Jump to content

Monogram A-6E TRAM 1/48


Recommended Posts

Wow Elmo, great work, you are THE master :worship:/>/> I respect your ability to take all of those precise measurements on the piping and tubing runs.... Not easy to do when we are talking about hundredths/thousandths of an inch! I must ask how you make the bends with styrene rod? I tried it once under boiling water, but it would not soften up enough to make the bend... Once again, amazing attention to detail and your scratch work is second to none :thumbsup:/>/>

/Jesse

Jesse, making those dammed tubes was exercise in futility. The tubes I ended up using were probably the fifth iteration of each..........and the tube geometry (angles) as we call it in the business is still wrong. The main problem is that when making a tube with many bends, one wrong bend screws up the whole thing. That said, the odds of making a tube with multiple bends correctly the first time around are pretty slim. The other major issue when dealing with styrene rod is that it does not want to keep its shape once bent. I usually bend the rod with just finger pressure but almost always bend way past the point I want as the rod wants to spring back. I'll also use a set of small pliers at times to help bend the rod. Of course the way to relieve the stress on the rod is to apply heat of some source. I've only tried relieving stress with the use of a flame from a small candle but I can honestly say I've ruined more "good" parts with this method than actually got good results from. Another material i use at times is copper wire or solder.......solder being really easy to bend but can be flimsy. I probably would have used either of those two materials for both of the tubes I made but the tube with the black section at the bend needed holes drilled in its side for the two gizmos along the side of it so metal was out of the question. The other tube has a hole drilled at the aft end so I had to use plastic as well. Aside from that, I'm still searching for a method that yields good results on my first or second try.

E.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Excellent work, Elmo! Very close to the real thing (just missing the Thermos bottle cup holders)! Looks like you made good use of the references. Yeah that circuit breaker panel is a pain to make. :)

As for the seats, Verlinden's GRU-7s would be your best resin seat for the cockpit. They are the correct width. I noticed you kept the Black Box center console which they widened a bit. By doing so, BB had to make their seats narrower than actual size to get their seats to fit within the tub. That's why the BB seats look squished...

Edited by PlasticWeapons
Link to post
Share on other sites

Excellent work, Elmo! Very close to the real thing (just missing the Thermos bottle cup holders)! Looks like you made good use of the references. Yeah that circuit breaker panel is a pain to make. :)/>/>

As for the seats, Verlinden's GRU-7s would be your best resin seat for the cockpit. They are the correct width. I noticed you kept the Black Box center console which they widened a bit. By doing so, BB had to make their seats narrower than actual size to get their seats to fit within the tub. That's why the BB seats look squished...

Thanks PW, means a lot coming from the A-6 expert. Yes, your reference material was indispensable, couldn't have got to this point without it. I did notice from your reference material and mine that there is a huge difference between lots with respect to the stuff above the vertical panel that sits on the center console. As far as the Thermos bottle holder, assuming you're not pulling my leg, I'm sure I have pics of it and just don't know I'm looking at it.

The circuit breaker panel was a real pain to make and as your trained eye can see, It's wider than it's supposed to be and it also sits outboard of where it should. The inboard edge/side of the box should be aligned with the inboard edge of the console. Unfortunately, the somewhat inaccurate dimensions of the tub did not allow for proper box size and alignment. Doing so would have made the box extremely wide and the stuff that sits on top of the box would have been way out of scale as well. Lets just say the size was a compromise.

You're totally right about the Verlinden seats fitting the BB tub as all others I have do not. My only dilemma with Verlindens seats is I really do not like molded on seat belts and I honestly don't think the seats look all that great. I really prefer Aires seats but as you already know they don't fit. That said, I'm busy thinking of ways to make them fit, including sanding away the interfering sections of the seat sides which you can't see all that well anyway when installed. Besides not fitting, my only gripe with the seats is they both have identical seat cushion patterns, or for that matter, both seats are exactly the same.......NOT GOOD. I guess that can always be fixed with some modeling clay.

Thanks again for your help.

E.

Edited by wardog
Link to post
Share on other sites

Nope, not pulling your leg about the Thermos bottle holders. When the A-6s were delivered brand new, they came with two Thermos bottles with, if I remember right, either the Grumman or A-6 logo painted on them. The cup holder itself had "Thermos" stamped on the sheet metal. Just a little bit of info to pass along.

If you really want to go to town, you could scratch build the hard plastic parachute packs on the seats and add seat cushions...

Keep up the great detailing. Looking forward to seeing this tadpole completed.

Now if someone can find the bottles on EBay...

Edited by PlasticWeapons
Link to post
Share on other sites

Elmo,

those details are killing me!

There are so many of them in that small cockpit...Wow!

I really love stuff like the vent/cooling tubes, the tube exhaust on top of the center pedestal or the CB panel. I guess the two "gizmos" are flow/temp sensors and they look spot on! All those little details are just incredible.

