p-61 aew

[pastafarian]

Hey folks,

Jeff saw this project over on ARC and invited me here.  :) 

Here she is so far.  I'm going to put it in Mexican AF markings.  I'm thinking sort of a light blue top with a grey underside.









I was pretty surprised that the radome fit underneath with some clearance left.  There is nearly a quarter of an inch gap on each side of the radome that I'll need to fill.  The wing cuts were actually pretty easy since there was a panel line that went straight from front to back just outside of the engine nacelles. 

John

[GTX_Admin]

Looking damn fine John!

Welcome aboard!

Regards,

Greg

[arc3371]

Interesting idea and welcome

[pastafarian]

Thanks guys.  I made a smidge more progress on it today.  I wanted to build contra rotating turbo props so that I could get the most loiter time possible on the patrol area.

The nacelles are pvc pipe fittings that I got from Lowes and the silver cowlings are from a parted out B-17 (the p-61 cowlings wouldn't accept the pipe fittings). 



I was going to use the extra props that come with the B-29 kit, but they would have cut into the nose of the aircraft. 


So, I went with some b-17 props:


I think I'm going to cut another half inch or an inch off the grey cones.  they look too long at the moment.

John

[GTX_Admin]

 

[Brian da Basher]

Now that's one heck of an introduction, Pastafarian!

I really like your idea for markings & color scheme and adding contra-rotating props was inspired genius!

Glad to see the radome fit so well!

Brian da Basher

[Maverick]

Some wild looking mods there.  Welcome aboard.

Regards,

John

[finsrin]

Is super.  Great concept.  Zactly kinda bashing I like.  Welcome aboard.   :)

[pastafarian]

Shortened up the engines quite a bit.  I removed the kit nacelles all the way back to the wings and cut about a half inch off of the grey engine cone.  I attempted to place the prop blades onto the engine cones themselves, but I couldn't get them to line up right so I filled the holes and went back to the b-17 props.  I think they look alot better this way. 





How far back should I put the exhaust pipe?  I was thinking either near the very back of the white pipe fitting or just aft of the silver cowling.  Thoughts?

John

[GTX_Admin]

Do you have any specific turboprop in mind or just a generic turboprop?  Do you want the exhaust to be able to contribute any thrust?

[apophenia]

Great concept! And the turboprops make this the first 'Widow where the pilot has a better than average chance at surviving a crash landing!

[Tophe]

Wow!

[Brian da Basher]

Good call on those modifictations!

If you want the exhaust to contribute to the thrust, you could make real simple ones from cardstock. Here's what the exhausts on a CV-440/580:





I hope this helps.

Brian da Basher

[pastafarian]

Huh, I didn't know there were turbo props set up like that.  I've only seen the kinds with the exhausts going out the side through a big ol' pipe.  I like those, so that's what I'm going for on this build.

Apop, what was the typical problem on crash landings in Widows?  They just nose down or something when they lose power? 


did a test fitting on the wings yesterday.  I'm going to place some bracing inside, but I think they look good so far. 





I tried the winds laying back like an e-2c, but didn't really like it. 
As always, comments, criticism, even "that looks like crap!"  hahaha are welcome. 

John

[Jeffry Fontaine]

With the cut at the join with the boom you are pretty much stuck with what you have now.  Seeing the oil cooler scoop in the wing leading edge would have led me to look for a cut further away from the boom which in turn would have give you a shorter wing section to fold over the top of the fuselage.  This in turn would have afforded the propellers some physical protection when parked with the wings folded.  A bit too late to start over at this point so the problem now is how to make the wings not interfere with each other when folded over the top.  The S-3 Viking had a solution to that which allowed both wings to almost fold flat across the top of the fuselage without interfering with each other. 

[GTX_Admin]

One could still get some thrust by having the exhaust come out the sines and the directed rearward ...think of it something like a AV-8B front nozzle in the rear facing direction.

[Sentinel Chicken]

The S-3 Viking had a solution to that which allowed both wings to almost fold flat across the top of the fuselage without interfering with each other. 

I like Jeff's idea- skew the wings so they still fold over the top, but can lay flatter. The Grumman S-2 Tracker did the same thing as well:

[elmayerle]

Apop, what was the typical problem on crash landings in Widows?  They just nose down or something when they lose power? 

No, it's just that the P-61's props rotate in plane with the pilot and in directions that a gear-up crash-landing would send the broken blades through the pilot's area.

[pastafarian]

Alright, since you folks won't help out by raising the ceiling height of all of the carrier hangers, the engineers at Pasta Aero Industries have opted to place a rotation joint in the wing so that they will lay back like an E-2C. Gah, you folks are difficult. LOL


I was thinking of going ahead and attaching the wing drop tanks with the wings folded back, but I think that having them hanging like that will be problematic. soooo, would it be ok to leave on the pylons? Or would these get jarred around too much?

Well, elmayerle, I guess since I've moved the props back the pilot might be in trouble. 

John

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Bet this is one of those times when you wish you had a spare P-61 kit to prototype your concept before final execution of the plan :)

I would stick with leaving the pylons attached to the wings and toss a coin on keeping the fuel tanks attached.  Tough call on that one and from my own very recent personal experience chopping up P-61 fuel tanks and pylons it is a right pain in the tuckus when trying to separate pylon from tank thanks to Monogram's flush mating of the pylon to the tank.  All of the tanks I cut apart were inconsistent in the cut thanks to poor lighting conditions and an unsteady hand with a finicky saw.  I saved the tanks but the pylons had to go in the trash.  I also thought the P-61 pylons were a bit too chunky when compared to a similar pylon provided in the Monogram P-38 Lightning kit that has less width and about as much detail and still the same problem of flush mounted pylon (or bomb in the case of the P-38 kit).  At least with the P-38 pylons there is some room for error and the end result leaves you with a decent stores pylon to mount bombs or fuel tanks depending on your project. 

[pastafarian]

Threw on a base coat just to see how things would look.  I'll get the engine exhaust and the glass installed in a bit.  There is a ton of framing on the front, so I'm working on masking it.  Other than that and a few more paint spots to hit, I just need to close up the end of the wings. 

I replaced the front gear so that I could do a cat shot if needed (along with a tail hook on the back). 







John

[Brian da Basher]

Looking good, Pastafarian! I really like the way that blue base coat appears weathered.

Nice work on the wing fold too!

Brian da Basher

[mikejapan]

I like what you've done with your plane!
I love the contra rotating props!

[elmayerle]

Well, elmayerle, I guess since I've moved the props back the pilot might be in trouble. 

Nowhere near far enough back to cause as much worry as the original prop location.  It looks, now, like they'd go through the nose equipment bay; there's only electronics modules there and they are easier to replace than pilots.

[pastafarian]

Thanks folks.  :)

I found some surplus PE in the spares bin that I'm going to use to brace the internal structure of the wings. 

Started some decaling last night and painted the framing on the canopies.  This is coming together pretty well. 

John

[Texgunner]

That looks very interesting!  It's gonna be a cool plane and definitely different.  Different is good!
Gary

[Tophe]

Looking good! that's my opinion too...

[GTX_Admin]

This makes me wonder about doing a SIGINT RP-61 ala the RC-12...

[pastafarian]

Holy crap the rc-12 has a huge antennae farm!  I thought the Senior Span U-2's were loaded up. 

That would be a very cool build. 

John