arfa1983

And just like that it’s finished. Looks fantastic! I now know if I ever see this kit for sale I will have to buy it.

Magnificent work! I've always wanted to build this scheme.

Oh man what an ordeal! Looking awesome though!

Been working on this a lot recently but haven't been doing updates. Nothing much to report anyway, just preparing all the little odds and ends and cleaning up and redoing panel line washes. This morning got the airbrush out and did the ordnance Then a few hours later: DONE! I am extremely happy with how this turned out. And really this is a wonderful kit. I think better than Academy and probably Hasegawa too. It is miles better than Tamiya! While the tiger stripes may not be to everyone's liking for me it is something different and I'll definitely be building many more of these aircraft in the future anyway. (It is the most beautiful jet fighter to grace the skies!) Will get proper photos this week for gallery!

Another somewhat productive weekend. Got almost everything painted and now pinwash is done too. I still need to clean up the pinwash then do final assembly. I am also planning on putting four kit dummy/practice sidewinders and three dummy GBU-12s, but did not get around to painting them today. I also just realised that I have not yet painted the seats yet either. I have also unfortunately lost the canopy actuator arm. Can anyone tell me how long it is in 48 scale?

Looks great but a real shame about that canopy. I've had this issue inn the past where clear coat has come into the cockpit somehow and settled on the inside. I think only way to fix it is get a new canopy!

I have lost the main actuator arm for the canopy and will need to scratch a new one. Can anyone tell me what length the actuator arm is in 1/48 scale? In millimeters preferably!

It's a weekend edition. It should take you only a weekend right? Good luck with the build. It should be a very attractive model when finished

But the horsie and his indignities look very good... that sounds funny now that I write it...

Well I had a very productive couple of days this weekend! A lot of filling and sanding and scribing on the wing joints. I don't know why Revell designed the kit with the outer wings requiring gluing. For me it is definitely the worst part of the kit. I also fought with my airbrush and the weather but was able to get a modulated grey on plus the rear end Alcladed. I have most of the decals and stencils on now, these photos are from earlier today. The tiger stripes will need a little more softner and some fettling to get into place but in general I am very happy. A month left to finish this, and it's basically just the painting of landing gear, canopy and final assembly so should be OK! I do want to put a few dummy sidewinders on though also. Thanks for looking!

Sure, I have them! but how to apply just to the round front windows? With airbrush like normal keeping rest masked? I've done dipping full canopy but not spraying.

Wow that looks amazing. How did you make the canopy green?

Fictitious? Fictitious?! You mean a long time ago in a galaxy far far away?

It is true, a Voodoo with one can out-do a voodoo with two

Hi Alan, If I recall correctly, I used Tamiya acrylic gloss black as the primer, then Alclad polished aluminium for the airframe and Alclad chrome for the nose ring. Before the Tamiya black I polished the plastic with micromesh down to 12000.

This should be interesting. Make sure you drill and pin where you can. Just using superglue will likely not be enough.

Thanks for the tip Dennis. What are the brand names for such products? It's kind of hard for me to get some of the more obscure and specialty things where I am.

While this kind of plane is not my cup of tea it is for sure beautifully executed and the paint job is second-to-none. Just a wee bit behind schedule but with a finished product like that it hardly matters. Oh... and thanks for keeping the updates going.

Are you allowed to ask for an extension already?

I got this kit from the personal collection of John from Showcase Models in Melbourne. He ordered in the Hobbyboss kit for me specially and when I told him it's shape was ... less than satisfying... he took it back and gave me this out of his personal stash. It came to my attention on this website that John passed away some years back, which I was quite sad to hear about as I used to spend a lot of time at his hobby shop just chatting about models and other stuff too. His shop was by far the best one in Melbourne, as he typically focused on stuff which the other shops weren't carrying. This is the second kit he gave me out of his personal stash (first one was a discontinued F-4S), so I will build this one in his memory. His Showcase Models brand was also releasing kits. I purchased a small Collins class sub from his brand but I never got around to getting the 1/35 Bushmaster which I regret now. Enough! Now the kit (second of the same boxing in this GB, so there will be some direct competition! ) And the famous special scheme which was applied upon returning from the Gulf in 1991. The decals are an age old so I hope they behave. If not, the LHS has a Italeri kit with same markings! Good luck everyone and I look forward to this GB.

Got my photos into the gallery. Another GB done and dusted! This was a great GB, with varied but related aircraft giving a very nice theme which was not too broad but also more interesting than STGB where every plane is the same! Thanks @modelling minion for all your encouragement and everyone else for their likes and comments too. This one may not have gotten across the line without the support. Btw the RBF tags are semi fictional and just put on to add some visual interest and draw the eyes away from the faults.

I built this early in 2020 when I was just getting back into modelling. I realised now that I need to weather this and paint the exhaust... whoops! I think this kit was more challenging than it needed to be and kit was decent but maybe I had difficulty because I'd been out of the game for so long! Builds up into a nice looking model but it definitely did not fall together itself! Cheers, Arthur

Trumpeter kit. An extremely good kit that I highly recommend. I didn't weather this but I should probably go back and give it a little pin wash. Cheers, Arthur