Edge

The resin engines were slightly too wide when I attempted a dry fit of the fuselage halves and bottom so I attacked the kit plastic with a half-round file until a better fit was achieved. I may have to revisit this later but am happy for now. Still avoiding the cockpit, I spent an eye-aching session fiddling with the intake FOD guards. These are now painted red (Tamiya XF-7 acrylic). I recently purchased some Eduard UK RBF tags so have had a go at drilling a couple & fitting the thinnest wire I have (0.2mm) through to fashion a loop which will attach to the FOD guards. I'd hoped that I could drill the handle I'd replicated on the guard but it's too thin & in real-life appears to be more of a webbing strap. I'll have to have a think on it. Anyhow, here are a couple of pics of today's fun! Untitled by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr Untitled by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr Edge

Lovely model Sean. Really like the panel line wash & satin finish. Edge

Having parked the cockpits for now, I spent a little time fiddling with the nose gear leg until I reached a point where I need better reference material (ordered). I'm hoping to add enough detail to take the eye away from the inaccuracies. I also spent a couple of days putting together the rather lovely Res-Kit resin exhausts. I was sloppy in removing one of the sections from it's casting block, hence the slight wonky appearance of one of the assemblies..... Several shades of Alclad, some tan on the flame holder, pastels and washes later we have this: Untitled by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr Untitled by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr Untitled by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr Hoping to emulate something like this: ADour104.04 by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr Edge

Superb Seafire Tony. Love the colours & finish. Edge

Am I correct in thinking that the etch & masks are only available in the 'expert' boxing & not separately? Edge

Ah but accessing the loft runs the risk of revealing the size of the stash and that really isn't something to be taken lightly! Edge

Had a couple of hours playing with the Jaguar this morning. More grinding, scraping & sanding in & around the cockpit. I think I am getting closer to the locating the seats in approximately the right places, using the canopies as reference points: Untitled by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr Untitled by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr Still have some thinking/work to do around the height of the front seat, how the front IP locates around the front screen and it's cut-out in the kit, plus there are some huge gaps & misalignments visible in the nose wheel bay. I've ordered some reference material and some supplies (including some tiny grinding burrs for my dremel) so may park this bit for a while and move onto something else like the wheels and exhaust. Edge

That's good to hear, pity they're not better quality though. Me too. Unfortunately the Buccaneer is buried deep in the stash. I'm not even sure which pile its in! Edge

Hope you don't mind me following along? Just started an Italeri Jaguar with a Neomega cockpit and I'm finding it a bit of a wrestling match. Are there any instructions in your sets, asking as there are none for mine which I found odd? I think I have the same combination of Buccaneer/Nemoega put away for a future rainy day so am doubly interested in how you find this one. Edge

Thanks Neil, I may take you up on that. An added delight of the resin set I have is that many of the parts appear to have been cast leaning to one side so I am also trying to align things by eye when I spot something awry. Left the cockpit alone and began to add some detail to the nose wheel leg. Edge

Spent what seemed like all morning fiddling with the fit of the rear cockpit, with the aim of replicating the side-on image shared by Neil yesterday. Lots of cutting & grinding to the rear section of the Italeri plastic allowed the Neomega resin part to be fitted further back, with the effect of moving the rear seat closer to the rear cockpit bulkhead. I think it's now much closer to the actual aircraft I think. This has also had the effect of moving the locating peg for the nose gear much further back so that'll have to be dealt with later, along with fit of the other resin parts and the gaps that moving things around will create. Here's a pic of the rear cockpit dropped roughly into place with the canopy & centre canopy taped across to gauge the position. The headbox aligns pretty closely with the rear of the canopy as it starts to curve upwards, which matches the photograph. Untitled by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr Edge

Today I have spent fettling the seams on the intakes and fuel tanks, with repeated sanding & filling sessions. It's slow and tedious but I'm getting there! Looking through the images in the walkround section, Italeri have the basics of the nosewheel incorrect. It should be shaped as a sort of 'Y' with a definite rounded triangular section missing above the oleo. They have moulded it as a solid piece, so I had a go at replicating the approximate shape. As originally moulded: Untitled by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr And post hacking: Untitled by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr It's nowhere near perfect & I may continue to adjust the shape a little, but overall I'm quite pleased. Edge

