Egilman

If you going to open up the turret? you will want to take the white interior back to the rear rivet line, maybe even farther if your going to rotate the turret... The Turret has relatively large doors and when open, you can see all of the turret interior and quite a bit of the hull interior... 

It's a very nice Kit and can be built into a very nice example of an FT-17 of most any era...

How I would go about it?

Tube glue, Good old Testors tube glue...  Yep... Don't ever forget where you came from.... {chuckle}

The reason? Tube glue takes time to harden up allowing you to shift the parts around a bit before it sets... but it will not glue paint... so I would paint in sub-assemblys as I go along... 

I always keep a couple of tubes around exactly for this type of application...

7 hours ago, Baker said:

I think Estland or Lithuania.

1st pic, Lithuania postwar...

2nd pic, Patton in France 1918

3rd pic, From NARA it is titled as, "French Renault tank with American crew Sgt. Edward White and Cpl. Edward J. Elliot, Military Road near Cigarette Butte, France."

They wound up everywhere postwar cause they were the most successful design to come out of the war... They have all the features of a modern tank... And the ideas of how to correctly use them in combat came directly out of the brain of one Lt Colonel of the US army named George S Patton Jr.... I believe a couple of them were last found in a military dump in Iraq during Desert Storm....

Yeah, it's a very late war version, also see the other note right above the one you enclosed... The 9 tooth drive sprocket...

So, what this all means is, if you want to produce a historically accurate Tiger II of Panzer Abieltung, (battalion) 503 during the defense of Berlin in 1945, you need to make those changes with aftermarket products expressed in the note... Otherwise you will have a generic representative Pz.kfg VIB from 1945 on transport tracks...

For that transformation you will need a full set of combat pressed steel road wheels, a 9 toothed sprocket and workable combat tracks...

That's the Airfix 1/35th King Tiger.... ok...

Generic aftermarket, they don't make tracks and wheels specifically for the Airfix Kit...

So we go with...

Last production batch 18 tooth late type tracks...

https://quickwheelstore.com/1-35-quicktracks-t-35068-tracks-for-sd-kfz-182-tiger-ii-kgs-73-800-152-last-production-batch.html

9 tooth sprocket late pattern...

https://spruebrothers.com/trxtr35093-1-35-trex-disassembled-king-tiger-sprocket-9-teeth-late-type-pattern-2/

As far as the road wheels, in combat configuration she carried 40 of them {chuckle} the kit wheels are adequate just not enough of them....

There are other vendors and manufacturers out there those two links are just a sampling... And finding the road wheels in 1/35 is going to be a chore given all the 1/16th scale products out there...

Your talking road wheels correct? Yes they are transport tracks, just wide enough they would fit on the rail cars without overhanging the sides...

First thing the idler wheel on all versions was pressed steel, it's rolling surface would be bare shiny steel.... The road wheels could be either pressed steel, pressed steel with a rubber tyre, or cast steel with a rubber tyre...

The easiest way to tell is the presence of the tyre.... it would be square shouldered and not shiny, there would be a steel bead affixed to the rim of the wheel to hold it in place... So you would have the flat surface of the tyre, and a square shoulder on the steel rim of the wheel... Pressed steel wheels wouldn't have that rim bead and would be curved right to the rolling surface....

What you have are late version pressed steel road wheels, the surface would be bare worn steel, light metallic grey unpainted...

And that fits with your choice of late war yellow, red-brown and forest green camo.... Brother Baker will probably be able to pin it down even better...

PS: the only German tanks with rust on their road wheel running surface? Destroyed tanks....

Yep, Bertha was four tractor loads for the gun alone, not counting the equipment to emplace and assemble it...

It was printed on the fabric before it was applied to the aircraft..

The presentation give a good indication of how well the camo worked... The only thing anyone would be able to see is the exhausts flares.......

2 hours ago, Danstream said:

This can happen when Titanium alloy is cladded with aluminum. In my working experience, testing a titanium foil with aluminum deposited on it at high temperature (around 450 C) we got such a discoloration.

Yes this does and will happen, but it doesn't happen to the tail of an F-100, the tail of an F-100 is solid Titanium sheets, not clad in anything... High chromium content steels like high end stainless will show the same discolorations when subjected to high heat although it appears grey like any other steel when new...

Titanium alloys used for aircraft structural panels discolors like that starting at around 850 C.... In fact the reduction/elimination of that excess heating of the tail panels on aircraft led to the development of air bypass engines, to help keep the tail fuselage surfaces cool...

You know brother, the Trumpy  1:48 F-100D #02822 has the decals for both the T-birds and Skyblazers.... It can be had for as low as $34.... It's out there, most have it for around $45 -50....

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/trumpeter-02822-f-100d-thunderbirds--203629

https://www.super-hobby.com/products/F-100D-IN-THUN.html?partner_id=9

Yeah, $45.00 is too much... I'm looking to see what I can find....

Warbirds does a set for the T-birds "D" models in 1/48th, If you can find them...

