Douglas A-20 What-If WIP

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Attached images of my what-if A-20 Havoc(s) work in progress.
 This is my second attempt at the Havoc.  My first attempt was unsuccessful due to a making a wing cut that did not go quite as straight as I was hoping for.  I was trying to make an A-20 with folding wings for a what-if U.S. Navy torpedo bomber which would become the TB2D-1 Havoc to replace the Douglas TBD-1 Devastator. 

I decided to put some details inside the rather austere bomb bay as a solid start to the project.  As you can see in the attached images there are two Havocs under construction. 

[Old Wombat]

 

[apophenia]

Looking good, Jeff!

Is your folding-wing TB2D-1 Havoc on hold due to that wing cut issue ... or is one of these fuselages destined to go to sea?

[LemonJello]

What type of wing-fold are you planning? Corsair-like or Hellcat-like?

[Jeffry Fontaine]

What type of wing-fold are you planning? Corsair-like or Hellcat-like?

As a Douglas product, it would be more like the wing-fold on the TBD-1 Devastator.  I failed in my first attempt at a wing-fold when I made an error in the cut across the chord of the wing, it went a bit janky and I was very displeased with the results.  Also the Monogram Devastator kit as parts included to insert in the folded wing which by some strange coincedence matches the wing airfoil on the Havoc.  The challenge is getting those Devastator parts to fit inside the Havoc wing at right location to allow for the wing-fold to be created.  Otherwise, it will be another dismal failure for me. 

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Looking good, Jeff!

Is your folding-wing TB2D-1 Havoc on hold due to that wing cut issue ... or is one of these fuselages destined to go to sea?

This project has been in and out of limbo for quite a few years.  I have been on and off this project for far too many years.  At one time, I had three A-20 kits all stuffed into one box and it was a major undertaking just getting the bits and pieces out of the box to a point where I could remember what I had last done with the project.  I disposed of one A-20/P-70 kit to a friend of mine in Utah that also enjoys the what-if niche and that helped in sorting things out.  Most of the parts have been identified for the project and included in the project box.  I was toying with the idea of trying to convert from R-2600 radials to R-2800 radials but that did not pan out as the engine nacelles are a bit too short to get away with the larger R-2800 engines.  That being said, the R-2800 engines from the AMT/Ertl-Italieri F9F Tigercat do fit inside the Havoc engine nacelles. 

As far as going to sea, that is the intention for both Havocs at the moment.  One started life as a P-70 night fighter and the other was the A-20G (four-gun nose).  I sanded the feature on the P-70 nose smooth so that it can become a radar nose and will have the two cheek mounted Browning machine guns.  There was some swapping of kit parts and I gave away the A-20G fuselage since it has a powered gun turret in the radio operator/rear gunner position and I was focused on a carrier strike aircraft that would need to lose some weight in order to haul bombs or torpedos with drop tanks and under-wing stores.  I acquired some blister pack machine guns for the B-26 Marauder and B-25 Mitchell with the intention of using one or the other on the Havoc and the remaining set to be used with my Attack Tracker (TB2F?) since the Tracker has no room up front for a battery of any kind, side blister mounted package machine guns seemed like the best solution for both the Havoc and the Tracker projects. 

[MAT]

Looking good, Jeff!
At one time, I had three A-20 kits all stuffed into one box and it was a major undertaking just getting the bits and pieces out of the box to a point where I could remember what I had last done with the project.

To avoid ending in that kind of mess, I have a lot of boxes, in which you buy cream balls and other kind of candy. Each box contains all the pieces for one project - and only one project. It makes the building a lot easier.

[Kerick]

Keeps everything clean too. I have several projects sitting around literally collecting dust.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

I have found similar containers here but the original purpose was to contain a pre-made Ceasar Salad from CostCo.  One can only eat so much salad before you need to take a break from all of the roughage.  Also they are not cheap so the empty containers are added only a couple times each month.  End result is a nice clear plastic container that can hold a lot of project parts. 

[Jeffry Fontaine]

An update from last night on the inside details for the bomb bay.  I discovered that the added features I had installed on the inside of the fuselage halves was interfering with the rear crew compartment bulkhead and side walls.  A small oversight on my part caused by my enthusiasm to add in features, I went a bit too far in that area it would appear.  While I was at it, I also removed some of the forward features that would not be visible from the bomb bay due to it being obscured by the nose wheel well bay module that fits under the cockpit floor.  The height of the details was also reduce so that I could install a roof at a later date to cover the emptiness which would be an area for the fuel tanks above the bomb bay roof. 

An additional strip of Evergreen plastic strip was added to the bottom of the bomb bay edges as a sort of skirt.  This was done to provide more material for what would be an open area that on a real aircraft would have received some kind of additional reinforcement to give the structure some strength.  There was a part in the kit that was supposed to be attached in this same area that held four bomb shapes along the sides and a pair of cross braces to fill in the front and rear.  All of this was quite featureless and left the bomb bay area without much in the way of features. 

[apophenia]

One step forward, one step back. Always the way ... but good that you caught it at this stage!

Looking forward to seeing this under a coat of zinc chromate 

[Buzzbomb]

Looking very nicely executed so far

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Looking very nicely executed so far

Thanks for that compliment.  Truth be told, the in-person view is not as nice with a lot of cement scars and scratches that the mobile phone thankfully can not capture. 

It has been interesting working on two kits at the same time.  Double your pleasure, double your frustrations/fun?  I have yet to make any progress on assembly of the wings so that I can do the dreaded cut across the span and attempt the wing-folding again.  It is fortunate that the Monogram Douglas TBD-1 Devastator and the A-20 Havoc share a very similar airfoil shape so that made the fill the hole in the wing problem an easy fix but getting the wing cut is where I am dreading to go until I feel more confident in my idea.  There is one seam line across the chord of the wing right near the landing light feature that looks like it will be the cut line.  This works out until you get to the landing flaps which jut out at an angle thanks to the tapered trailing edge.  I have to cut across the landing flap along that angle to get what I want and I really need a steady hand for that to work.  So until that fateful moment, I will stay busy with the other details on this and other projects that are all within arms reach of my little work space. 

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Nothing significant done this evening beyond working on a inflatable life raft for the space behind the pilot that is dedicated to that item.  None of the A-20 or P-70 kits have the life raft included so you either make your own or purchase the aftermarket product that includes the life raft.  I have no idea what that life raft looks like when stowed but it was easy enough to modify another plastic part to represent the stowed life raft.  I also purchased the Squadron True Details resin wheel set for the A-20 Havoc which includes a "life raft" shape piece of resin.  Hard to decide if that is what a folded or rolled up life raft actually looks like but what do I know? 

In the attached images I am sharing the pale yellow rectangular shape is the Squadron True Details resin life raft shape and the tan color object that looks like a loaf of bread in bondage is my attempt at creating a life raft shape for the A-20 (TB2D).  I rather like my interpretation of what a life raft looks like when rolled/folded up for stowage.  I modified by very aggressive sanding a tarpaulin of some kid from Italeri.  It may have come from the 1/35th scale Opel Blitz truck kit but it was definitely from Italeri. 

[perttime]

The life raft looks pretty square in the photo of this thread: https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/189426.aspx

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Thanks for sharing the image link.  The life raft definitely has a square/rectangular appearance to it.  That said l am not rushing out to purchase any additional True Details resin.  I have plenty more tarpaulin shaped bits to use for things like this.