Martin B-51G Panther “Tropic Moon III” Finished!!!

[KiwiZac]

This is really growing on me, all these lumps and bumps don't help. Not to mention that gun! Phwoar!

[trickyrich]

Well lots more progress has been made though not too much to show, a lot of it involved sorting out final positioning of things, plus I rebuilt the Pave-Gat!

I spent quite a lot of time trying to figure out how the new cockpit was going to fit and how the canopy would fit.

So once the general position of the cockpit was worked out cuts were made for where it was going to sit, I didn't need to change these. The height was the issue, as I wanted the canopy to be quite low and not appear to have been "stick on"!! I was lucky in still having two bulkheads still in place, so these were shortened as required until the cockpit sat just right.



The canopy for sometime had worried me as I like the look of it but the frame profile was all wrong, it had quite a pronounced curve on it (to match the B-57's nose profile).



But I didn't need or want this, I wanted an almost straight frame. So out with the scalpel and nail-polishing file and off to work we went (plus a quick dip in some oven-cleaner to remove paint). I now have a canopy free of framework and pretty clear and scratch free. Just needs a quick going over with 12000-grit micro-fibre, polish, and a dip on acrylic floor polish and she's done. I can now have the framework I need to suit the fuselage profile. 




Ok the engines were fitted next, they went on trouble free, though I did use lots of thin CA glue and accelerator. This made the join cleaning up process a breeze with very little filler required.




Next was the cut-out for the Pave-Gat, I probably should have done this before I fitted the engines as it would have made the process a bit easier, but......  I faired off the rear section just so it didn't quite act like a brick. The gun platform is fixed, so this is a permanent modification, the rear section of the bomb bay is now an additional fuel tank.



Ok the Pave-Gat itself, as mentioned I was quite happy with the look of it after reviewing the drawings and photo. So I pulled it all apart and gave it proper 2 axis movement, as it should have had. It looks much better now and a bit closer to the actual unit. The initial coat of paint looks a bit sad but it's just an undercoat.



It does look pretty cool once fitted but there is one issue! Unless the aircraft is really moving quick there is a chance that ejected shells could hit and damage the port engine, so an additional strengthening plate has been added to that engine. Good old aussie engineering at work! 




The bodywork is now pretty well completed, I just need to finish painting the cockpit and fit. The work required to profile and fit the canopy is quite minor compared to what has been done! The wings will be next, they just need to fit smoothly, no filling required, because the wings or the real ones could vary their incidences. The tail will be the last piece to be fitted, as that would be the first piece I'd knock off!! Plus I have started painting up undercarriage and engine bits.

Gosh at this rate I'll be finished soon, then what would I do!

[loupgarou]

One of the most impressive jobs I have seen since quite a while! 
Together with the P1121 and the swept-wing Arado, a trio of master-class surgery ! 

[NARSES2]

One of the most impressive jobs I have seen since quite a while! 
Together with the P1121 and the swept-wing Arado, a trio of master-class surgery ! 

One cannot but agree 

[Captain Canada]

Wow ! That's all I got to say about that 

[trickyrich]

yeah info in the Pave-Gat system was really hard to find, though it can be expected as there was only two aircraft ever modified. Though the program and what was learnt form it had an significant effect on the success of the AC-130 program!

Well just a quick update as I haven't had a lot of build time the past couple of days.

So I finally completed painting the cockpit, it actually doesn't look to bad, the quality of the resin cockpit wasn't up to Aries or likes standards.



With this done I and fitted I could now concentrate on the cockpits fit.



First off plastic sheet was added to the underside of the cockpit, this will allow me to make most of this new work out of plastic.



Next the correct position of the front of the cockpit was set again with plastic rod this time. Plus the rear section of the cockpit was filled in with some sheet to regain it's original shape. In some ways it would have been nicer to have fitted the cockpit first before closing up the fuselage rather than the other way around as I did, less of the original fuselage would have had to have been removed! Anyway!




Another drop tank was sacrificed for the rear section of the canopy.




I am now very happy with the shape of the new canopy, so now it's just a case of filling in the gaps with plastic sheet of rod and hopefully just a wee amount of filler. I am half tempted to vacform (or slam mould) a new canopy... will have to think about that one.

The main wheels are pretty crap, even painting them didn't help.



So a trip to the spares box and a set of 1/48th P-51 wheels look like they maybe the answer.



Unfortunately I only have a pair...so a quick a quick casting job (why has it taken me so long to discover or at least try it!!) and I now have another set, plus additional pylons I need and the missing half of a LGB I needed as well!



Well unfortunately work will start to slow down a bit of this build as I have to start working for a living again...sort of! But I can actually see the end insight already on this project, which is quite amazing!

[Captain Canada]

Beauty. I really need to try casting somat as well.....bought a kit a few years back probably all dried up now 

[trickyrich]

Beauty. I really need to try casting somat as well.....bought a kit a few years back probably all dried up now 

It's actually a lot easy then you think, I was very surprised. it's pretty much fool proof with the kits they have available now. I really do wish I had started doing it a lot earlier!!

[Captain Canada]

Ok thanks ! Now I'll have to find somat 'easy' to try first 

[trickyrich]

Just a quick update tonight, did a little bit of work on her and decided I needed more work!!

First up started tiding up the canopy, have decided to stick with the current one and not make another....well for the moment! With the tape covering the "glass" bits it now has the look I am after. Just need to spend a bit more time on the rear cowling to get the shape right, but this task is nearly done.



So really it's just the wings and tail to go on till painting time!!!

Arrr the wings.......This was going to be an easy bit until started to do some test fitting and positioning, or to find the port wing sat about 5mm lower than the starboard one!! So it would need to be moved up so they would be even. About now I started to think more about the wings and their size. The wing loading on this aircraft was really high, around 102 lb/ft2 (495 kg/m2) about the same as an F-104 and a lot more than a Eurofighter Typhoon! I want to drop this a bit and give her a bit more of an evolved look.

