Jeff's Silent Soarer

[jssel]

This is were the building of my first resin kit will take place.

The Lockheed-Martin YO-3A Quiet Star or the Yo-Yo. The kit will be the Legato 1/48th scale.

Pictures will follow.

[Old_Tonto]

OOH very nice & something a little unusual.

I didn't know anyone made a kit of this. Looking forward to it.

[jssel]

Here are the prelims to the build.

The Boxart:



Now Legato announced this kit sometime ago and a well known mail order business here in the States could never seem to get it in. An AFV builder in my club dealt many times with modeler in the Czech Republic who claimed he could get one and would trade for a couple of books that I had.

Now the kit was pricey at $75.00USD but the books were far cheaper so I feel I got a bargain.


The kit:



The decals and instruction sheet:



The Fret:



I saw a real one, serial 005, at the Pima Air Museum outside of Tucsan, Arizona. I had not seen any during my tour in SEA but knew a pilot who lost his life flying them.

So the countdown clock is ticking and we will soon be underway.

[Dirkpitt289]

Well that's an interesting aircraft to say the least. I've never built an all resin kit so I'll enjoy following your progress

[Molly-new]

Resin kits scare the p....ants of me, so I will be watching this one with interest to see if all the scarey stories are true

[jssel]

Initial work today. Having at least looked over resin kits before, I can say the this Legato kit has very clean resin parts as far as flash is concerned. A few pouring gates needed filing down but nothing difficult. There is little flash on the parts.

It always is important to review the kit instructions, right? We all do this, right? In this case I thought it strange to put the floor boards in and seal the fuselage up. What about the seats and interior details? According to the instructions, they go in last. Wrong answer, so the cockpit will be prepared first and than mounted inside before assembly.



Provisions for the six bladed prop are provided in the kit. Later on before deactivation, a three bladed "butter churn" prop was used. That decreased takeoff runs in high, hot climates. The dang thing would fly but would not land easily. Landing accidents caused most of the losses of machines.

[Softscience]

wow, I've never heard of this type before. Interesting. Would love to hear a bit more about the type's history?

[jssel]

Here you go Ralph.


http://www.yo-3a.com/home.html;

[Viking]

[quote="jssel"]..... The dang thing would fly but would not land easily....quote]

cool a plane that refused to land !

[jssel]

Work is progressing nicely. I have sorted out the cockpit parts and have most of them painted U.S. Interior Green. Most U.S. aircraft had dark gull grey interiors back in those days. The instruction sheet is very nicely printed but the drawings are vague as to where the parts go. Thanks go to the Yo-Yo website that has great cockpit pictures.

[AndrewR]

This looks like an interesting one. it's a pity about the instructions book!

Cheers

Andrew

[jssel]

More progress today. Rather difficult work due to the instruction drawing being so vague. Cockpit floor has been test fit into the fuselage with no worries. The three blades prop has been assembled. As stated above, the three bladed prop was a retro fit to improve takeoff performance. Vertical stabilizer has been separated from the block and was made ready to go. FLIR ball, the same. Wings have good to go. I think the best attachment for the wings will be to drill holes and use wire for pins.



Now the cockpit area has been touch and go. Referring to pictures found on the YO-3A website, each piece has been test fit and glued in place. The seat looks like a folding summer web chair. The aircrew did wear parachutes. The instrument panel for the pilot has been assembled and painted. P.E. harness have been installed. Slow but sure the cockpit parts pile is going down.



Well, all for right now. Once the cockpit is finished the rest should go smoothly.

Thanks for looking and cheers everyone.

[Old_Tonto]

Good job so far.

[bluesteel]

That's coming along very nicely, a very unusual aircraft indeed.

But I must admit every time I come to your thread I misread it as 'Silent Singer', which is rather worrying, as Silent Singer from Psychoville looks nothing like the Lockheed Silent Soarer :

[jssel]

Now I really must protest the improper use of my profile picture