WV908

Sorry was half asleep when I wrote that haha - I meant to say you could almost stick it on the back of a mini Spey and light it up Cheers, WV908

@Alan P Thanks for the nose detail list - I see how you've attached the nose now and will try something similar Cheers, WV908

Cheers @Troffa Thanks for info - so yes it's the maxi-skirt from the Revell kit that attaches onto the radome from the Heritage conversion to achieve the right length but there is still a lot of fettling needed to achieve the right angle. The radome in my kit wasn't even circular Cheers, WV908

No worries at all haha, we all do it Looking forward to seeing the finished articles, but what more tweaking is there to do? I think if any more was done to the burner cans you could actually stuck them on the back of a mini Spey haha Yeah I'd definitely make use of what heritage provides and graft it to the Aires cockpit - just need to remember what was actually supplied with the conversion haha. I'll wait to see what you post before I butcher the Revell Tonka any further Cheers, WV908

@Alan P Just given your Tornado thread another read and I've decided against the avionix cockpit due to the undersized seats, the GR.1 style elements and the fact I'm building an F.3T so the mid cockpit section with TV displays is all wrong for me. I'll either just get a pair of seats and mod the kit cockpit, or go full hog and buy the Aires GR.1 set to modify. What are your thoughts? Cheers, WV908 Edit: as an aside on your observations about the F3 conversion nose cone, I did a scaled up measurement from the Revell 1/48 F3 and it took the entire rad

Hi @Alan P Thanks, funnily enough it was the Phantom cockpit I was most unsure about getting. The Tornado cockpit certainly will be helpful and looking at the Echelon kit the cockpit for that is a must so I'll be going for the Lightning cockpit as a certainty. I want to have a better look at the Tamiya Phantom cockpit before I put the money down on that one. Gear wells are not much of a necessity for me - completely unnoticeable on the Phantom unless I stick it on a mirrored surface and not too obvious on the Lighting (apparently they are a pig to fit anyway) and I'll be happy jus

Eh? Long day haha? Thanks for the words of encouragement so far everyone - I do intended to see these through and it might give me a bit of a push to carry on with the HK Lanc WIP too - that stalled when I realised how bad the kit cockpit is, but that is going to be a walk in the park compared to the mods on the Phantom. One thing I am unsure about with these kits is do I put the money in for aftermarket cockpits, exhausts and gear bays? It's a significant sum for all of those so I may just go for the cockpits. Cheers, WV908 / Joe

So... Lightning, Spey Phantom, Tornado F3. Not easy aircraft to model in 1/32 by any stretch My choices of kits for this are the Echelon vac form Lightning F6, the Tamiya F-4J Phantom and the Revell Tornado GR.1 with heritage conversion. I wasn't going to post WIP's for these as I'm a serial starter, but @Anthony in NZ requested I do a WIP of the FGR.2 so I thought, why not put them together in one insanity fueled series of builds. There may also be a Typhoon FGR4 added to this at some point. I do have the kit but it might be a bit too much to add to this thread.

Oh go on then haha, I'll put a triplicate build up of Lightning, Phantom and Tornado F3. Might bung the Buccaneer on the back, not sure yet. Two IM kits, one vac and one resin. Dear oh dear haha. Quite tempted by the Tigger Models Jaguar too, but I'm yet to find a build thread or indeed any photos bar those on the website. With the Phantom I'll widen the intakes, finish those up and add the air doors before I do any horizontal cuts and post photos on here to see what you all think. Cheers, WV908

@Anthony in NZ Thanks, yeah I've just had a read back through the thread and that hump is going to cause more issues than I thought - I considered for a brief while just widening the intakes and then laminating some plastic card on top and shaping that, but later realised it would muck up the contours of the shoulders. I will still be modifying the shoulder section behind the intakes though as the hump's absence is very noticeable in this area, mainly due to the fact of how far back the height discrepancy extends - almost to the rear of the main gear bays on the standard Tamiya fuselage!

@Anthony in NZ Wow, the detail on those is insane. What's the cost looking like for those haha? (I almost hesitate to ask) There was kind a catalyst for me trying again with this and it's that I've just picked up an Echelon Lightning and with a Tornado F3 on the bench too I need something to fill the gap between them Did you end up having those decals for XV408 spare? I'm not a dab-hand at either riveting or rescribing so I'm going to have to decide just how much the panel lines will or won't bug me. I'm yet to figure out exactly how I'm going

Great progress @Anthony in NZ - I've eventually got the mojo back for mine but hit a huge stumbling block when comparing the plans I have with the Tamiya kit - although the shoulders of the intakes keep the same contours, the spine on the kit does not even remotely match that on the drawing. Anyway, with this in mind and looking how the rest of the kit is to be modified I've elected on opening out the intake width from the main gear bays forward. This means that the rear fuselage will (shock horror) be 2mm too narrow, but this plays into my hands as it means I can clad the exhausts

Stunning build Bill - I have the Kinetic 1/48 kit to build as this particular Harrier and I was worrying about being able to mask it, but your build proves it's possible even in 1/72. The addition of the Master F16XL test probe really makes it and rather luckily they do it in 1/48 too so there's one winging it's way to me now. Cheers, WV908

This is looking fantastic - definitely going to invest in the resin cockpit for mine. Sadly my conversion set arrived without the wing glove pieces so I'll have to scratch build my own. I think I too will be fixing the wings in position on mine as it is a very flimsy structure and I have no doubt that making the wings a part of that structure will help immensely. Cheers, WV908

How strange - the first new post on this in three years and it's on the day I've finally managed to secure one of these kits for myself. I'm hopeful that the canopy will be ok but I'm looking forward to recieving the kit regardless. @mr.T Airfix don't do 1/32 sadly, their large scale pick being 1/24, but a 1/24 lightning would be huge. Cheers, WV908