Oh...The idea of wrapping some wire around the rod to simulate the flexible part is great!

Keep up the great work!

Alex

Edited by coneheadff
Link to post
Share on other sites

Holy crap, how did I miss this thread?! Probably because I'm not an A-6 fan and 1/48 scale usually doesn't interest me, but you've got my attention now! Bravo sir, your work inspires us all.

Thank you Chuck. I like you have a favorite scale but in my case it just happens to be 48th. Although 32nd scale usually doesn't interest me, I still look at them from time to time because there are some great builds out there with plenty to learn from, including yours. Great job on your A-10.

E.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Elmo,

those details are killing me!

There are so many of them in that small cockpit...Wow!

I really love stuff like the vent/cooling tubes, the tube exhaust on top of the center pedestal or the CB panel. I guess the two "gizmos" are flow/temp sensors and they look spot on! All those little details are just incredible.

Oh...The idea of wrapping some wire around the rod to simulate the flexible part is great!

Keep up the great work!

Alex

Thanks Alex. There is a lot of stuff crammed into a small space but quite honestly, the tediousness of dealing with things I cant see without reading glasses and a magnifying glass is taking its toll on me. It's very frustrating and time consuming to get things more or less right. You're probably right about the "gizmos" being the tube most likely serves a pneumatic function.

E.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 3 weeks later...

Time for a small update. Finally painted the switches and buttons and started working on widening the cockpit canopy sills. Not very visible are the cockpit sidewalls that are temporary installed for fitting purposes. These will eventually receive a fair amount of detail prior to final installation. I originally planned on using the sidewalls from my Wolfpack set but they gave me a bit of trouble in the end. The buttons/switches on the Blackbox tub are crisp and nicely detailed but oversize for the scale. They're more representative of 32nd scale IMHO. Although inaccurate in scale, they do make for easier painting and ultimately better visibility. Hoping to start and finish the instrument panel during the Christmas break and finally close up the fuselage.

DSCN0104_zps258201e3.jpg

DSCN0101_zpscb029b82.jpg

DSCN0107_zps568c4641.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

Devilleader & jmel, thanks for your comments.

coneheadff......Thank you as well. Although considered an improvement over the kit cockpit, the Blackbox tub still has many inaccuracies. As I stated before, the scale of the buttons/switches is off but so is the quantity of buttons/switches, style and general location. IMO, the original kit tub is probably way more accurate and so is the tub from Wolfpack. I would have elected to use the Wolfpack tub if it wasn't for Its unsatisfactory fit in my kit as well as the extremely rough surface texture of the console details. In hindsight, I probably should have re-made the consoles and added more "accurate" stuff but this build has dragged on long enough already.

Below is a pic of the Wolfpack tub for comparison of surface texture to a previous pic posted in this thread of the Blackbox pit prior to paint.

DSCN0111_zps256105da.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

Throughout this build I have been absolutely amazed at the level of craftsmanship on this A-6 I can barely work with PE and you are scratch building things that PE wouldn't be able to reproduce. I must say sir you are a master at your trade because that thing looks real in my eyes. Any idea on what markings are going on it.

Link to post
Share on other sites

DUDE!!!......I've seen modelers do some awesome detailing, but never have I seen anyone detailing the detail, let me know when you plan to start your next modeling class I'll be first to sign up, that office looks like it's 1:1, and the weathering is beyond advanced. Skills like yours are what we lesser stars dream of often ;) :worship: :worship: .

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 1 month later...

Happy New Year ELmo!

Any progress? Can't await to see more :thumbsup:/>

Alex

Hello Alex,

It's been a while but good to hear from you. Happy New Year to you as well, hope it was a safe one for you and yours. Been working on the cockpit sidewalls, instrument panel and coaming lately but haven't gotten very far. I'm using the Blackbox coaming along with the instrument panel from Wolfpack as I feel this combination looks best. Unfortunately though, I've been having a ton of fit issues so I've spent most of my time grafting plastic and adding Tamiya Light Curing Putty to these two parts to cure all of the alignment problems. I think that at some point during the engine duct installation with epoxy, I must have permanently put a tweak in the fuselage because I have too many weird fit issues with a lot of the cockpit pieces. Every time I fix one thing it seems to cause an issue somewhere else. Safe to say I'm working through them though, it's just taking a while. I'll post pictures once I have something worthwhile to show. Thanks for asking.

Elmo

Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow Elmo

I get back from about 4 months working in Texas and I'm slowly getting back on my kits and pop back here to see this...I'm doing more Russian stuff (an old OEZ kit of an SU-22) and realize I want to do some detailing....then I see this and I have to step up my game.... lol..... I'm never gonna get this thing done.... good to see you doing what you do...it looks phenomenal!

Steven

Link to post
Share on other sites

I'd like to preface this by saying I do not even feel worthy enough to post regarding this build. That being said, this is, by far, the best display of modeling I have ever seen. I had no idea this sort of thing was even possible. Bravo.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...