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Monogram A-6E TRAM 1/48


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Hello Coneheadff,

Yes, the extensible cage will be placed in the lowered position as will the arresting hook. The cage is one of the first things i built on this model and is shown somewhere towards the beginning of this WIP. Thanks for looking.

markiii,

I hear what you're saying about the Paragon wing-fold set.......very nice but not necessarily an easy kit to deal with. I've already finished installing all four inserts to the wings but i haven't posted any pics of them. They came out real nice but i did screw up one wing section which required me to buy another set... :bandhead2:

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Seeing updates on your Intruder gets me excited like a kid on Christmas morning! Love your work as always, Elmo. I may use this thread when it comes time to build the Prowler.

What did you use for scribing and fastener detail? EVERY TIME I scribe a line, it looks like @#!! while yours are straight and perfect! Getting ready to start a Revell Tomcat and I want to do the scribe lines right.

Keep up the great work on your awesome job!!! You NEVER cease to amaze me!

Jason

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Oh boy...completely forgot your early posts about the cage. Sorry Elmo ;-)

You just put so much details into that kit, I lost the overview.

I remember installing Paragons wing folds on a S-3...They really look great, but they were sooo fragile.

Keep up the great work!

Alex

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Seeing updates on your Intruder gets me excited like a kid on Christmas morning! Love your work as always, Elmo. I may use this thread when it comes time to build the Prowler.

What did you use for scribing and fastener detail? EVERY TIME I scribe a line, it looks like @#!! while yours are straight and perfect! Getting ready to start a Revell Tomcat and I want to do the scribe lines right.

Keep up the great work on your awesome job!!! You NEVER cease to amaze me!

Jason

Hi Jason,

Re-scribing straight lines is actually quite easy....just takes the right tools, patience and some practice. I typically use 2 diameters of sewing needles chucked in a pin-vise and of course some Dymo tape. I use two different size needles depending on what width i want to achieve. Working on real jets, both in the Navy and production floors of McDonnell Douglas and Northrop, I've noticed not all panel lines on real aircraft are the same width. That said, i try to represent that on my models. Prior to placing the tape down i'll cut into smaller widths with a single edge razor blade and my 6" scale. This saves tape and will true-up the tape edge......just in case. Dymo tape is very sticky so sometimes i tame the stickyness with my fingertips as i've had it lift up small layers of plastic in the past. When i scribe i keep the vice at an angle and go over each line 3-5 times or until i'm happy with the result. The one thing i pay special attention to is trying to maintain similar depths to all scribed lines. once done, remove the tape and go over it with sandpaper

of your choice and clean with a toothbrush, soap and water. Hope this helps.

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Here's a couple of pics showing the wing root step eliminated on the R/S. I poked holes in the plastic with my trusty needle/pin-vice combo but i still have to go back and make them a little deeper. At this stage they will probably get covered up by paint and future and not accept a wash very well.

Hi Elmo,

Your duct work is killer. Very clean and crisp- Bravo!

Something I found new in my current build is Tamiya panel line accent color. As a wash it is very dense and the Black version put into those tiny pin holes before you paint will make sure they are still visible after painting- sort of like pre-shading. Also, since the wash is enamel based, you don't need to worry about having an acrylic base coat if you apply it on the plastic before painting. Just a thought....

Cheers,

Chuck

Edited by chuck540z3
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  • 3 months later...

So after a 3 month hiatus I finally got a chance to get back on this thing. I don't have a lot to show right now but I'm hoping to have a lot more in the coming months. Since I want to finally button up the fuselage, I'm concentrating on all the details that need to get finished up prior to doing so. I started by fixing the photo-etch vent I screwed up on the R/S of the fuselage besides the cockpit and then re-worked the L/S to match the R/S. As I stated before, rather than buying a whole new photo-etch set for just the one vent I screwed up, I decided to scratch build the slats/fins out of plastic to represent the vent. I think in the end this looks more realistic that the oval slots in the photo-etch piece. On the downside, the slats were extremely difficult to size and install but I think the end result was worth the work.

The last pic in post 348 shows the screw-up. The next few pics show the repair and end result of the R/S vent.

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The next few pics show the L/S vent. There was nothing wrong with this vent but i had to remove and re-work it to match what I did on the R/S.

This is what the vent looked like before removing it.

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The repair and new vent.

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That's it for now. Will have a lot more coming soon.

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Wardog,

Nice to see you back at the workbench. Will be following along with great interest as I just finished up my 1/48 A-6E, which isn't anywhere near your level of your build. Just exceptional work on that vent.

Joel

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Thanks to all that stopped by to check things out.......your comments are very much appreciated.

Prior to gluing the fuselage together, one of the few things that has to happen is fitting and gluing in the exhausts ducts as this would be impossible to achieve later. For the most part, all of the exhaust pieces were completed except for paint. The three pieces that make up each exhaust are the duct, exhaust pipe and turbine piece which I took from the Hasegawa A-4 kits I have in my stash. After looking at these turbine pieces more closely and not being able to control myself by leaving well enough alone, I decided to scratch build my own turbine pieces. The pieces wouldn't be that hard to improve upon so off I went.

