F-111B Monograph: Buyer Beware

Steve Ginter was my first and still favorite publisher. See http://www.ginterbooks.com/

I prefer to write about the also-ran, unappreciated, much-maligned aircraft that were not flown by operational squadrons. Few publishers would consider even a paperback monograph on one of those little-known (in most cases for pretty good reasons) programs. Steve has been willing to front the printing of a monograph on whatever esoteric loser I am interested in writing about, which has sometimes been a loser from his standpoint as well. (You would do us both a favor if you'd order my excellent—don't just take my word for it; see the review on Amazon—monograph on the XFL-1 Airabonita, http://www.ginterbooks.com/NAVAL/NF81.htm from him. He has plenty.)

He did finally sell all of my F-111B monographs that he printed, mainly because that was almost 20 years ago. You'll see that he doesn't include it on his website.

However, it is for sale on Amazon. Unfortunately, some of what is being sold is not one of the originals but a "print-on-demand" version. I haven't seen one but I've been told that that at least some are not very good reproductions, indifferently reproduced on low-quality paper. There is now a review on Amazon to that effect. A known purveyor of them has graciously agreed to stop at my request, but I'm not sure that was the only supplier and of course there are the extant copies.

What to do? I have no control over what's out there and legal action would be a waste of time and money. I can only suggest that you ensure that what you're buying is an original, unless of course you don't need good quality pictures.

For a limited time, you can also buy the monograph directly from me, which will include a multi-page errata document that corrects and augments information in it. For a quote, email me at tommythomason@sbcglobal.net.

F3D (F-10) Skyknight Post Synopsis

Unfortunately, the "Whale" doesn't get the respect it deserves. Portly and underpowered from the beginning, it eventually received one of the most derogatory nicknames of all time, "Drut". However, it may well have been the longest-serving combat airplane used by the US military during the Vietnam War (depending on how you keep score, the C-47 might have that title).

I've recently updated one of my posts on the F3D for the variations in the overhead hatch configuration: http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-f3ds-of-flying-nightmares-in-korea.html

Two of my other posts on the F3D may also be of interest:

http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2009/12/f3d-skyknight.html

http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2016/06/sword-172nd-f3d-2-skyknight-sw-72094.html

Relying on Museum Examples for Detail Accuracy

You really shouldn't. Today's extreme example of why not is the Vought F6U on display at the National Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola.

It was created from an incomplete F6U hulk by retired Vought employees at the Vought Aircraft Heritage Foundation. For an illustrated description of the process, see http://www.vought.org/rest/F6U_Book.pdf. One entire wing and many other parts had to be created from scratch. As a result, there were some liberties taken.

This is what a production F6U should look like:

Note the difference in the canopy and the shape of the tip tank (the reproduction has simple conical additions to the front and back of a cylinder). Another major error is the location of the bullet fairing on the empennage. It should be directly aft of the stabilizer. Unfortunately, repair of this F6U was begun at the New England Air Museum and this was their contribution.

The actual fairing was not round and it incorporated a taillight. The F6U reproduction also has a brace between the fuselage and the fairing as well as a longitudinal stiffener on the tail cone that weren't on the airplane when it was delivered or in service.

Vought retirees had to provide the landing gear from scratch so the struts are approximations, available wheels were used, and the outboard main landing gear doors were reduced from two to just one.

At some point between delivery of this F6U to Pensacola in February 2011 and November 2015, a modified canopy was installed to replace the single curvature one. It has more of a bulge but is still not accurate as the bulge is not quite as prominent as it should be and there is more sheet metal on its aft end than it should have. The bogus tip tanks were also removed.

For another of my posts on the F6U that includes links to others, see http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2013/03/vought-f6u-pirate.html

Skale Wings 1/72 AD Skyraider Folded Wings

Skale Wings is a new plastic model kit company located in Ukraine. Their first product was the AD-5W Skyraider, which I reviewed here: http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2016/09/skale-wings-172-douglas-ad-5w-skyraider.html

Their latest product is a 1/72 folded AD wing conversion. Folded wings are a notable feature on almost all carrier-based airplanes but the detail of the exposed joint can be daunting, not to mention the lack of support for the folded wing when rendered in scale. In fact, the wings on the aircraft are usually supported by externally installed struts after the airplanes are parked.

Since I'm not sure that I have the final instruction sheet (I made recommended changes and suggestions) or photo-etch, this is a work in progress.

This is a test-shot build from Skale Wings:

Note the amount of photo-etch in the fold joint.

As a follow-on to their AD-5W kit, the parts include a pair of canopies, one representing the original "blue room" version and the other, the one with the cabin hatches bulged as they should be for the AD-5W and AD-5Q.

