Mike Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 I'm pleased to report so far that I have nothing to report. Man, this'd run & run on some websites
Mike Posted May 1, 2007 Author Posted May 1, 2007 Just been outside & taken a few snaps of the bits:Couldn't resist taping the fuselage to see where Neil had his fit issues... it's a "taxing" joint alright
Mentalguru Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 Just been outside & taken a few snaps of the bits:Couldn't resist taping the fuselage to see where Neil had his fit issues... it's a "taxing" joint alright Its going to be fun watching you build this¥ the only critiscism i had of the model on first view was that I thought the leading edges are a bit "brickwallish" and could do with some sympathetic reprofiling.BTW, does it include the markings for the squadron that was hastily formed with seahawks taken out of mothballs to replenish the Harriers lost down south....?
Mike Posted May 1, 2007 Author Posted May 1, 2007 BTW, does it include the markings for the squadron that was hastily formed with seahawks taken out of mothballs to replenish the Harriers lost down south....? It would have done, but a Skyhawk flew across the Atlantic & shot them all down with one missile before anyone could get a shot of the markings
Mike Posted May 7, 2007 Author Posted May 7, 2007 Progress of sorts, but no pics yet. Yesterday I built up the cockpit & added some wires to the backwall, plus a few rivets that are evident from some of the cockpit pics I've been seeing lately. I also added a footwell rest from thin styrene sheet, which I noticed on a few airframes. That seems to be painted a lighter grey than the cockpit around it. I've painted up the IP, and just primered & then airbrushed the cockpit Panzer grey, ready for a black wash later. I also built up the nosewheel wheel, which has great potential for disaster, given that it doesn't locate very precisely in the mounting points. I'll probably put some ribbing on the sidewalls once I've hidden the seams. I also cut off the nose gear strut with a razor saw, so that it wouldn't impede painting the wells. i've added a brass pin from rod to the landing gear leg & drilled a hole in the correct place in the well, so that I can get a precise mount when I put it in. I can also offset it to one side for a bit of interest. Last thing so far has been assembling the tail. It's fairly straightforward, but fit's a bit imprecise again. This is no Wyvern kit... It's got some quite challenging seams/joins to deal with, and there are some odd messy ejector pin marks here or there. Some of the reference pics I've seen have white, or very pale grey gear wells, but the instructions want me to paint everything silver. Anyone got any advice or corroberation of one or the other?
Mike Posted May 7, 2007 Author Posted May 7, 2007 Reet... I've bodged the cockpit together & it looks ok. The moulding of the Pavla seat wasn't the best, and strikes me that they could do with retiring their moulds a bit sooner.All I need to add now is the ejector seat handle & the clear part of the gun sight, and she's done.I'm just working on painting the jet exhausts, and then I'll move onto the intakes, which look like they're going to be fun!
AnthonyWan Posted May 7, 2007 Posted May 7, 2007 Very good start Mike. Looking at buying this kit, so I will pay close attention to your build
Guest Bushbrit Posted May 7, 2007 Posted May 7, 2007 Amalso building this kit. I am at the priming stage and have a few hints 1: Cockpit tub fit is inprecise and can foul fort lateral fusalage seam. 2: Add plently of weight 3 When fitting til unit "squeeze forward fus abd superglue for near perfect fit 4 Wingls a little thicker than stubs. Look at Cleavers build over at MM for a novel approach All in all I love this kit will post pics when I have finished Cheers Sean IPMS AVON (UK)
Mike Posted May 8, 2007 Author Posted May 8, 2007 Thanks for the tips Sean, I'd totally forgotten about the weight...
Gary West Posted May 8, 2007 Posted May 8, 2007 Good work on the pit but the dials in particular - out of interest, is your eye sight good?
