1/72nd Hasegawa EP-3E Orion, VQ-1, circa 2013

[A-10 LOADER]

Thanks very much Mr. Happy, appreciate that.

Steve

[Motty]

4 hours ago, A-10 LOADER said:

Since I'm building this actual airframe, EP-3E 156511, I thought I'd add this bit of info to my build thread. On Monday 10/21/24 I was sitting at the bench working on the prop disks and had the computer on. I was watching ADS-B ( aircraft tracking website ) and noticed a P-3 icon appear near Whidbey Island heading south so I clicked on it and it was 156511. I followed her all the way to Davis-Monthan AFB where she finally touched down at @ 1300 hours local. I had a feeling this would be her last flight 😥. Turns out she was turned over to The Pima Air and Space Museum yesterday. Kind of ironic and sad I caught her last flight but, glad she's being saved and not scrapped.

Steve

In case it is of interest:
https://www.twz.com/air/ep-3e-aries-ii-spy-plane-that-collided-with-chinese-fighter-is-going-on-display

Cheers,
Motty.

[strikeeagle801]

If I remember correctly, the original tail of that aircraft is in the Officer's Club on NAS Whidbey. I had pictures of it from a tour I was able to take back in 2013, but they were on an old hard drive that has since gone caput. 

 

A little late in the game for refs, but I have a few overall shots of some EP-3's I've taken at Open Houses and air shows I can share if you want them. 

 

Aaron  

[A-10 LOADER]

21 hours ago, Motty said:

In case it is of interest:
https://www.twz.com/air/ep-3e-aries-ii-spy-plane-that-collided-with-chinese-fighter-is-going-on-display

Cheers,
Motty.

Thanks Motty, I read this while doing my research back in March of 2023.

 

16 hours ago, strikeeagle801 said:

If I remember correctly, the original tail of that aircraft is in the Officer's Club on NAS Whidbey. I had pictures of it from a tour I was able to take back in 2013, but they were on an old hard drive that has since gone caput. 

 

A little late in the game for refs, but I have a few overall shots of some EP-3's I've taken at Open Houses and air shows I can share if you want them. 

 

Aaron  

Sure Aaron, I'll look at what you've got, thanks.

Steve

[Trooper111]

I've got an EP-3E in the stash waiting for its turn at being built like everyone else here... Send the pics. They are always useful.

[A-10 LOADER]

Slowly making progress. I got the gray blended in on the wing roots and belly areas, most of which will be covered by the antennas and canoe fairing. Next a coat of gloss on those areas and finish up the decals.

The prop disks are turning out to be more of a pain than the ones on the Gunship were. I'm still playing around with ideas to get the results I want, hopefully something to show soon. Thanks to everyone who is still following along with this build.

Steve

 

 

 

 

[ST0RM]

Nice bit of blending, Steve. 
Frustrating when the final bits aren't cooperating. I'm sure you'll get through it soon enough. 
-Jeff

[A-10 LOADER]

On 10/26/2024 at 9:05 AM, ST0RM said:

Nice bit of blending, Steve. 
Frustrating when the final bits aren't cooperating. I'm sure you'll get through it soon enough. 
-Jeff

Thanks Jeff.

 

Finally, all the decals are on and sealed in. Once those areas are dry, I'll re-mask the windows, with Mr. Masking Sol R, and shoot the semi-gloss. After that, I can start adding all the extra parts and get this project down to the finish line.

 

 

 

 

Here's my first attempt at the spinning prop disks, not quite there yet but in the ballpark. Trying to get something to resemble this photo, disregard the red / white / red, the tips on the EP-3's props later on in life were just red.

Steve

 

 

Edited October 31, 2024 by A-10 LOADER

[ST0RM]

Glad things worked out for the best. 
Question...
Why did they Navy start painting the fairings, antennas and radomes grey from the black? Weren't most of those fiberglass? And I'm used to seeing NO PAINT around those as it interfered with the signals. 
-Jeff

[A-10 LOADER]

1 hour ago, ST0RM said:

Glad things worked out for the best. 
Question...
Why did they Navy start painting the fairings, antennas and radomes grey from the black? Weren't most of those fiberglass? And I'm used to seeing NO PAINT around those as it interfered with the signals. 
-Jeff

Thanks for checking in bud.

That's a good question that I do not have an answer for, maybe Whitey could fill us in ?

Steve

[f5guy]

She's looking great Steve! This one's on my bucket list as well 👍 Fred.

[Dutch]

Steve, FYI, the prop stripes on all USN and most foreign Orions were white/red/white, and only very late USN switched to just a red tip.  Some foreign late P-3s have yellow tips.  The photo above is of a Canadian CP-140 which had red/white/red prop stripes, naturally, eh!  Making excellent progress, BTW!  K/r, Dutch

[A-10 LOADER]

1 hour ago, f5guy said:

She's looking great Steve! This one's on my bucket list as well 👍 Fred.

Thanks Fred.

 

53 minutes ago, Dutch said:

Steve, FYI, the prop stripes on all USN and most foreign Orions were white/red/white, and only very late USN switched to just a red tip.  Some foreign late P-3s have yellow tips.  The photo above is of a Canadian CP-140 which had red/white/red prop stripes, naturally, eh!  Making excellent progress, BTW!  K/r, Dutch

Thanks Dutchman and, correct.

Steve

[A-10 LOADER]

Yesterday was "prop disk day" and, after a few attempts I think I'm happy with this version. I made the red edges slightly darker than the first attempt and made new inner circle masks so the new ones should look better. Since I have a NP-3D in my collection, I'm going to do the disks for that one as well while I'm at it. Hopefully I can achieve the same results for the other 8 disks.

