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1:72 Grumman/General Dynamics F-111B "Beta Tomcat" Part 2


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14 hours ago, Michael louey said:

Hi,

 

It's both the decal and conversion bits. I could see resin and maybe a brass undercarriage. It was right next to a Pete's Hangar C130 brass undercarriage which I bought (for no good reason other than it was half price and it "might come in handy" ;))

 

Cheers

 

Michael

Thanks - I've sent them an email.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi mates,

 

I'm just out of the hospital again - it seems my pleural effusion doesn't seem to want to go away and more fluid had to be drained from my chest cavity. That, and my sinus infection is still plodding along, ignoring all the antibiotics. The immunoglobulin transfusion brought my IGG levels up slightly, but now they are dropping again. Essentially I have a really weak immune system (a side effect of the chemo) and that's why these problems persist. I suspect I'll need another immunoglobulin transfusion, perhaps on a regular basis. Ugh!

 

But now I'm home and will try to get this F-111 finished! This has been languishing way too long.

 

Cheers,

Bill

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Sorry to hear that Bill, I bet you're itching to get back to the 111, so hopefully you'll feel better soon. I also have a very weak immune system, but luckily none of the really serious issues you have going along with it, but I do know how easy it is for the slightest little infection to knock you sideways.

 

Take care

 

Keith

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Sorry to hear you've been in hospital again Bill but pleased to hear you're on the up!

Looking forward to more 111 when you feel up to it

 

        Roger

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At least the hospital stay allowed me to catch up on my reading - a nice little gift set of The Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Aeneid all translated by Robert Fagles. These have been on my list for a while, and I'm just about finished with the last one. Although Fagles seems to have dispensed with meter all together (and no rhymes - thank God!) they still read like poetry, and in a form of English I can understand. I have no idea how these compare to the real thing (having no knowledge of Ancient Greek or Latin) but I really am enjoying them.

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. Virgil is a pale imitation of Homer.

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Well, I know this isn't much but I finally got around to processing the photos for the work I did back on August 17. I added a small rectangular box (fashioned from leftover resin) to the instrument panel coaming, along with the HUD glass (which I made from some very thin clear plastic - the kit part is about 3 scale inches thick). I don't know what this box was for, or what instrument it contained, but it's pretty obvious in some photos. I wasn't able to mount it at quite the same angle as it should be due to interference from the inside of the canopy part. I won't tell if you won't!

 

IMG_1355

 

After painting the mysterious box black, the HUD glass was added.

 

IMG_1358

 

The next step is to mask off the canopy in preparation for painting. Before the canopy is added to the fuselage, there are some additional gubbins to add inside (just like the overhead console in my wife's mini-van). One of these is the stand-by compass which is also quite noticeable in photos.

 

One feature of the F-111B canopy was the seal around the canopy glass. As can be seen in this photo of 151974 on-board the Coral Sea, the seal is quite prominent on the portions of the canopy that open for ingress/egress, but not so much on the windscreen.

 

F-111BCoralSea

 

This shot of 151972 seems to show the seals on the windscreen, though, and this photo was taken during the Phoenix missile testing at Hughes. Certainly the seal around the windscreen was much smaller though.

 

972 from right side in flight

 

Normally, I run away in horror from the prospect of having to mask canopy seals, as I much prefer decals (like those that come with the superb F-8 Crusader kit from Academy). However, in this case I may be in luck as Eduard provide two sets of masks for the Hasegawa kit, and if I understand the pictorial instructions this is so one can paint the seals. The kit canopy has engraved lines for the seals, but only on the side panels not on the windscreen. The Eduard masks are for all parts of the canopy, so it may be that the smaller seals on the windscreen can indeed be masked. We'll see! The masks are for the USAF versions of the F-111 - I don't know if they were different in any way. 

 

Thanks for the nice comments - I'm feeling a bit better. This has been a nasty problem to shake off but I think we're finally starting to show it who's boss.   :fight:

 

Cheers,

Bill

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Thanks, Tommy - now I know!     :) 

 

The Eduard masks seemed like a good idea - however, the die-cutting did not go through all the way in most places, so they ripped when I tried to remove them. Arghh. I've had this happen a few times with masks. I tried cutting one out, following the die-cut line, but then it didn't match the canopy outline very well. I guess I'll go back to the old way of masking and then use individual decal stripes for the canopy seals. I think I even have some that are "rubber" coloured.  

 

Cheers,

Bill

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On 9/6/2017 at 2:25 PM, Navy Bird said:

PS. Virgil is a pale imitation of Homer.

 

Too right.

 

Sorry about your medical issues, Bill, glad they seem to be coming under control.

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Bill, you're resilience to all this messing about with your body at the hospital is incredible. Total admiration, and then there's your modelling skills, even more admiration :)

 

take care and keep supplying us with progress as we know this will be another masterpiece 

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47 minutes ago, woody37 said:

Bill, you're resilience to all this messing about with your body at the hospital is incredible. Total admiration, and then there's your modelling skills, even more admiration :)

 

take care and keep supplying us with progress as we know this will be another masterpiece 

 

I'm with Neil on this Bill.  I'd add 'respect' - 'cept that's way to street a word for me to be able to use with any credibility.........

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The overhead console contains the controls for the DVD entertainment system, the sunroof, the rear hatch release, and the ejection seat heaters. 

 

IMG_1361

 

IMG_1362

 

There is a huge amount of modeller's license at work here. I'm just trying to create the right "mood" when one looks through the canopy. The stand-by compass will probably be the most visible once the canopy goes on. Once that happens, I believe it's time for some paint.   :)

 

Cheers,

Bill

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Sorry to hear of your latest medical encounter but am glad that you're one the mend again.

 

This 'vark will be something rather special when finished. Looking forward to the next instalment.

 

Trevor

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Overhead consoles?  Good grief.  I always knew the F-111 was more Lancaster than Typhoon but really......

 

But then - if one must have overhead consoles then one may as well have them made by the 1/72 master...........Terrifically neat and exquisite work Bill.

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Navy Birdman's Summer of '17 keeps rolling along - today it was a nest of white-faced hornets in an old tree stump. I managed to bump into the stump while we were taking down an old shed, and boy were those guys upset! I, being allergic, ran for my life (or was it my Epi pen?). I called the exterminator and he came right over - there literally was a dark cloud of buzzing things flying around when he sprayed the stump. He said there were several thousand hornets in that nest - yikes! Luckily, I didn't get stung or I'd be back in the hospital again! Maybe I should stay indoors and build models for the rest of the year...     :) 

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. He was going to spray in his street clothes, but then he got a good look at the nest and donned his Def-con suit. Good thing. 

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I've managed to get some primer on the beastie, thereby revealing all of the flaws I made, so off I go a-fixin'. Painting requires you to look at the model from many different aspects, and I've come to the realisation that I haven't quite captured the proper F-111B look. The issue is the area where the resin nose has been grafted onto the fuselage - I spent a lot of time making this look right from the side view, but it seems that the radome is a bit too portly in cross section. Remember, the Navy nose in real life was unique pretty much from the front of the ejection capsule forward. The resin conversion nose attaches considerably farther forward than that, so it has to match what is essentially an Air Force fuselage cross-section at that point. I suspect the Navy cross-section was much slimmer. Consequently, from some angles the nose doesn't look quite right. I think I'm too far along to correct this without basically starting over. Perhaps the flat black radome and anti-glare panel forward of the windscreen will hide it. I hope so.  :)

 

Cheers,

Bill

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Quote

I've managed to get some primer on the beastie, thereby revealing all of the flaws I made

Parish the thought! not you! The one that makes my work look bad! :P

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