CraigSargent
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Posts posted by CraigSargent
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Full colour pic of the "French" A-4M (there were 2 sent)
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158148 as evaluated by the French Navy
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I'd still like to see this one as well. Both Hasegawa and MF kits can be built out of the box with no hump.
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Posted on the A-4M thread already, but 1/48 A-4Ms Part 2? Would love to see VMAT-203 represented, which has never been covered by anyone in any scale.
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Will there be a second 1/48 A-4M sheet - Part 2? Love to see decals for VMAT-203 in 1/48 which have not been covered by anyone.
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On 12/29/2023 at 11:33 AM, PA28Ace said:
Colours are spot on - nice work.
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On 11/29/2016 at 12:46 PM, Ol Crew Dog said:
F-15 A to C, A type prior to MISIP and C model initial production. Nose to Tail
Early C Models and A models were almost indistinguishable. I was a Crew Chief on A models 80 – 84 in the 27th TFS, 1TFW, 76-0057 was my first hog. Got my first C model 82-0019 in 83 with 12.7 hours from Micky D’s.
Top
1. Majority of the cockpit remained the same with only minor instrumentation upgrades through the years.
2. HUD and HUD combing glass went through an upgrade in 82 to accept the EagleEye scope, home made to mount to the side of the combing glass to slide a rifle scope on for visual identification.
3. The early C models had the same cockpit configuration as the A model until after MISIP in the late 80’s.
4. ESCAPAC seats were initially installed but changed out before 1980 on active duty aircraft with the ACESII Seat. The ACESII seat was basic with no major mods till much later in the seats career.
5. Bay 5 was Metallic Green Color, much to the disbelief of many this was not painted white later in the A models career. This metallic green can be found in the avionics bays of all F-15’s. This Color carried on into the initial batch of C models’ my C model at Kadena 78-0479 still had a Green Bay 5.
6. There was no set up for the ICS boxes that go in Bay5 on the C models.
7. A models did not go through MISIP till later in their career, after the C models went through except for certain intercept squadron aircraft.
8. Aileron actuator panels do not have the pronounced bulges as this denotes a modification of the addition of a hydraulic reducing valve which did not happen till C model production.
9. Both LVS and RVS (left vertical stab and right vertical stab) are missing the beef up plates for the top bullets torque boxes did not come about till the late 80’s.
10. Pnl 128 or tail hook fairing was not removed till after Desert Storm.
11. Turkey Feathers were removed on the Nozzles starting in 79 through 82, I have the scars to prove that from snapping off the finger seals while doing my BPO.
12. Sabre drains (sharp as hell redundant fibreglass drains) on the aft Engine Bay panels were there till after Desert Storm.
13. JSF Exhaust still had a metal Louver, this was not moved till after Desert Storm..
14. Wheels and Brakes were modified to the type you see today on C model production, A models had the star pattern type wheel and most did not receive the new type after going through MISIP in the 90’s.
15. The wheel wells were that funky metallic green Color as well, I remember this because hooking up the hydraulic test stand the connections were in the main wheel wells and the hydraulic fluid caused the paint to peel around the connections getting the metallic green paint all over my gloves...
16. No chaff and flare mods installed under the intake on A models.
17. COMM panel on the A model was further forward on the left intake bottom and square, the C model COMM panel was rectangular and further aft, both were hinged at the front of the panel.
18. No ICS antennae’s behind the nose gear door and in between the blade or UHF antennae’s.
19. The rectangular blade antennae’s on the canopy hump aft of the canopy were the only half type used till the early 90’s when these were hard to replace so a suitable sub was found which turned into the shark ant you see today.
20. There were panel changes over the years but this would not be noticeable in smaller scales and only to someone intamite with the F-15. Any questions or you want me to elaborate anything feel free to ask.21. Preproduction and initial production batches had the short speedbrake (retrofitted to the longer speedbrake) .
22. Also on the NASA birds they had on the Both Vertical Stabs counterbalances, the ALQ ant was missing along with all other antenae's.
23. Wheels could be painted black, silver or white on the mains and the nose, these could be an intermix on all wheels.
24. Wing tips were different shapes on the NASA and preproduction birds due to testing different configurations for efficiency, they were made out of plywood for easy and cheap changes. The NASA bird on the pedestal at Langley flew in with plywood wing tips, saw this with my own eyes.
as memories come back to me I will add to this list, if you notice anything I missed let me know.
Cheers
DaveHaving been through the conversion to the prototype using the Hasegawa F1/48 F-15C last year, here are a few I can add specific to the early jets
1. Small fillet at the rear of the tail fins
2. NACA intake ducts on the bottom of the fuselage behind the main gear wells (ask me how I know - had to retrofit to mine AFTER painting)
3. Tail hook faired over for flight testing
I ended up designing and printing a new instrument panel and test instrumentation to cover the cockpit differences.
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1 hour ago, Da SWO said:
Sniper pod under the belly.
