(DONE..FINALLY, sheesh! LOL) F/U-2 H.A.W.K., Vietnam era warbird (Pics page 14)

[TheChronicOne]

That's sweet, suits it, too.  Hell, I like it better than wathog even.

[TheChronicOne]

Finding ways to keep going on this. 

I used one decal from the originals for the instrument panel. For 55 year old decal I was surprised it didn't just shatter but it stayed in one piece. However, the adhesive failed so I had to use PVA. Also, a funny thing, the CIA made a "whif" back when they were pushing the cover story that the downed Spyplane was actually a NASA research plane. The gov't whipped up a bunch of fake NASA markings and slapped them onto a U2 and put it on display. So, if you really think about it, this kit was WHIF OOB all the way back in 1962! :



Then, I glued in the pilot and his seat and used some more PVA in tiny drops to affix the vacuformed canopy:



Then I painted it and let it all dry up for a few hours:



FINALLY I didn't mangle the piss out a canopy!!!     I can definitely live with this result. 


Next, in researching the speed breaks it turns out the interiors of those were painted black so not much work to do on those in the way of paint. I thought about scratch building some lines in there but I didn't bother with anything like that for the cockpit so I'll likely just stick to making the hydraulic ram or piston or whatever it's called that actuates the brakes.  Maybe paint a line of silver or two to simulate lines. 

I keep thinking I have to wait on paint to finish some of this stuff, but not really..  I also remembered that I need to cut up and shape some clear sprue to go on as lenses and glass for some of the doohickeys on the under side so Ill get to work on that as well.

Until next time!   

[DogfighterZen]

Looking good, nice work on the canopy!

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks! I knocked a little chip of the paint off but I can easily put that back. I'm blown away at house nice it looks and the vacuform glass looks so much better and in scale than the original stuff. 

[Captain Canada]

Nice work ! That canopy is super clear 

[TheChronicOne]

Nice work ! That canopy is super clear 

Hey thanks, CC! I'm glad you like it and it means a lot.     If not for you & the folks here I wouldn't have much reason to do these projects.

[Captain Canada]

Don't blame us....as long as you're having fun, that's all that matters ! But for sure, a comment here and a little interest there goes a long way towards keeping you going. That's why we love this place 

[TheChronicOne]

Don't blame us....as long as you're having fun, that's all that matters ! But for sure, a comment here and a little interest there goes a long way towards keeping you going. That's why we love this place 

The blame train has left the station!  Yeah I agree... It's nice being around like minded folks. Back in the real world? I don't know ANY modeling people. The only people that see my stuff here in the "real" world is... me and I think one of my dogs wandered past a couple.   

[TheChronicOne]

The radar is why I suggested the F-4 nose.  Provides detection and guidance to the Sparrows.

There is a good amount of space in the Q bay behind the pilot.  Normally cameras or other sensors would go there, but you could have space there for the black boxes for the radar. 

Now why SEA camo?  Agree it looks good, but no one would be looking down upon the aircraft, so it would not need to blend into the woods below..... Perhaps black, blue or gray would be better.  There were some very attractive blue versions.  The black iron ball paint also reduced radar cross section. 

Glad you decided to go with sparrows.  Falcons may me another chose for 60's era, but they performed terribly...

Not trying to throw a wet blanket on anything- she is your WHIF, just providing some comments if you want it more realistic.   

-Dave

My apologies, Dave!  I missed this first time around. I was going back through all the information and notes here as I wind down the more tedious fiddly historic and accurate bits when I noticed. 

No worries at all w/ regard to wet blanket, etc...   I thank you for your input and help as I do indeed want to shoot for a fair bit of plausibility with this one. You were the first to put me on the right track with the nose, as well, which was definitely the right decision and I managed to make a fairly decent one that doesn't look bad at all on the kit.   

