rafalbert

The single seater has also been started, to the same level as the twin seater. They are essentially the same kit with different spines and canopies, the single seater having more weapons in keeping with it's role. More to follow.

A start has been made, cockpit painted and assembled, inserted in the fuselage and duly also assembled. A bit of attention is required to sort the join but at least I have begun.

Academy F-84E

That would explain a lot! Well, it is finished. Decals aside, it was a nice kit to build and definitely looks the part. Annoyingly there is a part missing on the front undercarriage leg (scissor-type hinge) that pinged off into the distance, no doubt having been consumed by the carpet monster. There are no rockets attached, basically due to me forgetting to drill out the holes in the wings. I attempted to use the decals for the rings sround the bombs, but again they disintegrated so I gave up. Anyway, here it is in all it's glory. Dave And with a stablemate (old Airfix kit):

Count me in. Dave

I am still plugging away with this slowly, finally getting around to applying the decals. Sadly they have been a nightmare, either refusing to adhere or crumbling in to pieces, especially in the case of the tail art. I have managed to piece them together sonewhat and touch up some of the black areas with paint (the port side is better than the starboard), but close to they are not great. I am assuming it is down to their age but it is annoying notheless. Ho hum. Anyway, I am sorting the undercarriage and the bombs and we should be done.

Both Swifts now primed with a few areas to be addressed prior to applying the camo. The makeshift belly tank has a few annoying pinholes to fill but it doesn't look too bad.

Well, if I am building the single seater anyway it would be rude not to! Again, I bought this not long after it came out; the Typhoons had just started entering service at Coningsby and we would quite often see them passing through the Cranwell overhead or conducting the odd practice diversion. I am thinking of building this as a German example to have a bit of contast to the RAF single seater. Dave

Nice, something to look forward to...🤦🏼‍♂️🤣

Hi guys, This is not very imaginative but I recently realised that I do not have any completed models of any current RAF aircraft, a situation I need to rectify. I bought this kit when it came out so it is about time I built it! Cheers, Dave

It is very tight and I had to use a little filler but it is not too bad. I have not been able to source a belly tank for the Xtrakit so I made a cast from the Airfix kit and created a resin one which is a little crude but hopefully ok. A little polishing and some primer and we will see how it looks.

As @AdrianMF says, build it, it will still look good. That was not a good day at sea...

Right, we are now cracking on! A few coats of Gunze aluminium and olive drab later and it is looking a lot better. I need to apply grey and black to the tip of the tail fin and we can start thinking about decals.

Hi guys, This has been progressing at a snail's pace, but I thought I had better show you where I am at. The fuselage has been assembled and the cockpits dressed a little, with me having to create the rear decking from plastic card due to the PE being somewhat skinnier (it is for the Airfix kit after all). None of it is accurate but it is a far better representation than the basic kit. I need to address the seam before attaching the wings etc.

Oh yes, as has been previously said, this covers over half of my stash! Dave

It would be rude not to. Dave

Well, filler applied and everything smoothed off. The wings have been attached to both kits with both requiring some fettling to get them in. The Xtrakit needed some rubbing down of the fuselage as the wing assembly was longer than the space provided. I think I was at fault with the Airfix kit as the intake trunking was protruding too low, requiring me to apply the sanding stick to that area too. Anyway, they are starting to look more like Swifts and I need to fill the rather large gaps on the Xtrakit's wing to fuselage join before we proceed.

@Hook yes and no. I tried everything suggested from the gentlemen above but had no joy. There is a second canopy in the kit which has no framing, so I bought another masking set and freestyled it using the original one as a guide. It is still far from perfect, with the framing being thick in places but it is better. It has now been attached and the whole thing has been primed, now on to the aluminium.

A bit more done, fueselages assembled. The Xtra and Airfix halves side by side for comparison: They are dimensionally very close with the panel lines almost identical. The back end of the Airfix kit is slimmer than the Xtra but I have no idea which one is more accurate. The Airfix kit looks more refined overall. Fuselages fully assembled with both kits needing their seams addressed (my cack-handedness again no doubt). The Airfix kit has a lot of detail in the cockpit/nosewheel bay, intake trunking and jet pipe areas, and as usual with the newer Airfix kits, the tolerances are tight. The Xtrakit has much less detail (i.e. the intakes are basically blanked off) but the limited run nature of the kit and lack of locating pins makes this process a little trickier. Now to break out the filler.

Well, this is the first time I have had a Montex mask fail on me. The white paint has seeped through on basically every pane, and try as I might, I can't scrape it off. Does anyone have any idea as to how to remove all the paint without destroying the canopy?

Ok, both cockpits assembled, the Airfix one being unsurprisingly more complex/detailed. The control columns are somewhat different but I guess they will be hard to see anyway. I have also built various sub-assemblies, more pics to follow.

Wings and horizontal tails attached, it really does look odd without the tip tanks. I have seen pics of them in this configuration before, but I forgot how stubby the wings are without them.

Thank you for the heads up @PeterB, I will do the same with doors and see if I can source a tank. @CliffB the phantom paw almost ended my Do17 so she may be banned from my office (modelling room) for the forseeable future! I am now on leave for 12 days and other than going to the MCN show in London tomorrow I have no plans, so modelling will commence from Monday. Dave

Apologies for the lack of updates, work has been bonkers due to bringing my replacement up to speed in a stupidly short time. Anyway, I have made progress, the fuselage and components are assembled, I now need to address the seam. I am on leave from tomorrow and other than going to the MCN show in London tomorrow, I have no real plans. Let the proper modelling commence!

Airfix 1/72 Dornier Do-17z (Post crash repairs) Dave