USN P-4 Pluto **DONE, PICS PG. 10***

[Old Wombat]

Yeah, Brad! Coming along nicely!

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks!! Going for the gusto today....  time to get this sucker cleared. I'm going to go ahead and fix that little black speck near the nose and just hope I still find a shark mouth but if not at least it won't look so goofy then it's off to clear then I'll be in some reference pictures and my pile of transfers to get a scheme together.

I had my doubts this thing would ever get done let alone be worked on in the first place so it's pretty sweet to be nearly finished with it.

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks, bruh!! 


Damn near got chills earlier! So I'm now going through the pile of transfers I have from the spares box and looking for a good tail code to use without having to do individual letters/numbers from my Navy sheet. I'd pretty much given up because things were either Marine corps, trainers, etc but the last one I had was "RA" (from an Antonov An-12 of all things....)    I looked it up not expecting much only to find that ........   "RA" is for "RCVG-51, Replacement Carrier Antisubmarine Warfare Air Group 51."     HA! What luck!!  It boils down to "VS-41."  Time period is right on, too.... 1960-1970 so.... there we have it! 



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VS-41

So at least with the markings there's a bit of plausibility!

I have all the transfers I need aside from a couple little things like the little yellow "rescue" arrows... I might have to do without those.


Should have some pics here in a little while of the completed aircraft sans markings. I can go ahead and put the tailplanes on now... only other parts to go on will be little antennas at the end and the gear stuff.

[TheChronicOne]

That's a good idea.....    Being what it is...I wonder who else could benefit? You mentioned the obvious, RN, but hmmmmm.......     my affinity for trying to rectify the lack of stuff in South American markings has me leaning in that direction but then one has to wonder which of those nations would benefit from a long-range ASW patrol aircraft.

Oh... wait.. JAPAN... perhaps an IDF version!  (Imperial Defense Force...  perhaps JSDF would be more appropriate....  )


Anyway.... the aircraft itself is now complete!












Tomorrow or whenever I guess I'll start putting the transfers on. I still have a lot of "prep" work with those. I need to trim them better and take a closer look at some to see if they need decal fix first. I feel like I'm missing something.... but I hope not.

Also, I want to make a final list of parts and scales. At last count there were ~10 kits and 4 different scales wrapped up in this thing.

Hell, I suppose I could try right now...

Parts:
Italeri B-58 pod and fins
Hasegawa F-15 vertical stabalizer
F-rsin ATR-72 spinner cones
Heller P-51 canopy
Polar Lights Star Trek 1701 nacelle tips used as...... well.... nacelle tips!    I want mine to represent possibly the face of some sore of sensor array(s).
Airfix F-4 Phantom wheels external tanks used as gear bay pieces, tailhook
Nitto Boeing 707 engines and gear struts
Amodle Antonov An-12 sensor dome used as such
Airfix Sud caravelle main wings and tailplanes
Airfix T.11 Vampire control stick used as such

That's all I can remember right now. Other parts I'm not sure about are things like the cockpit floor, seat, and control panel. Also, the wing tip tanks....  There's at least one more or two more kits in those.

As far as scales....

1/1000
1/100
1/144
1/72

All this rounded out with putty and sheet styrene.      Hopefully I remember this list the next time I think about it all and also hopefully I can recall where the interior parts and those tip tanks came from.



EDIT: And... it's kind of weird seeing it with a pointy nose after all this time.

[Old Wombat]

RNZN*?


She's looking stunning, mate!




*: No, the RNZN doesn't have any fixed-wing aircraft, just 8 x Kaman SH-2G(I) Super Seasprite helicopters operated by a mixed RNZN/RNZAF squadron.

[zenrat]

International Rescue? WASP?  Spectrum?

Looking really good BradC.  I can't wait for it to get it's makeup on.

[Tophe]

Great mix!

[PR19_Kit]

*: No, the RNZN doesn't have any fixed-wing aircraft........

Isn't that a VERY good reason why Brad should give them one? 

[TheChronicOne]

I do love them Kiwi roundels. lol


Working on it! Into transfers now. And.... looky what I found!   

[buzzbomb]

Wow.. this looks so sporty and fast.
Nice work

[TheChronicOne]

Thank you, Mr. Bomb!     


Update: I managed to get on most of the transfers and while I knew I was going to stop short of finishing I gave up a WEE BIT EARLY because I was getting a bit frustrated for various reasons and I didn't want to mess anything up. I put it all away for this evening but I have most things on.

I need to finish one side of the fin then I'm going to get into the "smalls."  I like to do those on a separate day to avoid burnout. It's easier to get more of them on when you aren't already tired of doing the others.

Also... I still would like to rummage for one of those yellow "Rescue" arrows. If I don't find one, I'll just skip it and assume there is no ejection system and I guess whoever flies the thing will have to just step outside if they need to bail..... and immediately be sucked into the engines.      Whatever. 

[Cobra]

think You might Consider making Your P-4 into an air Craft from the  World Navy in the Anderverse? Keep up the Superb work! Dan

[TheChronicOne]

Thank you!! Yes, I have considered that!  Thunderbirds and Andersons has been a running theme this whole time and people are seeing all sorts of similarities.  I briefly toyed ( ) with the notion of diverting from the USN idea and making a go ( ) of it but I just don't have the gusto to get it done and also it would suddenly not qualify for the GB.   

I was just thinking this evening how it's a shame I don't have more of these....     It's not like I would be enthusiastic enough to cast all the parts for this in order to facilitate further creation of other ideas but it was sort of a sad realization that once this is done.... that's it. There will never be another. 


EDIT: No wait... it WOULD qualify! Just because it's not a real Navy doesn't mean I couldn't use it. Not sure what I was thinking there...   

[TheChronicOne]

With that canoe on the bottom, you could put some black decals on it to represent camera windows.

Hell, I like that! I'll make a few up by the nose. Easy to do in paint. Or... I might have some black decal I can cut into squares.   

On that note... that whole bottom area is a "funny" thing. From the get-go I was like, "Well, this has to be explained; what is it?" That's where the initial ASW idea came from. I figured that it could mainly be for housing little tracking canisters that the aircraft can "poop" out every time it passes (heh) over something of note that other more "aggressive" assets would want to quickly investigate. Something like sonobuoys but not quite as long.

This is another moment of "why didn't I think of that?" Stands to reason she'd have some cameras in there... thanks for mentioning it, I think it's a good idea.

[Old Wombat]

RNZN*?


She's looking stunning, mate!




*: No, the RNZN doesn't have any fixed-wing aircraft, just 8 x Kaman SH-2G(I) Super Seasprite helicopters operated by a mixed RNZN/RNZAF squadron.

They did in the 60's/70's though didn't they?

From my research; No, they didn't.

The only fixed wing aircraft the RNZN ever seem to have flown were Supermarine Walrus' from the light cruisers HMNZS Achilles, HMNZS Gambia and HMNZS Leander (all of which were loaned to NZ during WW2) & the aircraft appear to have been maintained & flown by RNZAF personnel. Latest research seems to indicate that even the Kamans are actually RNZAF aircraft.