As for why the SEA camo? Because it looks so cool and I want to see it on a U/2!      I figure it's plausible for the same reason they put it on B-52 which to my knowledge always flew way up at altitude.  What's good for the BUFF is also good for the HAWK. 

Why DID they camo up B-52s? Wasn't all that stuff stationed in Taiwan or something? No need to camo it for anyone bombing the airfields. And, did they not all fly way up in the sky where it wouldn't do any good? Now that I think more about it I do wonder...

[TheChronicOne]

I think I came up with the final iteration of RAFF 35's acronym of Weaver's weapons system:

T.A.L.O.N. or Tactical Air Launched Outbound Neutralization.

That was brilliant.  Good thinkin on that on, RAFF.  All I did was make two very minor changes to make it more "sterile military" sounding or whatever.

No physical work done on anything today. I've just been getting everything straightened out details wise and going back over my notes again because if I don't I'll forget half of it and mix the other half all up.  Glad I did, I was about to glue on a part that is no longer necessary and wouldn't make sense. 

Mainly just stopping by to log the acronym before I forget it. 

Brad

[RAFF-35]

Team effort or what? I like the fact that you've made T.A.L.O.N. more sterile, sounds even more badass now   

[TheChronicOne]

Indeed! This is my "going for the gusto" build, want it to be the best I can make it, and is made up of all kinds of input from all of us here which makes it infinitely more cool. It adds so much more character and depth with all these great ideas and input being mixed in. A true team effort. That really makes it awesome, in my book.

Moving on... that acronym.. I'm still sort of up in the air about the "O" part.

Raff, you initially had it as "object" and that works but I thought (with my addled mind) that it was a bit vague so I went with "outbound" to signify the weapon "going out" to destroy things. But, then again, is "outbound" really the best option? Does it make sense?  "Object" is still a fine contender but I'm wondering if there are other words I'm(we're) not realizing. With that in mind, the potential exists to have it be T.A.L.Y.N. or T.A.L.I.N. so we could have "Y" and "I"(For "Intercept" perhaps? )  to work with (obviously "O" would be best in the end, but it's nice to have options).  Any input about this stuff at all is appreciated. Probably waaay overthinking this and I've seen PLENTY of gov't acronyms that seemed "forced" just to make a certain letter fit.

The next issue, and the largest, is the fact that it's starting to look like I'm not going be able to buy the paint(rattle cans) for this so I'm thinking I want to grab all me paints(stuff I already have, acrylics I brush) and do some trials with mixing colors and proper dilution to be able to brush this scheme on. It's not ideal, by far, and kills the "fade" with the borders aspect but I think it could be done and done well. I just want to TEST first, take notes on paint ratios, etc, before I just go all out on the thing itself. So, this being the case, I'll probably be looking through the stash for a test bed and will slap a basic plane together to play with paints on. Could be fun, could be interesting!  Stay tuned..   

[TheChronicOne]

 



Glorious SEA colors! 

Pulling this thing out of mothballs. I guess now the order of the day is to mask.  I have a tiny touch up to do on the black where I glued the air brakes on then it's off to the races.

[TheChronicOne]

Phase 1 of masking is 90% complete. Also, this may be the first time I showed you the missile pylons. Those make this qualify as a kit bash as I stole them off an F/A-18 that I did in 96. In fact, that was the last aircraft I completed before I took a 20 year break.  So far, we have going on: Alternate history, WHIF plane as a whole, WHIF weapon system, kit bashing, scratch building (antennae, nose section, radome, optics glass covers), and finally an after market vacuform canopy set. Might be forgetting a thing or two. This has been the most involved and varied build I've ever done or attempted. Pretty cool stuff for me! I've learned a lot and had lots of great help and advice here that I've utilized.



More pictures of the final masking soon to follow I hope.  Also, the darkest green of the camo could possibly go on today but I'm not so sure as the weather is not cooperating. I paint outside.

Until next time. 

[RAFF-35]

OOOOHH!!! Progress! Very excited to see this build completed