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Northrop BQM-74E Aerial Target


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Hey-

The plan is to scratchbuild a pair of BQM-74E aerial targets in 1/48 scale. I've been wanting to try this for a while and this seems like a good time. Here's what it looks like:

DN-SC-93-00191.jpg

I've had the opportunity to work with these targets and they are very neat little flying machines. They have been the Navy's main subscale target for a long time. They have been air launched from A-6s, DC-130 and A-4's. I want to build a pair to use as a different and colorful wing store for a TA-4J that I am building. With no cockpit or landing gear it shouldn't be that hard to scratchbuild. I hope.

Thanks for looking,

Phil

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Phil That looks like quite an interesting subject..are you also going to build the

yellow pulley{ don't know the correct nale for thsoe thingys !}..

I am looking forward to this...should be quite a lovely thread to tag along too..Kinda like this already... :thumbsup::crying2:

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Hey-

Time to get started.

I'm not going to build any support gear, since I am planning to hang them from an airplane. It does have an air launch adapter that I will have to scratchbuild, but that should be pretty easy.

So, materials ready. I have a good set of drawings, plastic and brass tubes and some sheet plastic in various sizes.

plans.jpg

Ready to go.

Phil

Edited by Par429
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Hey-

I started with a 5/16" plastruct tube. This size makes the finished size of the model just slightly oversized, but it looks about right. I put a 5/32 in brass tude in the aft end for the exhaust, and filled the front end with epoxy putty. I wish I had a lathe, but I don't so it was then a matter of attacking it with knives and sanding sticks until it looked right. I added the ruler for scale. In 1/48 scale, it's just under 3 inches long.

Fuselage1-1.jpg

fuselage2.jpg

It's pretty close, and compares well with the drawing, but there's a little shaping left to do.

Phil

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Hey-

While waiting for a coat of primer on the fuselage to dry, I started on the wings. I began with a sheet of .02" plastic cut to the correct chord width and taper. I layered both sides with two strips of 0.01" strip to give it an approximate airfoil shape. Then I filled in the resulting steps with putty. I use a catalyzed polyester glazing putty. Once it hardened, I sanded it with sanding sticks into an airfoil shape. I left the span long so I can sand the airfoil shape without inadvertantly rounding the corners. I will cut it to the correct span once I am happy with the shape.

wings1.jpg

wings2.jpg

Thanks for looking.

Phil

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Hey-

Progress today. I started the inlet/lower fairing. I began with a 1/8" square plastic tube. I shimmed the upper and lower interior with some 0.01 strip to make the inlet more rectangular than square. I also notched and shimmed the upper side so the inlet will sit away from the fuselage a little. On the real target, there is a secondary inlet above the main inlet to provide some cooling air to the engine compartment. I also added a blob of epoxy putty to the aft end that I can carve into the tailcone.

inlet1.jpg

inlet3.jpg

Thanks for looking.

Phil

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Hey-

Some small progress today. I finished the inlet/lower fairing and attached it to the fuselage. A little bit of filler was filler required at the joint. I also started preparing the wings by cutting them to size.

fuselage4.jpg

Thanks for looking,

Phil

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Hey-

OK, finished the wings and started on the tails. And yes, there are actually two. The tails are just .02 plastic sheet cut to shape. I scribed elevators into the horizontals. The target doesn't have a rudder, so nothing needed there. I just need to finish the tails on ship #2 and it will be nearly time to think about paint.

assembly.jpg

Thanks for looking,

Phil

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey-

Not too much progress this time, but I did get the tails done on the second target. I also added the cable fairings on the upper right side of the fuselage on both. Just about ready for paint.

primer.jpg

Thanks for looking,

Phil

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Very cool bit of scratch building there. :thumbsup:

What are you planning on hanging them off of?

maosn

Hey-

Thanks. The plan is to hang them on a VC-8 TA-4J, like this:

154649f.jpg

I'm building the TA-4J in the Naval Centennial Group Build.

Phil

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Hey-

I have started in on decals and some of the small details, like antennas and such. Surprisingly my spare decals box had most of what I needed. There are a couple things missing, and I'll keep looking for those. In looking at pictures of the real targets, the markings and antenna arrangements are not very consistent, and probably change with the mission.

decals2.jpg

decals1.jpg

I'm almost done.

Thanks for looking.

Phil

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Hey-

Thanks for the nice comments, much appreciated.

The BQM-74E requires an ADU-482 launch adapter for air launch. It contains a bombrack and all the equipment required to start the target prior to launch. It can be seen here between the target and pylon on a DC-130:

bqm.jpg

I got started by stacking up .1" square plastic strip and sanding it to the basic shape.

adapter1.jpg

I just need to add a few details and paint.

Thanks for looking.

Phil

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey-

Well, I have pretty much finished the air launch adapters. It took a lot longer than it should have. Mostly because I don't have any good drawings of them. I have dimensions, but they turned out not to be too good, and didn't really match photos. So I rebuilt them a few times until I was happy with the size and shape.

I borrowed the sway braces from another kit, but since nothing is easy, it turns out that on the BQM-74, the right side sway braces rest on the cable fairing and the right side rests on the fuselage, which are at different heights. So I had to cut off the sway brace pads on one side and make some scratchbuilt ones so the adapter will sit correctly on the target. We'll see how that works out.

BTW, the block just aft of the bombrack is a box that sits on top of the parachute doors on the target when it is on the pylon to prevent the parachute from deploying while in carriage should there be a failure on the target.

adapters.jpg

A little weathering (just a little, they look fairly clean in photos) and I'll be done.

Thanks for looking.

Phil

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Hey-

OK, I think I'm done. At least for the purposes of this GB. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. All I have left to do is glue the targets to the launch adapters. But I don't want to do that yet until I have the launch aircraft more done in case I have to do some last minute adjusting to get them to fit.

Some pics: (I temporarily attached the target to the adapter with some tacky wax for the pics)

finish1.jpg

finish2.jpg

finish4.jpg

This was very fun project, thanks to everyone who commented or even just looked in.

Phil

Edited by Par429
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Hey-

Thanks for the nice comments, much appreciated. And thanks to the mods for setting this GB up. Like I said, I've been wanting to do this for a while, and this GB gave me the nudge to stop thinking about it and actually getting it done.

Phil

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