Hellcat Radar Pod: Available for Purchase

[pickelhaube]

You may be beating yourself up as far as the mould joint on the surface goes.

It is well and good that you are trying to eliminate it .

I would say that Verlindan castings are probably on the top of the list for resin casted after market parts.

They make their pour stubs in relation to the part were ever they feel it will make the easiest pour. Regardless were the pour stub is located . Face , back side it make no difference as long as it makes their pour easier.

I on the other hand try my best to always put the pour stub on the back of the piece. Sometimes this does not work an I HAVE TO MAKE THE POUR STUB ON THE FACE.

The casting moulds I have made say 2 years ago are nothing like I make now. It takes time and plenty of trial and error.

On some of my parts I have needed to make a 3 part mould.

What I needed to do is cast a left side and right side of the part. Then I needed to make a mould kind of like a stopper inside of the piece to make it hallow so it would fit on something.

These are how I made my clip landing gear pylons for my Pavehawk mini gun support.

You will get holes no matter what in some cases.

The more air bleed groves you cut into your mould will solve this problem but your finished pour will come out looking like Medusa

[aae83]

Thanks for your thoughts, pickel. As you say, it takes a lot of trial and error to figure out what works best. Unfortunately, the videos the manufacturers share are pretty crude, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of sharing of lessons learned, at least, not that I've found.

Would surely appreciate any tips someone with your skill and experience is willing to share.

[pickelhaube]

I will be happy to help.

PM me with your phone # and we can talk.

[aae83]

That would be awesome! PM sent.

[aae83]

An update: I've cast 5 copies that are probably technically acceptable as resin kits for semi-skilled modelers, but am still getting bubbles that will need cleaned up afterward, defeating one of my goals.

Have been playing with filling the bubbles from inside the pod using drops of liquid resin left over from subsequent castings, but the whole effect is... unsatisfying.

I have a few more things to try before simply selling them as they are (and as they seem to want to be).

Thanks for your patience, those who are interested.

aae

[aae83]

An update: I have the production issues worked out and am able to cast copies of the pod (virtually) without bubbles and with very little cleanup required to make them usable. This weekend I've built up a small inventory of unpainted copies (9) that I will offer for sale, and can quickly cast more, as needed. They will need to be washed and painted and possibly require a little light sanding to fit your Hellcat wing (they fit mine to my satisfaction, but have not tried others).

I could look into painting them, if there's an interest in that: in that case, they would come ready to attach to your wing with clay or glue. There would be a bit of a delay in this, however, as I haven't finish-painted anything in decades and may need to retrain the fingers, and would need to decide on paint schemes.

Will post pics as soon as I can take some, likely around lunchtime tomorrow.

Cheers!
aae83

[aae83]

OK, so everything takes me a little longer than I'd thought it would but, finally, here are photos of the production Hellcat radar pods. I have nine of them available for purchase at this time: the price will be $15 per pod + $5 shipping per order for US domestic locations (will ship either USPS First Class or Priority Mail with delivery confirmation; insurance would be extra). If any of our foreign brethren are interested, we can talk about shipping options and figure out what works best.

I'll accept PayPal or USPS money orders. I've never before received payment via PayPal, so am not exactly sure what to expect from it. People use it everyday, though, so it must work, right?

Interested parties, please send a PM with your desired number of radar pods. I will reply and confirm they are available and send my PayPal address, and designate them based on the date and time your PM is received: first received, first fulfilled. This sales endeavor needs to be somewhat controlled to avoid disappointing anyone: am not interested in becoming the target of anyone's flame campaign or for there to be any hurt feelings. I certainly don't want people sending money my way unless I am confident I can fulfill their order. That said, I have nine pods available for purchase, and the mold seems to be holding up pretty well, so am confident I can make at least a few more, if there's interest.

If the inventory gets low or the mold fails and needs to be remade, I'll post a status update on this thread.

I will go to the effort of removing the sprue from each pod, unless people tell me specifically they don't want me to. Again, this is to avoid disappointment: the sprue enters the pod on the inside and can be tricky to remove without damaging the edge. My goal all along has been to minimize the effort required by any customer to make use of these items. I will remove what little flash there is from the edge, but am hesitant to do too much to the edge given there may be some variability in the BBI Hellcat wings.

So... anyone interested?

Thanks,
aae83

[gburch]

Looks really, really good! Very nice to see this project come to a first release level.

I'll take one -- PM me so we can work out Paypal payment and shipping.

