Later S2F (S-2E) Antenna Configuration

August 21 2022 Update

There was at least an early, middle, and late S-2E antenna configuration, the major difference possibly being the routing of a wire antenna going to the underside of the right horizontal stabilizer. These are all of the middle configuration.

These is a picture of an Australian S-2G. I'm pretty sure that it was identical to the middle S-2E configuration.

This view from the right side depicts the location of the termination of antenna in the fuselage on the right side and the mid-point attachment to the tall mast (green line) of the antenna going aft from the most forward antenna mast.

This is a summary of differences between the late S-2E USN configuration and the USN S-2G.

Early S2F Wire Antenna Arrangement

20 August 2022 Update

 This is a late-production S2F-1 with the parrot-beak rear nacelle (see: http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2010/08/stoof.html)

Note that you need to distinguish the antenna wires from the shadows that they cast. This may help:

 (Click on it for an enlarged picture.)

Note that the upper fin antenna joins to the left stabilizer antenna and there is a tensioning wire between the joint and the fuselage.

The configuration of the wires changed notably during S2F-1 development and was different for early production but I feel pretty sure that this is the late S2F-1 production configuration (BuNo 136XXX). 

These side and top views are of the earlier antenna configuration before the upper fin antenna was added.

More later.

Hasagawa P2V Neptune Kit

The Hasegawa 1/72 P2V Neptune kit was issued many years ago and has subsequently been reissued with different markings several times.

It is still a fine basis for a very nice model of this venerable airplane and accurate in shape but there are two landing gear errors that are obvious when pointed out.

The first is that the nose landing gear well, from the first Neptune to the last*, was offset to the right, not located on the center line as in the Hasegawa kit. The one I measured was about 36 inches wide, and extended 12 inches to the left of the centerline and 24 inches to the right. This appears to be correct for P2V-1 through -6. The P2V-7's nose wheel well, in addition to be located farther forward and shorter, is narrower, still 12 inches to the left of the centerline but only 18 inches to the right.

The landing gear itself, however, was configured so that the nose wheel and strut were located on the center line of the airplane.

It's hard to see in the above, which is a picture of the nose wheel of the P2V-1 Truculent Turtle located at the excellent Naval Aviation museum at Pensacola, Florida, but the side brace on the nose landing gear is located on the right side, hence the asymmetry. (The configuration allowed for a crew entryway on the aft left side of the wheel well and a crawl way forward to the nose on the left side of the wheel well.)

* However, the fore and aft location of the nose wheel well changed between the -6 and -7 configurations. The -6 (and earlier) nose wheel well was farther aft. See http://tailhooktopics.blogspot.com/2016/02/early-p2vs.html

Second, the main landing gear strut was located on the inboard side of the nacelle wheel well, not centered in it as in the kit, so the wheel and strut combination, not the strut itself, was positioned on the center line of the wheel well.

Again, the above is a picture of the P2V-1 at Pensacola. However, the basic configuration of the main landing gear did not change. This is a picture taken from the front of the port AP-2H main landing gear:

Crop from a Bill Spidle photo*

* http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/bill_spidle4/ap-2h_135620/

Nose gear steering actuator:

 The nose gear steering actuator swiveled on a post that was attached to the front of the nose wheel fork. Its piston was attached to the bottom of the nose gear strut. When the piston extended or retracted, the fork swiveled with respect to the strut, turning the nose wheel. Later P2V nose gear steering actuators were mounted above the scissors.

A3D/A-3 Skywarrior Vertical Fin Fold

I was recently asked for information on the A3D/A-3 Skywarrior vertical fin fold. Since that may be of interest to one or two others, here is a pretty good set of pictures and illustrations. First, an overall depiction.

The forward hinge location:

Crop of Bill Spidle photo

The small circle halfway between the hinge and the leading edge is the retracted end of the unlock indicator.

The aft hinge location:

Crop of Bill Spidle photo

An illustration of the fold joint:

Note that the upper (folding) and lower (fixed) sections of the fin are separated in the illustration; the upper section has to be moved right and down to be in the position relative to the lower section when it is attached. Also note that the lower end of the jury strut is not shown in the installed position in the inset photo.

A photo of the fold joint (the closeout of the upper section is primarily a shear web with two different types of stiffeners; the top of the lower section is mostly lightning holes as shown in the illustration above):

The triangle is also the forward hinge; the fold actuator attaches to the hole on the lower right side of the triangle.

The warning pin extended.

 Crop of Bill Spidle Photo

This pin appears to be extended when only the wings are folded as well.

The jury struts for the fin and wings (the fin strut folded for storage compactness).

The fin jury strut installed:

 Crop of Bill Spidle Photo

The location of the hole for the bottom end of the jury strut on the 20mm tail: