Memorial Build for a Lost Tracker

[11bee]

Landing gear is close to completion, hit it with gloss white, used a thin black wash to bring out some of the highlights (never seen pristine LG on any naval aircraft), picked out the brake lines in a brown-ish black and then painted the tires in a dark black-grey.

The upper parts of the gear will be buried in the wheelwells and won't be very visible. Some pics:

I had the misfortune of starting this project before Kinetic released the early S-2A Tracker, which is what my US-2B is based on. I still would have had to done the surgery on the fuselage since Kinetic did not fully correct the length issue but at least the kit would have provided the corrected short span tailplanes and the smaller aft nacelle sonobuoy launchers. I probably could have scratch-built these items from modified kit parts but Belcher Bits offers and nice (and relatively cheap) conversion kit. It's designed to backdate the S-2E to an earlier Canadian version but it has all the parts needed for my purposes.

First up is the smaller aft nacelles. I will still need to add the aerodynamic fairings to cover the end of the nacelle since the US-2 versions were stripped of all ASW gear. These parts are a good start tho.

Next up is the new tailplane (with a long span kit one for comparison). Nicely cast by Belcher:

That's it for now, thanks for following along.

Edited July 23, 2017 by 11bee

[tosouthern66]

11bee

I will be watching your progress on this build. I like what you are doing by dedicating this to the memory of those two Naval Reserve Aviators. Without their sacrifice and all the other's that came before and after them, our freedom to build our models and live the lives we live may never had come true. Thank you for this build!

[11bee]

Thanks Tosouthern!

Now that the landing gear is near completion, time to move onto one of the larger challenges of this project, the engine nacelles. As noted, 176 was an earlier BuNo Tracker and had a different aft nacelle configuration then the late style which is provided in the kit. The aft nacelle was smaller in diameter, with a more pronounced taper. When the sonobuoy tubes were faired over, the rework depot covered them with an aerodynamic fairing. To replicate this requires some surgery and aftermarket assistance.

The Belcher kit provides the early style aft nacelle. To get it to fit, I had to trim the rear of the landing gear bay and remove the top part of the kit nacelle. This top section was then replaced with sheet styrene that followed the contour of the wing upper surface. It was actually pretty easy work and Belcher thoughtfully provides a cutting template and the styrene. After this was installed, I used the early-style end covers provided in the Steel Beach US-2A/B conversion set. These fit nicely on the end of the Belcher part, just a small bit of trimming required.

It takes a bit of putty / sanding but ultimately, it sure beats scratch-building this entire assembly. Still have a bit of finish work to do and then will rescribe some panel lines.

While I was at it, I thinned and opened up some of the ventilation / exhaust ports on the nacelles. The detail on these parts isn't the best so every little bit helps.

My one regret is that the D-Mold corrected nacelle set remained out of stock. It would have been nice to have corrected the lack of taper on the kit nacelles aft of the engine cowlings but I can't wait forever. I'm sure as soon as I glue the wings on, D-Mold will have them back on the shelf!

Finally making some progress on this project after slacking off for a year or so. Would be nice to have it done prior to the upcoming 37th anniversary of the crash.

That's it, thanks for looking.

Edited July 23, 2017 by 11bee

[11bee]

Nice day to be "sick" from work (cough, cough) and get some quality hammock & modeling time. Been working on the nacelles. These look deceptively simple until you really exam them up close. They have a lot of of small details that aren't shown in the Kinetic kit. In addition to opening up the various vents, access points, I also started to update the very simplified exhausts. The Kinetic kit is as basic as you can get, just some featureless trenches.

Not a lot of pics out there that show this area in detail but thanks to Tommy Tomason's most excellent blog http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2010/08/stoof.html , I've got a better idea of what things really looked like. First I trimmed away the forward interior of those trenches and thinned the upper surfaces down to scale thickness. Then I hollowed out short sections of plastic rod (insert new exacto knife blade and rotate) and glued in place. Came away looking much better than the stock kit.

Wish I had this info before I completed the first nacelle but I'll still be able to git her done. Just going to take a little more work.

Edited September 24, 2015 by 11bee

[titan8251]

nice job man. I cant believe that was 37 years ago. My dad still doesn't really talk about it at all.

Andy

[11bee]

Thanks Andy, can't believe it is that long ago either. Time flies....

I've been plugging away on the project. Got some paint on the inner wing / nacelle assembly, as well as cowlings. After 2 years of off and on work (mostly off), things are finally coming together.

To replicate the anti-glare portions, I used flat black with a touch of white. I never use straight black paint for these sections, just looks too stark and artificial. I also added the circular mirror on the inboard section of the port engine cowling. This was nothing more than an unpainted, polished circle that (I assume) allowed the pilot to visually confirm that his nose gear is down. Never noticed it before but it seems to be present on nearly all Naval S-2 series aircraft. Some aircraft have this polished to a mirror-like finish, others, it's just faded natural metal.

Once completed, I glued my 50 + part resin engines into the cowlings. A crap load of work but they definitely look better than the basic parts that came in the kit. Here are some pics, still have a bit of touch-up work on the paint job.

Thanks for looking.

