1/48 Revell Eurofighter Typhoon

[Calum]

Whilst I'm waiting for my clear coat to "cure" I've got stuck into Revells Typhoon. I'd heard it was quite well moulded kit....

First here's the aftermarket and one of the references.

Being Lizz's B day down here and the weather was s***e I had a bit of time to get into it.

Cockpit done with the Eduard colour PE. I painted the screens dark green and then hit them with some Tamiya clear green. The detail is a bit 1 dimensional but It'll have to do. I hate the Revell colour call outs so I just matched the paint to PE.

Next was the 2 Mikes APU exhaust. It took a bit of sanding to get this to fit. But it's a vast improvement

of the kit.

The detail is pretty soft in places. One side of the tail, around the exhaust needed a bit of re-scribing.

I've been following Patricks Build HERE so I'll be using some of the tips he's put up

[Calum]

Ok for any interested a bit more progress on the Typhoon

Did a bit of re-scribing on the tail. Here I've used a piece from the fret of one of Hasegawa PE saw sets.

The wheel bay is full of horrible sink marks

Fit of the fuselage halves weren't that bad. I just started at the nose and worked back with the Extra Thin. Having a spine piece and the airbrake means that there isn't a centreline lne seam. Thats good Got to try out my new slide clamps which were very good

next I've got to get the spine piece to fit. A bit of finagling and some clamps and she was in

Unfortunately the airbrake fit is very poor so I can see I've got some work here

[HOUSTON]

Calum

I think you did a good job or rescribing and the surgical work on this kit..

Nice going so far..Keep up the good work

HOUSTON

[TomTwin]

Great Work so far! The Eduard Photoetch is fantastic, used it on the 1:32 Typhoon I am doing. My only issue with the cockpit is that the displays would be black as it has no power on.

[Tango 1]

Good work so far! That airbrake is a real PIA, take your time with it!

[Calum]

I’ve managed to get the airbrake to fit without to much difficulty. I just needed a fair bit of material taken off the bottom.

The kit has some nasty depressions running parallel to the airbrake, I’m not sure if they’re result of some clamping. They could be as the plastic is pretty soft. This kit certainly isn’t as good as I’d expected, to date I’ve been underwhelmed by the fit and quality of the moulding.

I’ve still got to fix up the area around the hinge. It’s clear that the designer intended the airbrake to be open. I’m not sure why kit makers insist in posing surfaces in positions they generally don’t sit in. I’m pretty sure without a pilot in it and the aircraft running, the eurofighter airbrake is rarely open on the ground (just like the A-4).

This side is actually a nice flush fit as I’d hadn’t glued it when this picture was taken

I’ve also spent a bit of time adding some detail to the wheel bays. I’ve used fuse wire (silver) for the Hydraulic lines and 20 thou copper safety wire for the looms

[Mike]

A nice bit of scratching there Calum

[Tim T]

Great work Calum. Can't wait to see the next installment!

[Calum]

Time for another small update. Whilst looking for something else I came across a build article for this kit from a SAM. It pointed out a few more issues to look out for. The worst being the fit (or lack thereof) of the main landing gear (MLG).

The MLG is on a bit of an angle, but not this much (this is slightly exaggerated) plus the MLG door is supposed to fit down into the wheel well. As you can see this ain't going to happen

You can either adjust the MLG leg or kit opening, or both. I went for the kit opening. The curves shown in this image are part of the problem

I removed these and opened the gap up some more

Now, at least, I can get the MLG leg in without it being at to much of angle.

The MLG doors are grossly over scale but they will be difficult to thin as they are not a simple shape. t this stage I've decided not to try and shoehorn them into the MLG opening, but just to sit them on the bottom of the wing. not accurate I know, but this kit is fast becoming not worth the effort. To try and get at least the right angle, using a rounded file I cut a groove into the door.

This is basically what I've ended up with. Still not entirely happy but this is good enough to allow me to progress to the next step.

Edited July 9, 2011 by Calum

[jacksdad]

Cracking work there Callum.

[diamond9]

Loving this one Callum, the wheel bays look brilliant.

Gary...

[Calum]

A bit of progress has been made.

I finally got around to painting the main wheel bay. Nothing flash and it does need a flat coat. I've also done the nose bay but don't have an image of that as yet..

When I put the wings together I'm concerned that there will be a step between the upper and lower parts. it's like the parts indicate below aren't deep enough.

So I hit the lower part with the sanding stick. to remove a bit of material.

I also thin the flaps a bit as they seem way to thick

That looks better to my eye

Then with every clamp in the inventory (well almost) I clamp and glue with Tamiya Extra thin.

[gfurm]

The gear door were pain to put in on mine. And since I didn't test fit them before painting everything I just had to glue them however they fit. And I remember the wings on mine weren't that difficult. I only used 3 clothes pegs for them. Strange.

Good work so far anyway.

Greg

[Calum]

Wing to fuselage join time....

First impression are not that bad.... but on closer inspection not that good either. Certainly not what I expect from a mainstream kit from the last 5 years. Still beggars can't be choosers and this is modelling not lego building so out cme the adjustment tools.

Anyway a fair bit of finagling was needed to get a reasonably good fit. The main areas I had trouble with were around the areas shown in the images below

On the top it was here, one side I think the Two Mikes APU exhaust didn't help, but it wasn't the sole cause.

On the bottom it was this area

removal of material in the mating surfaces on the wing pieces and much dry fitting occurred

Until the big clamps came out

I used CA in the troublesome areas along with accelerator as I wanted an instant bond. Elsewhere I used good old Tamiya Extra thin.

