Douglas F4D-3 Skyray

[Captain Canada]

Love to see new ideas on problem solving. And she's looking great as well ! Cheers !

[DogfighterZen]

Nice. 

Seriously folks, why would you want to get rid of the lovely curves of the Skyray wing?
Just about every other deltoid/semi-deltoid* is boringly straight edged.

* BTW the Skyray doesn't have a delta-wing, it's classified as a low aspect-ratio
swept wing, it's based on R.T. Jones work at the NACA during WWII. Jones also did
work on swept-wings, and his first papers on the subject were published internally
at the NACA before any of the swept-wing material from Germany was known.
The NACA sat on his research and it wasn't shared with the US aeronautical industry
until after the German work was in hand, and it was shared reluctantly. It's one
of the oddest incidents in aeronautical engineering history.

I know, it's a bit of heresy on my part...  But i agree, it's a beautiful design as is, that's why i decided to leave the wings as they are and just change what really bothered me. 

Love to see new ideas on problem solving. And she's looking great as well ! Cheers !

Thanks, Captain! Glad you like what you see here! 

Last night i did some work on the inboard sidewinder pylons...



Going to cut up the twin launchers to replace the very weak launchers on the kit's pylons. Also going to use Aim-9D Sidewinder and Aim-7 Sparrow missiles from a Hasegawa US air to air missiles set instead of just the kit's Aim-9Bs, that's why i need 4 launcher rails... Plenty of "Go get'em!" sticks...

[DogfighterZen]

So, i've been doing the PSR rounds on this thing and i can say it's getting there and i'm now in the fine tuning stretch...



The pic was taken last night but i've since put down a bit more in a couple of areas and been taking care of them today, Hope to get the cockpit and nose area finished today and maybe move on to the wings cause those will also give me a fair bit if work to get a good fit.

[Old Wombat]

Looking good!

[DogfighterZen]

Looking good!

Thank you, mate! 
I've done quite a bit on it since the last post and all i have to do now is to mask and paint the leading edge of the wings before spraying a coat of gloss varnish and get on with the markings, but i've had a lot of real world stuff to do this week and haven't touched it since last Sunday. 

[Old Wombat]

I know exactly how you feel! Except that my build is barely crawling forward.

[DogfighterZen]

I know exactly how you feel! Except that my build is barely crawling forward.

Crawling... that's the word, indeed! I've crawled for almost two weeks with this and this weekend i finally got it going...

So i had to finish the missile launchers but it was a simple cut and glue process...



I finished painting the scheme and glossing the model last weekend so i went on to decals and after those were done, i applied another good gloss coat on the airframe.
While that was drying, i sprayed the remaining bits left to paint...



Applied decals on the fuel tanks, missiles and landing gears and painted the tires before a gloss coat on those...
Decided to grab an IFR probe from an Italeri F-100 and started assembling parts after the gloss varnish was dry on all parts and this is what the F4D-3 looks like with markings on...



All it needs is a bit of paint on a few details and it's ready for a matte coat and the canopy masks removed and it'll be finished! 
No attempts at heavy weathering will be done as this will represent the first of only 120 F4D-1 airframes upgraded to the -3 standard but more on that will be explained in the back story.

Should be able to finish this one tomorrow night but i'm not sure if i'll have time for the backstory and beauty pics but, if not, i'll take care of that on Tuesday since my work schedule has been reduced to working only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays so i'm sure i'll have plenty of free time this week.

Y'all stay safe, ok?

[Old Wombat]

Damn, she's starting to look really good!

[DogfighterZen]

And it's finished! 

"The F4D Skyray was designed to meet a Navy requirement issued in 1947 for a fighter aircraft that could intercept and destroy an enemy aircraft at an altitude of 50,000 ft (15,240 m) within five minutes of the alarm being sounded. The Navy also wanted an aircraft that followed the designs and research of the German aerodynamicist Alexander Lippisch, who moved to the U.S. after World War II.
The Westinghouse J40 engine chosen to power the original design was showing to be troublesome and slightly under powered but Douglas took a conservative view and designed in contingency options for other power plants so, after that engine was cancelled, the Pratt & Whitney J57 was the option chosen for the production aircraft.
In March 1953, the XF4D-1 was put into production with the P&W J57 and was in the middle of it's testing and evaluation for the US Navy but already there were plans for a redesign of the airframe to allow it to reach Mach 2 and give it all weather operations capability, which the F4D-1 would not have because of the Aero-13 fire-control system, which featured Westinghouse AN/APQ-50 radar.
Although advanced for the time, this system's capability was limited and was know to be troublesome, with pilots reporting that it did not work well most of the time.
Even before the aircraft went into service, Douglas already had been working on solving these issues and the F4D-2 was the first of the new variants. This variant was supposed to use more powerful version of the J57 engine but before long, the radar became the main issue to be addressed and the F4D-2N was designed with an extended nose section to house a twin radar scanner system.
In the end, the radar selected was the AN/APQ-64 which provided a fire control system for the Sparrow III missile and would turn the day fighter into an all weather fighter/interceptor.
Still before the first aircraft were put into service, there was a new study that intended to make the Skyray a Mach 2 capable fighter so, the General Electrics GE J79 engine with a variable geometry nozzle was selected as the powerplant. This engine not only increased the total power output but also ahd less fuel consumption, addressing another one of the Skyray's deficiencies.
The new engine and radar were installed in the second XF4D-1 prototype and test flown at China Lake NOTS in late 1956.
After just a couple of months in flight tests, Douglas decided to introduce these modifications into the production aircraft and after only 27 F4D-1 airframes were in service, the new design and radar were adopted and the following airframes to be delivered to the US Navy were to have these changes incorporated. Also, the Navy also decided to upgrade all early F4D-1 airframes that would be in service by the time that the new radars and engines were ready to be integrated in the Skyray's production line.
The first F4D-3 airframes to see service with the US Navy service were delivered to the Fleet All Weather Training Unit Pacific VF(AW)-3 squadron in a total of 6 aircraft in 1957. When the transition was complete later that year, the squadron was equipped with 25 units, based at Naval Air Station North Island at San Diego, California.
The aircraft proved to be reliable in many aspects but the wind tunnel tests were not enough to predict that the more powerful engine would make this airframe too unstable for the Mach 2 intended speed. There was too much drag being created along the wings and fuselage which, by further testing, showed that it was too short and needed to be stretched and area ruled to become stable enough for the high speed and stability to be achieved.
These conclusions led to the design of a new variant with a new name, the F5D Skylancer, because of so many differences it had compared to the original F4D's original design.
Developments with other aircraft such as the F8U Crusader and the F-4 Phantom II would dictate the end of the Skyray's service life with the US Navy and the Skylancer's chances of becoming a reality. By the end of 1964, the US Navy decided to retire all F4D airframes in service and only 4 remained flying with NACA until they were retired in 1970."

[jalles]

Wow, that turned out beautifully! That paint scheme is a real head turner 

[loupgarou]

Beautiful. The look with the new nose changes completely. And fantastic paintwork.

[comrade harps]

That is a piece of work and I the bubble canopy

[Dizzyfugu]

Sweet, very well done! 

[Old Wombat]

Spectacularly brilliant! Love it!

[zenrat]

Great work blending it all together.  You've done really well.

I can't help thinking that I liked it better before though.  Sorry.