academy f-111f aardvark

[S5 modeller]

Hi chaps. I have been lurking around the forum for quite some time, watching all the excellent work being done.

So I thought it might be time to do my first real attempt at a wip.

You will have to bear with me on the updates, as I don't get as much time on the kits as I would like.

Also please excuse the quality of my photos, as I am using a camera phone at the moment.

Right, down to business...

This is the subject I am tackling. The academy 1:48 f-111 f aardvark.

Having read up on the kit online I might be getting in over my head with this one. There seems to be a few fit issues with the kit, and some people don't seem convinced with the wing swinging and swivelling pylon arrangement.

I will have to tackle them the best I can, as I go along.

First the box shot.

Sprue shots, had to split ito two, as they are so big.

I will be adding the verlinden resin cockpit and other parts. The kit cockpit is rather basic and the seats and control sticks are quite frankly a joke.

There is a nice selection of photo etch too, allowing the caanopy to be displayed open.

Edited July 13, 2014 by S5 modeller

[S5 modeller]

First update.

Cleaned up the main componants for the cockpit, gave them a wash to make sure there is no release agent on them.

Rather nicely molded seats, vast inprovement on the kit parts.

Kit part against resin part.

The kit part seems to have some sort of dettached

anti gravity harness arrangement, don't quite know what they had in mind there.

Edited July 14, 2014 by S5 modeller

[exdraken]

resin parts look nice!

looking forward to your buidl!

cheers!

[mungo1974]

The Verlinden set is nice....but the IP as modelled is for a F-111E not a PaveTack Foxtrot

[Mark Turk]

I'll be watching this one with interest too. If you haven't done so already, you should check out Jim Rotramel's (Mr. Vark) series of articles on the F-111 at www.f-111.net/models/Jim-Rotramel/htm

Mark

[S5 modeller]

Thanks for all the comments guys.

Had a good look round f-111.net, lots of good info and pics.

Not sure on the instrument panel, but as with all the resin parts, they are a vast improvement on the kit parts.

Fixed the two main parts of the cockpit together and gave the interior parts a coat of white primer.

Just need to attach a load of photo etch to the interior before I start painting.

[Tomjw]

An excellent start. This is one of the many kits I have my eye on so will follow with interest.

By the way, I see what you mean with the difference between the kit seat and the resin one. Worlds apart. I enjoy using AM parts, so I hope all goes well.

Cheers,

Tom.

[S5 modeller]

Hi chaps.
Time for a small update.
I don't get as much time as I'd like to work on my builds, the wife keeps moaning about my stuff being everywhere, not got my own build area and have to use the kitchen table.
Work is progressing slowly, mainly due to the fiddly photo etch work in the cockpit.
Will post some pics of that soon.

Mean whilst, I have started work on the instrument panel. It has been pointed out that this is not the correct panel for the F series vark, but as it is the one supplied in the resin kit I will go with it.
I don't want to fall too far into the minute details of the F version, as I think I would drive myself mad trying to get everything right. As long as I end up with something that looks about right, I will be happy.
Right. I started by giving the panel a coat of Tamiya rubber black, as my flat black turned out to be empty,but it turned out ok.



Next up, I made my first attempt at dry brushing.

Now I have read a lot about it, and watched a youtube video ( which I might add, seemed to be more of a guide on NOT how to do it ).
So I cracked out my humbrol gloss silver silver, and a nice stiff paint brush,.
The brush had nice stiff nylon bristles, as was one of a set of about 100 from poundland.



It worked quite well, and much to my surprise I found the whole process quite easy, don't know why I have been avoiding trying it for so long.
Got a nice light amount of paint on my brush, and dried most of it off on some blue paper towel. Ran it over the panel, and was pleased at how it worked, will defiantly try it more extensively in the future.
Onto the results.
Sorry for the quality of the pics, but it was quite hard to get the lighting right for my camera phone to pick it up, whilst juggling the panel.





I think it turned out ok for my first attempt, will try to get a better picture tomorrow, in the daylight.

All I need to do now, is pick out some of the controls with colour, and add some green for the vdu's.

Sorry there is not much else to show at the moment, but will try to get more posted up soon.

As always, all comments are welcome.

Matt.

[phildagreek]

Looks good so far, the resin parts look the biz.

[S5 modeller]

As promised, a better pic of the instrument panel.

Just got to add some more detail.

Matt.

[S5 modeller]

Me again.

Been working some more on this, made some progress on the cockpit.

Fitted most of the photo etch now and one of the control columns.

Need to fit the other control, then re prime and paint.

Been working on the seats too, but no pics of them yet.

Hope you enjoy my work so far, most probably not up to other peoples standards, but it is the best I can do.

on to the pics.......

Sorry for the quality of the pics, but it is hard to get a decent one with my camera phone.