This is what the turbine section looks like on the real deal and the second pic shows the Hasegawa part....(not too bad)

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Below are the new pieces I'm making for the turbine. I didn't worry too much about trying to get things perfect as these pieces are deep in the exhaust and most imperfections not really visible.

The turbine made up of a styrene disk and a bunch of pieces cut at an angle to represent the blades.

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A few more pieces added. The center cone was taken from the Hasegawa part as chucking styrene rod in my Dremel while being shaped with a razor blade decided not to work for me any longer. The silver wire pieces shown on the top actually go all the way around the turbine but I just put a few in for the pic.

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That's it for now. More to come soon.

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  • 1 month later...

Well it's time for another small update. I finally glued in the exhausts which was the last major hurdle to achieve prior to gluing the fuselage together. Now that the fuselage is glued I'm hoping I can move along a little quicker than the snails pace I've been at for the last few years. The turbine sections I scratch built came out okay other than It's really hard to see the separation of each turbine blade once installed due to how far back they sit in the ducts and lack of sufficient light. Either way I guess it's still an improvement over what came in the kit which was nothing.

A few pics of the finished turbine sections. The pastel shades are much brighter in the pics than to the naked eye.

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Here is one of the finished ducts with the turbine installed. I shortened up the overall length of the exhausts to bring the turbines a little closer to the aft end hoping they'd be a little more visible. In the pic you can also see the white strip of plastic on the duct at the forward end of the brass exhaust pipe that is meant to be used as a stop when installed later. The plan was to glue in the ducts but not the exhaust pipes as it will be easier to paint the exhaust heat shield area without them installed. I paid special attention to exhaust duct/pipe diameters and duct gluing to make sure the pipes slide on and off with little resistance when I later install them permanently.

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Here are the L&R ducts installed just prior to gluing the fuselage together.

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That's it for now. The fuselage is now together and I've been bust sanding away the gap filler. As always, my filler of choice for fuselage gaps has been super glue as it sands easy and I get good results. As expected, this beast continues to fight me as for the first time since I've been using super glue for gaps, this time around It's hard as a rock and incredibly difficult to sand. Maybe they changed formulas just to mess with me..... :bandhead2:

E.

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  • 5 months later...

Okay Elmo, its time for a HUGE update... Everyone wants to see your work, don'tcha know!

How are you doin my good man?

A Memorial day tribute from you & your A-6E TRAM would be GREAT!

Cheers

Larry

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Hello Larry,

Happy Memorial day to you and all. Thanks for inquiring about the "never ending project", nice to know some are still interested. I have a very small update as life has kept me busy. I got off to a good start at the beginning of the year and then decided to re-do my garage which consumed way more time than I imagined; all good though cause it came out pretty nice. Ironically enough, your timing is perfect as I just got back on the bench this Memorial weekend.

As I stated previously, been working on the instrument panel and shroud in an effort to finally glue on the windscreen and get a little closer to painting this beast. As usual, I encountered more fit issues, mainly cause I'm using the Wolfpack instrument coaming with the Kinetic Instrument panel, all of course on a Monogram kit which none of those items belong on. The Wolfpack A-6 cockpit kit does advertise it will fit the Monogram kit but realistically I think it was made for the Kinetic A-6!

Here are a few pics of the coaming and IP. The yellow seen on the coaming is Tamiya LCP which I used extensively to get it to fit right. Although the pics don't show a lot of progress, getting things to fit right was very time consuming.

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Been trying to figure out the ejection seat situation as well. There are many seats on the market but only the Verlinden and Blackbox seats actually fit the Blackbox tub. Unfortunately for me, I overlooked this issue when I was building the tub so now I'm obviously limited to two options. Of all the options available, the Aires seats are hands down the best of the bunch regarding quality, dimensionally though I think they may be off a bit. The Blackbox seats wouldn't be that bad if it wasn't for the terrible looking seat belts and whatever else is going on around the lumbar area???? So since I can't leave well enough alone and I've already conceded to the fact this build is going to take forever, it was time to start getting creative and figure out a plan that offers more/better options....See below.

Here is a pic I showed previously to illustrate the different seats and how they differed. Size and quality is clearly visible.

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Since the Blackbox seats offer the best fit overall with regards to height and width, I decided to go with them. As you can see, the detail in some areas leaves a lot to be desired. I decided to improve on its deficient areas by cutting out the less than desirable sections and graft in those sections from the Aires seats. I just started this effort this weekend so we'll see how they come out.

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This is where I'm at today. The gray seat is the Aires offering which in my opinion is by far the best. Started today by cutting out the seat cushion/pan and parachute pack from the Aires seat and began to fit those pieces in the Blackbox seat I hogged out....so far so good.

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That's it for now. I apologize for the not so thrilling pics.....hopefully will have better stuff soon.

E.

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Wardog....... HOLY S$%#! Your "detailing fu" is so much more than mine! MASTER! This is some incredible work. I am happy to see you back at it and to have found this thread!

-Mark

Edited by taggor
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