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EA-3B Ranger 12


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After reading the sad story of Ranger 12 of VQ-2, what is the best  A-3 to start with in 1/48?  I know there are many versions by Trumpeter; should I just go with the EA-3B version? Looks like I might have to come up decals for it.  Anyone know of any?

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20 minutes ago, dekon70 said:

After reading the sad story of Ranger 12 of VQ-2, what is the best  A-3 to start with in 1/48?  I know there are many versions by Trumpeter; should I just go with the EA-3B version? Looks like I might have to come up decals for it.  Anyone know of any?

 

What Trumpeter lists as an EA-3B is actually just an A-3B. The best place to start is the TA-3B, which gives you the door and the windows. Then you can pick up a Steel Beach conversion for everything else. Make sure what canoe (early or late) your specific airplane had, as SB has both.

early EA-3B

 

late EA-3B

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Hypersonic has a fantastic canopy set, I think it works for the versions.   They also have a great engine correction set.  Unfortunately, nothing can be done for the misplaced wheel wells.  Where are you getting the decals for Ranger 12?  

 

Great subject btw, that’s a really sad story.  

Edited by 11bee
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IIRC Ranger 12 had the short canoe on the belly.

 

Here's some pics of what she looked light the night she crashed;

https://stationhypo.com/2017/01/25/remembering-the-crew-of-ranger-12-2/

https://www.avgeekery.com/ranger-12-naval-aviation-is-a-risky-business-especially-at-night/

Don't believe the stories, they're BS*

 

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsw.propwashgang.org%2Fnsg002.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsw.propwashgang.org%2Fnsg002.html&docid=zXXxZBF9ll-6MM&tbnid=4C2GETWWN0Nl6M%3A&vet=10ahUKEwjb6M7Lj-nmAhVFjlkKHWeqChoQMwhEKAQwBA..i&w=640&h=427&itg=1&bih=720&biw=1225&q=ranger 12 ea-3b&ved=0ahUKEwjb6M7Lj-nmAhVFjlkKHWeqChoQMwhEKAQwBA&iact=mrc&uact=8

 

*I was on deck that night and helped rig the barracked. I was attached to VA-82, the A-7 squadron Ranger 12 tried to tank from, I was working CAG-ARM that night.

 

Edited by GW8345
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2 hours ago, GW8345 said:

*I was on deck that night and helped rig the barracked. I was attached to VA-82, the A-7 squadron Ranger 12 tried to tank from, I was working CAG-ARM that night.

 

Oh man, that had to be rough. Thank you for your service. I know people like me, who were never in the service, will never understand what it was like to put your life on the line, you and all the others on this forum that served.

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9 hours ago, 11bee said:

Hypersonic has a fantastic canopy set, I think it works for the versions.   They also have a great engine correction set.  Unfortunately, nothing can be done for the misplaced wheel wells.  Where are you getting the decals for Ranger 12?  

 

Great subject btw, that’s a really sad story.   

Just poking my nose in for those that want to build a better A-3 Skywarrior. I have already relocated the main gear wheel wells on my Trumpy A-3 forward 9mm. A pretty simple relocation. My correcting of the actual wheel well structure did not go as well as I would have hoped. Hypersonic to the rescue. I have purchased Jeffrey's replacement canopy and engine nacelles. He has been pondering doing a replacement wheel well for the Trumpy A-3, well now he is going to do one. It is however a ways off at the moment but he will do it. I'm sure it will be spectacular like the rest of his stuff.   

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5 minutes ago, jpk said:

Just poking my nose in for those that want to build a better A-3 Skywarrior. I have already relocated the main gear wheel wells on my Trumpy A-3 forward 9mm. A pretty simple relocation. My correcting of the actual wheel well structure did not go as well as I would have hoped. Hypersonic to the rescue. I have purchased Jeffrey's replacement canopy and engine nacelles. He has been pondering doing a replacement wheel well for the Trumpy A-3, well now he is going to do one. It is however a ways off at the moment but he will do it. I'm sure it will be spectacular like the rest of his stuff.   

