1/72 F-111B Build

[Gondor]

Trainers eh ? Side by side cockpits ?

The TF-102 has a side by side cockpit, almost qualifies for the worlds ugliest aircraft. The F-106B was a tandem design.

Suddenly remembered that I had failed to look at the newest publication I have on the F-111, the Modellers Datafile #19 and it actually has a drawing of the trapeze in it. Looks almost the same as those used in the F-102 and F-106 so result. Thanks very much Kit for the idea 

Gondor

EDIT: And reading the description of the drawing shows that the trapeze was only for carrying AIM-9 Sidewinders which were carried at the same time as the M-61 in the weapons bay by some Combat Lancer aircraft so my research will not be wasted as I will use it for that.

[Captain Canada]

Yes I had forgot about the 106 being tandem ! 

[Gondor]

A little work carried out over the weekend

Not having any limits imposed on them by modelling the weapons bay, Hasegawa have a rather thick rear wall to the nose undercarriage bay which needs to be reduced in thickness. here are some pictures showing the work carried out.








I had also started to raise up the cockpit and adjust the nose size to correspond with the drawings






I have done a bit more work on the cockpit area but due to watching the Grand Prix from Austin Texas yesterday I have yet to take pictures of the work carried out.

I can see my needing to buy some more filler at the end of this build considering the shape difference in the actual plastic I have for the nose and the shape the real one was. Don't forget that the production aircraft were to be almost identical to the number seven aircraft that flew and that is effectively what I am building.

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

Was it the same canopy, just raised a tad, or a different shape altogether?

[Gondor]

Was it the same canopy, just raised a tad, or a different shape altogether?

The seats were raised and the windscreen angled more sharply. The effect was fairly noticeable, roughly 60thou in 1/72 scale.

Gondor

[Gondor]

Further to my description of the canopy change for the F-111B, here is a drawing copied from the net that shows the difference




The dotted line of the canopy is the shape of all other F-111's including the first six B prototypes with the seventh being to production standard.

Gondor

[Gondor]

Been working quietly on the weapons bay as well as sorting out the rear of the canopy.



The work on the Weapons Bay can be seen HERE in my F-111K build as a lot of the work is the same.

I am thinking that I will end up making two and a half weapons bays. The fully opened weapons bay in this build with two AIM-52's, the empty weapons bay of the F-111K which will show off the centre pylon and have lots more detail because it will be open and a the half one will be for an F-111A used on Combat Lancer when some aircraft carried both the M-61 gun and AIM-9 Sidewinders so I will need half the bay open to show the trapeze.

Mad eh! 

Gondor

[KiwiZac]

Gondor, let me know if you'd like a Revell TFX B nose as mine won't be used for anything and I'd be happy to donate it to the cause.

[rickshaw]

EDIT: And reading the description of the drawing shows that the trapeze was only for carrying AIM-9 Sidewinders which were carried at the same time as the M-61 in the weapons bay by some Combat Lancer aircraft so my research will not be wasted as I will use it for that.

And F-111Cs as well IIRC.  I'm sure I've seen an M61 and AIM-9s displayed in front of the centreline at an airshow when we still used the Pig.

[Captain Canada]

Very nice. As with your Phantom builds I need to take notes !

[Gondor]

Here are a couple of pictures showing roughly the cockpit area. Dam auto focus on the camera made if focus on the area in front of the windscreen that still needs to be modified.





Work is slow at the moment as I have been concentrating on the nose of the F-111K but this has by no means been forgotten.

Gondor

[Gondor]

The weather has been dry and sort of warm enough for me to get outside and finish using a rattle can of white plastic primer on the majority of the undercarriage parts so by the weekend I should have most of the fuselage assembled. I have also found a spare nose cone from an oldish Hasegawa F-14+ kit which matches the forward pert of the radome. I will still have to extent it's length to match the drawings but at least I don't have to try and get the shape right near the tip.

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

Didn't the F-111B and the F-14A have the same radar? If so it'd make sense that the radome is a similar shape. Very handy. 

[Gondor]

Didn't the F-111B and the F-14A have the same radar? If so it'd make sense that the radome is a similar shape. Very handy. 

Well spotted there Kit 

That is indeed the fact although the only thing that can be certain is that the volume that both enclose will have the same minimum value so that the radar's scanner can move freely. Fortunately though the actual shape is close enough to save the problem of hand finishing a three dimensional complex shape by hand so that along one axis the opposite sides of said axis are mirror images of each other.

Gondor

[trickyrich]

this is going to be a really interesting build if not a challenging one! Will be definitely be following this one, good luck with the build!

As a side note I have just preposed an F-111 STGB on another website. I do love this beasty an really enjoys seeing it being built!