Well the Skyblazers and the T-birds flew F-100C's for a number of seasons before they switched to "D" models... I have the 1/32nd scale Trumpy F-100D which is a gorgeous model, (needs an aftermarket nose) but finding decent T-bird decals for it is just as much a problem as Skyblazers...

I fully understand it being a no-brainer... the F-100C will make a beautiful bird though it was one of the more colorful aircraft in the USAF inventory...

Skyblazers decals are hard to find especially in 1/48... they are usually sold out...

The Trumpy decals will work you just have to be extra careful with them...  the Thing with skyblazers decals? the research shows that there isn't a great deal of demand for them so the printers don't print a lot of them, but when one does, they sell out quickly so fast you have to be there when they put the ad up... 

One of the weird things about modeling that comes about from time to time...

2 hours ago, vaddoc said:

Now, this is impressive. Its one thing to design a hull on CAD, but these complex shapes like brake handle and gear selector or the gearbox, this is on another level! 

Why Thank You Vad, I've been into engineering drawing for a long time, mostly paper & ink, occasionally vellum... Mechanical drawing mostly aircraft & machinery but some surveying and spatial representations, (read technical illustration) A couple of years ago I decided to learn how to do it on computer, I'm no expert and it has taken a while to get the hang of it but I'm getting there... It definitely getting faster, but that is practice...

I know enough to know that line drawing hulls for ships is a very technical genre of drawing has it's own issues separate from pure mechanical drawing... That is why Marine engineering is it's own separate science and art... It does flow over into pure mechanical drawing and design from time to time but only after the purely marine design elements are mostly done... It's every bit a technically demanding a field as aircraft design... Doth are derivatives of mechanical design, specializations if you will of the basic core skill... I've done some fuselage work in the aircraft industry and know that some of that experience will translate to ship hull drawing...

But I'm not there yet... (hope to get there eventually, sooner rather than later) There are some ships I want to build before the end and since there are no models or easily available plans, I'll have to do it by reverse engineering off pictures... Which is what I'm doing here... Honing the skills required...

I know enough and have been advised that Rhino is the software to use for ship hull modeling and the little I've played with it has shown me the way, so hence the title of this pathway into modeling, getting back into and keeping my head in the game...

2 hours ago, vaddoc said:

Hope all go well with your health.

As far as my health, right now it's stable, the last scans said I am clear of tumors, the nature of the cancer doesn't allow for a remission diagnosis or proclamation, and I will be receiving treatment for it the rest of my life... (currently in my third cycle of Chemo) But then with the grace of the man above, I'll get done what I need to get done... And there is no sense in worrying about it, when it's my time it's my time which isn't today... Thank you for the kind words and thoughts, they help a lot....

EG

The next update, the rear shock brackets and spring brackets...

What they look like in place....

The shock brackets were easy a slight difference in shape and location, Unfortunately the spring brackets needed a complete redesign...

Here they are in their real configuration... (where they live)

And what they look like out of the car...

And of course an overall shot of where she sits today.....

The basic frame is complete except for the little things like the occasional bolt head, the holes that mount nothing but are there,,, and such things like that I'll add them when I get to them...

Going forwards now, deciding which way to go,,, Probably the suspension next, need to get back to a rolling chassis....

Anyway, following the path now....

Onwards brothers...

Thanks OC I'm sure you could do it, it's simple with software....

4 hours ago, Canute said:

Head movements like that could induce vertigo and or tumble those tiny gyros in our ears.

Thanks brother, I knew that an experience flyer would know the specifics... The things you guys had to learn to compensate for flying on the edge all the time is simply amazing.... To the point of fighting your own body to do it it's a miracle that your all still here...

Thank you for your service...

Yes brother, There are several visual differences, Yes the Airbrake is a different shape to accommodate centerline ordinance... The fuel dump on the vertical stabilizer is larger and more boxy looking... The tail is substantially taller with a much larger rudder... It has fowler flaps under the completely redesigned main wings to lower landing speeds... The wing shape is completely different... (like the F-104 it was considered a "hot" aircraft to land and if you didn't pay attention to it it would bite you) The second Squadron Aircraft in Action book #190 has all these and more details fully explained...

1 hour ago, CDW said:

That's a beautiful jet.

Only one purtier was the Tbirds...

That Aircraft is a late "D" model with the bent refueling probe on the starboard side.... (the early ones had a straight probe) The reason they raised it was cause some of the pilots would lose their visual distance relationships cause they had to angle their heads to see the drogue when guiding the aircraft to connect... it would also cause havoc with having two critical operations occurring at the same time... (flying the aircraft and guiding the probe, any good pilot will readily tell you that is not a good situation while flying, two operations related to each other but impossible to watch both at the same time)

The resolution brought the probe's mating end up to the pilots horizon scan level of vision so he could easily see everything around him, Probe and drogue in the same vision window without having to bend his head in a different direction and still guide the probe....

4 minutes ago, king derelict said:

Those blue bands suggest they got over 900F if thats the titanium showing.

