Lt Gallagher`s Lucky Escape

Here`s the event I`m looking to duplicate in plastic with a fair amount of scratchbuild to boot.......,



Here`s the kit...., (ignore the Tiger tank)



So now that I can take over half the dining room table again, (SWMBO rolls her eyes), I thought I`d start prepping for this build.

Now while I`m still waiting for Revell to send me a replacement canopy there are a number of issues that need to be looked into. Firstly, this is an EA-6, the refuelling variant and as such I need to scratch build the hose units in the centre belly tank and also the unit just under the air brakes, as well as the propeller thingy on the front of the centre line tank.



So this evening was my Apollo 13 moment. You know, the scene where they have to fit a square thing into a round thing, (or is it the other way round?), only using bits I could find/salvage from the spares box.

Now your probably thinking why don`t you buy an aftermarket set? Well, after a few emails to the people that do the only 1/48 scale set I could find on the web, the order process was a little complicated for my liking and when I was told I could send cash in the mail, call me old fashioned, but alarm bells went off.

So, I`ve gone down the scratchbuild road and if I`m honest I`m actually quite looking forward to it.

Here`s what I have to play with so far.....,



I`m still after the wing slats/flaps and airbrakes if anyone knows of where to get them? (Otherwise that another 6 months of scratchbuild...!!!!)

Great and unusual project, although the variant you're building is a KA-6D. What company does the hose and drum unit, I can remember seeing it but can't remember who by?

scotthldr wrote:Great and unusual project, although the variant you're building is a KA-6D. What company does the hose and drum unit, I can remember seeing it but can't remember who by?

It`s the Cobra company over in the States Scott.

Oh yes Cobra Company, although they're a reputable company they don't make ordering from outwith the USA very easy do they. I've been after a couple of their sets as well, but like you the ordering process puts me off.

Well the guy from ARC has come back to me.

He has asked for $67 including P+P which works out at about £42. Seems a bit high to me?

The Misterkit set are, IIRC, 26 Euro`s but I can`t seem to register with them and no one has come back to me with a reply to my email?

What to do, what to do?

Today I went ahead to see how much I could cock this build up.....

Here are the selected parts I wanted to use for the centre line refuelling pod.

As you can see I lobbed off the ends of the kits centre line fuel tank and smoothed off the surfaces. The other parts consist of a bit of sprue, a `dome` type part and a 1/72 Typhoon burner can.



The front end was straight forward just sticking the parts together.....



... I then cut the burner can in half and stuck the removed fuel tank tip to one end so that there just wasn`t a big hole in place......



... with the straked lines of the burner can sticking out the end, I don`t think it`s a bad representation of a basket.



And the final picture shows the unfinished, (needs abit of a tidy up), and unpainted refuelling pod.



Overall not too bad I feel.

No rush on this for a change, (well it`s going to be a few weeks untill the replacement parts from Revell arrive), and it turned out to be a good thing. While I was going through which white paints to use for the refuelling pod I again turned to the reference pictures and was surprised to see this.....



It looks like the pod is actually a dark green/olive green colour and on another picture the nose of the pod is a metal colour.

Note to self, please check and look harder at the pictures....!

So here`s where I`m at, the pod is now complete as well as the housing for the second refuelling basket. This was made out pits from a Meteor engine nacelle, a Jaguar nose cone and the cap from bottle of glue. They are by no means perfect, but I think they will do the job.

Piccies below showing the pods, where they wil be placed on the airframe and I`ve also start cutting the wing tip airbrakes off.

After a bit of advice and opinions from members of another forum, I spent the day reworking the centreline pod. I corrected the RAM by giving it four blades that look a little sharper than the original set. Also I was advised that the green colour of the pod may be a trick of the light/exposure and in fact the pod was most likely to be some kind of low vis grey. Job done hopefully. (excuse the flash, it is a tad darker in real life)



Tonights work was making the figure and starting the paint work of Lt. Gallagher. Here`s where it`s at.....

Finally got round to putting Lt Mark Baden in place. Tried to give the impression/effect that he is being thrown against his straps as the wire slows the aircraft rapidly. I still have a few things to do on the cockpit section but I think the main stuff has been done.

This included removing the bombing viewfinder that sticks out from the B/N`s console. In reality it looks like a big metal plate was used to cover the hole that was left so I have duplicated this with a bit of flat sprue. You can see this beter in the second picture.





The other big thing was cutting out the lower section of the B/N`s ejection seat. The Revell kit has the seats in two parts with the actual seat of each crew member moulded into the cockpit area and you only need to assemble the top half of each seat. Obviously this is not really that good an idea if you want one member of the crew sticking out the aircraft in their ejection seat.

Thankfully my Wolfpack Design Martin Baker GRU-7 Ejection seats turned up today so the finale picture for today was a dry fit of Lt Gallagher in his seat.

I am watching this with interest! Great start and an amazingly lucky BN there!

Got the fuselage halfs put together last night and then with the aid of a cocktail stick, raised the seat into position to get a feel for how it will look.



Still waiting on the replacements from Revell so no rush on this at all.

Whilst awaiting the start of another whif group build, I`ve started the task of cutting away the flaps on the kit so that the aftermarket `open` flaps set can be fitted.

To say this is a labour of love would be an understatement!

I`ve over run with the cutting knife a couple of times which will need to be fixed. Luckily this is one of the undersides so hopefully will not be too noticeable, but it means extra care when doing the upper surfaces. Only the trailing flaps have been done so far and the leading edge flaps section is next. Obviously a bit of filing down will be in order as well.

Then when this is done, only another 3 wings pieces to go...