The plastic is pretty thick but parts are provided to slide the pilot's side back and open the rear hatches if desired.

Note that the pilot's canopy could be slid back independently of the one over the right seat and that the aft end of the canopy structure comes more to a point rather than being rounded.

The plastic sprues and photo etch:

One nit is that the wing spar is not fully represented on the the wheel wells.

Note that separate parts are provided to represent the sway braces on the outboard wing pylons (the inboard pylons were included with the AD-5W kit).

The forward-facing main landing gear doors have a cutout for the AD-5 catapult hooks that were mounted on the main landing gear legs but they aren't quite accurate. The bulge should be narrower. See the link above for a comparison of the single-seat and AD-5 doors.

It should be noted that this conversion kit can also be used with the Hasegawa Skyraider single-seat kits to add folding wings, since it provides the details for both types of wheel wells. However, to accurately represent any of the AD-5 versions, the lower center wing part needs to be modified to eliminate the oil cooler air outlet and the catapult hooks.

On the other hand, for a single-seat AD-4 (most of them anyway) or -6/7, you'll have to add the armor plate or cut up the Hasegawa wing for its armor-plated center section.

The folded wings will also be sturdier if you add support struts (which are not provided in the kit). This was a red, telescoping piece of ground-support equipment that was placed in holes in the fuselage and outboard wing panel.

 The location of the hole in the wing:

The hole in the fuselage was in different locations in the single-seat and multi-seat Skyraiders:

The AD-5  strut was therefore in place at a steeper angle.

The strut could be telescoped for compactness and was sometimes carried along on a cross-country trip for use when secure wing folding was desired where this particular piece of support equipment might not be available.

Note that since the wing was mounted at a small angle of incidence on the fuselage and the aft hinge was lower than the forward one, the wing tilted slightly back as it folded.

The Complete F-111B Repaired

It's just come to my attention that some of the illustrations in my earliest F-111B post, http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2009/10/grumman-f-111b.html, were not accessible by clicking on them. That would enable you to view them in a larger size and save them if you wish, which is what I intended. Those are all fixed now. Let me know if this occurs on any other post so I can fix them. Also, please let me know if you come across "broken" links. Those are inevitable but I'd like to delete them or find a substitute if I can.

Kitty Hawk 1/32 T-28C

Glen Coleman has announced that Kitty Hawk's T-28C follow-on to its well-received T-28B/D kit will be available in June.

Not my scale so I don't have personal experience with its predecessor, but this is an illustrated build review of it that includes high praise: http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=60982&page=1

Glen provided photos of a model built from the kit:

As you can see, typical of Kitty Hawk, internal details, positionable control surfaces and canopy, and external stores are provided. (Never mind that the front canopy is on backwards; these display models are usually built from test shots without benefit of the instructions.)

One problem with T-28 kits is that some represent the early T-28A canopy, which bulged upward more than the later T-28A and subsequent canopies.

The fuselage in the foreground is the early version. The one in the background and this one on a T-28C are the later one.

For a good reference, get this early Steve Ginter monograph that featured the T-28:

It can be ordered here: http://www.ginterbooks.com/NAVAL/NF5.htm. It doesn't include a three-view of the T-28C, so here is one suitable for checking dimensions:

Also a guide to the differences between the B and the C:

Note the difference in propeller diameter.

Several marking options are provided:

Note that the one marked as VF-84 is a warbird for which I'm pretty sure that there wasn't an example in Navy service. Similarly, my guess is that the tail code TN represents a warbird owner's initials. (Both of these have an N number on the fuselage, another clue.) I'm not sure that there was a C in the air drone controller scheme (the BuNo provided for that one was assigned to a T-28B). If you're a stickler for accuracy, you should keep that in mind as well as the fact that some of the walkaround photo collections on the interweb have warbird subjects.

One thing that caught my eye was the tailhook installation. I suggest that it look more like this:

Note the separation between the bottom of the fuselage and the rudder. The front of the hook point should be shaped more like a horse's hoof:

Things Under Wings: Air-Start Pod

From the August 1956 issue of Popular Mechanics:

 Also see http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2012/01/portable-air-start-cart.html

Ground support equipment will add interest to the display of an airplane model, particularly when it is little known and as beautifully rendered in resin and photo-etched parts as this 1/72 kit, #7019,  produced by F4Models.

 As built (decals not included) and photographed by Alexander Suvorov of F4Models:

The kit includes a resin air hose and instructions on how to permanently bend it to the configuration desired for display.

For more information on this kit and ground support equipment kits available from F4Models, click here: http://f4models.blogspot.com/

Note that these kits must be ordered from Hannants, MisterKit, or Martola.

A sketch of the pod exterior, with the pylon for the F4D:

 Note that there were detail changes in the pod over time.