Quick question.

This section on the instructions, for the construction of the wing pivot mechanism, shows a weird screwdriver/flame symbol. any idea what it's for?

Are they expecting me to melt something?

Thanks as always for looking at my work.

Matt.

[jgrease]

Looks like once 39 is placed over 36 they expect you to use a heated flat tool like a screwdriver to flatten the plastic tab, creating a kind of fastener to keep 39 from coming off, yet allowing the assembly to pivot. Does that make sense?

[Tempestwulf]

The dry brushing looks smack on in my book. Add a few colours in the appropriate display and it will pick out the details nicely.

[Tomjw]

I agree with jgrease. Its a crap way of allowing the pylons to pivot with the wing sweep mechanism.

Tom.

[Pappy]

I agree with jgrease. Its a crap way of allowing the pylons to pivot with the wing sweep mechanism.

Tom.

As with Jgrease and Tom, the idea is to allow the pylons to swivel as the wing sweep back to keep the pylons pointing straight as per the real thing, except:

1. Only the two inner pylons of each wing pivoted (Academy show three pylons which is incorrect).

2. The outer 'fixed' pylons were a completely different shape to the pivot pylons. Most pics show only the inner pylons attached, the outer fixed pylons were used mainly for ferry tanks.

http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/F-111-A8-134/F_111_A8_134_loaded_with_48_Mk82_500lb_low_drag_bombs_15Nov89_000_144_231

I decided to post a link to 'that' picture of the F-111 fitted with all eight pylons, each loaded with 6 x Mk.82 500lb bombs. Remember that the outer pylons were fixed at 26 degrees so in order for these to appear parallel, you need to sweep the wings back to 26 degrees. If you don't the outer fixed pylons would be pointing inwards in stark contrast to the inner pylons which were pointing straight. This is they main reason why the outer pylons were not typically used for bombing.

This jet was loaded purely for a photo shoot and never took to the air with this load. It may have been possible, but it was not typical.

3. The system does work but it does not work perfectly.

4. You stand a very good chance of breaking one or more pylons off whilst handling the kit and finally,

5. The temptation to play with this working feature means you or someone else may damage the finished kit.

Personally, I would pick a wing sweep angle and add the pylons last, as this also means that you have an easier job of painting the wing area around the pylon and do not have to bother with masking. Most F-111 schemes had black undersides with dark green (FS34079) pylons.

p.s I think you have the ejection handles pointing the wrong way, i.e angled forwards instead of backwards

http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2013/11/07/3886198.htm

http://f111.dva.gov.au/gallery/large_pics/72-Cockpit.jpg

Thes pics are of an RAAF-F-111C (AUP), but they illustrate my point.

Otherwise nice work so far,

cheers,

Pappy

Edited August 11, 2014 by Pappy

[S5 modeller]

As with Jgrease and Tom, the idea is to allow the pylons to swivel as the wing sweep back to keep the pylons pointing straight as per the real thing, except:

1. Only the two inner pylons of each wing pivoted (Academy show three pylons which is incorrect).

2. The outer 'fixed' pylons were a completely different shape to the pivot pylons. Most pics show only the inner pylons attached, the outer fixed pylons were used mainly for ferry tanks.

http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/F-111-A8-134/F_111_A8_134_loaded_with_48_Mk82_500lb_low_drag_bombs_15Nov89_000_144_231

I decided to post a link to 'that' picture of the F-111 fitted with all eight pylons, each loaded with 6 x Mk.82 500lb bombs. Remember that the outer pylons were fixed at 26 degrees so in order for these to appear parallel, you need to sweep the wings back to 26 degrees. If you don't the outer fixed pylons would be pointing inwards in stark contrast to the inner pylons which were pointing straight. This is they main reason why the outer pylons were not typically used for bombing.

This jet was loaded purely for a photo shoot and never took to the air with this load. It may have been possible, but it was not typical.

3. The system does work but it does not work perfectly.

4. You stand a very good chance of breaking one or more pylons off whilst handling the kit and finally,

5. The temptation to play with this working feature means you or someone else may damage the finished kit.

Personally, I would pick a wing sweep angle and add the pylons last, as this also means that you have an easier job of painting the wing area around the pylon and do not have to bother with masking. Most F-111 schemes had black undersides with dark green (FS34079) pylons.

p.s I think you have the ejection handles pointing the wrong way, i.e angled forwards instead of backwards

http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2013/11/07/3886198.htm

http://f111.dva.gov.au/gallery/large_pics/72-Cockpit.jpg

Thes pics are of an RAAF-F-111C (AUP), but they illustrate my point.

Otherwise nice work so far,

cheers,

Pappy

Cheers for the info pappy.

