Revell's 1/72 EF Typhoon - Wing spanning the century

[MarkSH]

Afternoon all,

 

just to prove I've not forgotten about this GB, I made a start on the more modern component of my two builds, primarily because its my least familiar environment.

 

So here is the EF Typhoon cockpit painted up and installed with the two fuselage halves glued together and the pilot and seat ready to be installed at an opportune moment.

 

 

I have used the kit cockpit decals for the most part, but decided not to use the screen decals as they just didn't look right, instead the two outer screens were painted black and gloss varnish dropped in, the middle screen is a square of green holographic plastic from a birthday card with some blobs of Tamiya clear green added and again some gloss varnish dropped in, in the right light it almost glows. The HUD in the kit is to say the least a little clunky so I'll replace it with something more suitable closer to the time the windscreen gets fitted.

 

 

I painted up a spare Airfix pilot figure and added a gloss black visor, face mask and tube plus some masking tape seat belts and a bit of a suggestion of the Mae West. The kit seat was only enhanced by adding replacement wire thingy's at the side as the kit efforts were a little insubstantial. The seat does not seem to sit particularly well in the cockpit tub and getting the angle right may involve some remedial engineering for the hardware and some equally drastic surgery to the occupant but that's a ways off yet.

 

Its a start at least.

 

Cheer, M.

 

 

[Hockeyboy76]

Nice start, cracking work on the pit and pilot. 

[MarkSH]

Evening all,

 

Flitting between three GB means just small bits of progress on each kit as some paint dries there and some glue sets elsewhere.

 

So, for the  Typhoon I have the fuselage halves together and I am just working on getting the canopy and windscreen to fit reasonably well which has required building up the cockpit sides a little.

 

 

As I said the HUD was just a blob of 'clear' plastic so I have also replaced that and used another piece of the birthday card green plastic for the reflective part.

 

 

I've now added the stays at the side of the 'glass' part.

 

Also been working on the support for the acrylic rods inside the rear of the fuselage, but hopefully get the bottom part of the wings on soon.

 

Cheers, M.

[MarkSH]

Evening all,

 

A little more progress on the Eurofighter Typhoon whilst the oil paint on the SE5a dries out,

 

I have assembled the major components and am in the process of filling the multitude of little gaps especially on the underside.

 

 

Generally the fit of the bigger kit parts is not too bad, but the smaller pieces, in particular the undercarriage bay doors is a little slack.

 

 

The way the wing structure is designed allows for the distinctive Typhoon curved wing to be achieved quite easily, but again little things like the fit of the clear parts required a lot of sanding to get a close fit look.

 

I was warned to look out for the various fit options regarding sensors and so I have been trawling through the internet for images and think I've got a handle on that particular mine field, however am I correct in not having to fit the passive radar sensor (Pirate?) for a F2 aircraft?. Additionally, it became obvious that if I wanted to pursue the Fighter theme (Air Superiority) to go along with the SE5a then I would need to make sure that I got a suitable RAF weapons fit, and of course there isn't enough supplied in the kit to achieve that.

 

So, as usual not wanting to go down the AM route (Tight as the proverbial duck's orifice) I decided to scratch what I could from what was in the kit and scraps.

 

 

From my internet searches, and I'm more than happy to be corrected, the usual QRA fit has four fuselage mounted AMRAAMs, Two 1000ltr Tanks on the wing inner stations and four ASRAAMs, two each side on the outer wing stations. It also looks to me that the pylons for the two inner of the outer stations is similar but cut shorter at the rear than the two outer pylons and possibly faired into the elevon actuator assembly, confused, I am!, so I am in the process scratching two facsimiles of the kit supplied outer pylons from plastic card, one down and I have taken the kit supplied Meteor munitions and found they were very close in diameter to the ASRAAMs, so I've cut them to length, filed off the detail and re-profiled the nose and tail just need to add the fins which you can see I've started.

 

As I've previously stated this era is not my normal area of interest so my knowledge is a little sparse, any thoughts, comments gratefully accepted.

 

Cheers, M.

 

[stevej60]

Good job so far Mark,I just can't get away with modern jet's I really wish I could,that said I see Revell have released the Typhoon in that BoB retro

scheme so it's under consideration!

[MarkSH]

24 minutes ago, stevej60 said:

Good job so far Mark,I just can't get away with modern jet's I really wish I could,that said I see Revell have released the Typhoon in that BoB retro

scheme so it's under consideration!

I am in full agreement with you Steve, the modern stuff really doesn't do anything for me no matter what nationality, but paint it in anything other than tactical grey and all of a sudden...... I am always tempted by a nice bright Tiger meet, display scheme or as you say a commemorative scheme like the BoB Typhoon.

