Christer A

Also, my mate and I are printing a batch of 1/48 airbrake bays: Its just the well part of the bay, so it's not a drop fit replacement. Drop me a PM if you want a set.

Tasty! Were they tricky to install correctly?

Everything on this kit would be easier in 1/32! Regarding the other project, I think a dual mount of J79 might work. It worked on the double ugly so it should be possible here as well. Splinter scheme is out, but Night is in. I also need to put a sharkmouth somewhere!

That series of YouTube clips on how to put together this beast sure works wonders. Kind of fun that the flimsiness of the cockpit is what helps with the fit! I do wonder how tricky it will be to replicate this with my Aires pit...

A well fitting Aires cockpit? What is this heresy you speak of? Those cockpit shots looks like pre-rendered publicity shots, except for that background...

Thanks Bosse & Jabba! Not much progress in the cockpit lately, but my 3D-printed airbrakes came back. The first print included a boneheaded mistake that is adjusted now, so this is the final result. Now comes the tricky part...cutting away at the kit part to fit this. Oh well, we live and we learn!

Spacers in the form of plastic card or a bunch of carefully attached sprues could perhaps help? Measure them to correct height on the non warped area and then attach them to the other side perhaps?

Those resin cans were straight from "adults only" websites weren't they? Real stunners in any case!

I'm quite sure that the electrical connections are made to the center pylon, so that's why I put that little feature there, in four different locations. I skipped adding the coffe mug though

Nice to see someone else putting in the vanes in the air intakes Neat progress in the main wheel bays too.

A great looking Flappy bird! I've read somewhere that there should be a step between the upper wing glove and the fuselage, but I'm far from being a Tonka expert so I cannot confirm. Mmmm, those burner cans looks delicious in raw resin! Can't wait to see what you'll do with them.

Thanks RJ! A resin printer is probably where I'll end up in a few years time, but it helps to have a house to put it in! Not much progress to report over the last week though. All pressure from everything with the house coupled with extreme workloads, re-organizations and lay-offs on top of that is quite stressful. I should do as @Marlin and take a few days off work to restore some semblance of sanity... Anyhow, I followed the tip of cutting of the short shot intake on the fin, and replace it with resin. This seems to work fine! Very easy to sand and blend nicely with the plastic. Just needs to carve up a larger hole for the intake. Then I finally made a start on the cockpit! Since the rear firewall has some sort of black padding I figured I could black-base the whole lot. FS36321 was translated to Tamiya XF-54 but either the black base or the color is off because I felt that it's way too dark compared to all pictures of the cockpit that I have seen. Instead of just adding white until I'm satisfied, I switched to Gunze Medium Sea Grey instead. That was more like it! Then I had a flash of inspiration. Let's paint a few panels in other shades of grey. That might look neat? It sort of does! Off course, it's a mix of flat and gloss paints now, but that will be leveled with a gloss coat sooner or later. One round of drybrushing was also initiated to see how it looks like: Yeah, this might just work! I wonder if I can cut out a few of those Revell decals and use them in this Aires 'pit? It's worth a try!

Fantastic detail work in the U/C bays and MLG! That cockpit looks might fine as well.

That looks really promising!

Oooh, nice! A little MW-1 dispenser on the boxart too