Mike Posted May 8, 2007 Author Posted May 8, 2007 Good work on the pit but the dials in particular - out of interest, is your eye sight good? Actually, looking at it again today, it looks a bit crap to me at that scale... Looks better in the flesh My eyesight's a bit better than average for my age, and I don't wear glasses. I do model almost all the time with a magnifying visor on though, and feel I can't get close enough without one... I love 'em
Skii Posted May 8, 2007 Posted May 8, 2007 Nice work squire - that pit doesn't look like the easiest to paint and you've done a cracking little job
Guest Cop Posted May 9, 2007 Posted May 9, 2007 Thats a great start. Hopefully the rest of it will go together as well.
Mike Posted May 25, 2007 Author Posted May 25, 2007 Been quiet on this one, mainly because of being a bit tom & dick lately, but I've been making steady progress. The cockpit's in, the intakes are in & painted:I've detailed (a bit) the main gearbays from a few grainy pics I could find online, painted them up & installed them:That meant I could finally close up the front fuselage halves. This was fairly clean fitting, apart from the right hand side of the nose, which had a noticable step. That's been dealt with using sanding sticks & rescribing, so I moved onto the joint between the rear & front fuselage halves. I'd already built up the rear, omitting the poseable arrestor hook, which I cut the locator pins off, so I can fit & glue it later in the build, to save me snapping it a few dozen times.Learning from Neil's difficulties with the front to rear joint, I decided to glue the top surface as flush as I could, and then glue & deal with the bottom joint once the top had cured. I think I benefitted from this approach, as the step was minimal, and quite easy to clean up. There's a panel line on the joint, so I rescribed that, and will shortly correct the mis-matched panel lines you can see on the top, using a bit of CA to fill the joint, then rescribe it so it goes straight through to the kink further back on the fuselage.The outer wings are built up, with the airbrakes extended, and the wingtip lights drilled out from behind & colored before attachment. The landing gear's also built & detailed, waiting for a coat of pale blue/grey, which seemed to be just one of a few colors used - others being sky, aluminium, even black at times. blue/grey will give a bit of color variation. The auxc fuel tanks are built & smoothed off, and I'm now working on the gearbay doors, which have got some truly massive sink marks to fill with CA. I might add a bit of detail to the insides yet... not decided.More later...
thx6667 Posted May 25, 2007 Posted May 25, 2007 I have got to get me one of these, I love the Sea Hawk, and my dad had some involvement with them when he was in the RN. Have some pleasant memories of going to the an RNHF event a decade back where the Seahawk was supposed to be flying but the thing would not start so we all went back to the crew mess for drinks!
Mike Posted May 25, 2007 Author Posted May 25, 2007 It's a funny kit. In some ways it's very good, in others it's a throwback to how I imagine Trumpeter made kits 5 years ago... kind of rough around the edges. I'm enjoying building it, and so far have got past all the bits that were causing me trepidation. Not the best job in the world, but it'll do - it's also the closest to OOB that I've done lately, which is nice
Phil @ Flory Models Posted May 25, 2007 Posted May 25, 2007 looking good Mike, I know what you mean about OOB it's very refreshing
Gary West Posted May 26, 2007 Posted May 26, 2007 Nice to see your still working on her - wheel bays look good
Mike Posted May 26, 2007 Author Posted May 26, 2007 Nice to see your still working on her - wheel bays look good Fankyou... I've been working almost exclusively on this one, as I'm paranoid of missing the GB deadline. Wouldn't do for an Admin to fail to finish now, would it? A bit of tinkering with the main airframe is in order today, including sorting out those wandering panel lines on the top, then a coat of primer & some pre-shading, methinks
Mike Posted June 1, 2007 Author Posted June 1, 2007 After a coat of primer over the re-filled seams & the moved & rescribed panel lines I sprayed the underside with Xtracrylix sky, after a Panzer Grey preshade, which incidentally made my airbrush clog for the first time in ages I think it needs a little more sky to fade the preshading a bit more, as I think it's still a bit stark. I'll get that sorted tomorrow, then mask off the topside once it's dry.
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