I thought even moving the wheel wells wouldn't work because Trumpy got all the geometry of the speed brakes and aft fuselage off?   It's been a while since I was thinking about building one of these so I may be mistaken.    If you have any pics of your work, please share!   Good news about Jeffery doing replacement wheel wells, all of his stuff is top-notch.

 

If anyone's interested in the story of Ranger 12, just google it.   Truly sad, a lot went wrong that night, both in the air and on the flight deck. 

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1 minute ago, 11bee said:

I thought even moving the wheel wells wouldn't work because Trumpy got all the geometry of the speed brakes and aft fuselage off?   It's been a while since I was thinking about building one of these so I may be mistaken.    If you have any pics of your work, please share!   Good news about Jeffery doing replacement wheel wells, all of his stuff is top-notch.

 

If anyone's interested in the story of Ranger 12, just google it.   Truly sad, a lot went wrong that night, both in the air and on the flight deck. 

I'll try to get some photos up. It is a simple move. I determined a 9mm move forward would be just about right. I spent a long time thinking about it before cutting. I sent Jeffrey photos of what I did and it was pretty much along the same lines as to what he was thinking at the time. Now, he may make some adjustments as his research moves forward but until then I'm pretty confident what I did was pretty accurate. 

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4 minutes ago, jpk said:

I'll try to get some photos up. It is a simple move. I determined a 9mm move forward would be just about right. I spent a long time thinking about it before cutting. I sent Jeffrey photos of what I did and it was pretty much along the same lines as to what he was thinking at the time. Now, he may make some adjustments as his research moves forward but until then I'm pretty confident what I did was pretty accurate. 

Look forward to seeing your pictures, maybe it will motivate me to re-start this build.  If you don't have them, I believe Steel Beach also has a nice set of A-3 seats.  Much better than the kit parts. 

 

 

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I have the Rus Kit resin wheels, much more accurate than the kit parts in addition to the nacelles and canopy. I have seen the SB seats. While not completely accurate they may be better than the kit's. SB looks to have more or less used the kit's seats as a basis for theirs. Not too sure that works well but I'm still a long ways off. Wait until Jeffrey does the wheel well then I may revisit them.

 

I am unable to upload the photos because of the size limit imposed by ARC. If you give me your email addy I can send them to you and you can repost if you like.

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22 minutes ago, jpk said:

I am unable to upload the photos because of the size limit imposed by ARC. If you give me your email addy I can send them to you and you can repost if you like.

 

I'd like to see these photos, too.

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In the photo of the fuselage, I highlighted with pencil the panel behind the well opening. That piece used to be in front of the wheel well. You can see where I cut out the well opening itself. I moved it forward to the position where the removed panel was. I then used the removed piece to fill in behind. I reinforced the parts then with sheet plastic. Every cut was pretty much on an existing panel line.

Edited by jpk
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4 hours ago, jpk said:

 I have seen the SB seats. While not completely accurate they may be better than the kit's. SB looks to have more or less used the kit's seats as a basis for theirs. 

 

 

The kit seats were the basis, but were extensively modified. They may not be perfect, but they look a bunch better than the kit seats. I'm not sure what they were thinking when they made those seats. 

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8 minutes ago, Darren Roberts said:

 

The kit seats were the basis, but were extensively modified. They may not be perfect, but they look a bunch better than the kit seats. I'm not sure what they were thinking when they made those seats. 

I agree with that statement. The real seats were sort of weird as well.

 

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15 hours ago, 11bee said:

Hypersonic has a fantastic canopy set, I think it works for the versions.   They also have a great engine correction set.  Unfortunately, nothing can be done for the misplaced wheel wells.  Where are you getting the decals for Ranger 12?  

 

Great subject btw, that’s a really sad story.  

I think the decals might be where this project derails.

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15 hours ago, GW8345 said:

I can not even imagine the emotions you all went through seeing that.  BTW thank you for your service.

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1 hour ago, dekon70 said:

I think the decals might be where this project derails.

