Convair YF2Y-1 Sea Dart

[Phil Clark]

Here we see original images of both the early & late jet pipe areas......VERY different as you can see and a very complex shape to model given the lack of drawings.

[Phil Clark]

Sheeting the forward section of the rear fuselage. A time consuming job ensuring all formers were level to ensure a smooth skin post sheeting as the shape change front to rear is very subtle.

Note here the port turbine hatch has also been built to fit the recess shown on the previous image. This is a separate 1/2" thick pattern from 1/4" ply formers, 1/4 stringers & 1/8 balsa sheeting.

The next job is to stringer & sheet the rear section which is the area we have the least information on.

[Steve Mansell]

Phil,
Is the wing and fin you have produced going to be the flying ones, or are they to be used as blanks for a composit set?
Following with interest.
Cheers
Steve

[Phil Clark]

Phil,
Is the wing and fin you have produced going to be the flying ones, or are they to be used as blanks for a composit set?
Following with interest.
Cheers
Steve

Hi Steve

Everything we're building is a pattern, none of our parts will actually fly. Not only is there no provision in the wings & fin for servos, hinging etc, but they are WAY too heavy. The whole pattern as it currently stands weighs between 40 and 50g's so being as we want a flying weight of around 60, this would leave barely 15kg's for 2 x 300 size turbines + ancilliaries, the full radio system, a very complex/heavy set of retractable skis + all the various 'scale' bits & bobs such as full depth cockpit interior, opening canopy etc etc etc.....

The 'finished' model will be full composite.

Phil

[Tony Collins 1073]

Hi Phil, Have been following your incredible project with much interest. What a build - Phew.
I found a very old film on you tube all about the development of the Sea Dart and there was one
thing in particular which stood out for me. It can be found at 16mins exactly and concerns
the skis. If you have already been through this then kindly ignore this old fart. Just thought
it was relevant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7DcqfFpb4Y

Cheers Tony.

[Phil Clark]

Hi Tony

thanks for your post........I and all involved in the Dart project have watched that YouTube video endless times as it's one of, if not the best compilation of Sea Dart footage.

The client read your message & sent me a message & a series of photos with a good explanation of the ski design & development. It's on the works PC so I'll post his comments when I'm back in the workshop next week.

Phil

[Phil Clark]

Here we have the complete upper rear fuselage sheeted back to the jet pipe section which will be built as a separate pattern.

[Phil Clark]

The hull will be built once the CAD work is complete so with the supper surface fully sheeted, we made a start on the upper surface glassing work.

As per the wings, the fuselage has been glassed in heavy 4oz cloth to give a rock solid base to the pattern.......the whole upper rear fuselage being done in 1 piece (good game, good game!!!)

Also not the 'patchwork' at the very rear of the fuselage ahead of the jet pipe area in photo #2. We said this area was a problem due to the lack of documentation and this patchwork of balsa is the result......I'll happily admit the final shape was actually Mk.3 of the rear end as there was a lot of packing and sanding involved to achieve a shape we were finally happy with.

[Phil Clark]

The exhaust pattern is being sculpted by John from Fighteraces who's just retired from a career in TV & film set/prop design & construction. Sculpting something from a load of photos is a perfect task for him. This has seen a few iterations but its finally getting to a shape that we are happy with. The rear end has also been slightly re-modelled. We always knew the back would be time consuming due to the lack of any accurate drawings but Fightercces are doing a great job with the all our research photos to accurately recreate this part of the model.

The exhaust pattern around two thirds complete.

Alex Jones - TLJC


To say that this small part is by far the most complex part of the patter is an understatement.....there isn't a straight line in it!!!! Built from a mix of liteply, balsa block, light grade Chemiwood (Necuron 301) with a healthy dose of car body filler, this in itself represents a good couple of days work.

[Phil Clark]

.....and this is the end result we're aiming for.

[Phil Clark]

Much filling, fettling & priming later and we're getting close As you can see, further patching & adjusting of the rear fuselage has been necessary..............

