What to do with the excess things in the parts box

[Jeffry Fontaine]

I have acquired several of the AMT-Ertl/Italeri A-20 Havoc kits and a number of extra ferry tanks from these kits over the past couple of years.  I was intrigued by the ferry tanks as they are intended to be attached to the bottom of the aircraft over the bomb bay doors.  Not a lot of detail to the things other than some rather vague scribing and some generic attachment points where the tank attached to the aircraft. 

Having no intention of ever using the things as described by the kit instructions I let the tanks alone for a while.  Occasionally coming back to visit them in an effort to find inspiration on what to do with the things.  While I have made some progress in assembling four of the things together the tank shapes that are glued back to back now resemble some kind of sarcophagus in shape and I am still undecided as to what direction to take next with the things. 

For now, I have one prototype that is glued together and all of the features have been sanded away leaving a smooth surface all around, at least it looked that way to the naked eye but under the cell phone camera I now see some obvious features that the sandpaper missed.  I suppose a good coat of paint will make that problem go away. 

Attached images to this post:

Image 1 - Three ferry tanks with two tanks facing down and one tank facing up to show the inside and outside details. 
Image 2 - Two ferry tanks glued together. 
Image 3 - Two ferry tanks glued together and the surface sanded smooth. 

The question about what to possibly do with these things.  Two things I have thought about are to make them life raft pods that could be mounted under the wing or fuselage.  The other option might be to make a very large fuel tank with oval cross-section that could be mounted under the wing or fuselage of larger aircraft. 

If you can imagine some other purpose for these things I am open to suggestions. 

[elmayerle]

The two together look like they could also be a radome of some sort.  You'd probably need a faired support to mount it on top of or below an aircraft of your choice or fair it into the fuselage the way the "M&M" radome is faired into the bottom of the EP-3E and raised/lowered from the former weapons bay.

[Brian da Basher]

It's great to see you back having fun with plastic again, Mr Fontaine!

I think drop tanks are some of the most useful spare parts. The halves can be used for tinted canopies, air scoops, engine or landing gear fairings and as Our Resident Engineer said, radomes. I like your life raft canister idea too. 

Whole drop tanks make great engine fairings (like those for a Fokker or Ford tri-motor) in 1/72 scale or power eggs (just attach prop and pipes) in 1/144. Also you can make bombs by attaching fins (hello Bill!) cut from card.

HTH,
Brian da Basher

[ChernayaAkula]

A 1/48 drop tank with suitable bits from a 1/35 Willys Jeep.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

The two together look like they could also be a radome of some sort.  You'd probably need a faired support to mount it on top of or below an aircraft of your choice or fair it into the fuselage the way the "M&M" radome is faired into the bottom of the EP-3E and raised/lowered from the former weapons bay.

Turning a pair of these into a radome might work.  Size of these tanks glued together is slightly less than the radome found on the Shackleton, Avenger, Guardian, PB1W Flying Fortress in regards to width but the length is much greater.  With several of the Grumman Guardian kits in the stash and a couple of the old ESCI AD4W Skyraider AEW kits I am flush with radomes for that period/era of aviation. 

<snip>regarding your A-20 drop tank question, I suppose you could fashion a nice swimmer delivery vehicle from those.  Some fins, shrouded prop, some thingamabob for a control co sole and two Navy SEALs from a Dragon kit.

Funny that you should mention that bit about fins.  I did take a look at what I had in the parts bin for fins that would look appropriate for a pair of those tanks glued together.  So far nothing I have checked looks right.  As a submarine shape, now that might be interesting to take up, length is about the same as a 1:700 Jimmy Carter and it is about four typhoons in beam.  Rather portly looking but might make an excellent submarine tanker or perhaps a SDV in 1:72nd scale.  A lot of tiny bits would be needed to give it the right features, not sure I want to spend that much time on something not 1:48th or 1:35th scale but if anyone else feels up for the challenge I would be happy to send them a pair of tanks so they could make it happen. 

A 1/48 drop tank with suitable bits from a 1/35 Willys Jeep.

You might be on to something with that suggestion Mortiz.  I will not do that but if someone else is interested, I can always send them a couple of tanks to try out. 

It's great to see you back having fun with plastic again, Mr Fontaine!

I think drop tanks are some of the most useful spare parts. The halves can be used for tinted canopies, air scoops, engine or landing gear fairings and as Our Resident Engineer said, radomes. I like your life raft canister idea too. 

Whole drop tanks make great engine fairings (like those for a Fokker or Ford tri-motor) in 1/72 scale or power eggs (just attach prop and pipes) in 1/144. Also you can make bombs by attaching fins (hello Bill!) cut from card.

HTH,
Brian da Basher

Thanks for the encouragement Brian, it is hard to find time to build even with all of the time in the world on my hands, it mostly comes down to being in the mood to model.  Granted the ongoing saga of sorting through all of the model parts accumulated over the years is a bit daunting and leads to a feeling of despair at times, I can often bounce out of that if I start putting plastic in my hands for the purpose of building something. 

As for ideas, I think Moritz has a great suggestion for turning a pair of the tanks into a buggy of some kind and the submersible/submarine.