Edited July 23, 2017 by 11bee

[11bee]

More progress - I did some touch-up work on the fuselage. Cleaned up the anti-glare panel and the border between the grey and white. I also glued the cowlings (with engines) to the nacelles. More touch-up work and then I added the cowl ventilation doors (using a tiny bit of sprue as the actuator arms). I had hollowed out the plastic inside the ventilation door so you can see through to the back of the engine and through the front of the cowling, just like the real thing. Still need to paint the actuator rods a darkish silver.

I also added the Belcher resin rear stabs. They fit perfectly. Once done, I added the inner wing assemblies. Definitely starting to look like a Tracker!

Edited July 23, 2017 by 11bee

[K5054NZ]

11bee, I've just discovered the thread and read through from the start. I commend you for your choice of subject and building as a tribute to the lost aviators, what an emotional story and the research you've done - including the day-before and day-of photos - really pull at my heartstrings, even though I've never seen a Tracker outside of an airshow video.

You've done some amazing work on this build, not just hack-n-slash but also the painting - the U/C is particularly nice. Fine work, kudos to you and I'm glad to see things are progressing so well. Bravo!

[11bee]

11bee, I've just discovered the thread and read through from the start. I commend you for your choice of subject and building as a tribute to the lost aviators, what an emotional story and the research you've done - including the day-before and day-of photos - really pull at my heartstrings, even though I've never seen a Tracker outside of an airshow video.

You've done some amazing work on this build, not just hack-n-slash but also the painting - the U/C is particularly nice. Fine work, kudos to you and I'm glad to see things are progressing so well. Bravo!

Thanks very much for compliments. It really is a fascinating saga. Looks like someone who can really do this story justice might have taken some interest in this. We'll see...

On an unrelated note, one of the downsides to taking a couple of years to build a model is that apparently, parts can go missing. I seem to have lost the rear tail "bumper" wheel assembly.

If any kind soul happens to have an S-2 kit that they will never build and wants to sell me this particular part, please PM me. I'm sure I can scratchbuild this thing but honestly, at this stage of the game, I'm looking for ways to wrap things up quickly.

Regards,

John

[11bee]

Nacelles and inner wings are nearly complete. I glued in the main landing gear, gear doors and the lower cowl flap. Outlined the door edges w/ flat red, painted the exhaust stacks a lightish gunmetal (still trying to get some decent pics of the stacks on active aircraft to see if they exhibit any rust or not) and did some touchup work. I'll be adding some minor exhaust streaks and some oil drippage (radials where notorious for leaking oil but all the pictures I've seen of aircraft based at NAS South Weymouth during this period show them to be in very good condition with minimal grunge / weathering.

I think I'm nearly at the point where I can shoot on a light coat of future (I've already used gloss paints on the exterior but future has a way of smoothing the overall finish) and I can then start putting some decals on.

Thanks for looking...

[11bee]

I've got a couple of questions on painting /markings for this aircraft. I posted on the Prop forum but since I haven't received any answers, figured I'd post on this thread as well:

Anyone know if this aircraft would have had the NAS South Weymouth station code and last three of the Bureau Number (7Z 176) on the right upper wing? For tactical aircraft in the gull grey over white scheme, this is standard, however I'm not clear if this was done for the utility scheme of white over grey. Same question applies to whether the last three were painted on the top of the flaps.

Also - trying to figure out if the horizontal stabs are overall gull grey, overall white or white on top. Surprisingly hard to find pictures that show this clearly. I've seen one shot a restored warbird that has at least the top of the stabs white.

Any help is appreciated.

[Tailspin Turtle]

I've got a couple of questions on painting /markings for this aircraft. I posted on the Prop forum but since I haven't received any answers, figured I'd post on this thread as well:

Also - trying to figure out if the horizontal stabs are overall gull grey, overall white or white on top. Surprisingly hard to find pictures that show this clearly. I've seen one shot a restored warbird that has at least the top of the stabs white.

Any help is appreciated.

In the one picture that was handy, it looks like the horizontal tail was overall grey.

[11bee]

In the one picture that was handy, it looks like the horizontal tail was overall grey.

Thank you Tommy, greatly appreciated. Any idea on whether this paint scheme would have the last three of the Bu No and Station code (176 7Z) painted on the upper right wing? Can't seem to find anything conclusive on this. These markings are standard on the "tactical" grey over white scheme but not sure on whether they would be present on the "utility" white over grey scheme.

John

[11bee]

Starting the decal process, using the kit decals for all the generic markings, then will use the custom Fireball decals for the station codes and other specific markings. Kit decals went on nicely, don't respond that well to Microset but they seem to adhere nicely. They are made by Cartograph, which is a pretty well-respected name. Kit decals include all the maint stenciling and smaller markings. Unlike some aircraft, the S-2 didn't carry a lot of small maint stencils.

Engine nacelle:

Some fuselage shots, I'll be touching up around the windows. The one decal I'm not happy with is the yellow arrow with the rescue info for the window's aft of the cockpit. From my references, it's a bit larger than it should be.

 

Edited July 23, 2017 by 11bee

[titan8251]

looking good man...makes me want to start mine. I have a few things to get off the bench first.

