North American AF-82/A-11 --- Finished (now with pics)

[kitnut617]

Looking good sir 

Looking good there, mate.  Must be a real whirlwind with those contraprops!   

Thanks Chris, Brian.

The effect from the props is one of the reasons of increasing all the tail surfaces area, a couple of other reasons would be the increased weight and length of the engine/prop and to some effect caused by the wing tip tanks. I had read some notes in an article about other real aircraft which are to those effect, so I thought I'd include it here   

[NARSES2]

I must admit my brain is struggling with the concept of twin contra-props. For no reason whatsoever it keeps ruminating on the question "does each sides pair rotate in the opposite direction to the other sides ?". There's no reason why they should, but my brain just keeps ruminating on it 

[kitnut617]

Well having twin contra-props on an aircraft wasn't a novelty, the original spec for the DH Hornet was to have them as an option, and then there was the Short Sturgeon which did have them. Of course the Shackleton had four of them --   

Reading about the DH Hornet, it apparently was quite an evil plane to land when trying it on one engine, I think the contra-prop version would have made it easier. That and maybe a much bigger fin ---

In the backstory, all will be revealed though   

[NARSES2]

  

[kitnut617]

I've got all the pylons on now, you can see in the top pic where I've extended the wheel bays out into the outer wings, so that the F8F styled undercarriage can fold away.





And these are the load-out it will be modelled with (although I'll interchange the load on the big pylon for some pics)

[PR19_Kit]

ALL the pylons! 

You're not kidding Robert, that'll be some loadout!

[kitnut617]

Well there is some precedent Kit, while researching F-82 a while ago I came across a lot of pics on the internet showing the ground attack variants that were proposed. Plus there's the Piper Enforcer ---

The two bombs under the center section look a lot bigger than a 1000lber too --

[jcf]

Maybe a pair of 2,000 lb bombs?

[kitnut617]

Maybe a pair of 2,000 lb bombs?

That's what I was thinking Jon, now I've got another ordnance option, only using the Mk.84 ---- 

[NARSES2]

That top photo is fascinating mate and I wasn't aware of the 2,000 lb bomb so thanks Jon.

[kitnut617]

A bit more progress, I've now glued the cowlings on, I had to install the props though because I used the same method to hold them in place as you find on the Frog Shackleton.

Here you can see after I had drilled the prop shaft hole right through the cowling, I counter bored it with a larger drill bit. I had to make a new collar to retain the prop shaft out of some large diameter sprue, which I made to have a friction fit instead of trying to glue it to the prop shaft.



And here it is with the cowlings on, also on it's wheels for the first time too ---







Now it's off to the paint shop --

[PR19_Kit]

That's looking VERY mean and menacing Robert.

But a great build nonetheless. 

[kitnut617]

Thanks Kit  ---

[kitnut617]

Some comparison pics with the F-82 I built quite a lot of years ago. The lengthened u/c legs raises the nose up not too ridiculously I think.

The F-82 prop diameter measures out at 10'-9", while my contra-prop's diameter is 12'-0"

[McColm]

Great work