Other ideas I have had are to consider the idea of huge wing tip fuel tanks (like those seen on early marks of Lockheed Neptunes) or as a gondola under the fuselage holding a large cannon of some kind (Henschel Hs-129).  The gun gondola might be the one with less effort as all you need to do is poke a hole in the front of the thing and stick in a gun barrel.  The fuel tank idea may work if you can get all four tanks to be as close to identical after sanding the external features off the surfaces.  That was one thing that really surprised me on the one set of tanks sanded smooth in the original post.  The engraved features were still there after all the sanding I did, kind of frustrating to be honest. 

[elmayerle]

Regarding submarine tankers, consider the raiding submarine tankers, with towed tankage, from Frank Herbert's Under Pressure.

[Klown]

Using half of one would be a good radome of some sort or the blisters and bumps you see on some AWAC's aircraft and Electronic warfare aircraft.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Using half of one would be a good radome of some sort or the blisters and bumps you see on some AWAC's aircraft and Electronic warfare aircraft.

Already considered that but I am flush with radome shapes and these fuel tanks are a bit on the narrow side as they are almost the same width as the A-20/P-70 Havoc.  On their side and glued together they would have enough width for a decent size radar antenna but using just one tank would limit you to a fairing for some ELINT/SIGINT/COMINT antennas.  Not much excitement in that.  :)

[GTX_Admin]

Obvious really:  turn them into entries for the Racing GB:

[Old Wombat]

My father used P-38 drop tanks to make canoes during WW2.

[Story]

Gunpods, either under-wing or mounted to the side of the fuselage.



Use the same 37mm that the PT Boat crews were pirating from the AAC.

[arkon]

Airship maybe?

[Jeffry Fontaine]

A good title I think. 

While going through the stash I have been trying to weed out things I don't really want and keep things that I do want.  Occasionally you run in to a box of bits that make you wonder why you ever purchased so many of the same kit. 

The Academy Armor Weapons Set is one of these.  It had a few things that were worthy of saving but a lot of it was just space filler in the boxes.  There were two such items that were in this category that had some potential use but not as ammunition boxes due to the horrible details molded on to the boxes.  The boxes were supposed to represent a 75mm ammunition box for three rounds of ammunition for the Panther tank and an 88mm ammunition box for the Tiger tank.  Both boxes had lids but the rest of the box was molded as one piece with some rather large features that really did not belong on a simple box. 

I opted to keep the lids to use as skids for cargo or as a walkway either of which would be a worthy purpose for the box lids that have wood grain features on both sides of the lid and two cross brace wood slats to hold them together like a normal box.  A shame Academy chose to cut corners and dispense with these details on the box proper. 

So I experimented with two of each box (actually four of each box type) and after cutting away some of the material I was able to assemble two boxes of each size into a shape that has yet to be properly decided upon. 

At this point the bits no longer look like wooden boxes but more like keel blocks for a boat or perhaps a bridge footing for something like the Bailey Bridge.  Or maybe as dunnage to block something in on a cargo truck load. 

Anyway, both items are uploaded in the attached images along with the pile of box bits that I started with to give you an appreciation for the changes made to the two box types. 

Box of box bits in the first image. 

88mm box parts and same parts assembled in the second image. 

75mm box parts and same parts assembled in the third image. 

[Old Wombat]

I tend to use those things as generic boxes amongst the stowage on my vehicles, they're pretty good fillers for that purpose.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

The smaller 75mm ammunition boxes could actually be nested and stacked to varying heights but the larger 88mm boxes are stuck with a ledge on one side that prevents that from happening.  It is tedious and time consuming to have to cut that lip from the 88mm box but it has to be done if you are to create something useful. 

The change in size when doubling up the box bottoms does make for a larger container but the lack of features is still a disappointment.  At least these things are not six individual sides that have to be assembled together like some kits contain.  This was an experiment to see what could be done with the left over box bottoms.  So far the idea of using the things as keel blocks is looking like the best choice. 

[Brian da Basher]

I can see you filling up a Deuce and a Half with these or lashing them on the deck of a ship.

I know you were a cracker-jack photo interpreter, Mr Fontaine, but I think the Army really dropped the ball not putting you in logistics.

What a great save! It's a treat to see you work more styrene magic.

Brian da Basher

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Hi Brian,

Unfortunately some of my additional duties included being the supply sergeant for my small Military Intelligence detachment in Germany and in my early years as a member of the Specialist-Four Mafia I was among other things, the unit supply clerk, motor maintenance parts clerk, drug testing clerk, company clerk, mail clerk, messenger, laundry clerk, truck driver, MUTT driver/RTO, and radio-teletype operator in a truck mounted message center.  As far as logistics go, if it was not nailed down and under hand receipt control it was fair game  

I was up until 0300 this morning sanding all of the 75mm ammunition box bits plus some POW cans that I decided would become demolition block charges.  The were in two sizes, the small 1-gallon (~4 litre) containers and the larger 5-gallon (20 litre) containers that were in the Academy accessory kit and a few of the smaller 1-gallon containers from a couple of the Tamiya WW2 German Tank Mechanics kit. 