Plus being Australian it can't quite be normal, we just love to modify things.......so time to add a big wing to her (well it worked on the F/RF-111C!). So a little bit more fuel, lower take-off speeds, plus she needs to have a smoother ride at medium altitudes for precision bombing and the Pave-Gat! So a wing job it is!

I did a rough drawing of what I'm after, longer tip and a small increase at the wing root for stage 1, stage 2 is to increase it half as much again. Will have to see how it looks after the first stage to see if I go any further.



It'll look something like this.



So new wing root extensions added first, these will match two pieces a plastic strip I'll add the fuselage so I can get a better bond with the fuselage (the two strips on the fuselage will be tired together with plastic rod through the fuselage, all will make sense in a later update).



Next a quick check where the tips have to come off.



Then off with yee tips with yea!!!!



A wee bit of plastic to help give me profile.



A wee bit of laminating which will make the shaping process a bit easier and require less filler!



Now that looks better, just need to wait for the glue to harden.



....and a trial fit to see if it will look any good!




That does look amazing, going from something that looked a bit odd and stumpy, to something that has a real modern look to it!! We aussies know how to make things look good!!

Now what else can I modify..........

[PR19_Kit]

Yesssssssss, extending the wings! 

Way to go! 

[Gondor]

That looks a lot more proportional than before. 

Gondor

[Scooterman]

Agree with Gondor and Kit. Much, MUCH better looking.   

Just a thought, perhaps modify the tailplanes to match?

[trickyrich]

Agree with Gondor and Kit. Much, MUCH better looking.   

Just a thought, perhaps modify the tailplanes to match?

That is an interesting thought!! If I hadn't glued the tail up I'd probably jumped to it, but it will be a wee bit harder now....will think on it. Great idea though!

[trickyrich]

Agree with Gondor and Kit. Much, MUCH better looking.   

Just a thought, perhaps modify the tailplanes to match?

I do agree with you there, so had a little think about it....the results a bit further down. I cheated but they do look much better.

Today's update will be called one-step forward and 2-3 steps back!!! 

Ok the good stuff...

The wings are pretty well done, just a couple of spots to tidy up and they can go on. So to get to here...

From the last update, the tips were given a good sanding to get their profile right.  Laminating with plastic sheet was certainly the way to go as it made this process so much easier.



Next some filler in the gaps and around the original wing/new wing joint. There are some noticeable hollows in the resin towards the tip, think it was a result of where the tip gear is. Anyway after a good sanding again it starts to look very nice.



Ends were fitted to the wing root ends and this section also cleaned up and profiled, This is a much later photo as I forgot to take one while doing this!



Next up the flap fairings needed to be fitted....there should and use to be 6 of them, in three different sizes! But some how I have managed to loose the 4 smaller ones....knowing my luck they'll show up after I have finished it. So I had to make up some new ones, one sanded one not.



Now she's all sweet, a final lite rubdown and done.



Ok the tail, it still shared a similar outline to the old wings. I had thought of completely redoing the tips but as it was complete and pretty well finished I decided to cheat a bit, so out with the big sanding stick. The tips were squared off, then it was given a smoother leading edge curve, while the trailing edge was slightly reduced. A subtle change but it matches the wings a little more closely now.



So with the wings and tail pretty well done as mentioned......at this stage I was getting ready to fit the wings, but things started to go down hill at this stage!

Now the backward steps, I'll go from no so bad to crap!

Ok I had some plastic strip cut to the profile of the wing and was going to fit it to the fuselage first with CA glue and pinned with plastic rod through the fuselage. Then with pre-cut out holes the wing I would have a nice plastic to plastic join for them.....that was the plan.

During the test fitting stages it turns out the port wing is 5mm lower than the starboard one! No drama I just had to ensure that my alignment holes were correct. This all went together perfectly, the joins were good and everything was even. Then during some more test fitting I notice that the wings were completely level with the fuselage! They had the correct droop 6^o anhedral but their incidence was nearly dead level 0^o, which is not right. They should have some while on the ground, even in flight they still have some. So the original alignment holes on the RHS were in correct (maybe the LHS ones were correct...I don't want to think about that!!!)  So all my lovely work was in vain and now I had to remove the ones I had glued on with CA glue!! So after much cursing they're fixed, not as clean and tidy as before, but at least they are where they should be!!



Ok now to the crap.........

I had been finishing the final shaping of the canopy surrounds and had a quick peek under the tape just to check how things were inside (I had head something rattling inside. To my shock and horror the canopy had lots of hairline cracks in it along with half a ton of dust! There was nothing to it but to remove the canopy, which did little damage to the surrounding area. Looking closely at the canopy you could see lots and lots of small cracks. What to do, well there was some cursing and the dust bunnies probably learnt few words they didn't know before today! But it's really not a biggie, just more work I didn't want to do, but the canopy wasn't the best to start with so I should have figured something like this may happen.!

Polishing and dipping in floor polish didn't help. I tried the smash mould a new one but just couldn't get it right, and I have managed to put a small dent in it now!



So after some searching Falcon VacForm has come to the rescue, they do a canopy set which includes a canopy for the B-57. Worse case I may just have to buy another B-57 kit and use its canopy! Though they would look nice together!!!

In the mean time I will redo the canopy frames, which should be easier now that I have positions to work from.



I have a semi-reasonable canopy I made that might work, as I think I will leave the canopy open now. So for this I will have to make a custom frame up.....will just have to see how time and motivation goes.



If I hadn't had the canopy issues that wings and tail would have been on now....but why would we want to make life so easy for us!