danse Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 (edited) Hello everyone! I've gotten the mods to move this thread out of the What-If GB and into the In-Progress area, as I didn't finish in time for the GB, but I want to continue with the build. So, just ignore the references to the GB and all will be well! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ And here's my second contribution to the group build. These two builds are my first in 15 years! If the Canadian Gov't decided to opt out of purchasing the JSF (still keeping the training programs) and decided to support domestic aeronautic companies... the decision was made to use the keel of the existing CF-18s with new fuselage and spars, while incorporating stealthy fuselage geometry and other technologies. This is inspired by this version of the F-16 from Patlabor: Here's my start of the project. I used vinyl tubing to create the missing intake on the Hasegawa Hornet. Needed to stretch the tube to the kidney-shaped intake. Used a heat gun to coax it, along with tweezers, to retain the shape while it cooled. Turns out that the walls are waaaay too thick to fit inside the fuselage, so I took an Xacto blade to the outside edges of the vinyl tubing. Nice little shaving bits, and the result is something not too bad. Looking good so far... had to re-heat and re-stretch it a bit as the vinyl was trying to return to its original shape... Here's the Starboard intake glued in place with 5min epoxy. Hoped that the epoxy would help the vinyl keep the desired shape. Looks like it's working. Here, I'm pushing the vinyl so it's parallel to the fuselage. Another view of the installed intake, before gluing it down. (The tubing is sticking up in this photo.) Here's where I'm stopping for now... I've added bracing for the wings (I'm not going to follow the instructions... hehe) as I want to setup the anhedral and glue the wings to the upper fuselage before closing it up. a closer view of what's been done so far. Notice the port intake fairing - there seems to be a problem with the Hasegawa mould. I'll have to add a brace to push the fairing out to match the starboard side (and intake mouth) before I add the intake ramp. Here's a photo of my two projects together. Jeez. I know that the Arrow was bigger than most modern aircraft, but that's extreme. Here's a photo that's more of a plan view to compare the size of the Hornet to the Arrow. Hard to believe there's 30 years separating them! Edited June 2, 2009 by danse Quote Link to post Share on other sites
danse Posted April 30, 2009 Author Share Posted April 30, 2009 Now I don't know why... (probably 'cause it was late?) but I got it into my head that I couldn't use the top fuselage of the kit, and so I grabbed the top fuselage from the Blue Angels Hasegawa kit that I was going to use for my FSW Hornet.... and proceeded to modify it. I split the LERXs away from the fuselage to lower them; my goal is to get the tip of the LERXs to the centre of the fuselage (as designed / moulded, they're about 80% of the way up). Anyway, here's the result: I want to use the LERX's as part of the structure to create the stealth Hornet... so all I've got to do now are the intakes, finish the cockpit, and then I can start modding the airframe! Speaking of intakes, here's the trunking... haven't figured out how to finish out the lipping yet... I've installed a brace to push out the port intake to match the starboard intake and intake mouth. Here's another pic - I tried to capture the curve of the installed intakes. Also shows the brace. The way the Hornet fuselage is shaped made Hasegawa mould the sidewalls separately... but they don't really line up well with the curve of the intake mouth. Comments? Feedback? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
98daytona Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Looks great, I'm going to keep my eye on this thread. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
illithid00 Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Awesome idea using the tubing for the intakes. I'll be watching this one! Are you going to be adding in elements of the Super Hornet on this? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Using tube for the intake trunking is ingenious! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
danse Posted April 30, 2009 Author Share Posted April 30, 2009 (edited) Awesome idea using the tubing for the intakes. I'll be watching this one!Are you going to be adding in elements of the Super Hornet on this? Hey thanks for the comments! I'll be scratchbuilding and not pulling from the Super Hornet... though I wonder if parts will look like the Rhino when I'm done...Hmmm. Edited April 30, 2009 by danse Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Amen Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 Nice ideas i'll be watching this topic also! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
danse Posted May 28, 2009 Author Share Posted May 28, 2009 (edited) Right-o. So, like my post on my hypersonic Avro Arrow, I'll mention that if I don't finish this build before the GB ends, I promise to continue this thread. Onward! Opening up the hellhole behind the cockpit... I can't decide whether to continue with the vinyl tube intakes, or try to get these to work... styrene intake ducts I've installed on the lower part of the Blue Angels Hornet, instead of continuing with the vinyl tubing in the grey Hornet! Thoughts? Maybe I should just finish off with the vinyl tubing as we're near the end of the GB and it's further along? To shape this, I used a heat gun on low, and slowly pulled and bent (sort of like making neon tubing) applying heat while moving the tube through the heat stream. Here's another view of the styrene version of the intake. I was looking for some found materials that had a curvature that could duplicate the DSI bump. I ended up cutting four of the eight corners, from a sushi tray (!), to figure out now big the DSI bump should be... Here's the DSI bump; it looks fairly large, though the intakes on the modded Hornet will be lots bigger. They'll wrap around the barrel of the forward fuselage. I'm still having a problem trying to figure out how to put the intakes together... and smooth the rectangular F-22 style intakes to the round smooth surface of the tubing.... Edited May 28, 2009 by danse Quote Link to post Share on other sites
danse Posted May 28, 2009 Author Share Posted May 28, 2009 (edited) And onto making the turbine faces for the end of the intakes. See those pokes? The result of me trying to find a good matching pair of tip for the turbines. From the sushi tray, too! I used a non-sharp pencil crayon and poked the sushi tray that I heated with the heat gun until I found a shape that I was satisfied with. I've cut out circles from styrene and sanded 16 turbine blades into the circle... I know it's not enough, but I think it'll look alright once I paint it up. Comments? Feedback? Boulders heaved in my general direction? Edited May 28, 2009 by danse Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ixgr1 Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 great work, I like this sort of injenuity - actual modeling !!! Intake walls can also be done with White electrical heat shrink ........... (steve the electrician) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
danse Posted May 29, 2009 Author Share Posted May 29, 2009 (edited) great work, I like this sort of injenuity - actual modeling !!!Intake walls can also be done with White electrical heat shrink ........... (steve the electrician) Thanks, ixgr1! was looking for heat shrink as one of the options for making the intake tubing, originally, but couldn't find the diameter that would fit... and were only available in black in my neck o'the woods... Will tackle the remaining compressor face tonight, along with starting the cockpit. Edited May 29, 2009 by danse Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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