I'd bet you're thinking of a next project. Any clues?

[derek_001]

would this also fit on the wing of the 21C corsair???

[aae83]

Looks really, really good! Very nice to see this project come to a first release level.

I'll take one -- PM me so we can work out Paypal payment and shipping.

I'd bet you're thinking of a next project. Any clues?

PM sent.

would this also fit on the wing of the 21C corsair???

I don't think so, Derek: the notch in the pod was tailor-made for the BBI Hellcat, so if it fits either Corsair, it would be a coincidence. Since several people have asked that question, I will try it and get back with the answer. I think the Corsair pod is longer, also.

Having said all that, if there's interest, for the next project, I'd be willing to work up a similar pod to make the Corsair look "night fighterish."

Inventory status: (7) pods available

-- aae

[pickelhaube]

Looks really, really good! Very nice to see this project come to a first release level.

I'll take one -- PM me so we can work out Paypal payment and shipping.

I'd bet you're thinking of a next project. Any clues?

PM sent.

would this also fit on the wing of the 21C corsair???

I don't think so, Derek: the notch in the pod was tailor-made for the BBI Hellcat, so if it fits either Corsair, it would be a coincidence. Since several people have asked that question, I will try it and get back with the answer. I think the Corsair pod is longer, also.

Having said all that, if there's interest, for the next project, I'd be willing to work up a similar pod to make the Corsair look "night fighterish."

Inventory status: (7) pods available

-- aae

I would say it should fit with a little tweaking.

The Corsair wing should be a little thicker.

Both of the wings are not that far off.

Most of the time when you deal with smaller scale pieces the creator makes them generic so they fit on almost all renditions of the subject.

[aae83]

I would say it should fit with a little tweaking.

The Corsair wing should be a little thicker.

Both of the wings are not that far off.

Most of the time when you deal with smaller scale pieces the creator makes them generic so they fit on almost all renditions of the subject.

I can pretty much guarantee it will require tweaking if someone tries to fit it on a Corsair: the fit of this part is such that if it is off spanwise by 1/4" on the Hellcat wing, you can tell the part is in the wrong location.

This is a digital production and the cutout is a digitized wing section captured from my Hellcat. Am hoping that BBI's quality control is good enough that people don't have to mod these to fit their own Hellcats, let alone Corsairs. Fingers crossed for favorable reviews from the first customers... I really should have unboxed another Hellcat and made sure it fit a second model.

The plastic is pretty easy to shape, though, so if people do need/want to modify it, it shouldn't be too hard.

If you PM me your address, pickelhaube, I have a pod designated for you, in grateful return for your time and advice on molding/casting!

Cheers!

[aae83]

Ok, a good thing I left room after dinner for some humble pie: turns out the pod fits fairly well on a BBI Corsair wing. The leading edge fit is not as tight as on the Hellcat, but the tongue at the top and the edge underneath fit amazingly well, well enough in fact that the pod stays on without glue or clay. Here are some photos.

The pod is not quite the correct shape for a Corsair radar, but if that doesn't bother you too much, the pod works for BBI Corsairs. Great question: Ara, derek_001 and JOC; and you were right, pickelhaube: fits with tweaking!

At the bottom are a couple of photos of the "fit" on a 21st Century Toys/JSI Corsair. The fit there is not as good, and the pod would require significant modification to fit around the much thicker wing section.

Cheers!

BBI Corsair wing:





















21st Century Toys Corsair wing:

[derek_001]

Thanks for the pics aae83 though its a little disappointing that it dont fit the 21CT F4U sense thats what i have...

[JOC]

