Hasegawa 1/72 P-3 Orion

[Medicman71]

Another one that I didn't have a thread for. This is the Hasegawa P-3 Orion. It was boxed as a EP-3 Orion but you can build a standard P-3 out of the box. The kit decals looked pretty bad so I had to wait almost a year and a half to get aftermarket decals. Now I have them so I primed it today. There's a few minor spots to fix but overall I'm happy with it.

[kyledehart5]

Nice!! I’ll hop in to watch this one come together.

[themongoose]

An interesting subject that drew me in! 🍿 🍻

[TJ]

Another cool project Mike. 

[406 Silverado]

This will be a fun one to watch come together Mike.

[tcoat]

[handiabled]

Following this! My ex brother-in-law flew around in one over the Pacific back in the late 80's.

[lyle]

Nice! Good to see this coming along now.

[Real G]

I think you guys that like the P-3 deserve a new-tool 21st century kit.  The Hasegawa kit is so long in the tooth that it could be mistaken for a walrus.  It's a solid kit, but it was tooled around 50 years ago.  

Actually, I'd love to see Hasegawa retool their line of large 1/72 aircraft kits, like the B-47, US-1/2, Marlin and Neptune.  They have new kits of the Betty and Emily, so one can hope.

[Medicman71]

I added metal tubing for the exhausts because the kit ones were broken already. I also added the MAD Boom.

[Medicman71]

So I'm building the Quickboost props and it has a jig do set the blades. It also has a hole in the bottom to drill a hole so you can attach them to the engines. But what I don't know how to do it drill that hole. Do I glue the hub to the jig? I have no idea.

[kyledehart5]

Hmm. Never seen a jig quite like that. Can you tape it on there and it least get a start mark using the jig? Then finish drilling. Or a small amount of glue you can easily break loose maybe? Obviously you need it to spin at some point so you can mount the blades.

[406 Silverado]

From what I'm seeing Mike, one is to hold the hub to the base within the circled border and drill the hole from the backside first as the border ring looks like an alignment ring to make sure the hole is drilled perfectly in the center of the back of the hub. After that the blades can be mounted onto the hub at the correct and uniform pitch. I've gotta say.....that's a pretty neat tool.

[Medicman71]

One prop done, three to go.

[kyledehart5]

Oh yeah, looks great Mike. Looks like you got that jig to cooperate. Awesome work.

[handiabled]

Looks like the jig worked. The prop looks great Mike!

[Medicman71]

Thanks guys! The only problem is that the pegs on the blades are insanely fragile that I've broke two trying to attach them to the hub. Now I gotta figure out how to attach those two.

[jkim]

NIce work on the Orion, Mike! Resin does have its drawbacks and brittleness can be one of them. In most cases, snapped resin responds really well to re-attachment with CA glue so hopefully you can work something out with the broken prop blades.

[Medicman71]

Aug 26, 2024 11:44:53 GMT -5 jkim said:

NIce work on the Orion, Mike! Resin does have its drawbacks and brittleness can be one of them. In most cases, snapped resin responds really well to re-attachment with CA glue so hopefully you can work something out with the broken prop blades.

Thanks! I'll work on it more shortly.

[Medicman71]

I got another set of prop blades in case I break anymore attachment parts. I also fared in the MAD boom on the tail. I checked and saw that it was still a tail sitter. I had weight (liquid gravity) in the nose so I was able to pop the nose off and add some more. I think I've got it taken care of now.

[project510]

I had no idea building planes so intense. Special jigs, adding weight. Thats crazy. This looks like its going to be quite the cool piece when you are all finished! Good luck!

[Medicman71]

Finally got the props done. Very delicate work.

[TJ]

Props look great

[handiabled]

Those props look potato chip thin. They look fantastic assembled!

[Medicman71]

Still working on the Orion. Rescribing some panel lines that I missed. Still have to take care of the seam along the top.

[themongoose]

Love those mods you’re doing! Gonna look sharp.