Overall I got a good result on the upper surfaces (Always the most important IMHO) but I still ended up with a small step on the lower. Nothing some sanding won't' fix mind you.

Those who have built this before may notice I've left a piece out of the intake. I'm not being smart, just didn't, as usual, follow the instructions.

[Calum]

Update time. The fit around the intake is average. The worst is the big gap between the intake splitter and hte top of the intake. That maybe partially my fault as I forgot to fit the upper part before putting the wings on.

Plastic and CA were used to fill this gap followed by Tamiya basic putty

The other gaps were filled with Magi-scup (like milliput)

I asked about this line in this thread

It confirmed what I thought, more work required. After studying the photos I realised that the panel lines in this area weren't quite right. I couldn't be bothered to correct all the mistakes just the easiest ones. A bit of re-scribing and filling and I have a better representation of what is supposed to be there.

[Godsmack]

Looking good.

Good work, keep it up !

Cheers , Patrick

[Silver Fox]

You have more patience than me. It is the only kit I've binned without finishing it in nearly 50 years of modelling! Such s disappointment after RoG's recent releases.

[Calum]

You have more patience than me. It is the only kit I've binned without finishing it in nearly 50 years of modelling! Such s disappointment after RoG's recent releases.

It's not the best kit I've built. But I have built worse. I have spent an excessive amount of time cleaning up seams

It's seems they went budget on the design of this kit.

[Calum]

Another problem with this kit is that, like the inner pylons, the centreline pylon isn't included. I've had a go at scratch-building one. I started with one the spare pylons for the stations where the external tanks go. I intend to use the tanks on those stations so these are spare.

On the centreline is going a a Litening pod. The RAF litening pod is (AFAIK) orientated 180 degrees from the standard ones. This is from the new Hasegawa weapons set E. I just turned it over and filled the flat piece with a bit of card. Not sure how accurate it is but it's going to be buried under the fuselage so it'll have to do

I've also re-thought my initial approach to the main gear doors (see above). Mainly because I want to use the PE parts on the door, but also, after looking at the area in detail I concluded the doors sit pretty much on the lower skin of the wing.. I filled the recess I'd made in the door, then attached the PE. Then I glued some scrap card to the internal surface of the door lip. This will provide some strength when attaching the door.

I opened up the main gear holes a bit more otherwise the door was still on to much of an angle, plus I also took some material of the top of the main leg itself. A bit of dry fitting and I think it'll be OK

I also reckon I need metal gear. Especially for the nose leg

Edited August 26, 2011 by Calum

[Calum]

Found a nice shot of armed Eurofighters in Italy tooled up ready for missions over Libya. Noticed that they had Armed Aircraft sign so I made one from yellow card. The HUD Cover is aluminium tape folded to shape and painted.

Also added a few wires to the deck behind the cockpit.

Paint time. Tried a different approach this time after reading an article in Model Aircraft International

Started with a coat of Mr Color Barley grey. Once dry I applied Promdeller wash, (dark Dirt lightened with white) removing it when dry as normal. I then applied various other shades of grey to break up the oneness of the colour. I also used a 2H pencil to redo the panel lines where I went to far.

The theory being I won't need a wash after decalling (except where the decals cover the line).

The lines on the radome where made from 0.4mm Aizu Micron Masking Tape. Even though the radome is supposed they to vary greatly from aircraft to aircraft. To add a bit of variety I went with a lightened mix of Mr Color dark Sea grey. This was also used for the fin tip and tips of the wingtip pods.

Next is clear coating and decalling...... and weapons....... and undercarriage......

[DaveJL]

Lovely work, looking very nice indeed. I'm starting one of these soon, with an Op Ellamy load out. Probably be similar to yours!

Cheers

Dave

[Calum]

Been a long time between updates and to be honest I've kinda lost interest in this one. It always seems to happen at this stage of the build. Despite the lack of interest I've been making some slow progress.

The kit is decalled.

I started with the kit decals but these were very brittle, some shattering in the water. Although I've heard of this happening to old decals I was surprised to see it on Revell decals. I wonder if the heat in my garage over a few summers has caused this. I wasn't to worried as I had the Two Bobs EF-2000 Perfect Storm Tiffies sheet and these looked quite good so I sealed the revell decals and set them aside to dry, just in case. I also noticed that an aircraft depicted on this sheet was also active in Op Ellamy which was good as I was hoping to depict a Op Ellamy aircraft.

I ended up using the Two Bobs decals in most places however I didn't like the yellow for the warnings he'd used so for those spots I used the kit decals. Also, except for the Sqn flash on the vertical stabiliser, where Two Bobs provided multi part decals (I hate these) I used the kit ones. The kit ones worked well once sealed.

For the stencils I dipped these in Future before placing them on the model. This guarantees no silvering and the decals settle down as well as thy do with Micro Set/Sol. I also painted the formation lights on the forward fuselage with a mixture of Vallejo yellow and white.

All this took about 14 hours spread over 3 days. Once everything had set I gave the kit a wash and sealed everything with another coat of Tamiya Clear.

Once this dried I filled in the Countermeasures Holes under the wing. I figure the deep holes are fine for empty dispensers but I figured these would be loaded in operations. Using my finger I pushed Magi Sculpt into the holes leaving them slightly lower than the plastic so I can paint these in the future. Looking at a photos in Andy Evan's Book these seem light yellow/beige colour

[pte1643]

Looks fantastic so far.

[martin77]

Looking very nice that. I'm building the T1 at the mo and its on WIP. But yours is looking awesome , cant wait to see it finished.

[Moofles]

Thats really looking impressive, great work.