LITENING
Sniper not integrated into Harrier as near end of service
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Difference between Harrier and CWIS is ability to quickly acquire and track. Phalanx is highly manoeuvrable for aim and fully radar guided. It’s designed to be able to target missiles, shells and pretty much anything in flight. GAU in the jet depends on pilot’s manual aiming and the jet’s rate of response to pilot’s reactions. It was designed for CAS which is generally soft, slower moving targets.
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Pretty hard to hit something that size with a Gatling gun although I doubt there would be a USMC pilot alive that would not want the opportunity to try. Given most AIM-9Ls are going life-ex and being phased out for AIM-9X et al, would be easy way to dispose of inventory, if this did indeed actually happen - which is sounding more and more like a deepfake exercise than a real-world event.
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USMC AV-8B II+s were first modded to carry AIM-120 in late 2000s
Two things of note on this:
1. Reports are coming out from the personnel on the USS Bataan that this story of the drone shootdowns by the AV-8B is actually fake (according to those Marines, there have been no drone shootdowns by AV-8Bs anywhere), so watch this space.
2. For the actual config, this IS new. You will note that the Harrier is missing the outboard underwing pylons and that the AIM-9 on the LAU-7 is using the same ADU adaptor on the mid-wing pylon as the AIM-120 LAU on the other wing. This is non-standard as AIM-9s are traditionally carried on the outboard underwing pylons, wiht the LAU parent mounted to the pylon (i.e. no adaptor needed).
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They say memory is the second thing to go when you get old. I can't remember what the first was... 😄
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No, pretty much exactly the same in production. The exhausts have never sat over the tailplanes
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The rear of the engine pylon to fuselage fairings on the YA-10 was squared off, not tapered like current ones so may be throwing off the relationship perception a little.
Solid red lines show pylon rear end. Dashed red lines are approximately where production fairing goes.
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Here you go
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It's more than that - you actually have to move the trim tabs (fill and rescribe) to the inboard ends of the elevators. They are not on the outboard end as per the production aircraft.
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Yeah, the oval panels have to go, but the wing joint cover needs to stay, but needs to be flattened a lot. It was definitely there
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On 3/5/2023 at 4:15 PM, Norm DUbay said:
The early Tamiya A-10a kit is based off the pre-production A-10s plus first four A-10s serial numbers 75-258 thru 75-262 I believe. The kit has the longer flap tracks that extend past the trailing edge of the wings. The kit has Escapac ejection seat and lacks the chaff pods under the wings and sponsons. It also has the 30mm cannon not the 20 mm cannon. To do a prototype 11369 and 11370 you will need to do a lot of mods. The tails, profile of the nose, wheel sponsons, fuselage panels and scoops, shortening the wings, and adding the 20 mm gun will be required. If you want to do a really early prototype you will also need to remove the wing fillets to fuselage. I think the inboard slates will need attention as well.
Something like this 😄
Removed the wing fillets, reshaped the nose (have reshaped it more since), reshaped the tail fins, removed the strakes under the fuselage in front of the wings, glued the inboard slats closed, shortened the wings, glued the ladder door closed and filled and sanded it, this was before I shortened the pylon fairings for the engine, and the Aires wheel sponsons have since been removed and I'll CAD some new ones. Lots to do, but now I have the Caracal decal sheet in hand
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14 minutes ago, Darren Roberts said:
I see you haven't painted your F-18 yet. I double dog dare you to go with this scheme.
LOL, yeah, nah. But nice work on the composites
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On top of the new parts, the other things I changed were
- squared wingtips
- filled dogtooth on leading edge of tailplanes
- ESCAPAC seat
- filled gun port and vents
- added small scallops on the fin trailing edge/fuselage join
- used exhausts with petals fitted
- reshaped spine profile
- shortened speed brake and squared the front end
- used ResKit early F-15 wheels
- filled tailhook opening
No list I could find, just used good reference photos.
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Hasegawa 1/48 F-15C backdated to the first prototype and finished using Caracal "F-15 Eagle: The Early Years" sheet. A lot of work and new parts designed and 3D printed.
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I've got the early issue Tamiya A-10 with the MASK-10 boxtop and was going to build it in the boxtop scheme, but after building prototypes of the Eagle and Hornet to use with the Caracal decals, maybe I need to reconsider the use of the A-10 kit. Who knows, with my CAD super-powers, there may be something in it...
None of these prototypes can be easily built from any kit in 1/48. Both the Hornet and Eagle took a lot of work, but I think the A-10 will be more problematic. Gotta love a challenge.
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Too late to ask for this one?
Harrier Early Years??
in Caracal Models
Posted · Edited by CraigSargent
Been working on a 1/48 YAV-8B. Started long before the Kinetic kit came out. Using a Monogram AV-8A, Monogram AV-8B and Hasegawa AV-8B plus a large amount of Fusion design to get this one finished. There are many parts of both variants needed to interchange to get the prototype.
You actually have to cut back the sides of the fuselage and the engine bell to fit the double row of auxiliary doors as they intrude further back into the fuselage sides. It's definitely not an easy conversion.
But I'd love to see a sheet of XV-6, P.1127 and YAV-8B markings in 1/48 (and 1/72). I do have the Vingtor sheet for this one which I worked on with Nils and he actually produced when I started my conversion.