Into a PB5M Marlin - and don't she look just like a dog wearing sunglasses! The nose of the Mariner, viewed from any angle, IMHO, always looked like some sort or other of cartoon character - and particularly a smug, smiling dog from the front.
Seriously though, this conversion idea is a pushing-the-envelope technical challenge for me, as the above is a form-fitting, hollow master (purple), plugging straight onto the unmodified Mariner fuselage (silver).
Click on Image to Enlarge
FULL RES
Fabrication is accomplished by embedding key forms in my recently-discovered favorite - superglue "putty" - built up over a separation barrier ("resist") which I discovered/engineered, having such incredible potential that I am (at least, for now) keeping its identity proprietary. Thus, the ability to create this extremely deeply-hollow nose "prosthesis", as well as (a much simpler) one extending the hull aft, for the Marlin. Sculpted and finished right in-place, the resist then releases them on demand - to come away with a perfectly form-fitting impression of the underlying "host" surface.
The bottom-line: minimal yet sure-fitting conversion pieces, retaining maximum exposure of the original host surfaces:
Click on Image to Enlarge
FULL RES
Next, a tail prosthesis (not shown), along with wingtip floats (also not shown), will be developed in the same way, to round out the Marlin conversion set.
Pretty cool, huh?
Cheers,
-Matty
Responses
« Back to index | View thread »