Yep the grade of Titanium they used could go to 2100 degrees before it would start to degrade... Everything in the tail of that aircraft surrounding the AB was Titanium....

13 minutes ago, CDW said:

jets flying to/from the Avon Park bombing range

Yep, they were a supersonic ground attack aircraft, the only place they could fly in that envelope was in the ground target ranges and test areas designated for supersonic practice...

33 minutes ago, CDW said:

Got it. Thanks!

 

I think that Mr Color super silver 2 will be perfect for the painted silver surface of my model. 

My pleasure Brother, yep aluminum silver, shiny, but barely reflective, your color should work well... For General Reference, Do note: the thunderbirds aircraft, (F-100C's & D's) were stripped to bare metal when they served in the unit, when they were transferred out and R&R'ed they were repainted to standard... No active operational F-100 was bare metal otherwise, a lot of modelers make that mistake with this aircraft... Only the T-Birds aircraft were bare metal...

7 hours ago, CDW said:

Just some interesting photos of the subject aircraft found on the net. These help me get revved up and show me the way to go to simulate the real aircraft finish.

You have a Private Note Brother...

10 hours ago, CDW said:

Can someone here please explain why this particular aircraft has those distinctive color striations at/near the afterburner? I've often wondered but never read an explanation of why they all seem to have this look.

Afterburner Heat... would discolor the Titanium skin and got hot enough to burn off the paint.... and BTW- All F-100's were aluminum/silver painted from the 100th aircraft on... YES, All of them, it was to deal with severe corrosion issues the airframe developed during testing at Edwards.... The paint was retro applied to those first 100 that survived... Bare metal is not appropriate for this aircraft, except the titanium sections of the tail skin... So the reflectiveness comes from the shinyness of the paint not the surface condition/fineness of the metal...

9 hours ago, Canute said:

My semi-uneducated guess is it's the heat effects on those sections, since that's where the afterburner/reheat sits. The F-4 had that area sheathed with titanium. Don't know if the Hun used any Ti in the aircraft skin.

Yes it did, NA used 80% of all the Ti used in the aircraft industry until 1954...  It didn't matter if they had the original J-57 petal type afterburner installed or the Later F-102 type.... the paint still burned off and the Ti discolored on all of them in direct proportion to AB use..

9 hours ago, king derelict said:

I'm thinking its heat effects and the striations are caused by varying metal thicknesses and structural members. Its a whole new aircraft for me so I have no idea what the back end looks like inside so this may be totally wrong.

The reason for it was most of the Aircraft parts were machined from billet stock instead of riveted formers and panels, it was thought that by using solid parts to build the airframe they would act a heatsinks and keep the heat off the skin panels... (see, even great engineers can sometime be real dense) what they thought would serve to protect the panels actually served to concentrate heat in the AB areas.... 

7 hours ago, CDW said:

I think it may have been our first supersonic combat aircraft. Also, its shape and resemblance to its predecessor, the F-86 Sabre, is remarkable to me. 

It was, I don't see it, it was a completely redesigned aircraft using completely different materials and machining processes... All resemblance to the F-86 is purely coincidental...

As far as the Tail heat/paint, burn/discoloration issue, here are some pics I've been holding on to for my 1/32 trumpy version...

There are any number of explanations of how to get that color effect on the net... Which I'm sure you have seen... Several things to note, USAF birds flying over the USA did not have discolored tails... this was simply because the banning of sustained supersonic flight over most areas of the USA proper... Over seas and in aircraft in foreign service, all have this discoloration....

Most of the Birds that flew in Vietnam were "D" models with some "C" & "F" models, the "C" model was the fastest of the Super Sabres with a top speed of 925mph at 35K feet... (the "D" was the second fastest at 910mph) In standard combat load as well, Yes it was the first production supersonic aircraft in the Airforce inventory, (closely followed by the F-102) It's maiden supersonic flight was flown by none other that George Welch CMH the fighter ace of Pearl Harbor, two weeks later that first production aircraft killed him... 

For a brief time the Super Sabre held the world's Absolute Speed Record  as the fastest thing in the sky quickly surpassed by the F-101, F-104 and the F-110 (F-4 Phantom) Known as the "Hun" in SEA service it was the primary fighter bomber of the US military until gradually replaced by the F-105 around 1969... As such, (during it's time in Vietnam) it carried and dropped more ordinance than the entire force of 15,000 some odd P-47's that flew in the entirety of WWII...

It was a remarkable plane... Bit of a widowmaker, (when it first was adopted) but loved by the pilots that flew it and even more loved by the troops it covered and supported on the ground....

Hope this helps brother...

Just to keep myself busy, I went ahead and dropped the engine back into the chassis today as well....

All that was needed at the moment was revising the rear flange to match what is actually on the car rather than images of what was on the standard engine...

It fits beautifully... (I narrowed the frame about a inch and a half, it was part of the reason I was having problems fitting parts before)

Next up Frame Accessories, the Rear Shock brackets and the Rear Spring mounts which it turns out are completely different from what was modeled earlier...

Onwards My friends.....

Another Can't miss...