TR-29 Wraith (X-29 Recce Thing)

[TheChronicOne]

How big is the pod? Maybe you could attach it beneath one of the intakes? If the X-29 is being converted to an R-29 adding a hard point under the inlet shouldn't be too much of a stretch.

Pretty damn big, honestly. lol   It's about the size of a Sparrow, and a bit fatter. I'm thinking I could hang it on a wing but then I'd compelled to balance it with something on the other wing, whether it needed it or not. Not sure what that could be..... I'm trying not to put weapons on this thing so... hmmm.....   Some sort of extra array of cameras perhaps, but then that might be overkill... or might not! Maybe there are traditional cameras in the nose and some infrared etc. crap in the pod....     BUT UHH... yeah, the ECM is pretty large. Here's some Airmen standing around shooting the breeze with one:



Might not be identical to the one I use, but they're all basically the same as far as the general size is concerned. I actually have one, sort of handy, on an old model I made that I might steal from to use here. It was one of my kid models I made like 25 years ago. It has an ECM pod but do I really want to scavenge from my old model? I really need to hop over to the stash and look into this. I also have another A-10 kit handy that might have one in it... the old Monogram one.. I can't recall if it had an ECM in it or not... 

[TheChronicOne]

Just to push this thread drift a bit further along & in no particular order (as it can change from time-to-time):

LTV A-7E Corsair
HS (BAe) Buccaneer
McD-D F-4E Phantom II
Dassault Rafale M
HS (BAe) Harrier

There's a reason I'm trying to shoe-horn them all into my alternate RAN/RAM.

Thread drifts are natural effects of the creativeness abundant in this forum and should accordingly be encouraged. 

My top five jet combat aircraft, in no particular order:

- EE Lightning
- SAAB 37 Viggen
- Hawker Hunter
- Republic Thunderchief
- Avro Vulcan

But the Canberra, the Mirage 2000 and the SAAB 35 Draken are, among others, up there too, so limiting to five is hard..

Re the pod question:
Looking at it, it seems as if the X-29 main gear is very similar to that employed by the F-16, and, as far as covers go, close enough to the Mirage deltas. All of these have very useful centreline pylons which is why I'm a bit confused by your problem. If the pylon just is deep enough to put the pylon low enough over the ground, then there should be clearance enough between the gear doors, right?

Another solution, provided the pod isn't too long, is the F-100 or Dassault-Breguet Etendard solution, where the centreline store sits ahead of the main gear well, but looking at the X-29 gear wells, that seems less likely.

Anyhow - looking forward to see where you're going with this. 

Thread drift is great! I always welcome it in my own threads. Some others might not like it and it does muddle things but.... as far as I'm concerned MBs should be a social environment and if we were all to be sitting around at a table doing a group build IRL or something, it would be natural to talk about all sorts of stuff as we work. It would be weird, in fact, if the entirety of discussion involved strictly model related stuff.

That pod.... yeah... it just might fit in there... I need to just stop and go find one so we can stick it in there and see how it goes. I can mock up the gear and shove it in there and see for certain if it will fit. I guess I'm getting ahead of myself considering alternates but that comes with a worrisome disposition I suppose.... hope for the best, plan for the worst.  With all this in mind, I'll expedite finding the ECM pod so we can solve this conundrum good and proper. 

[scooter]

Just to push this thread drift a bit further along & in no particular order (as it can change from time-to-time):

LTV A-7E Corsair
HS (BAe) Buccaneer
McD-D F-4E Phantom II
Dassault Rafale M
HS (BAe) Harrier

There's a reason I'm trying to shoe-horn them all into my alternate RAN/RAM.

Thread drifts are natural effects of the creativeness abundant in this forum and should accordingly be encouraged. 

My top five jet combat aircraft, in no particular order:

- EE Lightning
- SAAB 37 Viggen
- Hawker Hunter
- Republic Thunderchief
- Avro Vulcan

F-15 Family
F-106
SAAB 39 Gripen
ME-262
Lockheed L-133

[TheChronicOne]

Oh the L-133! That one doesn't appear on lists very often...   Such a cool aircraft... futuristic and "ahead of its time" in so many ways.

[TheChronicOne]

Bogus! I've found all the kits that might have contained an ECM pod and none are there so now I'm wondering just in general, which 1/72 aircraft kits came with one? I could possibly have one of those kits in my stash and if I just knew which one(s) to look for I could maybe find this ECM pod. I could buy one but the cheapest one is $13 and can't justify spending that... I'd kinda rather make my own out of spare crap sitting around. 

