f5guy Posted May 7, 2020 Share Posted May 7, 2020 Hi everyone, I'm currently in the early stages of building BPK's 1/72nd scale T-43A navigational trainer. While searching the internet recently for pics, I came across pics of this beast.... NT-43A 73-1155. It is a highly modified T-43A that was pulled out of the Bone Yard about 15 years ago. It is apparently used as a radar test bed to test the radar signatures of stealth aircraft. It is one of a kind and highly secretive. I have now officially become obsessed with building this jet! I love the lines of the 737, but I also really like these highly modified aircraft with all of the lumps and bumps. I have tried concentrating on building a standard T-43, but my brain has been going for days trying to figure out how to make these additional fairings and radomes on this aircraft. The problem for me is that this kind of scratch building is all a little out of my league. I've been racking my brain thinking about what to use to make the front and rear empennages. The front shouldn't be too hard, but the rear one is another story. The rear in particular would need to be very light, but strong enough to survive normal handling. I'm thinking about using balsa wood for the rear piece and carving/sanding it to form. This would be completely new to me. How do you get the finished balsa shape to look like plastic once the correct shape has been achieved? Some sort of primer and light sanding? Is there some other material that I should consider? I am open to any idea's that anyone has! Thanks, Fred K. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gator52 Posted May 7, 2020 Share Posted May 7, 2020 Neat project, didn't know this bird was out there. Here's an EC-135 project; I would try this technique for the large radomes. Only one of the photos showed up for me, but it should give an idea- Jonah Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rob de Bie Posted May 7, 2020 Share Posted May 7, 2020 5 hours ago, f5guy said: I've been racking my brain thinking about what to use to make the front and rear empennages. The front shouldn't be too hard, but the rear one is another story. The rear in particular would need to be very light, but strong enough to survive normal handling. I'm thinking about using balsa wood for the rear piece and carving/sanding it to form. This would be completely new to me. How do you get the finished balsa shape to look like plastic once the correct shape has been achieved? Some sort of primer and light sanding? Is there some other material that I should consider? I am open to any idea's that anyone has! Thanks, Fred K. I think round plastic beads would work very well. You could stick a few on a rod, and fill the area in between with Apoxie / Milliput. Here's a rough concept drawing of the tail part: If you build it up from various materials, it will need maybe two good paint coats to achieve a uniform exterior. Looks like a very nice project to me! Rob Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted May 8, 2020 Author Share Posted May 8, 2020 So here's what I've got so far...... I found an exhaust section from a 48th Hasegawa F-16 in my spares box and cut it down and reversed it. I will use the exhaust tube from the same kit for most of the nose. It looks like there's a slight taper to the fairing that fairs the radar into the fuselage. There also seems to be a very slight step on the empennage leading to the radar. I've got some 22mm resin beads coming for the round part of the nose. So far so good! Fred K. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted May 8, 2020 Author Share Posted May 8, 2020 Pic 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted May 8, 2020 Author Share Posted May 8, 2020 Pic 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted May 8, 2020 Author Share Posted May 8, 2020 Milliput on.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gator52 Posted May 8, 2020 Share Posted May 8, 2020 Looks like a great start Fred! Jonah Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dutch Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 Way to dive right in and keep swimming, Fred. You're doing fine! I would build up the inside of the rear tail area before drillin a hole to insert a brass tube or wooden dowel for the balsa tail. R/ Dutch Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted May 14, 2020 Author Share Posted May 14, 2020 1 hour ago, Dutch said: Way to dive right in and keep swimming, Fred. You're doing fine! I would build up the inside of the rear tail area before drillin a hole to insert a brass tube or wooden dowel for the balsa tail. R/ Dutch Thanks Dutch, and also Rob and Jonah for your input! I have a buddy who has a 3D printer, so we're going to get together and make up some radom's for the front and back. I've also decided to do a build thread for it and will post some stuff shortly. It should be a fun build! Fred. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dutch Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 Looking forward to seeing the thread.😀 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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