Hydro Junkie

Would I be correct in assuming that is for making canopies and windshields? My bigger question is how do you make smaller, single parts? Is there some sort of cover that you put on the platen or carrier frame or what? I know I need to make some canopies and windshields for some of my boats but what I've been able to find are just too small for the sizes of my boats

Flite-Metal

Hydro,

With respect to our molding small parts...with twenty plus v-form part plugs there are no individual "small" parts. To pull smaller parts paritions can be plced onto the perforation table leaving proper forming area. we probably will not pull less than 24"x24".
.Canopy template overlay is layed-up within our fuselage mold then original canopy clear parts are used to create templates for each of seven parts cutouts. Templates are placed on layed-up overlay then cut out with mini-router. This becomes the canopy cut out master template for routing out canopy sections from each MAC A6 Intruder fuselage.

grbaker

My Feedback: (29)

Here are the Dubro tires mounted on the JMP wheels. I was just wondering if these Dubros would work for you.

Hydro Junkie

That is a lot of work, making all of the molds and forms. They do look really good, just waiting to see the final product The reason I asked is I need to be able to make 4.9" wide 1/8th scale F-16 canopies. My issue is that all of the vacuforming tables I've found either won't handle the length I need or are way to big.

Flite-Metal

Thanks Gary!

I forgot about Tommy's wheels. Will call him tomorrow. Thanks for the heads up. There is a general shortage in the industry due to a single primary supplier. When I get my 4 1/2 hubs back I will order one of the Dubro tires. If you don't mind...can you identify the explicit 4 1/2 Dubro tire...they have a few. Its the donut hole that matters.

grbaker

My Feedback: (29)

Part number is on the first picture.

450 TL

Flite-Metal

I will call Dubro tomorrow to ask if it fits the Robart wheel. Do you recall the donut hole diameter?

Thanks

grbaker

My Feedback: (29)

I do not.

Flite-Metal

The printed cockpit parts arrive from Sam this morning. Tomorrow night (Saturday) its into the tub...and this too

Flite-Metal

This requires flatening so everything within the tub will fit. There is literally little room for two humans in an A6. And they actually shoe horned two more in a 36 inch addition when designing the EA6B. I will return to post the CNC cut tile for the tub unwrapped perimeter.

Hydro Junkie

And while that is mostly true, they also went to a much smaller APS-130 search radar with no targeting system that took a lot less space. The nose radome ended up being only 24" deep, at most, instead of the big radome found on the Intruder. Truth be told, the Prowler actually had a lot of leg room. While sitting in the right front seat, I could not touch the forward bulkhead with my foot with my back fully against the chute pack. When you figure my legs were almost three feet long, that gives you an idea of how far the seat was from the bulkhead

Flite-Metal

Through the evolution of A~EA in both 6 and 6B, this being 30+ years, I would guess when a functional device got smaller the space was rapidly appended by additional AEW.



I am curious if you ever utilized the RAT? I imagine with all the high wattage devices onboard the B things were lit up like a Christmas tree during "working hours".

Hydro Junkie

The "RAT" was an emergency use item. If the plane lost all electrical power, the "RAT" would be raised to keep the engines, radios and some of the navigation gear working. One engine generator could run the entire aircraft for a short time but, if one failed, several systems were shut down to protect the second.
This is, in many ways, the same as the "RAT" on commercial jets. The difference is the Prowler "RAT" provided emergency electrical power while the "RAT" on a commercial jet runs an complete emergency hydraulic system that operate only part of the flight control surfaces, just enough to keep the plane in the air until it cam make an emergency landing

Flite-Metal

11" x 12" x 6" small...but a perfect fit.

Ron S

My Feedback: (2)

Origami 😀

Flite-Metal

Bam!!!! As Emeril yells ;^)

Its not as simple as paper dolls but can be an exceptionally accurate aid in scale designing. You mix artistic Vets with CAD skills and you get scale modeling tools. Where else would one find a complete cockpit layout/floorplan? You certainly are not going to find it in your typical documentation...even factory docs...they are not composite.

Years ago, I created a design toolbox (software) which evolved as OpSys have. This with multiple hardware tools permits creation and extraction (reverse engineering). These are rarely an out of the box and off the page solutions. I have found this better than plastic model parts as a resource.

This does require manipulation however it is faster than CAD edited parts scans with printed results which usually require additional editing before printing again for hours. If you've been following (reading between the lines) my threads you understand the process...;^)

Ron S

My Feedback: (2)

Ron S

My Feedback: (2)

Flite-Metal

Is that 6 at Frontier? All those toys gathered around makes it difficult to get up close and personal.

Flite-Metal

Looking for feedback...
The pilot's in a seat without parachute seat warmer. Pilot fits width but I'm concerned about head height when parachute is beneath him.
I have individual seat components printed by themselves...mo'better relative to reduction of rafting. Feel free to express your opinion.
.

Ron S

My Feedback: (2)

Above six pics are from the A-6 at mobile Alabama, USS Alabama museum

Flite-Metal

A BIG Thank You goes to Scott Adams who loaned us his fiberglass wing pylons from his DCM A6. They were missing in action on ours. Our movie 6 had balsa pylons damaged in the Kemah hurricane. We created molds to produce these in volume.




Next to mold are the weapons rails for each of the four pylons. We have releases for the retarded MK-81/82's. Though the 1:1 could carry/release 24 retarded iron I fear that would be a-wee-bit much for anything less than a kero 6. Anticipate releasing 4 Mk-81/82's.

......................

Flite-Metal

Hydro Junkie

Tub looks good, so far. Gotta throw a correction at you however. The Intruder could handle up to 30 MK 81/82s on MERs or 15 MK 83s on TERs. Due to range issues, they normally carried:

• a centerline drop, as shown in the picture, reducing the load to four MERs with 24 Mk81/82s or four TERs with 12 MK 83s
• two drops on the inboard wing pylons, reducing the load to three MERs with 18 MK 81/82s or three TERs with 9 MK 83s

Flite-Metal

Sam recovered enough from wrenching his back to put the cockpit tub template to work this afternoon. We discovered the damaged canopy area of the movie model was crudely "sawed off the fuselage"...leaving nothing of the original parting lines. Why would anything on this project be any other way??
.We have enough pics and measurements to properly create a scale canopy frame though everything is across the fuselage curve. The A6 canopy is similar to egg shape of an OV-10. We have new clear canopy parts from molds made using the 33 year old original "Flite Of The Intruder" movie parts.
.