The Effort We Make:
I seem to be putting too much effort into a model I'm not all that enthused of working on but I have to keep reminding myself that I'm doing this for my son. Ha! He started this over seven years ago when he had just entered High School and this year he will be graduating College.
Anyway His kids might appreciate it.
Here is the T'hawk with Ball Turrets in place resting on it's nose gear
(Note the nose gear shock strut compressed with the gear deployed and the weight of the model resting on it.) I'm rather proud of that accomplishment. Actually, I'd forgotten I made that.
Here is the front view showing how much it protrudes from the side of the ship
The temporary aligning straps are visible in this image but once the gun barrels are completed they will not be necessary.
Below we see a bottom view with the retractable landing gear exposed in the stowed position and the protrusion of the Ball Turret from the side is acceptable.
And again the retractable Landing gear this time in the deployed position with the landing pad (removed for clarity) in the foreground.
Just for those readers inquiring about the landing gears.
I'm extremely proud of my nose gear rendering as the actual mechanism occupies only 12,0 MM of space so therefore only protrudes 5,0 MM into the cargo bay floor. I always wondered what the FW model deployed landing strut looked like in the interior of the cargo bay.
An Engineering Tour de Farce:
Well I went blithefully ahead this week end whilst others were at play so the actual construction of the canard vanes went unrecorded.
Suffice it to say it was pretty much the same as the horizontal stabilizer albeit a tad smaller.
My Canards and tail plane structure is larger than both the 3D rendering and the FW model in relative size to the fuselage as my model is a bit more robust than either.
Once the Canard fixed guns are in place the extra length will be masked.
Came The Dawning!
Let it not be said that Blackadder doesn't need a safe dropped on him.......
This morning I have come to the realization that "all the major components for the Thunderhawk are built!!!!!"
Sooooo all that is left is the 'dessert'; the detail if you will.
Now The Blackadder loves to do detail and the more obscure the better so therefore I shall be starting on the underbelly first. (The interior and the wheel wells being already done.
The above images show the barren underbelly as I left it a year or so ago and whilst I am about it I also need to strengthen the wing mounting so they don't droop and incorporate the mount into the underbelly detail as well.