[zebra]

On 15/04/2018 at 11:03 PM, MarkSH said:

I am in full agreement with you Steve, the modern stuff really doesn't do anything for me no matter what nationality, but paint it in anything other than tactical grey and all of a sudden...... I am always tempted by a nice bright Tiger meet, display scheme or as you say a commemorative scheme like the BoB Typhoon.

Same here. All that grey does nothing for me. I go right up to the last generation - would happily build a Tornado F.3 or a GR.1 in green and grey - but the current generation just doesn’t work for me as a modelling subject, even though I’m like a big kid when I see them at air shows.

[Selwyn]

On 12/04/2018 at 9:51 PM, MarkSH said:

Evening all,

 

A little more progress on the Eurofighter Typhoon whilst the oil paint on the SE5a dries out,

 

I have assembled the major components and am in the process of filling the multitude of little gaps especially on the underside.

 

 

Generally the fit of the bigger kit parts is not too bad, but the smaller pieces, in particular the undercarriage bay doors is a little slack.

 

 

The way the wing structure is designed allows for the distinctive Typhoon curved wing to be achieved quite easily, but again little things like the fit of the clear parts required a lot of sanding to get a close fit look.

 

I was warned to look out for the various fit options regarding sensors and so I have been trawling through the internet for images and think I've got a handle on that particular mine field, however am I correct in not having to fit the passive radar sensor (Pirate?) for a F2 aircraft?. Additionally, it became obvious that if I wanted to pursue the Fighter theme (Air Superiority) to go along with the SE5a then I would need to make sure that I got a suitable RAF weapons fit, and of course there isn't enough supplied in the kit to achieve that.

 

So, as usual not wanting to go down the AM route (Tight as the proverbial duck's orifice) I decided to scratch what I could from what was in the kit and scraps.

 

 

From my internet searches, and I'm more than happy to be corrected, the usual QRA fit has four fuselage mounted AMRAAMs, Two 1000ltr Tanks on the wing inner stations and four ASRAAMs, two each side on the outer wing stations. It also looks to me that the pylons for the two inner of the outer stations is similar but cut shorter at the rear than the two outer pylons and possibly faired into the elevon actuator assembly, confused, I am!, so I am in the process scratching two facsimiles of the kit supplied outer pylons from plastic card, one down and I have taken the kit supplied Meteor munitions and found they were very close in diameter to the ASRAAMs, so I've cut them to length, filed off the detail and re-profiled the nose and tail just need to add the fins which you can see I've started.

 

As I've previously stated this era is not my normal area of interest so my knowledge is a little sparse, any thoughts, comments gratefully accepted.

 

Cheers, M.

 

 There are four stores stations on each typhoon wing  only the inner three are pylons. The two outer stations are Integrated Tip Stub Pylons (ITSPL) despite their name they are not "pylons" as such, in that pylons are removable on role change, but the ITSPL is a permanently  fitted missile rail. 

 

The outer wing pylons are normal (removable) store pylons that can be  fitted with a Multi Function Rail launcher (as in this kit ) to allow carriage of additional  ASRAAM  or AMRAAM missiles.

 

Selwyn

 

(Please note when painting your missiles, there are no red bands ever painted on live  ASRAAM or AMRAAM Missiles! The bands are Yellow and Brown.)

Edited April 22, 2018 by Selwyn

[MarkSH]

@Selwyn many thanks for the information, going on that, as the kit only supply's two 'Multi Function Rail Launchers' I take it I am correct in manufacturing two more similar rails to suit as per my previous post. I have found one image (below) that shows the weapons fit I'd like to replicate but the rail appears to be faired into the actuator it is inline with, or it is only the lower part of the rail fitted to the underside of the actuator.

 

 

I'd be grateful for any further insight.

 

Cheers, M.

[Selwyn]

21 minutes ago, MarkSH said:

@Selwyn many thanks for the information, going on that, as the kit only supply's two 'Multi Function Rail Launchers' I take it I am correct in manufacturing two more similar rails to suit as per my previous post. I have found one image (below) that shows the weapons fit I'd like to replicate but the rail appears to be faired into the actuator it is inline with, or it is only the lower part of the rail fitted to the underside of the actuator.

 

 

I'd be grateful for any further insight.

 

Cheers, M.

