dr_gn

Thanks! Re. the gun trough parts - I dont really know TBH. For the scheme I'm doing (#3) it says to use the 3D printed part. However, there are two injection-moulded versions in the kit. One of them (shown on the left - fitted - in the picture) is identical to the print (middle) interms of panelline and rivet detail, although the gun troughts and bulges are a bit more refined on the print. The other moulded part (right) has slightly different fetures. The thing is: 1) The 3D printed rivet detail is finer (or at least "different" from the surrounding plastic, and as you can probably see has already almost got lost under just one coat of primer. So the level of surface detail wouldn't match the surroundings without deepeing and widening each rivet. 2) The 3D printed trough detail is better, but once I've finished drilling out the plastic version, and flatting the bulges slightly it won't really be that much different. 3) For me it was easier to attach the plastic part with liquid cement and get more representative panel lines on the joint lines that with using hard cyano. The part also needed springing apart slightly to get a perfect fit - easier with plastic and a bit of heat than to risk snapping the 3D printed part. So - is the printed part better overall? Open to opinion, but I opted to stick with plastic.

Been working on this a bit on Thursday evenings. Filled and flatted some unwanted surface details (as per instructions): Did some wheel well work including p/e and scratch building some boxing-in: Added some lines later on too: Got the cockpit finished - including adding glazing to the dials - nosewheel bay also assembled and fitted: The ball bearing weights are a nice touch, but by most accounts not enough to prevent tail-sitting. Mine's got even more weight behind the main wheels with the brass p/e flap assemblies. I checked with a simple jig: Then added some bits of lead solder to compensate: Started to drill out the nose gun ports before attaching the nose piece. I stuck with the injection-moulded version rather than the printed one, a) becasue it needed a bit of bending outwards due to the nose not going together perfectly, and b) it's easier to fit neatly with liquid cement. Did a bit more detail painting and adding brake lines to the main u/c: Also made and fitted the engine intake splitter (again as suggested by the instructions): Current progress with wings attached and flap bays Araldited in place: It's going OK, but it doesn't seem like Tamiya levels fo fit. Maybe becasue of the etch stuff I'm adding, but even so it sometimes feels a bit vague.

Continued with some p/e - torque links on the landing gear: Some electrical boxes on the front wheel well sides: Also spent an hour or so scraping plastic detail off the radio box that fits behind the seat, and messing about with p/e plates. Just as everything looked good, I dropped it into a pool of Araldite, so had to start again. Then drilled the mounting holes for it into the ribbed rear cockpit top. Then realised that the radio wasn't fitted to the version I'm doing, so had to fill the holes and replace the rib...fairly typical of a model build for me these days: Anyway, got some small parts primed: And the base colour on ready for weathering: And painted the wheels, and tyres used very thin Tamiya Rubber Black wicked into the rim detail, then blocked in the rest: The central radio panel in the cockpit had a decal, which like the instrument panel seemed like it wouldn't ever conform, but with a bit of Microsol, it's looking OK: Resin exhausts look good: And the 3D printed gun breeches are a world away from the injection-moulded versions (even though I snapped one of the cocking levers off so need to replace both now: Obviously all that lot needs a lot more refinement, but so far so good.

Further work of the flaps tonight. Cut out the plastic lower flaps and thinned the plastic on the upper wings: I ended up separating the flaps from their housings since it seemed increasingly unlikely that they'd survive the build without damage during filling/fettling during fitting, and subsequent building of the rest of the model. Also makes masking and painting much easier: Instructions didn't indicate that the inner edges needed bending to profile - would have been easier had the inner rib not been glued, but whatever: Bit more minor fettling needed, but nearly there now:

I forgot to post these - I made them last year too. Seat: Standard kit part, kit 3D printed part and Eduard etched parts: It's clearly between Eduard and printed, but the Eduard one can't match the subtle details of the printed one - e.g. the rendering of the rolled edges of the seat back. I was surprised how well the belts turned out after painting and weathering the raised detail. The standard moulded seat and harness decal don't even come close. As predicted, 3D prints are really showing up the limitations of injection-moulding these days, especially at small scales like this. This was the instrument panel - I can't even remember if it was the standard kit parts and decals, or the Eduard pre-coloured etch set. I think it was the former:

All, next up is one that been on the bench (or more accurately started, but in its box) since Christmas 2024 when it mas meant to be a quick Christmas build. It's the Arma Hobby "Cactus Air Force" kit, with the Wildcat, and 3D prrinted parts: Began by cleaning up parts from the sprues, which are pretty nice. Seems like the airframe parts of the mould have been media blasted or chemical etched to give a matt finish: I wondered if that's to give a better key for paint, or to obscure the machining / etching marks that are visible in some other areas: Whatever - the level of detail is superb, even says "Firestone" on the tyres. some big old sprue gates though... The parts are great, but I'd say not up to the latest Tamiya quality; bits of flash, and some of the sprue gates could be better positioned. Machining marks are quite noticeable on some parts, but time will tell if they are too fine to survive a coat of primer: The matt finish does give the airframe parts a quality look: The 3D printed parts are among the best I've seen in terms of fineness of detail, but I'm not sure why they've duplicated the upper front fuselage - the surface detail might be slightly better, but then it probably won't match that of the adjacent injection-moulded surfaces. I'll see what it looks like under a coat of primer. The guns seem too small to my eyes. The hollow exhausts look great though: The seat has beautiful detail, but I did wonder why mould the seatblets onto it? I guess since there's no photo-etch included they had little choice: I did doubt it would look as realistic as sepate belts on the p/e seat from the Eduard set: I debated whether to use the printed seat and apply the kit supplied decals to it - just to try something new, or whether to just go with what I know works. Bit of a pause for a year or so, then just before last Christmas, I made a start on the Eduard Flaps, which looked pretty good: And bringing the build up to date, I completed the flaps last week, and am now waiting for some Mr Surface to arrive to fill up some minor gaps:

All, does anyone know of 1:43 Porsche 956/962 models (.stl files) to download for 3D printing? Thanks.

Thanks all - very much appreciate the positive comments!

Thanks Eddy. The colours were Vallejo Model Air. I saw a Viggen build on here some years ago, and I thought it looked great, so I just copied them. I’m ashamed to say I can’t remember for sure whose build it was, but I think the name was REINI (they commented on my build thread that I’d used exactly the same colours that had used). The Vallejo paint designations I think are early in the build thread. So either way, credit to REINI for choosing them! ETA:

I (think) I've re-sized the images - for those who appreciate dust 😂

Thanks I’ll try again a bit later.

Thanks very much guys. Not sure how to post bigger pictures. These were re-sized for Facebook, and the look ok when viewing there.

Thanks - you weren't wrong when you said it's a pain!

Finished pics here: Thanks

Hello all, after several years on-and-off building, this is my Special Hobby 1:72 Saab AJ-37 Viggen (Thunderbolt), F6 Västgöta Wing, Karlsborg, Sweden, c.1984. Build thread here: CMK resin & p/e cockpit, RAT, wheels, control surfaces and airbrakes. Master Model Pitots & AoA probe. Res-Kit 3D printed AIM-9P missiles. Self-designed & 3D printed RB-04 Missiles. Scratch-built wheel well detail. Scratch-built / self-designed & 3D printed canopy internals. Maestro Models mask set (partially used!). Vallejo paints, Winsor & Newton Galeria Matt varnish. A pretty good kit in general, the canopy and windscreen gave me the most trouble, along with the fragile decals. Special Hobby were very good with replacements though. Thanks!