Chronic's Research and Aeronautics Project (C.R.A.P.)

[zenrat]

...https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/mcdonnell-fh-1-phantom-i

I see the radome appears to be a slightly different shade than the blue paint...

See what you mean.  I reckon they repainted the nose for some reason (see how fresh the stars & bars looks?) using genuine paint but the rest of it has faded and so doesn't match.

[NARSES2]

...https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/mcdonnell-fh-1-phantom-i

I see the radome appears to be a slightly different shade than the blue paint...

I wouldn't of noticed that if you hadn't pointed it out.

[Old Wombat]

Nose, not radome; no radar on this type of Phantom, just guns.

As a museum piece it may have had a change of markings at some stage, or the nose came from a different aircraft, or there was a significant corrosion issue that had to be fixed.

[TheChronicOne]

Ahhh thanks!!!  After I said it, I got to wondering how they'd cram a radar in that tiny thing but I could't reconcile the different shade of paint. This is good news, because now I get to ignore the whole situation. 

Did finally reach some conclusions yesterday. Got the cockpit painted and gear wells painted. Well, I say gear wells, but they literally don't exist. I'm not even sure what the gear are supposed to attach to as the exploded diagram doesn't mention it. I'm sure once I'm in the moment the solution will present itself and be easy to achieve. They later made this kit in an "Upgrade" boxing with resin wheel wells and a much better cockpit. The "enthusiastic" modeller would have built that stuff from scratch but it really doesn't bother me not to have them. I don't display my models upside down. 

So, gluing on the canopy today I guess then prime it and start painting? I'm still trying to ascertain the correct color for the gear struts and wheels however...   not too trusting of the museum piece up there. It's not of my specific airplane, USMC-7, and I've seen others with the more typical white or light grey. I'll get into this while something else dries.

Lastly, this kit is inaccurate in at least one way... it only has two gun ports when it should have four. I suppose I need to make a couple more to put on here. It's also sans any protrusions like antennas. I may or may not do those but I'm pretty sure the gun ports need to be correct.

Wait, I guess this is last, but nothing involving the build. I just learned it by happenstance as I did research. Turns out the Navy.....brought two of these out of retirement (sound familiar?) in 1964 as part of a program to train civilians to fly jet fighters. Did they think light general aviation was going to go from prop jobbers like 172s to small jets or something? I don't think the program lasted long. ANYWAY....   I found a pic of them and they even made a kit boxing:



OR, well, I ASSUME these are the two. What else would they be?!  But... that's some pretty cool shizz right there!!

[Rick Lowe]

I'd have said the wells and gear legs would have been white, like the other stuff of the era. Silver for the appropriate telescoping bits.
It may just be that someone went wild with whatever paint they had in the gun; use it up while it's there, the public won't know the difference.

Is the differently-hued part a separate panel? Then it's probably come from another aircraft or has been stored out of the sun. My .02...

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks!! I think I concur about the paint....and... well, I looked for an image of MY actual aircraft and others from the same squadron and sure enough, the white is the way to go. Speaking of white, on my Marine Corp bird there are white accents up front and a couple at the tail. I've since started painting these. So much for all blue simple stuff!!  No worries, though, I get to cheat a little bit. The little flair on the nose I can trace and copy from decals that go to my Panther kit. I'll then cut it out and trace it onto masking tape for an easy no-worries masking job.


Mine


Another in the same squadron

I could have went with the all blue USN option but I want to build a Marines bird.

[NARSES2]

Wait, I guess this is last, but nothing involving the build. I just learned it by happenstance as I did research. Turns out the Navy.....brought two of these out of retirement (sound familiar?) in 1964 as part of a program to train civilians to fly jet fighters. Did they think light general aviation was going to go from prop jobbers like 172s to small jets or something? I don't think the program lasted long. ANYWAY.... 

Well I'll be .................... So some of the thoughts I've been having re our GB are not quite as far fetched as I thought 

[TheChronicOne]

Uh oh!!! Cryptic Messages.... I like the sound of this, bud........   