I assembled two container types end to end so that the filler holes were opposed at each end of the former container now what-if demolition charge.  When the glue dried I went back and sanded the seams smooth on each of the pieces.  The end results are some rather long rectangular containers in two different sizes that feature fuze wells at each end.  The containers/demolition charges look quite nice in this semi-finished appearance.  Converting the container/demolition charge volumes to metric gives me a litre/kilogram weight approximation of 7.6 Kg (17 pounds) for the small tan and grey charges while the larger tan charges would be around 38 Kg (84 pounds) which are both quite substantial charges. 
tho
Always remember "P" for "Plenty as part of your demolition formula for achieving spectacular results.   


I was up until 0300 this morning sanding on all of those boxes and container shapes, you would think I could get a decent amount of sleep but that was not to be and I was up again at 0900 and out the door around 0930 to go have breakfast in town.  From there I was thinking about giving my truck a wash at the local do it yourself car wash but did not have any small change or small bills to effect that without having $20.00 in quarters as the end result.  I opted to go to the local sporting goods franchise called the Sportsman's Warehouse to look for some items that might apply to model building and get some smaller bills or change to wash the truck. 

I bought some fishing lure tools that are called an "English Clamp" which are small and easy to use plus a lot cheaper than some of the brand name hobby tools for the same purpose.  Plenty of change to cover washing the truck but decided to head home instead and share the images attached instead. 

Image 1 - All of the items I worked on until 0300 this morning.  A lot of tedious and time consuming sanding.  So grateful for the women's cosmetic sections in the local stores that have so many different grit grade foam backed double sided sanding sticks :)

Image 2 - 88mm and 75mm ammunition boxes, plus the 5-gallon containers. 

Image 3 - 1-gallon containers from Academy and Tamiya. 

[Jeffry Fontaine]

An update. 

The 88mm ammunition boxes are a fail.  Trying to sand down the raised details on four sides resulted in sanding away enough material to create a hole in the box.  Arrrrrgh!  So lesson learned, keep it simple and press on.  At least the 75mm ammunition boxes were more easily modified as there were only two raised features that were easily removed.  Still have enough block shapes with the 75mm boxes to use as keel blocks.  Yay!

[Story]

  in my early years as a member of the Specialist-Four Mafia I was among other things, the unit supply clerk, motor maintenance parts clerk, drug testing clerk, company clerk, mail clerk, messenger, laundry clerk, truck driver, MUTT driver/RTO, and radio-teletype operator in a truck mounted message center.  As far as logistics go, if it was not nailed down and under hand receipt control it was fair game  
 

Carry on.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

More fuel tank fun.  This time around we are looking at at the fuel tank that is included in the DML/Dragon Models MH-6/AH-6(?) Cayuse LOH.  The kit part is intended for placement in the rear passenger compartment and is open on the back.  I paired up two of these fuel tanks to create a larger fuel tank with some additional bits added to make it look busy.  I am satisfied with the finished appearance of these fuel tanks and hope to find a new purpose for both in a future what-if project. 

[Jeffry Fontaine]

More ammunition box fun.  This time around it is something completely imaginary. 
The summary of parts:
MM40 Exocet AShM launcher pedestals from 1/144th scale Revell Type 143 Patrol Boat. 
Cleaned and sterilized blood sugar test strips. 
ERA blocks from 1/35th scale Lindberg T-80. 
Equipment clamps from some 1/16th scale WW2 German PzKw.  May have been a Panther or PzKw IV. 
Evergreen plastic strips. 
Attachment brackets from Tamaya 1/35th scale armor accessories set for the "Hoffman Tank Gunfire Simulator" that mounts on the tank main gun barrel. 

All of the above was used to create these what-if ammunition magazines that I hope will find a purpose soon. 

[Jeffry Fontaine]

More things created from bits and pieces within easy reach.  This time it consists of the engine access doors from a pair of Tamiya 1/35th scale M5 Stuart light tank or the M8 75mm HMC kits.  Both have identical parts runners and the part is not used in either of these kits. 
I first glued both parts together so that both parts combined would create a larger double door.  Once that was accomplished I set it aside and pursued other projects for a few days while trying to find a use for this "double door" thing.  As luck would have it, my Muse must have given me an idea which you can now see in the attached images. 

Other items that were used for this project:
Sanding stick stiffeners, the white triangle shapes at the rear and inside as structural reinforcements.  The lower internal fuselage floors sections from the Tamiya 1/48th scale Lancaster B.IIIS Grand Slam and Dam Buster Bomber kit.  I used these parts for the top and side panels.  Once assembled I cut away the excess plastic to obtain the peculiar shape you see in the attached images.  No idea on what it will be used for.  I was glad to be able to create something from pretty much nothing. 

[Old Wombat]

 

[Old Wombat]

 

[Old Wombat]

Fallout VaultTec Vault emergency exit hatch.

This has relevance with the new Fallout series beginning on Amazon Prime (I think) soon.

Unfortunately (like Halo) not something  that I'll be able to watch.