Since I was given the opportunity to complete a well-started build in the P-7 I thought in a moment of madness I would use the leftovers from that conversion to create another P-3 variant.
I shall call this the P-3X, a twin-engine low-cost Coastal Patrol version for smaller Armed Forces who do not need the full capability of the standard P-3. FUll back story to follow.
I have started on assembling the jigsaw of the leftovers, I cut the forward section of the fuselage down a tad more (took out an inch) to make the conversion look a lot more compressed
Compared to a full P-3 fuselage
The wing leftovers are shorter at the root than usual and the inboard nacelles do not have enough prop clearance. So they need to be removed/reshaped with some reinforcing required before plastic removal
Inboard nacelles top removed and void filled with card, milliput will be used to fill the rest of the void. I need to leave part of it protruding as the main wheel well extends past the leading edge. This means some sort of aerodynamic fairing will have to go on the front of it as well, most likely more milliput.
LOwer wing sections going together
A spar will be required to give the new wing some strength
The spar has been glued to the wing which has been taped to the fuselage to give some semblance of dihedral, this shot shows a basic mock-up of the build so far. The eagle-eyed among you will note the cut-down and reshaped vertical stabiliser.
I find this initial hacking and slashing quite enjoyable and goes by quite quickly, then I get bogged down with the filling a shape refining. See how we go this time.
