Pappy

Noice! Brings back memories of when I built that kit as a little tacker, cheers, Pappy

G'day fellas, Firstly, thanks very much. I am glad I put the extra effort in now, it is definitely an improvement over the very vanilla kit seat and the pin lanyard adds a much needed splash of colour to the cockpit which is otherwise akin to the black hole of Calcutta! cheers, Pappy

G'day people, I added some additional details like the seat head pad and pin bag then spent a pleasant morning painting up the seat Pretty happy with the result. I will add the face curtain firing handle (try saying that three times real quick!) just before installation as it is likely to get knocked off in the meantime. The seat fits into the jet but there is a little maneuver that needs to be executed to get it into place but it does play nice with the kit cheers, Pappy

Thanks gents, the effort was definitely worthwhile G'day people, Does anyone have any clear side drawings or pictures taken from side-on for the underwing pylons? I want to build a Kosovo mission jet with LGBs like the one closest to the camera in this pic; http://www.ffaa.net/aircraft/super-etendard/super-etendard_fr.htm The outer pylons with the PHIMAT and Barracuda I will have to make. These look shorter than the EFT pylon. I cannot make out the details of the inner pylons that are loaded with GBU-12s but again these pylons look different to the EFT pylon which is longer and shaped differently cheers, Pappy

I have another request! Does anyone have any clear side drawing or pictures taken from side on for the underwing pylons? My kit (Heller/Airfix) only includes the External Fuel Tank (EFT) and Exocet specific pylons. My WIP is here I want to build a Kosovo mission jet with LGBs like the one closest to the camera in this pic; The outer pylons with the PHIMAT and Barracuda I will have to make. These look shorter than the EFT pylon. I cannot make out the details of the inner pylons that are loaded with GBU-12s but again these pylons look different to the EFT pylon which is longer and shaped differently. cheers, Pappy

On being informed they would be performing a SEAD mission: Movie: "IRON HAND is my thing!" Real life "YGBSM!!" Pappy

G'day, The NWW is reasonably clean but the MWW and airbrake bay were quite filthy. Also the MWW doors were typically closed with the gear extended but these also had a tendency to lag open slightly once hyd power was removed. This is just as well as these doors seem to be just a touch too small to meet in the fully closed position, cheers, Pappy

'Bout time you made a start Pappy

G'day people, I spent a little time prepping the bang seat. Initially I was going to tart up the kit seat While poking around the spares box for other stuff I discovered that I had the correct seat in resin so decided to use this instead This proved to be more fiddly than I anticipated as the harness is comprised of multiple PE harnesses that are threaded through buckles (which themselves need to be threaded onto harness straps which get folded over and then installed. I can see why people don't like PE but I had a ball! cheers, Pappy

Yeah I think there is deffo a SUE in the box somewhere and I whinge a lot but it is coming together. I think with the Kinetic and KH releases these should be availabe as a cheaper option at the second hand tables for those that don't mind a little work, cheers, Pappy

G'day, Lovely work, as you say the addition of some additional details add to the realism of the seat. I think in practice the shoulder harnesses were looped upwards and secured into holders on either side of the headbox. Not sure if you are aware but the decal sheet includes some data stencils for the seat headbox which will really complete the seat. The decals appear in the painting section of the instructions, cheers, Pappy

G'day Daniel' Some really great work going on here. One thing though, the nav light on the left fin is clear, the one on the right is red, cheers, Pappy

It is a SUE resin cockpit with some SUE PE ansd some scratch details thrown in for good measure, cheers, Pappy

Cheers BMB G:day people, After the palaver that was the tail I decided to reward my self with some cockpit painting. In the words of Henry Ford, any colour as long as it is black! I have also glued the fuselage together The fit was a little iffy in spots, especially at the forward fuselage sides. The aft fuselage wasn't too bad The main wing halves are trapped between the horizontally split fuselage. Now matter how I attempted to manipulate this assembly I was going to end up with a step at the wing root Lots of filling and sanding ahead.... cheers, Pappy

+ 1 please Pappy

No need to apologise, this is the right place to ask all the 'dumb' questions. An RAF demo is a soft option but if you just want to slap some RAF decals on an F-111A it is the easiest option. If it was a demo, the weapon load would likely be nothing. In the time frame that this was happening, graphic artists would create drawings in a prospective buyers colours but would not paint a demonstrator jet in the proposed colours unless a contract was signed. If you just want an easy build of slapping some decals on the kit and calling it an F-111K, you need to remember that the F-111A began life without a PT pod which was developed later so for an initial bomb load you would be limited yo unguided bombs. The F-111 used dedicated BRU-3A/As that were rated for high speed release (very early F-111As used the six position MERs while waiting for delivery of the BRUs) and TERs were never used. Being an American designed platform they were designed to release the US MK.80 series bombs which the UK did not use. This doesn't mean UK pattern bombs would not fit as the hook spacing was NATO standard 14" and 30" so the UK would need to do its own clearance and weapon separation trials to verify (The RAAF did this anyway despite ussng the MK.80 series bombs) they would play nice. Stores could also be suspended beneath each pylon singly without the MER. I think the only 1/48 kit that includes these is the Academy F-111E (HB just provide MERs one of the multitude of errors that this kit has) Missiles, as mentioned already Martel as well as the nuke (in the bay). Your kit includes the (poorly shaped) gun fairing which was a feature of the F-111A/C. The gun sytem was later removed and rthe space was used for the PT pod (or the recce pallet in the case of the RAAF RF-111C), again this is a WHIF so you draw on F-4K?Bucc and Tornado as inspiration but this is the reason why I suggest an F-111K later in its career when the mature pltform would have a lot more interesting options of LGB/GPS weapons cheers, Pappy

Agreed, plus there were two airframes started and there was a contract in place for purchase of the F=111K, which was later cancelled. The discussion is also related in a roundabout way to the TSR.2 programme cheers, Pappy

Well they didn't make may and the EA role is one of those important but unsung roles. They did operate into the 90s when they were all retired. I wouldn't mind another kit to do an all over grey version Ta, I was happy with the result as well! cheers, Pappy

Ahh gotcha. I agree, the Prowler's cockpit is lovely and complex. I started the kinetic kit a while back, I must get back to it one day....

