Tailspin Turtle

I don’t know how accurate the Lindberg kit is but this includes a comparison of the long nose F11F to the XF9F-9: https://tailhooktopics.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-grumman-xf9f-9-too-little-too-soon.html

I’ve mentioned it in one of my books (e.g. the Navy requirement for a day fighter that resulted in the F8U Crusader had compatibility with the concept as a design requirement) but I checked and I didn’t post anything about it in my blogs...

The XB-42/43 main landing gear probably set a record for the number of doors involved: https://tailhooktopics.blogspot.com/2019/09/douglas-xb-4243-main-landing-gear.html Douglas significantly simplified the A3D’s.

For what it’s worth the F4H’s bespoke tanks (370 and 600 gallon) went through a similar evolution. The original tanks were designed by McDonnell. They were later replaced by tanks with a constant diameter in the midsection, presumably to reduce manufacturing cost. See https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2013/06/things-under-wings-f4h-f-4-phantom.html

https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2011/07/douglas-low-drag-external-fuel-tanks.html

Airplanes, helicopters, birds, insects, and gliders stay up by pushing air down (in the case of the glider, only in rising air). How and how much air they push down are just details.

I was at an air show at NASA Ames once upon a time (the Blues were flying A-4s). It was a lovely sunny day. There was an excellent representation of Navy airplanes in the static-display area. They were all gray/white and clean. No two greys were the exact same color or sheen.

I'm sure that the EA-3B had a plugged window frame aft of the one that had a round window in it, at least on the right side. I'm all but certain that the next window location was eliminated by the incorporation of the small bomb bay in the aft area of the cabin. Whether the last plugged window on each side was present is a definite maybe. It's there on the initial Douglas A3D-2P access-panel drawing.

https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2015/09/grumman-6a-vs-6e-intruder.html

https://clearpropmodels.com/uh-2a/bseasprite https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235069382-uh-2a-seasprite-172-clearprop/

Direct from Clearprop - their margin is better when you do that.

I just got one in the mail. In a word, brilliant! At first glance at what’s in the box, which for starters is first class, the parts are beautifully detailed inside and out (if any aftermarket company can find some feature that’s missing or shape that’s inaccurate, I will be very surprised); the multi-page instruction sheet is in color, detailed, and on high quality paper; photo-etched details are included where injection molding would be inadequate; and decals are provided for four different helicopters along with almost as many stencils as would be on an F-4, all of them readable with approp

It is hard to tell that an A-4F has received the Super Fox conversion: https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2011/02/super-fox.html However, I’m not sure that the flange is unique to the Super Fox: https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2016/08/a4d-skyhawk-one-more-time.html

My most recent look at this: http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2012/10/painting-crush-points-red.html Note that they rarely (never) have the red edge on the gear doors even when the slat wells are red.

For what it’s worth, the Bell HSL was the first helicopter with the autopilot capability for dipping sonar: http://tommythomason.com/books/Bell-HSL/

👍

My F4H-1/F-4A monograph is well regarded but expensive. It was preceded by a couple of posts on one of my blogs that may suffice for most modelers with regard to sorting out the differences among the F-4As, particularly the first 18. See https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2011/05/early-phantom-iis-redux.html. There is a link in it to the preceding post.

The fairing after the tailhook was only on a few early F4Hs and was removed from #1 at some point in 1958. The perforated spoilers were also replaced on #1 in 1958 but some F-4As were retired with them still present..

Minor error in the aft cockpit (and probably present in many other kits). The rear bulkhead was actually vertical so the ejection seat rails were set at an angle to the bulkhead, not attached to it along their length. It is a reminder that the AH was a single-seat airplane and the area aft of the pilot was filled with 20 mm ammo and various aircraft system components.

The F-4A inlet ramps were notably different from the F-4B’s.

In the end, Sikorsky chose not to bid. Up until then, the S-76 was too big, the Bell 222 was too small, and the AS-365 was too foreign.

Flush canopy, small radome, IR fairing, early tailhook, “cropped” upper inlet lip, plus some other differences that I can’t remember off hand... (it’s all in my monograph)

Click here and scroll way down to order: https://fineartofdecals.com/goodies/148-treasures-postwar/ If he still has any. For $40...

http://s3.amazonaws.com/fineartofdecalsimages/CED48494.jpg

For what it’s worth: https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2015/08/its-not-that-easy-to-get-it-right.html