I know about tge ejection handles, but the verlinden instructions said to put them that way. So I stupidly followed them, not checking my reference photo's.

Glad you pointed out that the entire underside is black, as that was a question I meant to ask. The underside of the wings should be black, I presume.

Matt.

[S5 modeller]

Have decided not to use the outmost pylon.

Do you think a paveway bomb, or a drop tank tank would be best stored inboard?

Also anyone know where I can get a decal for a libiya campaign ribbon?

Matt.

Edited August 11, 2014 by S5 modeller

[Pappy]

Have decided not to use the outmost pylon.

Do you think a paveway bomb, or a drop tank tank would be best stored inboard?

Also anyone know where I can get a decal for a libiya campaign ribbon?

Matt.

Sensible choice.

I would opt for the bomb, mainly because tanks are boring and the kit tanks are only about 2/3 the correct length in any case

[S5 modeller]

Thanks again pappy.

Perhapse I should look for some more munitions.

Do you know of a suitable set? I only ask, as you seem to know these birds inside out.

Matt.

[Tim Moff]

enjoying this, I have 1 and the Vern Pave tac kit. I was born and bred in Lakenheath and grew up with the F111F....I remember the Libya raid, we all thought WW3 was starting as all the tanker movement as well as the F111F was stacking above my house, I was 17 and on leave from the Army.....

there are various decals, but harder to find now:

1/48 Xtradecal: X015-48 USAF F-15E & F-111 48th FW & F-4D 48th TFW

also

http://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/decals/ab/decal_ab_48054.shtml

http://www.luckymodel.com/scale.aspx?item_no=ABD-48-054

http://tedtaylor.hobbyvista.com/75-academy-f-111/page-75.html

Good luck, Ive never done photo etch, but I want it flying in the kids room, so will scrape off the belts etc. How you glue it to the resin, superglue?

[S5 modeller]

Hi Tim.

I did indeed use superglue to construct the cockpit, but you could use epoxy as well, but it might be a bit too much for some of the smaller parts.

If you have the verlinden kit, be aware that although the photo etch is quite thin (0.2mm), it seems rather stiff to bend.

I think I will resort to annealing some of it for bending.

I had fun trying to detach some of the photo etch parts from the fret. Although I haven't done much work with etch, compared to what I have done, it seems a bit crappy.

The detail is good on it though, although the multiple layers on the side of the cockpits are a bit hard to attach.

I have devised a good way of bending the curved canopy liners, which I will reveal in due cause.

Don't be put off by my negative comments, the kit is good and the verlinden resin parts are a vast improvement over the kit parts.

Matt.

[S5 modeller]

found the decals, in Germany.

not sure if I want to pay £23 for them, as I only want 1 decal off the sheet.

Might have a go at printing my own, assuming I can find a decent image to use.

Matt.

[S5 modeller]

Quick build update..

Cockpit is nearly done, had a coat of grey, just need to paint the instrument panels and pick out the details.

Been correcting the drop tanks today. The kit versions are woefully short, added 27mm in the length, and 0.5mm in thickness.

This brings them somewhere closer to what they should be.

You can see the difference in the photo, not quite finished though.

I make that a 1:1 scale shortfall of 51"!

Got the info off a build on the SAC site.

Matt.

Edited August 17, 2014 by S5 modeller

[Pappy]

Thanks again pappy.

Perhapse I should look for some more munitions.

Do you know of a suitable set? I only ask, as you seem to know these birds inside out.

Matt.

G'day Matt,

I don't know about 'inside out'but I know a little!

Firsly, what variant are you building? ( I assume an F-111F),

Secondly, How accurate do you want the weapons load to be?, something realistic or loaded to the gills as per an airshow?

If you want to hang some LGB's, the Verlidnen GBU-24's are sort of accurate (the tails are a little wrong), The Aires Brassin GBU's are spot on.

If you want to do lots of Mk.82 series 500lb's (slick/snake or ballute tails) you will need the bomb racks that were peculiar to the F-111 (BRU-3A/A's).

Scaledown (an Oz company) produce sets of these that include a full complement of bombs as well in the flavour of your choice.

Personally, I would like to see an F-111F with a full complement of Durandals, but I don't think anyone makes these in 1/48?

cheers,

Pappy

[S5 modeller]

Pappy.

I am indeed trying for the f variant.

Have been looking at the mk82's on ozmods, who do the scaledown stuff now.

Think I need to order a set, plus the resin cans.

Tempted to get a vac canopy as well, as I want to show it open, and don't know how well the kit canopy will respond to the razor saw.

If my modded drop tanks don't work out, then I need to add a resin set too.

The list is endless, and the postage from down under seems expensive.

Can't find a uk based supplier, but did find a czeck company (cmr models).

Matt.

Edited August 18, 2014 by S5 modeller