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Hallo again This Kfir C-2 I pre shaded to meet the real outlook of #909. It was in all not so complicated, but I did it differently from other a/c. All over, it is in C308 grey colour. Therefore, I did a base with this colour and pre shaded then. So, I could avoid thick colour layers. The 307 islands on the flying surfaces I did than and at the last, I finished with 308. The result is good and I saved lots of masking work. For the kit: The gear is the best and most accurate of all Kfir’s. The nose, here panel lines at the left side are not correct. The front glass is perfect, much better as in other kits. So both kits have pro and cons. Actually, the decals for my a/c from Wingman, is in a way designed, that it can’t work on the left side, because of the actuator fairing of the rudder. This is the negative side, which can be noticed easily. A cut out and reserve red decal would have omitted this fault. Well, actually, the model is finished, and the forum on this a/c is closed than. I will proceed with the Mirage IIIc in Alclad from Eduard new kit. Happy modelling Bernhard

Hallo again This here is my third Kfir in 1/48. For cutting extra fine resin parts I use the US-cutter. So I can get out every resin part. For sawing I use japaneses saws, which reduce the volume of chips to 20% of the 100% to normal saws, you are used to have or we comonly buy. The first was an Italeri with a conversation set from Isracast several years ago. The second you may see on the forum, was from ANK. This third one is from Kinetic with resin parts from Wingman (cockpit) and Aires (exhaust, scoops and antennas and pitot). The plastic is very different to AMK. In every sense. I do not want to judge it. But I can tell, that the main fuselage is more accurate, as in the AMK. The lever mechanism for the two small wheelbay doors is also there. This was a missing part on AMK. The installation for the main gear strut is also better. We can see the finished a/c and then you may decide it. The resin cockpit including front wheelbay is accurate. The really sad point is, that the left side console aft the throttle is a worse molding! I painted all the cockpit tube by airbrush in C308 and C2. All details later on by brush. The air intake I did preassemble, spraying and total gap filling and grinding before any installation in the fuselage. The gap is too big. Cockpit installation is easy and fuselage completion too. But one point to remark: The Aires nozzle needs some surgery inside the support of the nozzle and tube! Now after grinding the assembled a/c I put on some surfacer on the gaps underwing, and on spots, which I filed already with CA. Now I sprayed the glasses and do final painting on the ejection seat. Here it is my intention, to show a nearly clean a/c, just with supersonic tanks on the wings. Maybe I add the launcher for the Python 3. The four airbrakes I will not close entirely just a little bit open. The flaps are in down position. Since I have photos from the a/c I want to build, I will have to pre-shade it according photos. If it works out, you may see both photos. In a few days, I will show you more. Happy modelling

Hallo again Now spraying with clear varnish. First gloss GX112 and the last one was flat GX114. The final assembly caused me some headache and anger. The main gear gluing area is a horror. A square hole with some tolerances in the wheel well and a plastic part as the main gear strut. This special area in plastic modelling is so troublesome, just ZM showed how to get a fine result. They made the pivot of the main gear strut and according the hole in the wheel well. The F-4 Phantom of Hasegawa is also such a horror. This makes plastic gears collapse easily. Or WW2 a/c, the Bf-109 for instance. The producers of plastic models seldom provide us with kits, which are a joy. Other small parts are inadequate from the injection process, so that pins are somewhat like mountain hill. In resin I am used to that, but not in plastic. Well, not more to say. This blog is closed now, and I will proceed with Kinetic Kfir C-2 with supersonic wing tanks. Happy modelling

Hallo again Well, the spraying process was well done. Masking is some effort, but actually, all went straight on. The decaling was some other matter. I used Wingman decals and stencils printed by Cartograph. · The geometry from AMK to Kinetic does not fit at all. They must be in all ways two different a/c. There is on every detail so much difference, that I had to abort to use the yellow triangles. All hatches have different size, lights are on different positions and so on and on.……. · The decal and stencil material is awful to work with. I used Microsol. Not all decals and stencils set on the surface in the first stage. After taking them out from water, I could place them on the surface and put them on position as required. However, they did not stay in position at all. After I used Microsol, I had to reposition them in the right position. The decals did not want to absorb any Microsol by itself, so that the surface of big decals became inhomogeneity. · I suppose that the quality of Cartograph decals is a matter of day and date, but not a constant at all. I am actually very disappointed from this fact. Decals I loved to work with, was Sky Decals. They are easy to handle and stay on place and in position. To resume for me: Never trust any product! As you see in this case AIRES resin and the decals, this fact can spoil someone's beautiful hobby. Happy modelling

Hallo Your comments: · The centerline tank I never thought as an option. · Here at this blog now I talk about AMK and AIRES. · What I pointed out, was that AIRES cockpit is multiple nonsense. Because of the lack of correct position for the front wheel leg and because of the incorrect size and incorrect position of the HUD. I am going to finish the build. Hope to post soon the painted model. Happy Modelling