Kursad released some stuff for the EKA-3, not sure if he released anything for this version or not.   That's a bummer if there are no decals out there.   Was hoping at least the kit might have the basic tail markings available?

 

1 hour ago, dekon70 said:

I can not even imagine the emotions you all went through seeing that.  BTW thank you for your service.

If interested, the crash is posted on you-tube.  Lot of feedback from folks who were there on everything that went wrong with the recovery effort.   

 

On a more positive note, if you can handle the horrible 80's music, this is a great video for anyone interested in this aircraft.   I've never seen pictures of the rear compartment before:

 

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Or see if you can find a Collectaire EA-3. I built one years ago. It was a very nice kit and I’m sure would line up with a loft sheet. It was a true EA-3.
I have The Trump kit and all the Hypersonic goodies but haven't had a go at it to comment on how it compares.

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On 1/4/2020 at 9:29 AM, 11bee said:

I thought even moving the wheel wells wouldn't work because Trumpy got all the geometry of the speed brakes and aft fuselage off?   It's been a while since I was thinking about building one of these so I may be mistaken.    If you have any pics of your work, please share!   Good news about Jeffery doing replacement wheel wells, all of his stuff is top-notch.

 

If anyone's interested in the story of Ranger 12, just google it.   Truly sad, a lot went wrong that night, both in the air and on the flight deck. 

Got to be careful, don't believe everything you read about what happened that night, even from the "experts".

 

The only thing that went wrong that night (on deck) was that V-2 A-Gear could not find the air-fitting for their pneumatic gun (wrench) used to crank the barricade up to the full height. We actually rigged the barricade in record time (IIRC 86 seconds) that night, all those barricade drills paid off.

 

One thing that no one (that I've seen) has said is that even if the barricade was at the correct height is still won't have stopped the Whale (what we called the EA/A-3). He was to fast and too high and would have ripped the barricade right out and still would have gone over the side, he was suppose to land and roll into the barricade, not fly into it.

On 1/4/2020 at 2:55 PM, dekon70 said:

I can not even imagine the emotions you all went through seeing that.  BTW thank you for your service.

Thanks.

Yea, it was a messed up night, the next day was tougher when we had the accident investigation team on board and had to rig the barricade again in order for them to do their investigation. Walking around the angle deck, you could still see the scratches and marks in the non-skid made by crash, they were there for rest of the cruise (the crash happened about 1 month into a six month cruise).

On 1/4/2020 at 2:32 AM, Mstor said:

 

Oh man, that had to be rough. Thank you for your service. I know people like me, who were never in the service, will never understand what it was like to put your life on the line, you and all the others on this forum that served.

Thanks!

Working on the cats (CAG-ARM / Final-checker) was the most fun you could have with your clothes on, it was a pure adrenaline rush. Some days I miss working on the cats, then the aches and pains remind me that I'm not in my 20/30's and can't do that wild stuff anymore.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BTW, here's funny pic of me while on the waist cats

https://www.navysite.de/cruisebooks/cvn68-86/112.htm

The guy all the way to the right (of the A-7 being launched) is me flipping off my supervisor for making me stay on the cat when I wasn't needed (hey, I was 21). That is a VA-86 A-7E loaded with 1xMk 58 and 5xMk 76, no forward firing ordnance so no need for CAG-ARM to be on the cat but he ordered me to stay "in case they needed an ordie". I had no idea they were photographing us and didn't know it was photographed until 6 months after the cruise when I got my cruise book. Fun Times.

Edited by GW8345
Forgot where the F7 key was
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21 minutes ago, GW8345 said:

The guy all the way to the right (of the A-7 being launched) is me flipping off my supervisor for making me stay on the cat when I wasn't needed

 

The raised finger is well captured. I'm amazed they used that pic in the cruise book, or did they just not notice you flipping the bird?

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Just now, Mstor said:

 

The raised finger is well captured. I'm amazed they used that pic in the cruise book, or did they just not notice you flipping the bird?

I don't think they noticed, if they did I don't think they would have used the photo, plus I probably would have had my arse chewed (which was a normal occurrence back then).

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