I take it I am correct in manufacturing two more similar rails

No that is not required. You would only ever need two MFRL .

the nearest missile  to the wingtip is on the ITSPL.  this is a permanent rail launcher- its always there, it cannot be taken off. I know that it looks like a pylon fitted  with a launcher but its not, it is all one piece bolted directly to the wing, typhoons never fly without it.  The inner  missile  is on a MFRL which is in this picture attached to the stores pylon release unit.  used when a extra missile is required to be carried.  Here is a picture  showing what you see when  No MFRL fitted to inner pylon

 

Selwyn

Edited April 22, 2018 by Selwyn

[MarkSH]

Sorry @Selwyn please bear with me, I understand that the two kit supplied ITPSLs should be fitted to the outermost station, but the kit does not supply anything resembling the inner of the two stations which is what I'm trying to replicate, the bottom portion looks similar to the ITSPL, however, the top part looks to be part of the actuator assembly or is at least 'bolted' to its front.

Sorry to be a bit thick about this but I stated this isn't my natural environment.

Cheers, M.

[Selwyn]

2 hours ago, MarkSH said:

Sorry @Selwyn please bear with me, I understand that the two kit supplied ITPSLs should be fitted to the outermost station, but the kit does not supply anything resembling the inner of the two stations which is what I'm trying to replicate, the bottom portion looks similar to the ITSPL, however, the top part looks to be part of the actuator assembly or is at least 'bolted' to its front.

Sorry to be a bit thick about this but I stated this isn't my natural environment.

Cheers, M.

What you would need are two new outer pylons and  MFRL  launchers, the spares box Launchers  you have in  the image above are just other ITSPL  and are unrepresentative of a MFRL  and outer pylon . So its either scratchbuilding or finding  bits from a Hasegawa kit which have them,  these are only available in the Hasegawa kit AFAIK.    The MFRL are easy to scratch as they are being basically long and square section  with a rounded nose. The pylon may be far more difficult  as it is incorporated as the forward section of the  the  outer underwing fairing in real life. 

 

Selwyn

 

 

[MarkSH]

Yes I understand now, thanks. the spares box ITPSL (LH side of image above)  isn't from the spares box I scratched it, but its easy enough to amend it to fit in front of the actuator.

Cheers, M.

[Selwyn]

2 minutes ago, MarkSH said:

Yes I understand now, thanks. the spares box ITPSL (LH side of image above)  isn't from the spares box I scratched it, but its easy enough to amend it to fit in front of the actuator.

Cheers, M.

As long as you realise that the outboard pylon is much deeper than an ITSPL and the  MFRL is longer than the ITSPL!

 

Selwyn

[MarkSH]

Bank Holiday weekend, so not much done, too busy gardening, having a log walk (with a pub at the end of it!) more eating, drinking and surprise, surprise! getting sunburnt, who'd have thought it!

 

Any way what little modelling time was available, was dedicated to trying to bring the Typhoon to about the same level as the SE5a so I primed, pre-shaded, sprayed the Barley Grey and hand painted in the detail colours I'm now in the process of applying several coats of Klear.

 

 

I also took the time to print out a mock up of the display base graphic to get an idea of how to best arrange the two aircraft.

 

 

There are a couple more elements to go on the display base including 'Per Ardua Ad Astra' and '1918 - 2018' which will be on the side gold on black hopefully at this time I an inclined to try and print out the graphic as one large decal I think its worth a try, as long as it is liberally coated in lacquer it should be robust enough. I've got some more acrylic rod on order as I wasn't happy with the curves with my first efforts, but at least it proved the technique.

 

Cheers, M.

 

 

[PlaStix]

Excellent progress Mark and I do like your idea for the display. 

Kind regards,

Stix 

[MarkSH]

Evening all,

 

The complete antithesis of my decaling experience of yesterday with the Flycatcher over on the Carriers GB is the joy of applying the markings to a modern RAF jet!

 

Here is partial evidence of about an hour and a half's work on the Typhoon.

 

 

 

And here is the result........talk about lo-viz, its a good job I've got a green cutting mat and not one of those grey jobs, if I walked away from the model I'd never find the bloody thing again.  At least the decals are thin and behaving themselves.

 

Talk amongst yourselves chaps, this could take some time......

 

Cheers

[MarkSH]

Afternoon chaps,

 

Nearly done with the decaling to the Typhoon and have had a second attempt at bending the acrylic rods to the desired curvature, which worked fine using very hot water to achieve the bend, however, has anyone any experience of dealing with a milky clouding that has appeared on the rods, I have tried polishing it out with Tamiya's polishing compounds but to little effect, its not a deal breaker and I'm certainly not going to spend out on more rod, any ideas?

 

The support curvature is as I'd hoped. I will cut the support end a little shorter prior to installation.

 

But a cloudy opacity has appeared in spots.

 

Cheers, M.

[PlaStix]

Perhaps the rods are trying to replicate the clouds of exhaust fumes for you?

Looks good though.

Kind regards,

Stix