jenshb Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Been pondering my two options, and after a discussion with Nils, decided to concentrate on one rather than building two and seeing which one is most realistic to complete. Chances are I wouldn't finish either of them, so I've decided to go large. So, here it is: 1:48th Hasegawa kit with Aires cockpit, wheel wells and exhausts with Fightertown Decals for one of the most attractive schemes ever applied to a Tomcat IMO - VF-1. It will be an aircraft from Operation Frequent Wind, and possibly feature a 2x2x2 loadout of Phoenix, Sparrow and Sidewinder to show the aircraft's primary role. Cockpit and wheel wells are adapted to the kit (see separate thread), and primed. Hoping to do some painting this evening. Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RNoAF Aerobatic Team Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 About time you came along, Jens Endelig er det kjekt å bygge modeller igjen:-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
periklis_sale Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Yes baby show my these wolf heads!!!!! :clap2: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 About time you came along, Jens Endelig er det kjekt å bygge modeller igjen:-) I'm not always the quickest to take photos as the top of the hob is my photographic studio, and sometimes supper gets in the way:) Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DannyB Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 After seeing your work on the cockpit and wheel-wells I can't wait to see this one come together. Very nearly got the wolfpack decals from fightertown so will be interested to see what they are like too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 Don't hesitate Danny - get them. They're as good as you're going to get early VF-1 decals and appear to be well researched. Mine were printed in perfect register and the film is nice and thin. Fightertown use Microscale for printing, so the quality is good. Fightertown Decals may be out of print, but I think Hannants still have them in stock? Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DannyB Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Ah that's great to hear, I went for the 80th anniversary markings for the tophatters in the end from fightertown. Can't wait for them to turn up now!! The level of detail on reference with all of the fightertwon decals really impressed me, right down to things like the bomb graffiti in their Diamondbacks sheet. This is the first time I used after-market decals, and definitely looking forward to it to now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 (edited) At last I have reached a stage where I can take some meaningful pics. The cockpit is almost done - almost because I've left off some small parts deliberately to avoid breakage later on, and the seats have only been painted black. At least I can get the forward fuselage together soonish. It took a few evenings just to get the basic colours on (mainly acrylics), drying, then clearcoating, drying again, washes with oil paints, drying, flat coat (Vallejo Model Air) followed by drybrushing. One thing I haven't done though is the HUD projector lens... Any ideas what colour this looked like with power off? The other thing I wasn't sure of was the floor in front of the pedals and footrests. Pics show both what appers to be a black coating and scuffed grey, but I can't find any pics where it is scuffed to the bare metal and through the primer. Seems that the cockpit was painted grey, over the black coating, hence the black in this area. Maybe it's a little heavy for fairly new airframes...? The fabric covering on the IP coamings weather to a tan/brown colour, but start out black (if the DACO book is to believed), and I decided not to fade these too much considering the newness of the aircraft at the time. I held the upper and lower fuselage together with tape and stuck the Aires wheel wells to the lower fuselage, and then reinforced the joins with 5 minute epoxy. Also notice the vigorous milling behind the gear leg roof for the wing to clear. If I'd had the wings forward, then that wouldn't be an issue. Some thin plasticard covers holes where I sanded through. The vents on the upper fuselage are open, and I decided to add some plasticard to hide this cavity. The outsides will be taken by the wheel wells, but there will be gaps. The jury is still out on how to solve that problem. The beaver tail was modified by removing the dielectric panels on the side before I glued them on. No large gaps, but some discontinuities that need filler and a rescribe. The airbrake panels needed some trimming to fit properly as well. Now, the worst part of this kit so far - and where my previous builds have failed - is the fit of the intake ducting. To get past that hurdle, I took some time to make intakes that fit better - not only did I lower them (as described in the other post), but they also had to be narrower in the forward section. There are still gaps, but the differences in levels between the forward and aft intake is far more manageable. Once I was happy with my efforts, I copied them in silicone and cast them in resin using Sylmasta's starter kit. This works very well, and the resin gives you enough working time to avoid too many air bubbles. The intakes do require a bit of work, and as you can see, I have added a 0.25 mm strip of plasticard to make the bottom thicker as well as the lower lip. The lower lip should be rounded, whereas the kit has this as fairly sharp. Also, the lower corners are too sharp, so add some plastic and Milliput and then file to shape inside as well as out. The lips of the sides of the intake should be a lot thinner than what the kit gives you too. The Phoenix made the Cat THE long-distance killer against which all others are measured, and as Hasegawa recommends their own weapon's sets to arm the kit cat, I would at least expect the missile to fit their own kit... The missile doesn't lie properly on the pallet, having a larger gap at the rear because the thick fins ride on the flanks of the pallet. The angles of the pallet doesn't even match that of the missile... Not sure what is the most wrong here...? Jens Edited January 19, 2012 by kev1n Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Lovely cockpit, very well painted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev1n Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 holy s***...that cockpit is awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Boy Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Hey Jens. I have been doing a little research on your behalf with regards to your issue about the Pheonix missles not fitting flush against the pallets. In actual fact, the Pheonix missile does not lay fluish against the pallet as there is about a 3-4 inch gap between the top of the missile and the bottom of the pallet. The issue here is not you, but Hasegawa as their Pheonix missiles from their weapons set, are just a smidge too narrow as the rear fins should not touch the flanks of the pallet but should have at least 5-6 inch gap between the fins and the flanks. This is just a minor accuracy issue as often manfacturer moulds do not often cater for minor measurements when scaling down from the real aircraft. No need to worry!