I haven’t done any plastic model building for well over a year, due to work, my new grandson, etc. I finally decided to get back into the swing of things, starting out slowly, (read that small). This is the 1/72 scale McDonnell XF-85 Goblin, parasite fighter by 12 Squared.
As you can see in first two pictures, there was a LOT of flash on the parts and cockpit detail is VERY sparce.
Just out of the package
Closer shot of raw parts
The fuselage and the special handling dolly assembled, except for the wheels.
If I remember correctly a B-36 was modified to “catch” it (XF-85) with a trapeze setup. So, your next build should be “big”, as in the accomodating B-36 “mother ship”. I seem to recall the same kind of trapeze setup being tried with an F-84. The experimental aircraft in the late 40s and through the 50s and 60s were some interesting aircraft. Neat stuff, enjoy the build.
The XF-85 was originally intended to be carried by the B-36, but there was not one available for testing when the little parasite needed it’s Mommy. The USAF used a highly modified B-29 instead. The testing showed the concept of inflight hook up in the turbulent slipstream wasn’t feasible, so the entire project was scrapped before any testing with the B-36 was done.
The F-84 was tested as a parasite with the B-36, both in the bomb bay and clipped onto a wingtip. Neither one worked very well, so that idea was scrapped also.
Progress is occurring, slowly. I have the wings and tail feathers attached to the egg and it’s nest pretty well done. The nest needs some touch up paint and the egg needs cleaned up and painted.
Don’t worry about that! I have two BUFFs in progress to keep the carpet monster at bay. [tup] Actually, the problem right now is that I have about 3-4 inches of water in my basement, where the work shop is. If I were to drop a part, I would have to go SCUBA diving to retrieve it. [tdn] I am taking a break from fighting the water to play on the forum.
I always liked the little Goblin. It looks like it came from straight from the pages of an old Tom Swift novel. Too bad the “parasite fighter” concept never worked out. Back then the USAF was really thinking “outside the box” !!!
This is the 1/72 McDonnell, XF-85 Goblin parasite fighter by 12 Squared. The parts had a HUGE amount of flash on them, but most everything fit fairly well once they were cleaned up. The piece representing the front face of the engine is just barely behind the air intake and it is way too small. No matter what I did, there was a large gap on one side or the other.
The cockpit is extremely sparse, consisting of a crude seat, rear bulkhead behind the seat, something vaguely resembling an instrument panel and control stick with a handle that must be about a foot tall and 6-8 inches in diameter. The panel lines are raised and very petite. Even one coat of primer pretty well covered them up. The control surfaces are outlined with recessed lines and survived the painting process without going ingognito. The special handling dolly is actually pretty accurate, but the wheels and the mounts for them are very crude. I used Model Master Metallic Aluminum for paint.
Comments welcome, pro or con.
nice build so far… that thing is SMALL you did a good job getting rid of the flash…cant even think how youcan weather a tad of “metal use” on the dolly. Love the subject, thanks for posting!
Great looking build Darwin. At 1/72 that’s almost as small as some of my 144th guys.
But couldn’t you find something that was a little… well… less common… to build. if I had a dollar everytime I saw one of those… well now I would have a dollar.[:D]
you did a good job getting rid of the flash…cant even think how youcan weather a tad of “metal use” on the dolly. Love the subject, thanks for posting!