WAS A Pair of Heinemann Honeys - NOW A TRIO!

[oortiz10]

OK...yeah, I know...you're probably thinking to yourself, "This guy again?"

Yep. It's me...again. Don't worry, I go back to school in a month, so you only have to put up with me for a little while longer.

So, now what? Well, I have been thinking about what I want my next project(s) to be. The Jugs are in the works, and they're getting closer to being done. I still have the Blackbirds, but they're more work than fun right now. So, my brain got to thinking about what to do after the P-47s. 

While over on another board, I saw that a builder (Mustang8376) cranked out a pretty sweet Skyraider. He built up a loaded SEA USAF version. I have two Tamiya Skyraiders in the stash and thought I would do them both, one as a USN airframe and the other as a USAF one. So, I started plowin' around on the ol' Google to find me some Skyraider photos...when I found it. My next project.



(Photo credit to Ray Powell courtesy of China Lake Alumni Organization)


Now you're probably thinking to yourself, "Wait, those aren't two Skyraiders, dummy!"

I know! But they're great inspiration for two of the five yard sale kits the wife found me!





Now you're probably thinking to yourself, "Wait, the Skyhawk in the photo is a -C and you have a -E, dummy!"

I know! 

But if you go to that China Lake website and dig around, there are loads of A-4Es and -Fs from the same time period. My goal is to build a -E Skyhawk and Skyraider in VX-5 markings, and I will use the two Monogram kits to do it. Looking at the kits, they're pretty basic, so they should build up pretty quickly in the shadows of my Thunderbolts. Hopefully, I'll be able to wrap these up before I have to go back to work.

So, as usual, comments, questions and criticisms are welcome. Feel free to drop your two cents into the bucket on your way out.



Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned!

-O

[jeaton01]

Should be fun, Omar. I'm working my way through all of Heinemann's birds but in 1/72.

[kyledehart5]

Great photo!! This’ll be a really great project and what an awesome way to use a couple of those kits!

[handiabled]

This should be good! Bookmarked

[TJ]

Oh yea. I'll be watching with interest

[406 Silverado]

That's actually going to be a bummer with you going back to school and all because we won't get to see these works of art that you turn out in progress. Looking forward to watching this one Omar.

[Leon]

Booked mark as well! Will be watching for progress on these.

[keavdog]

Should be fun. Did you track down the decals?

[oortiz10]

Hey gang, I'm glad you're excited to follow along on another pair of my adventures. It's great to have you aboard!

First, John (jeaton01), I think it'd be cool to build all of Heineman's airframes. A quick glance at Wikipedia tells me that I have a couple more of his designs in my stash, albeit in 1/48. Maybe I'll follow your lead and make that my next "theme."

Secondly, the other John (keavdog), I don't have decals for these specific airframes. I'm going to try to cobble them together with stuff from my spares drawer. As far as the XE tail code goes, I was just thinking of making some masks and painting them on, like I did on my A-7.





Like I mentioned, most of my attention is focused on my Tamiya P-47s, but I did manage to get a start on this pair.

I started by closing up the Skyhawk's speed brakes. The fit isn't too bad, but there was a bit of filling, sanding, and rescribing involved.




Also, I noticed that the sensor under the nose had to go, too. But before I could remove it, I needed to backfill it so I wouldn't end up with a hole in the fuselage after I sanded it off. So, I just filled it with some Milliput











While the Milliput was drying, I got the cockpits completed.





I didn't spend a lot of time on the cockpits since they'll be closed up and little will be seen.

One detail I did spend some time on was the intakes. If left as is, you can see into the fuselage. There is no trunking, fan face, or backing to blank out the space.





So, I whipped up a couple of glue soaked tissue FOD covers.





I did these early in the build because it was easier to shape them from the back than to deal with trying to shape them after the intakes were installed. It also kept me from accidentally pushing and losing them into the fuselage once everything was closed up. After some early painting (to help with the masking later) and installation, they look OK.





Now I have something that's starting to look like an A-4.





Oh, I forgot to mention that I also added a spreader bar and some shims to the lower fuselage opening to help with the wing-fuselage joint.





That little bit of effort resulted in a really good joint. I will need just a bit of filler if any at all.











So, while glue hardens on the Skyhawk, I'm going to go back to fondling the Jugs. (snicker...giggle...snort...)

Anyway, here's where I'm at with Heineman's Honeys. As usual, comments, questions and criticisms are welcome. Feel free to drop your two cents into the bucket on your way out.


Thanks for lookin'!
-O

[tcoat]

Aug 1, 2024 11:42:34 GMT -5 oortiz10 said:

So, while glue hardens on the Skyhawk, I'm going to go back to fondling the Jugs. (snicker...giggle...snort...)


Thanks for lookin'!
-O

[Medicman71]

Nice! I'm working on a Skyhawk as well.

[brandonk]

Great yard sale score. This will be fun to watch.

[kyledehart5]

Excellent update. Looking really good.

[handiabled]

Great progress and forward thinking on them both

[themongoose]

The Big -O does Heineman's Honeys to close out the summer! Who could miss that 🤩

[oortiz10]

OK MSC, I have some bad news. I hate to admit that the Skyraider and Skyhawk won't be done before I go back to school. I did make some progress, a little, but not enough to get me over the finish line before 22 August. I know, I know...I failed. I'm sorry. However, I would like to offer you all a little something to make up for my failure. More on that in a moment. First, my progress.