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dermo245 Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 holy s***...that cockpit is awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrvr6 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 iv got frequent wind....... the wife HATES it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucas Enrique Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Excellent cockpit!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 That cockpit is looking fantastic Jens! Great work! Armitage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 (edited) Thanks for the kind words gents. Brian Plescia suggested that I should have left the sills in place on the fuselage halves, so I spent some time removing material to see if the cockpit would still fit. And it did. Here, the kit part is on top, middle is my first attempt (that does fit), and bottom is the latest trimming. And here's the result. In other words, leave the sill and the canopy attachment on the fuselage halves! I now have a repair job on my hands as I've already glued the gun vent panel to the fuselage... Another detail that I feel has spoiled many a Tomcat model is the lack of improving the gun aperture. Here the kit is to the left, and after a little Milliput, filing and a piece of plasticard with a slot in it to the right. Thank you for looking into the matter regarding the Phoenix missiles Kiwi Boy. THe Hasegawa missile is dimensionally fairly accurate, but the missile fins are far too thick, and hamper the proper fit of the missile to the pallet. I will check the pallet too as I find it strange that the angles of the sides do not match that of the fins... Jens Edited January 18, 2012 by jenshb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandwagon 106 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 You are making this cockpit thing look far too easy Jens! Absolutely brilliant. About the intakes in the kit- I always remove about 10mm from the top of these (B2/3/10/11) as I seem to get a better fit against the ramp base (on B6) and leaving no gap for the leading, angled edge of B1 and B5, add a little trimming to the top of the wheel bays and the fuslage halves fit just fine. I really do rate the Hasegawa Tomcat, it does take some patience, cursing and trials, but it is great. Even now, after having built a fair few, I still manage a colourful choice of words! Joel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev1n Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 .... the Hasegawa Tomcat, it does take some patience, cursing and trials, Joel you can say that again..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Wow, that's excellent work Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev1n Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 it's not bad is it? needless to say I'm stealing all this to help with my own builds, especially the cockpits.... (I have no shame) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 Thanks for the kind words people. Steal all you want Kevin - no reason to repeat my mistakes or make new ones yourself:) Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev1n Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I'm sure I will but consider the info stole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Jens, your work on the gun looks very good. It's a detail of the Tomcat often missed and your solution looks very convincing. Will have to do it on my Tomcats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calum Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Loving this Jens. Both here and Z 5.Will be using them as a reference when I finally get around to building mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted January 21, 2012 Author Share Posted January 21, 2012 As explained earlier, I had to repair the damage, and here's how I replaced the sills. If you don't do what I did first, you won't have to do this:) First mark the outline on a piece of 0.5 mm plasticard. Then cut out, glue in place and fill any gaps. Then you can trim the sills until the cockpit closes properly around the canopy hooks. The HUD lens has been described to me as a "dark, metallic green", so I used Alclad prismatic green to blue topped by a coat of clear green. The colour changing is more imaginary than real though. The fit on the underside required a bit of filler, though some of that may have been my own fault. Thanks to references and a useful link, I decided to block off some open spaced inside the fuselage that will be visible though the bypass spill doors. Another problem with the Hasegawa kit is the gap between the wing and the fuselage gloves. These should be tight fitting with no large gaps. The gap needs to be reduced by about 1 mm, and the best way is to sand out a wedge between these two halves. That means the gloves above the Aires wheel wells need to be thinned even more. To gauge the amount I needed to sand, I first filed some notches in the gloves. Then file, file, file away... ...and the result. The wing seal on the upper fuselage could be better. This is what the kit provides. The red arrow points to what looks like a sinkmark above the wing hinge, but there is no sudden change in thickness of the plastic in this area, so this must have been created in the tool. Is there a "dimple" like this on the real Tomcat? It is quite shallow, and won't be noticeable unless the light is low and casts shadows, and none of my references show it clearly. Here's the result of thinning the "fingers", cutting between each one with a fine, photoetched saw and adding details from 0.13 mm plasticard. Hoping to close the rear fuselage halves this evening, and that's further than I've ever got before on any Hasegawa kitty. Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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