SM-64 Navaho

[PR19_Kit]

Lots and LOTS of heavy duty filing to even up the ends of the Nahaho missile's fuselage. The resin that Mr. Renax used is like CONCRETE and takes a lot of work to do anything with it.

The centre section is glued in place now and needed a bit of PSR on the joint, but I guess that's only to be expected. The tail end, which has a couple of wonderful looking exhausts for the Wright ramjets, will need a lot more filing as the joint face is at the wrong angle. This could take a while..... 

[scooter]

Do they make a small enough angle grinder?

[PR19_Kit]

Do they make a small enough angle grinder?

I doubt it, and with my luck I'd probably grind WAY too much off! 

[Gondor]

Do they make a small enough angle grinder?

I doubt it, and with my luck I'd probably grind WAY too much off! 

Maybe they do

https://www.scalemodelshop.co.uk/portable-electric-sanding-pen-es-p-dspiae-p17866/?utm_source=SMS-GSF&utm_campaign=SMS-GSF&utm_medium=SMS-GSF&utm_term=78752&srsltid=AfmBOorT57UFp8jQfju5ivqDO5k9s8Bd3jilvi0a8huMsx7hJpgUrgf-CAQ

Gondor

[loupgarou]

Proxxon has a big range of (serious) small electric tools, but are bl..y expensive.

[PR19_Kit]

It's getting larger, bit by quite large bit.

After sawing the excess mould pour from the nose moulding I glued that in place and PSR'd it, for the first time anyway, and then glued on the nose probe bit too. That comes with the metal nose spike incorporated in the moulding, great stuff. 


It's starting to look like a missile now, at last.

[NARSES2]

It's starting to look like a missile now, at last.

Or something out of "Thunderbirds are Go" 

[PR19_Kit]

Or something out of "Thunderbirds are Go" 

Oh yes, very much so, and I've not even started on the booster yet.

I'm thinking of adding a cockpit and making it a M 3.0 bomber maybe................

[kerick]

Some folks have use sandpaper glued to an electric toothbrush to sand tight spots. You could trim the plastic toothbrush tip to any shape you need.

[Wardukw]

Some folks have use sandpaper glued to an electric toothbrush to sand tight spots. You could trim the plastic toothbrush tip to any shape you need.

That's a cool idea..never heard of that before..I like it  👌

[PR19_Kit]

While I'm away on a pre-Christmas break I took the Nike Hercules kit with me to start assembly and modification of its launcher to handle the finished Navaho. It's a VERY well engineered kit, with multiple moving parts, but of obviously '50s period work, it was originally moulded in 1956, with a fair amount of flash and heavy mould marks on the flat areas. They were nothing that couldn't be improved without the use of a hefty flat file and a scalpel of course.

The numerous hydraulic jacks connect to their stirrups via small 'bumps' on the stirrups that locate in matching holes and dents in the other halves. I didn't think the 'bumps' were liable to last too long if I erected and retracted the quite heavy Navaho a few times, so I've drilled out the stirrups and the piston rods with a 1 mm drill and inserted short lengths of  30 amp fuse wire.

RESULT! 

It all moves a treat, so I'll superglue the pins in place when it comes to final, post-painting assembly.

I'll post some pics later, once I've found where I've hidden my camera anyway..............

[PR19_Kit]

Here's the pics of the Nike Hercules launcher before I've added the 1/72 bits to adapt it for the Navaho.

I've pin jointed all the vulnerable swivels with fuse wire now, temporarily with the ends bent up, but eventually they'll be trimmed right off and sealed in place with gel superglue.




Here's a launcher fully retracted, but what you can't see is that the piston rod of the 2nd motion actuator is too short and it falls out of the cylinder in this position. I'll try and extend it, or else build a completely new longer piston rod assembly.




And here it is fully extended, the over-short piston rod is arrowed in red.



I'm quite pleased with the way it works, apart from the short rod and I should be able to display the Navaho at different angles hopefully. One rather vital part was missing, that was a location plate to restrain the two 1st motion actuators in position, but I scratchbuilt another one and it works just fine. 

[kerick]

That's looking really good! Nice mechanical work.

[PR19_Kit]

Thanks for that, but I think a lot was due to Revell's designers back in the 50s, they did a great job translating the real thing into plastic.

Mind you, looking deeper into it, that too-short 2nd motion actuator isn't actually needed. The 2nd strut will still position the ramp correctly on its own with the geometry of the existing linkage. I may just cut the whole 2nd motion actuator off and use it for some of more Navaho-specific bits I intend to add.

[Gondor]

Thanks for that, but I think a lot was due to Revell's designers back in the 50s, they did a great job translating the real thing into plastic.

Mind you, looking deeper into it, that too-short 2nd motion actuator isn't actually needed. The 2nd strut will still position the ramp correctly on its own with the geometry of the existing linkage. I may just cut the whole 2nd motion actuator off and use it for some of more Navaho-specific bits I intend to add.

You're the hydraulics expert around here, we would be taking your word for whatever you do anyway, rule two or not!

Gondor