Small Scale Military Headquarters

As I was waiting for the resin to cure on the MD-3, I was steering at some S&D nozzels I bought from Jack before he went bully up. I thought about filling in the bubbles and recasting it, but a closer inspection revealed it would be more trouble than it's worth. So I got a hair up my ass and started cutting, gluing, filling, sanding, priming, etc. This is what I came up with. If the response is good, I would consider making resin copies. Let the beatings commence.

They look great! I'd buy a set.

WOW. Look great!

Thanks for your input, I thought it turned out pretty good. That's a bias opinion though.

You can count me in for at least one set.

Pizzguy,

Those nozzles look great! I'm sure many folks here will be wanting a set of those since Skyworks has taken a dump.

Any chance you may consider molding a set of F110 nozzles in the closed position? I have the Skyworks open nozzles, but you usually see the D model Tomcats cruising sans afterburner, therefore the nozzles are closed to some degree. I would like to depict this look with the project F-14D I am working on.

Thanks!

-Rob

To quote the classic play Oliver: "Please, sir, may I have another?" Dude, sign me up for a pair from the first batch. I feel like with your talents and my habit for collecting nice stuff, I'm going to owe you a kidney before long. Seriously though, these things are NEEDED. Thanks PizzaGuy, you're really turning into the "Skyworks" we all deserved!

That piece is awesome. They'd look great on my Cat.

Pizzaguy,
Do you think you could remake the exhaust nozzle for the Hornet? Don't now if its the same GE 404 engine... I would like to buy the next coming BBI repaint, but the exhaust pipes are a

I was going to ask the same thing once the Tomcat nozzles were in full swing.

Rob,
Thanks, Send me some pics of exact what you want and I'll take a look. I worked on this for about a day and half. Not that hard once you get going. PM me and I'll send you my email address.

-Nathan

Pizzguy,

Those nozzles look great! I'm sure many folks here will be wanting a set of those since Skyworks has taken a dump.

Any chance you may consider molding a set of F110 nozzles in the closed position? I have the Skyworks open nozzles, but you usually see the D model Tomcats cruising sans afterburner, therefore the nozzles are closed to some degree. I would like to depict this look with the project F-14D I am working on.

Thanks!

-Rob

I agree with Rob as well, these look great but would love the closed ones as well. It would also cover the too small exhaust openings from the old TF-30's but these still look great. And I would be up for getting some.

Thanks
Janos

Granch,
I have a Golden Dragon sitting above my desk and I was thinking the same thing. The nozzel is fairly easy to remove. It's a flexible rubber that is glued on. My first thought would be to cut back the plastic. This would allow the nozzel to have more depth and detail on the inside. To get a more accurate look the plactic would need to be completly removed and a tube set back in the body. It really boils down to how far do you want to go? I'm open to ideas.

One set for F-14D, One set for F-18C. Count me in pizzaguy

Nathan, if you come up with a F-18 exhaust solution, count me in.

Looks fantastic!! Don't forget to make molds for the fairings. They're square on B and D Cats (really trapezoid) as compared to the A's.

Since you're sniffing the air for F/A-18 exhaust molds, have you considered making intakes?

Thanks!!

I'm definitely down for buying two or three sets of GE exhausts

I'll take a pair!

Hell yes to the start of Hornet engines! I think a whole new nozzle with a tube that inserts into the hornet would be the way to go as long as modifying the hornet to receive them isn't too hard on the end user. If the end of the hornet that the nozzle comes off of is a hollow cap that can be cut off with a dremel, allowing the new engine unit to just slide in and be glued, then I think they would do very well. If it would require extensive modification, I think many would get very squeemish about cutting up their Hornet.

Well, I'm on for the Hornet muzzle. Would really prefer to have it deeper, the turbine just at the end of the pipes is really not realistic. If you Pizzaguy says it's not a hard job to remove the rubber skin, then to saw or cut it's basement, it would be amazing. But onless somebody has seen the deepness of the free space inside, the customised tube to slip inside is a risk. I think there are a lot of reinforcement obstacles that BBI made to keep the modell rigid, it was a bad surprise when I opened the upper part of my Blackhawk.
So, after the carrier deck tractor, you have a new job...

For the Tomcat or the Hornet, a question would be: opened or closed exhausts? What is the most common position when the birds are flying or grounded? I think that afterburners "on" / exhausts open is good for emergency and flightdeck starts or during few seconds in flight combat, but afterburners swallow the half of your fuel in less of 1 minute, and to make a starting (or landing) bird, the nex step would be to make all flaps and ailerons down, the stabilisators turning on their axles to lift the nose at the right angle before touch down... this is a toooo long and risked job for me.
The pic showed of a Hornet on ground has its exhaust tubes in the closed position.

They look great, I'd buy a set!

I modified the title since the thread kinda morphed into two items.

I have the base done for the F18 nozzel. The pictures reveal some issues with the idea of placing a tube into the fuse. I am going to stop the exhaust just inside. That should allow for some depth.

Before I start placing the blades I need to know what everyone's preference is Open, Closed or Slightly Open? I plan on making one version.

The Intake looks like a bust. There is just to many screw posts.

I did discover the plugs are a soft vinyl and pop out very easy. While I had the body open it would be very easy to replace the main landing gear with some metal ones. ???

Personally, I'd prefer full afterburner for a hornet since it'll be sitting on one of your stands.

Slightly opened would be a good compromise!

I apologize for the lack of updates. In the past week I found out that the company I work for would be assuming two restaurants at the same time. There's been little time to work on anything else. I was able to get the F18 Nozzel completed. I attempted to get some detail on the inside as well.

I am going to pour the molds for this and the F14 nozzel this evening. While I am away there should be enough time for them to set up nicely. I hope it's what you expected. Those intimidated by sawing into there F18, I would entertain the idea of doing the customizing for you.

When the madness returns to normal I will have the two nozzels and MD-3 complete. The closed F-14 nozzel will be a project for when I return.