Thanks for all the advice guys - I'll have a play with the cockpit again later (I've walked away from it today). By way of an explanation as to the quality of the Neomega set, I've snapped a quick photo of what I believe is a representation of the part visible in Neil's images above. There it's the piece taped in white & includes the black framing. Here's Neomega's version: Untitled by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr I'd been concerned about the fir of the cockpit parts and in particular on how they affect the nose wheel assy. as this attaches directly yo the cockpit floor. I may have to re-think things and deal with the 2 issues separately. Edge

A little more tinkering with the Jag today. The Italeri plastic isn't the best with mold seams everywhere & some misaligned parts too. Here's a couple of images of the intakes and drop tanks slathered in PPP to try to eliminate the worst: Untitled by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr Untitled by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr I've also had a go at making some FOD guards to save dealing with the seams & ejector pin marks inside the intakes, and it also removes the see through look too. Untitled by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr Close-up photo's are so cruel! Hopefully it'll look OK under some paint! Edge

That looks like 'Metal Stream' bur as Jeroen says the 3 digit colour code will confirm. Edge

Yes it does look that way. The Neomega cockpit is in 2 pieces, where the Italeri is a single piece. If I move the 2 resin sections to fit the front coaming & rear of the back seat I'm left with a yawning gap which is visible through the nose wheel bay. I'll head over to the walkround section & take a look at the images of Newark's T.2 to compare the cockpit framing with the interior. Edge

Had a quick hour after lunch to fiddle with the Jaguar. I removed & tidied the main fuselage halves & wing from the Italeri sprues & taped them together with the Neomega nose section added too. I have to say that it's a pretty good match straight from the box & hopefully a smidge of filler will cover the small gap: Untitled by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr Untitled by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr Untitled by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr Thinking slightly further ahead, I wondered how the cockpit canopies would match with the resin section. So I carefully removed them from their sprue with a razor saw, tidied the edges a little & test fitted all four sections. The front & centre pieces here are held in with some white glue whilst the opening sections are just resting in their positions. Untitled by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr Untitled by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr The piece at the rear of the back seat cockpit is interfering with the rear cockpit hood, but some careful fitting should alleviate the worst of this. I'm planing on having the 2 sections open, to better show the resin details, so the worst of the mismatches should disappear. Here's hoping anyway! Edge

Hi Gondor. I think I'll have to find a method of filling the void as it's quite visible. Luckily the cockpits are mostly black so I'm thinking that some plasticard should cover the worst. Edge

Hi All Thought I'd share my latest start of a kit with you & ask for some opinion on the resin additions too. This is the Italeri Jaguar T.2 kit with a resin cockpit set from Neomega. I've been a bit of a serial kit starter recently with a binned Cyberhobby Sea Venom and a shelved Academy Catalina on my list of shame, so I won't make any promises as to whether I'll see this one through either. Included in my plans are a set of wheels by Armoury & some nice exhausts from ResKit - hopefully more on that later.... I made a start by trial fitting the Neomega parts to the base kit. No mean feat as there are no instructions available, so it's been a case of studying the kit parts & instructions and trying to work out what the resin parts are & where they fit. I think I have it sussed now but would welcome any feedback, particularly regarding the rear of the back-seater's cockpit, where there is a yawning gap if I position this part aligned to the fixing point for the nose wheel leg (it fixes to the bottom of the cockpit floor). Anyhow, on to some pictures to illustrate progress so far... This is the Neomega coskpit in sans control columns, all held in place with blutack or white glue. The section I'm unsure of is at the rear, behind the 2nd cockpit. I've added what could be the ejector seat rails to the back of the 'pit section with an appropriately shaped piece of resin set behind to busy-up the part left plain by Italeri. Pit 2 by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr Pit 1 by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr This last image shows the gap visible in the nose wheel bay if I position the rear cockpit against the rear bulkhead. I've since added at a piece of resin left over which could be a depiction of the ejector seat guide rail (see pic of completed cockpit - it's just about visible). Nose well 1 by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr Edge

Wonderful job Neil - she's a real stunner! Edge

I think the Revell boxing of this kit suggests adding a 1mm spacer between the fuselage halves, ahead of the windscreen. Edge

She's looking great there Bill. Glad to see you back & well. Stay safe and best wishes to your fantastic daughters. Edge

Those grey Merlins really do look like patchwork quilts! Great photographs though, thanks. Edge

Nice to see a Beau in such early and rare camouflage. Edge

Lovely build. I did some work at the old Chipping Warden airfield last year. Still plenty of wartime buildings in use so very easy to imagine R1410 waddling across the site for the last time. Edge