[buzzbomb]

For what it is worth, the Hasegawa 1/72 US Weapons set/s have various pods. Most of the ECM/Target pods are in set IV. I think.

Cobbling one up from spare stuff should work as well, give the option of being a bit more off RW as well

[Flyer]

In no particular order my top 5 would be:

He-162
A-37 Dragonfly
BD-5J
A-10
Yak-23

And if it were expanded to 10 the other 5 would be:

Yak-15
Yak-17
T-33
F-104
Mig-15

[TheChronicOne]

@Buzz Thank you!! Turns out the Hase set I have is the weapons carts/tractor one and even after looking at it I didn't think of those others.    Glad I have y'all around. 

[Nick]

Bogus! I've found all the kits that might have contained an ECM pod and none are there so now I'm wondering just in general, which 1/72 aircraft kits came with one? I could possibly have one of those kits in my stash and if I just knew which one(s) to look for I could maybe find this ECM pod. I could buy one but the cheapest one is $13 and can't justify spending that... I'd kinda rather make my own out of spare crap sitting around. 

If you are patient I will have a look in my stash this weekend and see if I have a suitable ECM pod amongst the pile. I might even have one of those Hasegawa weapons sets.

[Pellson]

The pod you showed in the pic is an AN/ALQ-101 series. Those are, basically, and if you're not too picky, pretty easy to replicate with a piece of sprue and some plasticard. I did one for a Super Hunter a while back, and it took me about an hour, including measuring and thinking. You can see it 2nd from the bottom, to the left here, with an Italeri sourced pod under. As far as I can remember, I used 3mm diameter sprue and 2mm thick plasticard, filing out a semicircular groove in the plasticard with a small round file. Worked a treat.



Re the placement - it should fit between the landing gear covers as it's a pretty narrow pod.

[zenrat]

...It's my job as a Moderator 

Yeah, but you're more severe than moderate...


Thread drift is good as it proves that, while you may have temporarily lost your grip on the helm people are reading the thread.

I should have thought of the Hasegawa weapons sets Brad C.  I have a few of them with various items missing.  They often turn up at swap meets cheap with the choicest items picked out.  What doesn't get used is revealing.  I have more than a few targeting, tracking, interfering etc pods, and towed target thingos and very few missiles or gun pods.

[NARSES2]

...It's my job as a Moderator 

Yeah, but you're more severe than moderate...

Don't tell Radish 

[TheChronicOne]

Bogus! I've found all the kits that might have contained an ECM pod and none are there so now I'm wondering just in general, which 1/72 aircraft kits came with one? I could possibly have one of those kits in my stash and if I just knew which one(s) to look for I could maybe find this ECM pod. I could buy one but the cheapest one is $13 and can't justify spending that... I'd kinda rather make my own out of spare crap sitting around. 

If you are patient I will have a look in my stash this weekend and see if I have a suitable ECM pod amongst the pile. I might even have one of those Hasegawa weapons sets.

Aye, thank you! You've saved my bacon before, it's appreciated. I'm going to hop on the ol' eBay later and have a look at the prices of them sets... I may go ahead and pick up a few or something and if I do I'll report back.

[TheChronicOne]

The pod you showed in the pic is an AN/ALQ-101 series. Those are, basically, and if you're not too picky, pretty easy to replicate with a piece of sprue and some plasticard. I did one for a Super Hunter a while back, and it took me about an hour, including measuring and thinking. You can see it 2nd from the bottom, to the left here, with an Italeri sourced pod under. As far as I can remember, I used 3mm diameter sprue and 2mm thick plasticard, filing out a semicircular groove in the plasticard with a small round file. Worked a treat.



Re the placement - it should fit between the landing gear covers as it's a pretty narrow pod.

Brilliant. Looks good, too. I'm eager to proceed with this build now. I think all the problems and conundrums have been solved at this point. Ahhhhhh.... peace of mind.  lol

[TheChronicOne]

...It's my job as a Moderator 

Yeah, but you're more severe than moderate...


Thread drift is good as it proves that, while you may have temporarily lost your grip on the helm people are reading the thread.

I should have thought of the Hasegawa weapons sets Brad C.  I have a few of them with various items missing.  They often turn up at swap meets cheap with the choicest items picked out.  What doesn't get used is revealing.  I have more than a few targeting, tracking, interfering etc pods, and towed target thingos and very few missiles or gun pods.

Agree on the thread drift. It is indeed a bit of confirmation and that's nice. I've always sort of wanted to snag those sets for my stash. I'm going to work on that today... how many were there? It was.... what.... 5 or 6?