Tailspin Turtle

Thanks - I have some errata and additional information stuff for that monograph that I email on request but most of it is on one or the other of my blogs.

I don't know about the Hobby Boss kit, but the Academy-Minicraft one was pretty good according to my notes from once upon a time except for the too-shallow main wheel wells and tail pipe interior and the lack of intake continuity back to the front of the engine. It provides the longer wing and the intake for 974 and a basis for the first four (the B intakes were always one iteration behind the A's). More detail on the configurations of the F-111Bs here: https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2009/10/grumman-f-111b.html

More on speed brakes, etc. here: https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2015/09/grumman-6a-vs-6e-intruder.html

A bit more on the RH-3A with its sweeping rig installed: https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2022/12/sikorsky-rh-3a-seaking-minesweeper.html

The configuration of the compartment dates from the origin of the F4H as the single-seat AH armed with the standard four 20mm cannons. Part of that compartment was dedicated to ammunition. When the Navy decided to repurpose the AH—the structure of which was defined and detail design in progress—as a Sparrow missile armed fleet air defense fighter with a radar operator, his seat was crammed into that compartment, with the ammunition deleted entirely and the other stuff that had been there relocated elsewhere.

Scroll down to item 9 for the most important feature of the aft cockpit rear bulkhead: https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2023/06/early-mcdonnell-f-4b-phantom.html

So far, so good...

I think that Hyperscale link might be broken but I repeated it here in my Tom Weinel memorial web site: https://superheatmemorial.blogspot.com/2023/01/rf-8-conversions.html

For what it's worth, Sword had pretty good Vought F8U-1P drawings to work from. Also see: https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2013/12/photo-gator.html https://superheatmemorial.blogspot.com/2023/01/rf-8-conversions.html

I don't think this is current but it will get you in the ballpark: https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-complete-f-111b.html I have an errata/additions document for the monograph, which is out of print. My email address is included in the introduction to that post. Beware of print-on-demand copies, they are guano.

Sorry, I don't remember since I wasn't interested in anything on it - I traded mine (with the brochure) to Jeff Garrity for a Skylancer Decals F2H-3 Banshee Part 1 sheet that Donald Wood doesn't have any more of...

There was a very nice 2023 IPMS Nationals brochure in the welcome package at registration that included the decal sheet.

There was a hole there. If the pilot needed to empty the tip tanks of fuel in flight (they couldn't be dropped), air coming through that hole was necessary to jettison the fuel in the tanks. The valve tended to leak, so you will see pictures of parked F9F Panthers with plugs in those holes.

In glancing at this post just now, I realized that the dimension for the location of the leading edge slat and the one for the inboard A-6E wing fence couldn't both be correct. It appears that Grumman misplaced the location of the arrow for the leading edge slat on two different drawings (very precisely in one case: 87.476"). I've corrected it on the post.

For what it's worth, I was able to nail down the actual wing stations of the inboard fences: http://tailhooktopics.blogspot.com/2023/06/a-6a-versus-6e-inboard-wing-fence.html