I received 3 of John's Pods for my Hellcats and they all fit perfectly. They do take the planes to another level and do set them apart from the originals. When these Pods were used by the Navy in WWII, many carriers had only about 10 of this varient and were used exclusively for night sorties. Many of the "fighter jocks," snubbed these pilots until they found out the these birds could find the Japanese Bombers in the dark and they would just follow the night fighters into the targets. The Navy even made the attempt to use this new Radar technicology on the TBM's but never worked out. Other allied nations used this varient of the Hellcat and converted Corsair well into Korea and beyond. Navy flight deck crews also used some of these on the later Corsairs for the same purpose.
I tried the Pods on all of my Hellcats and the fitment is good.
I also tried to fit them on my 21st Corsairs with no luck as leading edge of the wing is too thick.
On the other hand though, i fit one on my Marines Dream; Marines 22; Daisy June and a repaint in the RNZAF livery and the fit was almost perfect. Although the real Pods for the Corsair were a tad longer and narrower, these do look like they were made for them. If there are any signigicant gaps, I can't see them. Only thing I found was on the lower part of the wing the end tip stood out ever so slightly. If one wanted it to hold, glue would make it flush.
I just placed another order for 3 more Pods, as I really like them and have other ideas in which they can be used.
KUDO' s to John for all the time and effort he put into these and if any of you are sitting on the fence as whether to buy one or not.............GO FOR IT............... Hell for 15 and shipping you loose more money out of your pocket then they cost. When have you been able to purchase something for one of your 1:18 birds that gives you a complete different varient of the Hellcat or BBI Corrsair. Maybe for those of you who sat back and past on the BBI Corsair, may just rethink that decision.
For me, John's work, time and effort should be commended.
You all know what happended to us with SkyWorks.
John delivers.
Hope all of you on the board had a Merry Christmas and got all the 1:18 stuff you wanted.
All the best
JOC
(J. Davidson)

[aae83]

Thanks for your enthusiastic support, JOC! Am glad the pods are working out so well.

The original nine have been delivered or spoken for; will cast others as interest arises.

-- aae83

[flyboy_fx]

Hmm, I might have to get one and try to mod it into a correct pod for a 21st corsair. That would look cool! I have always wanted a radar pod for a 21st corsair!!!!!!!!!!!!

[derek_001]

Hmm, I might have to get one and try to mod it into a correct pod for a 21st corsair. That would look cool! I have always wanted a radar pod for a 21st corsair!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah me too!!!
Ill send a $20 bill to the first person who makes one for me!!....

[aae83]

Hmm, I might have to get one and try to mod it into a correct pod for a 21st corsair. That would look cool! I have always wanted a radar pod for a 21st corsair!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah me too!!!
Ill send a $20 bill to the first person who makes one for me!!....

Knock yourselves out.

[gburch]

I got my radar pod over the holidays. WOW -- Really, really great work -- very impressive and GREAT value!

THANKS for doing this project.

[flyboy_fx]

It's driving me nuts not having one!!!!

Did they ever put radar pods on avengers?

[JOC]

The Navy did try to use the Radar Pods on some Avengers, but found out that the drag on the wing was too much of a hinderance to follow up on them. The loss of airspeed on the Hellcats and Corsairs were not a negative factor on these birds.
JOC
Flyboy, if its driving you nuts not having one, just BUY IT. You have nothing to lose.
FYI:
They do fit the wing of a P-38 so you could convert that one. An actual P-38 was converted to a Radar type had pod under the nose guns and another concpit aft of pilot for radar Operator. Plane was painted all Black.

[derek_001]

The Navy did try to use the Radar Pods on some Avengers, but found out that the drag on the wing was too much of a hinderance to follow up on them. The loss of airspeed on the Hellcats and Corsairs were not a negative factor on these birds.
JOC
Flyboy, if its driving you nuts not having one, just BUY IT. You have nothing to lose.
FYI:
They do fit the wing of a P-38 so you could convert that one. An actual P-38 was converted to a Radar type had pod under the nose guns and another concpit aft of pilot for radar Operator. Plane was painted all Black.

I do believe thay called that an F-5 photolightning

[aae83]

I do believe thay called that an F-5 photolightning

The P-38M was the black two-seater with the nose radar, maybe?

If enough people had interest in other specific radar pods, I might be willing to work something up. I've been looking for good drawings of the Corsair pods but haven't found anything yet, just cartoons and photos inadequate for scaling. Did find one guy who modified a Hellcat APS-6 pod for a Corsair (different scale), so that's theoretically doable. But really would rather have decent drawings to work from...

Could also possibly do the APS-4 pod for the P-38M. That unit was shared with some early F6F-3Ns, I think.

[derek_001]

I do believe thay called that an F-5 photolightning

The P-38M was the black two-seater with the nose radar, maybe?

If enough people had interest in other specific radar pods, I might be willing to work something up. I've been looking for good drawings of the Corsair pods but haven't found anything yet, just cartoons and photos inadequate for scaling. Did find one guy who modified a Hellcat APS-6 pod for a Corsair (different scale), so that's theoretically doable. But really would rather have decent drawings to work from...

Could also possibly do the APS-4 pod for the P-38M. That unit was shared with some early F6F-3Ns, I think.

Well aae give me a little while and ill get you the pics you'll need for a corsair pod.