Flite-Metal

I have been fortunate to receive tons of assistance from USN pilots and maintainers.

Thanks,

Ed

Airforce7

My Feedback: (31)

OK, I contacted my friend and we will meet at 9AM tomorrow morning at the museum and get the measurements you’re looking for. Any other dims you need let me know before tomorrow!

Flite-Metal

Thanks!

Last time we drove from Houston to Sacramento to pick up OV-10 parts from CalFire we should have stopped at Castle. Running late we drove right on by both up and back. We had just a few miles to burn before dropping the Bronco front end off at the museum in Fort Worth.

The reason I need 1:1 measurements is this is Selby's and it appears to be just a wee bit tall. The gear he bought was sprung for the movie models... each weighed 50+. The naked movie fuselage (sans v./h. stabs) weighs 27#. That's close to 30# empty. Mike's fuselage weighs less than mine. We are at 6.6#...or 20% of the movie model. Mike's Matrix gear would not compress as much as the movie 6's because of his extensive use of carbon fiber.


Below the fuse is sitting on foam to relieve strut compression; yet the tires are still touching the table. There's not much difference between these pics.




Ed

Flite-Metal

Looking at 2021 Sat image indicated the 6 was not on the property as it flew over... Is your friend sure its still there? The C130 is not on the property either.




Ed

Airforce7

My Feedback: (31)

Ed,

So the jet was there as shown in the sat image. We got the dims, but the main dimension will be ball park as half the gear door was closed and the ground was a bit uneven. Here they are:

Nose gear
45” +0/-1”
Wheel diameter ~18”


Main gear
66.5” +1/-1”
Wheel diameter ~33”

Flite-Metal

.........................GREAT !

They sleeved the nose strut so it would not collapse....The way its sitting also means the mains were at their proper height!
Yahoooooo ;^) The brake detail is good. Most of the other images of that area are taken too far away to see this detail.
Is that a clear plastic intake shield to keep birds out? Also the fuse side shows the two standoffs for the intake...something I
have never seen before. Most pics are taken too far away at that angle to see the standoffs.

Thanks!

Hydro Junkie

IIRC, the mains are at their "RTF" position. When the planes were unloaded and defueled, the mains were an inch or two longer due to the missing weight of the weapons and fuel. If the drops are full(300 gallons), they are roughly 2400lbs while the weapons units are between 750 and 1000 each, the normal loadout being two drops(as shown on the plane pictured) with weapon units on the centerline and outboard wing stations. The plane pictured(160435) was originally an ICAP configured aircraft(I know this because my squadron had 160609, received new from Grumman in the same configuration) that has been upgraded to a later configuration as the ICAP had a radome on the belly a foot or so in front of the blade antenna that housed a Doppler Radar antenna. The engine covers are to prevent birds and "critters" from getting into the engines while the rectangle red cover on the leading edge of the right wing covers one of three air intakes(the other two, round intakes, are on the fuse sides above the engine exhausts) used to keep the weapon system's electronics cool. I'd love to tell you more but some of the tech used in the Prowler is still in use and is still classified. Just had a thought. If you are looking at doing a KA-6D "tanker" version, they didn't use the standard drop tanks shown on the Prowler. They used a larger 500 gallon tank on all 5 hard points.

Dansy

My Feedback: (53)

I taught all the Prowlers were retired, I had the pleasure of doing Air Refuelling to them, a few times....

Hydro Junkie

As far as I know, all of the variants of the A-6(the Prowler being one) have been retired. In fact, there was a video showing one of the last flights of a Whidbey Island based Prowler, AJ 503,assigned to VAQ-134(161884) ending at Seattle's Boeing Field, the location of the Museum of Fight, where the Prowler will be displayed. A couple of things that you can see on the video is that the ground crew, after the Prowler was stopped initially, installed the safety pins on the mains to prevent them from collapsing and opened the forward main landing gear doors. Also shown, before shutting down the left engine, a 5 gallon bucket was placed under the engine to catch fuel that was dumped out of the engine before being burned. This was repeated after the plane was parked, under the right engine:
The F-18 has taken over the roles filled by the A-6, A-7, EA-6B and F-14. Also, AFAIK, there are presently up to SIX variations of the F-18 in Navy and Marine squadrons.

Flite-Metal

Hydro,

We are offering the A6A, A6E, EA6A, and KA-6D. These are 1:5.5. Glad AF7 made the run to Castle. From the stance it would appear this is going to probably be the one I use. Have another three measurements to compare to shortly. USN pilots and maintainers have been a great help. I have the drogue "basket", faux hose, and reel for the 6D. Not going there until its flown for a couple of months.

