Clunkmeister

At the risk of being booed and hissed at, I've always wanted to build a 1/72 scale model of a run of the mill Third Rate 74.

Mark, I don't recall ever seeing those pictures before, although I'm sure I have. Truly incredible pictures those are!! The weathering on those is wild and extreme, almost like it'd rub off on the crew's pant legs when they climb in and out.

True that, Ryan. Godzilla, Mothra, and others terrified me as a young kid, but I always went back.

And you're sitting on a ready supply of building material with that chair as well. The 1/64 size will be easier to get moving as well. You could almost blow start that one with a 1:1 scale kitchen fan. Just keep the cord out of the water.

James, that’s exactly why I jumped to WW1 and obscure subjects. Nobody alive can say for sure what color it was and old pics ain’t coloured

The fidelity to scale is amazing! However, I think the builders somehow sourced detailed factory blueprints from McDonnell Douglas for the F-15. The thread originator needs an F-14, and with Grumman's being shut down, he may find a problem there. But, maybe if he goes to the area where the Grumman plant was and he digs in the earth, he may find suitable scraps of paper that might be pieces of old blueprint. With the colorful history of Grumman, he might be able to dig up enough to reconstruct an aircraft with an F6F right wing, an Ag-Cat left wing, a Prowler tail, and a F11 Tiger nose section.

Don't worry, it's staying open. This stuff is golden!

ya know.... we should think out of the box some. Instead of 1/32, 1/24, 1/16, 1/4, or 1/1, why not go the other way? Say .7:1. Make it bigger by a third. There's more than a few corn cob Pratts out there you could use. F ailing to source a decent corncob, you can go with the grandaddy of the big props, a genuine Rolls Royce Tyne out of a Brittania or CL-44. Failing sucessfully sourcing one of those, the Kuznetsov NK-12 is available for use as well. that one will have the added benefit of giving you contra rotating props for that unique sound.

Sluggo, I'm heartbroken. I was looking forward to the build thread.

I expect it’s being done But we can have our own self made comedy hour in the meantime. Like I had mentioned before, the F-14 is just as potent a combat aircraft as it was 15 years ago, and the US Government cut them up for a very good reason.

^^^^. This ^^^^

It got moved to the GTA

Yes, it was about the original development of the Arrow. It was a decent production but drifted into politics and conspiracy theories instead of totally dealing with the aircraft. The Arrow got lost in a big sea of similarly capable aircraft that were available for much less money. Sad, but it's life.

The crazy thing is, this has been done before, as I mentioned above. On a side note, that sure must be one of the most beautiful aircraft ever to fly. She just looks "right" without a single out of place corner anywhere. I'd have loved to have seen one of these fly. Perfect Cold War Interceptor: Just go blisteringly fast in a straight line, attack the bombers with nuclear tipped rockets, then RTB to do it all over again.

Mr. Steadman, several years ago a group of folks in Alberta constructed a 1:1 scale CF-105 Arrow that was tyruily breathtaking. The landing gear ended up needing to be braced using beams between the nose and main struts, though, as I expect it was quite wobbly sitting up high like that.

I might be the wrong guy to comment on whick kit is better in my opinion, because I'm one of those guys who's a bit of a masochict when it comes to building stuff. Freakishly, I enjoy fighting a very accurate short run or resin kit more than I do assembling a vice building but somewhat inaccurate but easy building mainstream kit. I'm not a researcher at heart, which puts me at a huge disadvantage. Guys like Martin, Tony, Jeff, Mark, Jeroen and Danny seemingly live for research. For me, I'd rather pet the sweaty stuff than sweat the petty stuff.

I really hope you have bins to store them by size. Probably grain bins might be large enough? Have you thought about an “as if” retro version build? As in an alternative version designed by Dr. Hugo Junkers, using his patented metal airplane structural process. You could use aluminum and steel from old Quonset Huts and culverts for that classy and timeless Junkers corrugated look. Or, you could have old Tony Fokker, the crazy as a fox Dutchman help with internally braced steel tube framed substructure and plywood engine nozzles. And if you used Fokker's steel truss structure, you could skin the exterior with papier mâché. It's be light but strong. At least until it rains.

I hate it when someone displays much more logical thinking than I do. Said the guy with a 1/48 B-36

Shhhhh, but me too.

Let me post it under the LSM name. I'll brag you up a bit more than might seem right doing it yourself.

That guy got a little sideways and had a genuine off roading experience. John, this model is truly gorgeous, as usual, and of course, it'll make a fine addition to the FB page, right? I give you credit though. I haven't even managed to get through my first Birdcage. It's such a beautiful kit, an so bloody precise, I missed carving and shaping so much I threw it all on the SOD.

yeah yeah yeah but my mind is working..... maybe contract it out and rent space on top so clear channel radio stations to use the escape tower as an antenna mount. Or even AT&T might consider hiding a cell tower in the thin fiberglass adapter rings between the LEM housing and the third stage booster.

Exactly, Danny. this does seem like a fanciful project, and most of us, myself included, would have no earthly idea where to even start. An Iranian shell might be the best start. At least you'd have the general form correct. :-/