So, I got the airframes assembled and primed.








I'm going to go back and try to replace the panel lines that got eradicated during assembly. I'm going to try and use some of Archer's resin details.

Oh, while the primer was drying, started to separate the stores from their pylons. I'm going to build up the jets without any ordnance, but the Skyraider has the boom stuff and their pylons molded together.





A few minutes with my razor saw easily solved that problem.





So, that's where two of my current projects sit. In case you didn't notice, I've changed the title because...well...





I mean, I was already in with two of Heinemann's honeys, why not a third? I'd like to thank (read: blame) garybrantley and his beautiful Skyray for my madness. So, along with the Skyhawk and Skyraider, I'm offering you all a Skyray, too.

I opened the still sealed box and noticed that I'll have to order some decals. The decal and instruction sheets show some signs of moisture/water damage. No biggie. The plastic looked fine, still sealed in the bags.

After I finished up with the 'raider's pylons, I started on the 'ray's cockpit. Not much is going to be seen under the tiny canopy, so I didn't spend a lot of time detailing things up. Just some drybrushing and some simple tape belts to busy things up a bit.








So, as the school year starts, I'll be posting progress as I can. Thanks for hangin' with me over the summer. I hope you'll stick with me in the future. Please, comments, questions and criticisms are welcome. Feel free to drop your two cents into the bucket on your way out.

Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned!
-O

[handiabled]

Wonderful update and addition to the thread! As always I'll be watching for when you can get some bench time squeezed in. I hope your school year goes great for you!

[TJ]

Its great when we can blame Gary for something. Great start on the Ford

[kyledehart5]

Good job Gary!! Look what you’ve done! lol. Awesome that this is now a trio. I hope that you can find some time over the summer to get some bench time in. I know I’ll be here to watch whenever you may have an update. Looking forward to seeing all 3 of these come together

[themongoose]

Hmmmmm, now, one of us has to look up how many Heinemann's honey’s there were to see if three is enough! Bwa ha ha, school, you don’t want to just make building models your job for the rest of your life? 🤣

[Medicman71]

Furball makes decals for the Skyray.

[jkim]

Great stuff! Lots of solid corrective work with the Milliput, shims and spacers.

[oortiz10]

OK MSC, progress has been slow on these. School's been busy, but I've been able to steal an hour or two here and there at the bench. Since my last post, I have been able to fiddle with my trio. I haven't been able to do much, but hey, progress no matter how slow is still progress. Right?

So, here's what's happened since I last left you...

I was able to pick up Furball's sheet for the F4D. (Thanks Mike)




I was also able to get the Skyray's fuselage closed up.




One small task I had to deal with was the Skyray's wing fences. In order to get the wing seam cleaned up, I needed to remove the fences. The fences themselves didn't line up well and there was a small seam on the fences. Instead of cleaning them up, I just sanded them off. You can see in the photo above that I cut small grooves where they would be on the leading edge. I went ahead and replaced them using some sheet styrene.

First I inserted and glued a small piece of sheet.




Then I roughed out a smaller piece using some small scissors.




Then finally shaped things up with some sanding sticks.




They're not perfect, but they look pretty good. I'm sure they'll look fine under some paint.

After I was satisfied with the fences, I installed and masked the canopy. Here you can see where the fuselage stands.




I also made a little progress on some of the Skyraider's parts. My reference photo shows the 'raider's small fuel tank under the fuselage and the large ones hanging on the inboard pylons. Well, Monogram included two of the small tanks molded onto the inboard pylons, but only one large tank. So, I cut the small tank from its pylon and modified it to fit the central pylon. Then I took the two large tanks from the Skyhawk boxing and modified them to fit the Skyraider's modified inboard wing tanks.




Everything still needs a bit of clean up, but I'm happy that I was able to get modified parts to play well with each other and the airframe. I also got started on the 'ray's tanks.




So, that's where the trio is at. I have Thanksgiving vacation coming up, and I hope to get some bench time during the break. Hopefully, I'll have more to share toward the end of the month. 

Oh, as an aside, themongoose asked how many Heinemann Honeys there are. Here's a list, according to wiki:

SBD Dauntless
A-20 Havoc 
A-26 Invader 
A-1 Skyraider 
A-3 Skywarrior 
A-4 Skyhawk
F3D Skyknight 
F4D Skyray 
Douglas Skystreak and Douglas Skyrocket 


John (jeaton01) said he was working through all of The Honeys in 1/72, and his sweet A-20 got me fired up to try the same thing in 1/48. Looking at the list, I have a good chunk of the list either in the stash, completed, or in the works. At this point, I only need the A-3, F3D, Skystreak and Skyrocket to have a complete collection. I'll have to keep my eyes out for those.

Anyway, that's where I'm at. As usual, comments, questions and criticisms are welcome. Feel free to drop your two cents into the bucket on your way out.

Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned!

-O

[jeaton01]

Don't forget the A2D, Omar.

[themongoose]

I see a Christmas list in the making!

[handiabled]

Awesome to see you back at it Omar!

[brandonk]

Looking really good. Lots of great work there.

[kyledehart5]

Excellent!! Nice to see you grab some bench time!! Looking good