Hydro Junkie

You're doing an "Electric Intruder"? I've seen a few of them at NAS Whidbey Island after they had been relegated to a Marine reserve squadron, the Seahawks. Don't forget to add the "chin up bars" on the front of the outboard wing stations as I've seen models of the "A" that, incorrectly, didn't have them. Other errors made are people tend to add the "coffee can" on the back of the pod at the top of the vertical stabilizer and forget about the "dog tooth" located at the front of the refueling probe at the base on some aircraft, but not all. The "coffee can" wasn't included until the "B" came on line as it was used as part of a system that was not on the "A" and phased out with the introduction of the ICAP, the second version of the "B". You can tell an XCAP from an ICAP by the presence of the "chin up bars", which were only used on the "A" and the XCAP version of the "B"
ea-6a electric intruder - Google Search

I have to make a clarification about the "dog tooth" and "coffee can". The "coffee can" wasn't seen on the "A", though the "dog tooth" was on some of the later planes. Both features were seen on the "B" for it's whole service life and on all versions, though the electronics inside the fuse weren't. In fact, when the electronics were removed, the boxes were replaced by steel plates an inch thick to account for the weight of the boxes in the balancing of the plane. They were a real pain during an inspection because we had to remove them for access into part of the fuse as well as to check the shock mounts they were fastened to

Flite-Metal

Doing the EA6A with the first releases. The B "may" be done if the others are well received.:

Hydro Junkie

Extend that bottom panel line across the center panel on the tail top pod. That panel was removeable(held on by flat head machine screws) on the left side of the pod. The panel on the right side, IIRC, was flat head riveted in place. The round cover protruding from the rear was what I(and everyone that worked avionics on the Prowler) referred to as the "coffee can". It wouldn't be on the "A". Something else to be aware of is that round "dowel" on the end of the big blade antennas under the nose and on the back of the fuse weren't on the "A" or the first three versions of the "B". In fact, there wasn't a blade antenna under the nose of the A-6 other than maybe that tiny blade due to the short nose. The later A-6E TRAM had the ball sensor under the nose that also precluded the mounting of the big blade antenna.
BTW, I just went back and looked at the picture of the A-6 model posted earlier. Love the VA-128 markings on it but what isn't correct is that the forward main gear doors should be closed at that point instead of opened. The forward door on the mains cycled in a much similar way to that of the wheel covers on the P-51 Mustang, closed until the gear was moving, opened to allow the gear to swing up/down and then closed again. The doors were only opened on the ground to facilitate maintenance and, being hydraulic, they had to be opened with either an engine running or when hooked up to a "mule"(auxiliary ground hydraulic pump used for maintenance and testing).

Airforce7

My Feedback: (31)

Ed,

No problem getting the gear dimensions for you. Sounds like they meet your expectations. It was great to get out there and do that and see all the aircraft on display. It’s been a while since I’ve walked the museum grounds.

My friend tells me all the aircraft on display there have some sort of special history, which is why they get sent there. Unfortunately they aren’t well protected (hanger). Volunteers do their best to keep the planes in good shape throughout the year for the public. The F-100 he’s working on has been completely painted orange so it should probably be put on display sometime this year.

Here are some other photos I took during my visit. Good luck with your project and let me know if you need anything else.

Hydro Junkie

Gotta love that B-58 though, unfortunately, it's missing it's engines
What surprised me is that some of the intakes and exhausts on that Prowler are uncovered. Seems like, with a display airplane that's sitting out side, they would want to cover everything that leads inside.

Hydro Junkie

Flight-Metal, I'm going to throw another variant at you on the Prowler. At the 2:30 mark on the video, Prowler 503 is shown headed to a catapult. If you look closely at the centerline hardpoint, you will see the weapon pod is different. I don't remember the exact size and shape but I do know it's very different from the ones mounted on the wings. That particular unit was almost never carried on a wing station as it was draggier than the standard shaped one. Something you can't see is that, on the left side below the two finned areas on the sides of the pod, roughly half way down are square access hatches that are held on by four camlocks. The hatches are roughly 6" square and are shaped to blend into the surface. Can't tell you any more about that unit because it's still classified

Flite-Metal

You guys will enjoy this...welcome to my fueling drogue...

yeahbaby

My Feedback: (21)

That birds capabilities will likely never be declassified. Keep pressing ahead with the 6E and for the love of all mankind please make an ordnance package for this beast. Wall to wall Mk82s. Sexy AF

Hydro Junkie

Do you really want to have to fabricate FIVE MERs and 30 MK82s? Yes, the Intruder could carry 5 multiple ejection racks with 6 500lb bombs each. In practice, it carried two 300 gallon drop tanks on the inboard racks and three MERs or one drop on the centerline and four MERs on the wing racks

Flite-Metal

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

I have .stl files to print the individual parts that are spring loaded with nothing more than a ball point pen spring.

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Hydro Junkie

You last picture shows a TER or Triple Ejection Rack, normally used with 1000 lb bombs

yeahbaby

My Feedback: (21)

sure why not, yes that’s not a normal load out but sexy is in the eye of the beholder. Alpha Mike Fox ...best line in the whole movie..aside from Cole Virgil Cole.

ultimately, A plane this big needs crap hanging off the wings.

Flite-Metal

I left this one out. Yes, they will be airbrushed a variegated tan. The "hose" is a natural charcoal grey
...............................

Doug Cronkhite

My Feedback: (34)

LOL.. Cole Virgil Cole..

What a great movie that was!

Flite-Metal

W/Rails...The trick is to release in pairs on each wing or salvo.