Steve

 

[A-10 LOADER]

Minor update for today, because of the issue with the Alclad gloss I won't be using their semi-gloss clear. After doing some research I chose to give this a try. I did some more "testing" on spoons and it worked great. I sprayed it right out of the can, sprayed very nice, dried nice and most importantly, didn't turn the white yellow. So now I'll work on getting the windows masked back up so I can get my final finish on.

Thanks to all who are still staying interested in this build.

Steve

 

[striker8241]

Beautiful job, Steve!  Clean and smooth - something I couldn't match. Just don't have your touch, or your patience. I remain green with envy 🙂.

 

Well done!

 

Russ

[A-10 LOADER]

On 11/10/2024 at 8:47 PM, striker8241 said:

Beautiful job, Steve!  Clean and smooth - something I couldn't match. Just don't have your touch, or your patience. I remain green with envy 🙂.

 

Well done!

 

Russ

Very kind of you to say Russ, thanks.

 

Two coats of semi-gloss applied, things look good. Now I feel like I'm making some progress on the 'ole girl.

Steve

 

[A-10 LOADER]

The home stretch is in sight !

All that's left to do is the EZ Line for the HF antennas. I'm not looking forward to this part because I can't screw it up, I get one shot at it. 🤞 So, before the antennas are installed I figured I'd take shots of the bottom.

I tried to keep the weathering subtle because at the time frame of my build, 2013, she had just come from modification at NARF Jacksonville sporting her new "antenna farm" and, these aircraft are glossy and kept fairly clean.

Anyway, enough chit chat, enjoy the pics.

Steve

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ExchefAndy]

This, like your Herc is magnificent!

Andy 

and fingers crossed for you with the finale

[Collin]

Looking forward to the final reveal. 
 

Cheers

Collin 

[Red Dog]

She's looking great Steve

I love the work on the prop discs, these things are always a challenge and you came out great

 

 

 

[A-10 LOADER]

Thanks for the kind words guys, very much appreciated.

I've had some inquiries about how I did my prop disks so, I figured I'd share my process on them. There was a lot of trial and error to get 4 good ones. These were way more involved than my AC-J prop disks.

I used 1mm thick clear acrylic sheets for the disks, purchased off Amazon, made by Simbalux. I got a box of 10 5" x 7" sheets.  My prop disks are 2 1/4" in diameter and I was able to get 4 disks out of a sheet.

 

 

These were cut out on my scroll saw, slightly oversized, @ a 1/16", to allow for chips and blade marks. I used 3/32" Evergreen tube to replace the kit part that holds the props onto the engines so, my center hole in the disks had to match. The idea was to sandwich the disks between the prop assemblies without using glue.

 

 

I put 4 disks together, with a small screw and nut, then put them in my cordless drill for sanding, all the while checking my diameter until I got to my 2 1/4" finished diameter. Once the diameter was achieved I then put individual disks back in my drill and sanded them using grits from 320 up to 2000 and, the edges of each disks were rounded over.

 

 

 

Now on to the paintwork.

I removed the paper from the disks on only one side to limit scratching the plastic and, from overspray. Each disk got a screw and nut attached to it, so I had something for my clamps to hold on to. The disks were sprayed with Tamiya Smoke mixed with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner 50/50. 3 to 4 light coats were applied at high pressure for good atomization. I let them dry for a day, then using my circle cutter, I cut a mask for the center color. I used small bits of poster putty to hold the masks in place. I then made another mixture of Tamiya Smoke and MCLT 60/40. About 8-10 coats were sprayed until I was happy with the darkness but, still transparent. I let these sit for 2 days to dry really well.

 

 

I made 4 individual masks for the outer color and centered them on the disks. I found the center point and punched a hole thru and  these were held in place using the screws and nuts.

 

 

 

I mixed up some Tamiya Clear Red with MCLT, 50/50 and, put each disk in my Dremel. I wanted to shoot the disks spinning so I got a more consistent color on the edge. With the Dremel set on low speed, I applied 4 coats to each disk. I let them dry for another day.

The final step was to apply a clear coat over everything. I mixed up Tamiya X-22 and MCLT, 40/60 and, sprayed 2 fairly wet coats over the disks. I laid them flat to dry so I wouldn't get any runs.

Hope this helps and, thanks for the interest in my build.

Steve

 

 

 

Edited November 17, 2024 by A-10 LOADER

[strikeeagle801]

That is amazing work Steve. I've enjoyed following along. When I opened up my Photobucket account the other day to start on my F-14 build thread, I found some more photos from my NAS Whidbey visit back in 2013. Unfortunately, none that would help you.

 

Aaron

[A-10 LOADER]

4 hours ago, strikeeagle801 said:

That is amazing work Steve. I've enjoyed following along. When I opened up my Photobucket account the other day to start on my F-14 build thread, I found some more photos from my NAS Whidbey visit back in 2013. Unfortunately, none that would help you.

 

Aaron

Thank you Aaron, very kind of you to say. No worries on the photos but, thanks for thinking of me.

Steve

[A-10 LOADER]

Minor update and, probably the last one before the final reveal.

I ordered some other rigging, to see if it's better than the EZ Line I have and, it's on the way. I'll then see which one I'll be using and get the EP-3E wrapped up. I have a model meeting here at my house on December 7th so, trying to get her squared away before then. I truly appreciate all the support and comments during this rather lengthy build.

Steve