[Phil Clark]

The surface prep & priming stages we are going through are a little different to what we'd normally use on a flying model.

We are using a U-Pol product called 'Re-face' which is in effect sprayable car body filler. It is VERY thick and is like spraying treacle so has to be used through a large gun (1.8mm in this case). It builds very fast and once cured sanded beautifully filling every imperfection. After the 1st sanding with a small electric pad sander (flat surfaces only), we are applying 1 heavy coat of Klass Kote epoxy primer. This again builds very fast & sands superbly. This is then wet sanded with 120 before a 2nd coat. This has a 3rd sanding with 240 (wet) which leaves a very good surface.

As the pattern will be fully detailed, the application of flush rivets into an epoxy primer proves problematic as the epoxy doesn't melt very well...........multiple coats of standard grey cellulose primer were then applied to give a decent thickness to burn the rivets into as well as scribe in the flush panel lines.

A long process yes, but the end results as we'll show are well worth the effort to achieve the desired results on the pattern. Here we see elevons, rudder, fin, wings, canopy & jet pipes at varying stages of the surface finishing process.

[Phil Clark]

And another of the all important motivational shots......

[Denis Brown]

If there was a like button. I would press it

[Phil Clark]

Thanks Dennis

I’ll be the first to admit (or perhaps Phil!) I’ve been very fussy with the surface detailing. Every rivet is being added to the pattern which amounts to over 100,000 each individually applied. It’s not only the rivets which will be emulated but we want to capture the whole character of the aircraft which involves producing every ripple or bowed panel which can be seen on the full-size. So often very large models are impressive only due to their size but lack any real depth of character. The full size was built to withstand 126,000 pound landing! thats around 7G at its max weight. It really was a bit of a battleship with regard to its construction and this creates a very distinctive appearance which we want the model to have. You can see the amount of effort FighterAces have put into this and really does look incredible... photos just don't do it justice. It's a very subtle effect which looks more prominent than it is in the flesh. While we wait for the hull CAD work on the fuselage FighterAces have used the time to make a start on the wings, fin and control surfaces building in the very subtle undulations in the surface which you can see below.

Alex Jones - TLJC

Rivets are applied using the tried and tested 'brass tube in soldering iron' technique. All rows are lightly drawn onto the surface 1st before the lengthy application job begins.

Access hatches are added in FliteMetal with all screw fixings applied with a mixture of 1.5mm and 3mm vinyl cut self adhesive screw heads.

[Phil Clark]

Very time consuming, but the replication of the subtle skin ripples is relatively straight forward.........each panel was a full days work, so 4 full days just to apply the rippling to the main wing panels.

[Phil Clark]

The below picture hopefully shows the undulations in the panel work, our historical research also backs up this look. Ignore the large raised panel that runs though the wings. This is patch work to cover up where they chopped the wings off for transport.

[Phil Clark]

Here is the result after the first topcoat of 2k. Having seen this in person I can testify to the fact I’ve never seen something so convincing. Not only does it look incredible but the model is also very tactile… you’re just drawn to dragging you hand over the surface and marvelling at the subtle undulations. The photos really don’t do it justice. In the daylight the wings and fin look sublime but more importantly its created an effect almost indistinguishable from that of a real aircraft. Well done FighterAces as I know this was a big ask when I laid down the specification of the pattern!

Alex jones - TLJC

[Phil Clark]

With CAD drawings developed from the small amount of data given on our Convair scale drawings + the basic measurements taken from the Florida Sea Dart, the basic hull structure went together very fast....................1/4" lite ply formers, 1/4 balsa stringers & a mix of 1/8 lite ply & balsa skinning.

[Phil Clark]

Moving onto fuselage detailing, the jet pipe pattern was 1st........finished initially in high build grey cellulose primer, panel lines were a mix of scribed in lines & built up raised edges. Screw head fixings are added in vinyl cut self adhesive screw heads.......a mix of 1.5 and 3mm. A dust of silver basecoat was added to get an idea of the final effect prior to adding all the flush rivets.