G'day BMB, Like Hasegawa, Fujimi also had great box art in the 80s. I prefer the EA-6A to the standard A-6 family, the extended nose balances out the long tapered fuselage which seems to end a little too abruptly otherwise. The EA-6B (the 'family wagon') looked even better and was the logical developkent of the EA role. I can see the tadpole, resemblance, not so sure about the penguin, cheers, Pappy

G'day people, I have been working on the stabs. The Heller/ Airfix design team decided it would be a good idea to slot the two part stab assembly (which includes an aft bullet fairing that is part of the fin) inside the fin proper. The stab parts fit is crap and the fit of that assembly into the fin is no better, Also, a small portion of stab is moulded as part of the fin along with the moveable scuff plates. I am sure someone thought that this would be a good idea to assist in aligning the stabs but at rest, the stabs droop TE down so unless you want to depict the jet manned this will need to be corrected which is a lot of extra work. I would really like to meet the person that designed this part so I could punch them in the face First up, the aft bullet fairing was glued into the fin and bogged up, This is what is looks like after sanding Meanwhile, the stabs were separated and cleaned up including replacing the 'missing' portion at the root. I glued in a section of plastic strip and sanded to section The last task was to scratch up some replacement scuff plates. These were simply knocked up from some plastic sheet based on tracing the outline of the plates before they were sanded off the fin. Now I have a new set of parts which will allow me to position however I want Phew, I need a lie down, cheers, Pappy

G'day people, Still with the wings, The EA-6A also was unique in having three wing fences per wing. Fujimi have done their homework here and provide the additional wing fences which jave now been added along with rescribing the panel line detail lost during the process of removing the wing speed brake external actuator fairings Whilst all that was going on, I have managed to get the external stores together and painted cheers, Pappy

As I stated previously, this is a very poor copy of the Academy kit. The decal sheet is worthless and should be burned but a few additional points, 1. The external fuel tanks are the wrong length, if you want something pretty close see if you can find the external tank provided in the old Monogram A-10 kit. The gas bags were not generally used unless the jet was conducting a ferry flight. F-111s had phenomenal internal range and would have been supplemented with IFR tankers if required operationally. 2. The outermost 'fixed' pylons were a different shape to the inner two swiveling pylons. The kit provides six identical pylons When employed, the fixed pylons were isntalled at angle that resulted in them pointing inwards with the wings at forward sweep (16 degrees) so that they would be pointing paralell to the fuselage at the 26 degress wing sweep (best cruise) angle. with the result that the external tank installed would be pigeon toed relative to the other tanks. The huge drag this created means that F-111s rarely used this option operationally. The wings would have to be locjed out at 26 degrees. 2a. The kit features a 'working, pylon swivel mech. It sorta works, not for vey long and not very well. My advice would be to not bother with it, make a model instead of a toy. Pick a wing sweep setting and stick with that. Any angle other than fully forward will result in a gap where wings tuck into the fuselage. The Jet is surprisingly big in 1/48 so it makes sense to tuck the wings back but you will need to come up with your own solution for the overwing seals. 3. The u/c configuraton depicted in the instrauctions is for very early F-111As. The heavy duty u/c that was destined for the F-111K was similar to the FB-111A (and also adopted for the RAAF F/RF-111Cs), t9o correct it you will need toreduce the rear door in size and make sure it hangs down almost vertically rather than extending behind horizontally as shown. The tyres would also be wider with different hubs as this was a feature of the heavy duty tyres. I agree with others regarding the grey/green/ ightgrey as an initial scheme, especially if you want to be boring/predictable. You could also entertain an all over anti-flash white scheme (think TSR.2) for jets tasked with delivering instant sunshine. The camo scheme would have progressed to a 'wraparound' style and eventuallu an all over grey as the aircraft coninued in servicce. Don't forget the ARTF 'desert pink' scheme for Op Granby.. Most people focus on how the jet would look at the introduction to service but I think it would be more interesting to see how it would have evolved and matured in RAF sercice Although originally designed to have short wings, the longer wing toips could be added as a kit. The four F-111A attrition replacement jets delivered to the RAAF were modified this way but flew in RAAF livery for a short time with their original shorter wings. The wingtip extensions allowed for greater range so this may have been an option during an ugrade programme for your WHIF along with later engines, additional sensors (your kit does not include the PT pod) and weapons Your WHIF after all, be creative! cheers, Pappy

It is a (very, very crude) unlicenced copy of the Academy kit. Moulding is generally quite poor, a bit like when you photoocopy a photocopy and the decals are laughable (seriously have a read of the stencilsP) and it is probably best avoided Pappy

G'day, My understanding of the aux intake doors is that they operate automatically with aerodynamic force and that they are nornally held shut by spring pressure and overcome the spring pressure to supply additional air to the engines at low forward speed. With the engine(s) operating at start-up, taxi and take-off, the suction inside the intake overcomes the spring pressure (negative pressure reltive to the outside of the intake) and the doors open. As the jet gains speed during take-off, the pressure inside the duct starts to equalise with the outside and the doors shut. The reverse would happen as the jet approaches to land and slows down. The doors could also open in flight if the jet was executing a slow passs for the camera for example, cheers, Pappy.