



It's early days yet, let's hope it all comes together properly.

[Old Wombat]

Actually, I think it's a rather nifty little design. Much prettier than the Pogo.



Guy

[PR19_Kit]

Actually, I think it's a rather nifty little design. Much prettier than the Pogo.



Guy

I'm with you there, but it's still weird. 

[Old Wombat]

Actually, I think it's a rather nifty little design. Much prettier than the Pogo.



Guy

I'm with you there, but it's still weird. 

Aren't we all?

[kitnut617]

I'm going to be watching your progress with this one Kit, keep some plans of it as you go please.  I wouldn't mind giving it a shot too ---

[PR19_Kit]

I've re-scanned Sentinel Chicken's drawings to 1/72 if you're interested Robert?

[kitnut617]

Yes please Kit ---

It would go with the Lockheed and Convair ones very nicely.  Mind you there's a couple of others in that diagram of the contenders that look just as tasty ---

[PR19_Kit]

PM inbound Robert.

[PR19_Kit]

I'm starting to get that 'bitten off more than I can chew' feeling.......

My initial guess that the XFV-1 fuselage would be a close fit for the N.63 proved to be a bit wide of the mark. The XFV-1 is LOTS wider than the N.63 and I had to hack around 8 mm from each side! Cutting lumps off the front and back of a fuselage is relatively easy but making them narrower is a totally different thing, but I've managed the port half anyway.

I printed out a centre-line profile spine of the N.63 and you can see how I was bemused into thinking the XFV-1 would suit in the piccie below.



After cutting the profile out of styrene sheet and trimming it to accept the cockpit and the prop, I taped the narrowed fuselage half to it to see how much I needed to do. The answer is a LOT!  



In reality the N.63 bears as much resemblance to an XFV-1 as a Beverley does to an SR-71......

I've assembled the shortened XFY-1 prop and added the notoriously fragile blades, and they'll have some super-glue reinforcement added later on. I've also re-shaped the base of the canopy to suit the N.63's double angled base and started on the cockpit. The Pegasus XFV-1 cockpit is a joke, that's the box-like thing top right in the third piccie. It's not even large enough to hold the nice cast metal seat that comes in the kit! I've used a trimmed down XFY-1 cockpit floor with the XFV-1 seat and that looks a better fit. I think I'll actually build up the whole cockpit interior when it's glued to the profile 'spine' and then wrap the trimmed down fuselage sides around it.

There's a LONG way to go yet.....

[kitnut617]

PM inbound Robert.

Got it!  thanks very much Kit   

[Dizzyfugu]

Oh, wow! Bold project - I stumbled across the N.63 in books, too, it looks so odd, it deserves to be built! Looking forward to the results! 

Already an idea concerning the livery? Potential prototype, or maybe a service aircraft... 

[PR19_Kit]

Bold? More like crazy Thomas. 

I'm going with the 'prototype' scheme in Sentinel Chicken's 3-view, especially as I've already done the artwork for the decals. 

I was fiddling with the cockpit interior last night and it fits snugly on the spine and within the narrowed fuselage sides, one plus point anyway.

[sandiego89]

Nice, keep it up!- love all the tail sitters. 

[PR19_Kit]

Lots of progress today, narrowed the starboard fuselage and glued them both to the spine around the cockpit tub, and added the XFV-1 prop mount on the nose. Made up the second wing tip tank and filled in all the old panel lines on both wings and finished off the PSR work on the prop, of which there was a LOT!



Put all the bits together and stand it on end and it's starting to look like an N.63. 

LOTS of Milliput to go yet though, that'll be tomorrow's main task I'm sure.

[Dizzyfugu]

Go, go, GO!