Andy

[dekon70]

Looking really good!

[K5054NZ]

It's great to see decals on there. Nice one.

[11bee]

Thanks guys!

No other update today but I just wanted share a nice pic of a sister ship to 176. This one was the other US-2B (although a later model with the larger aft engine nacelles) stationed at NAS South Weymouth at the time of the crash. It was provided by Tommy Tomason whose blog http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/ is a fantastic resource for those folks interested in Naval Aviation.

This pic was taken about a year before the crash and prior to the application of 7Z station codes on the tail surfaces. As you can see, these aircraft were kept pretty clean but they did exhibit a bit of weathering which I'll try to replicate on 176.

[11bee]

Just started adding the specific aircraft markings. These were from a custom sheet made by Fireball Modelworks. The owner Joe is a great guy, this sheet cost a pittance and without his help, I never could have started this project. The decals go on easily, set up nice and thin on the model. I also removed the masking on the pilot's and passenger windows. As always, I have to clean up some of the edges and polish the clear plastic. Still much to do!

Haven't applied the station code on the tail yet, just the three and 4 digit Bu No's and the aircraft type / full Bu No marking under the tailplanes.

A shot of the newly unveiled passenger windows. As noted, I still have to gently remove some of the paint from the window borders. Must have sucked being that 5th passenger seated aft of the door. Hot, dark, cramped, noisy and the only view through your tiny window would be of the inner surface of the engine nacelle. I remember another ARC's once flew in this spot and said it was horrible. Hope they had plenty of barf bags! Once the wings are on, you won't see much of these windows.

Edited September 4, 2015 by 11bee

[11bee]

Early morning decal session is complete. I've got 90% of the decals on. The Fireball ones are fantastic, just need to handle them gently because when on the sheet, the ink can flake off a bit. I'm hoping they will be durable once applied, I may hit the model with a coat of future to add a protective layer.

I also glued the inner wings in place. I have to hand it to Kinetic, the wings fit in place perfectly. I probably could have gotten by without any glue at all. Once the wings were in, I added the dark grey walkway on the top of the fuselage / wings. This is a very large decal, to minimize problems getting it in place, I cut it into smaller sections. It's also a few mm to wide so I suggest that you trim the width of the walkway a bit to get things to fit properly. Towards the end of the build, I'll grunge this up a bit to replicate dirty, oily bootmarks. I'll also be adding some exhaust streaks. If anyone has some decent color shots of the upper wing / nacelle areas that show the exhaust staining in detail, I'd love to see them.

Still need to add the horizontal stabs, nose gear and a bunch of small parts. I also somehow (don't ask) got white overspray INSIDE the cockpit glass. I've been very slowly scraping this off with toothpics (they remove the paint but aren't hard enough to scratch the plastic), q-tips and angled tweezers holding paper towel bits. All this through the two overhead escape hatches. I think I should have been a surgeon. Have a ways to go but I think it will look as good as new once I'm done. Will then hit the clear parts with plastic polish which should restore a nice shine / clarity to them. Will also be touching up the white overspray on the cockpit interior parts that you can see through the escape hatch.

Anyway, here are a few pics of my progress, finally starting to look like a Navy Tracker!

Edited July 23, 2017 by 11bee

[dekon70]

Outstanding!

[titan8251]

Looking good man. Did you see dmold repoped his tracker stuff? It's on his site now in case you want to do another tracker.

Andy

[11bee]

On 9/6/2015 at 9:26 AM, titan8251 said:

Looking good man. Did you see dmold repoped his tracker stuff? It's on his site now in case you want to do another tracker.

Andy

Thanks Andy, yeah someone else gave me a heads up that his stuff was now in stock again. Never fails, I wait over a year for those nacelles and as soon as I bite the bullet and use the kit parts, they arrive back on the shelf. Gotta love it.

Anyhoo, I've got a bit more done. The few pics I've seen of the upper surfaces of the Stoof show some decent exhaust build up. I used a mix of flat black, white and dark brown, heavily thinned. I applied this using low pressure. I added the exhaust mix to the three exhaust ports on each nacelle. In the pic posted earlier of the real thing, you can see that there is exhaust build up on the lower gear doors and bottom on the nacelle. I added this as well. Once done, I added some streaks of a dark brown / black mix from select points to replicate some minor oil leaks. while I was at it, I also added the horizontal stabs. Belcher did a great job on these, they pretty much click into place.

Still have some weathering left to do, primarily on the upper wing walkway, maybe also a few small paint chips but as noted above, these aircraft were typically in pretty good shape.

Some pics:

Edited July 23, 2017 by 11bee

[phantom]

Just wonderful.

[11bee]

Thanks Phantom!

Not a lot to show for updates, I added some scuff marks to the wing walkway (not sure if I'm done with this or not), added the two anti-collision lights on the top of the forward fuselage, used Testor's clear red for the light fixture itself. I also touched up the paint near the cockpit windows and cleaned up the anti-glare panel a bit. Last thing was to touch up the inside cockpit area that got hit with some white overspray.

That's it for now, much more still to do.

John