[TheChronicOne]

Moving along with the Phantom. At this point, I might make the big push to finish it today. At the moment, I need to sand and refine the new gun pods I added up front then glue on the canopy. After that I can prime it and let it dry about 20 minutes and start brush painting the blue. I'm going to throw some BBs in the bottle to help mix it all up.... 

My cheat to mask the tear drop sort of decoration on the nose by tracing and copying and cutting my own mask seems to have worked. I had to adjust it a fair bit and make some cuts once in situation but it looks OK for the time being, I'll know the real score when I unmask it later.



This is what it looks like now. Like I said, I'm going to clean up the new gun ports, etc. and get this thing primed and while it dries I'll pick back up painting the fiddly bits.

If I AM going to try to get this done today, I suppose I need to focus on it expressly so I won't ruminate on the other builds until later but I imagine something on the Tristar will be done. I'm still letting putty dry on the 737 build.

Oh... I did some work on the Pluto (the "home made" kit ASW plane I'm making out of left over parts) yesterday. I sourced some things to use as pods to house the gear wells and gear. I'm going to have to make a bunch of cuts and add in sheet styrene all over the damn place but I think I have a good plan of action. It's just a matter of doing the grunt work.    I also found some things I could use as wing tip pods to store yet more fuel and house spotlights and possibly serve as refuelling pods with drogues.

Man, what did I get myself into with this?! It's like....  I guess it's really scratch building, huh? I have all these random parts but I have to cut up so much of it and build new things it's more than a "kit bash" and really, there is no "kit" in any of this junk...just... parts of them. The "fuselage" was a B-58 pod and the wings from a Caravelle so if I were to get technical I could call this monster a "B-58 / Caravelle kitbash" but the end product isn't going to look remotely like either....   

[NARSES2]

I do like that Phantom  You've got me thinking about the newly released Special Hobby one now.

[TheChronicOne]

Snag it! I'm going to. They seem decently priced. It's pretty neat airplane. I've learned that: it's the first USN jet. First jet aircraft to ever trap on a carrier. First USMC jet. There's some neat history there while it never saw combat and didn't make it out of the 1940's aside from NG units I think it were... and even those didn't last past '53. Very early jet stuff... so neat... the very leading edge of the transition from props to jets. And the wings look cool. 

[PR19_Kit]

First jet aircraft to ever trap on a carrier.

First US jet to trap on a carrier.

The actual first jet carrier landing was by a DH Vampire flown by the indomitable Eric Brown, no less. (December 3rd 845)

[TheChronicOne]

Yeah,whoops! Thanks for correcting me. I included that with the rest, I dunno why I dropped it for the carrier trapping bit. All was meant to apply to USN/USMC.   

[Logan Hartke]

First jet aircraft to ever trap on a carrier.

First US jet to trap on a carrier.

The actual first jet carrier landing was by a DH Vampire flown by the indomitable Eric Brown, no less. (December 3rd 845)

Again, it all depends on how you measure it. You could say that the first was by US Navy, and an ensign, no less. Ensign Jake C. West made an jet only landing in a jet-powered aircraft on November 6, 1945, a month before Eric Brown.

Historic Wings: The First Jet Landing on a Carrier

Cheers,

Logan

[TheChronicOne]

More interesting stuff I didn't know.   


An Ensign....  that is fascinating because one would think some higher up glory hound would have wanted the task. Then again maybe they didn't want to risk any of them or maybe the Ensisn WAS the hot shot badass pilot of the squadron. I'll have to read the article after I get back from work and that may answer my question.   




EDIT: I forgot to do any type of update. I'm going to plan to finish this today, I didn't make it the other night but I'm in a closer position this time. Still, I don't think I'll make it. There's just enough that I'll probably wind up just short of finishing, just like on the last build. Sometimes even just a short amount of work seems too much at the end of a long day. So... wake up the next day and do 10 minutes of stuff then be done. People might ask... well,why not just finish it last night? Just get tired I guess!  Don't want to mess it up late in the game then taking pictures is always an ordeal, too.


Black paint for wing walks then mask that and off into the blue paint I go.