Hi you all Now my Kfir went on. The airframe I glued together. Without major problems. The cockpit I painted and used the front part from Aires. Here is my warning: The resin cockpit from Aires you may have a major conflict if you install the HUD. The HUD has no proper position on the resin. Besides that, it is far too big. If Aires took the original HUD, they oversaw the thickness of the glass from the kit. In every way, it collides with the glass. It gets bent or breaks off. Therefore, I took the two resin parts, sideway of the HUD, which are actually mounted on the frame of the front glass and the bottom of the front cockpit. Here you can reduce the evidence of the missing HUD. Or you build a cabriolet. All together it is far away from an improvement of your kit by using resin. The ejection seat I took from Aires. The nozzle is funny to install. Just one way and plop. You never get it out to glue it properly. One try, that is it. Kit parts are quite good; in some zones, there are gaps to fill! No zero gap kit. Far away! Happy modelling

Hallo again This Gotha Vb in 1/72 broke apart in many pieces, when a storm blew my box with this model away. It was after a model exhibition at the Austrian Army Museum in Vienna in 2010. The model was gone and I was in tears. So much work in vain! A friend of mine collected all the debris and took it home. Now after 9 years he brought it back as you see it on the photo. Many parts he had to guess and scratch. He gave it as a birthday present to my close birthday at Friday 22nd February 2019. The same faith had my RAF bomber, the HP Hampden which was also scattered in the storm, my friend build up again as MET flight a/c. Happy modelling

Hi you all This will become my Kfir C-2. I built it several years ago a C-7with an Italeri kit and a conversion set from Isracast . This was very difficult, to achieve a proper result. This time I build 2 Kfir C-2. The first from AMK and the second from Kinetic. The aftermarket products I bought you may see. Beside this, I have as left over a complete conversion set from Isracast for the C-2 and the fuel tank and pylon set from Isracast. Of course, the book about the Kfir too. My personal linkage to the Kfir is that I had to live with this a/c. Every day over years and months, I could see them on the sky in Israel. I spent so much time there. The dogfight exercises I liked most, to climb up like at a candle in a group of three or four. Several times, I got lost in time or I was sunburned during this. Now to the build: First, the bad news. The AIRES cockpit set is NOT TO USE!!!!!!!! You will lose the entire front wheel well. The same experience I had with my Skyhawk. You may use parts of it, but that is it! I do not understand how the Aires people can release such a nonsense! The AMK kit is actually well designed. I could not make out any major flaws. I want to create a C-2 for ground support. That means to install the Kfir MER and the four stations in the back and front for a single bomb. I intended to install the supersonic tank, but there is none in the kit. Anyway, maybe I will take this one from Kinetic or from my resin kit from Isracast. In my case, I would load the Mk. 82 bombs and the Python 3 missile. The build until today went all straight ahead. I changed the cockpit front part to resin. Here is to mention, that the MB 10 ejection seat was used at late C-2 also. And the dashboard I will change to C-2 standard, since my Aires one is for C-7. The nose gear: Here I glued all the parts together and drilled holes for a pin to hold the nose wheel. It is an eye catcher on the Kfir, the nose gear! Tomorrow I will start spraying the cockpit. Well, so far. If you have any question, you may look at the walk around from our website. I took many many pictures on the Kfir. The history of the development is so interesting, if you may like it, I will give you next times a short intro. Happy modelling

Hallo again Well, today the gear is on! Nothing special, just to spray it in appropriate colors and obtaining mishaps during assembly. Uneventful. As you see, the F-4S is complete now. Nothing special to remark, but one major issue in comparison to my Hasegawa Kurnas: The angle of wingtips, watched head on from the front, the angle of the tailerons are so different, just like a joke. It is the same difference as you may notice if you build a MIG 15 in 1/48 from Revell, Tamiya or Trumpeter. So please fail your decision carefully, if you want to build an accurate F-4! ZM is far-out the most accuracy kit. So, this blog is closed now. I will continue with the Kfir in 1/48 as C2 in grey from AMK and Kinetic. Happy modelling

Hallo again Now, the a/c I sprayed in the appropriate camouflage in grey tones C308 / C307 / C337 / C301. The varnish before and after decaling was GX112 and after the cover in GX112 on the applied decals I used GX114 to get an nice smooth flat surface. According to the decal sheet. The decal sheet is quite informative, but I suggest spraying also the leading edge of the tail fin in C 301. It is better so, I had to be tricky to get a good result. The big decals work very well. Since I am a fool concerning decals, my weak point all the 25 years, I got along. Therefore, I prefer spraying all the stuff or transfers dry or wet. Well, now I installed finally the nozzle and hook, the tailerons and the seat. Well, next time the gear is on! Happy modelling

Hallo again I started with doing all my glasses and spraying both sides of it. New Ware masks I can highly recommend. Even all the other lights I installed. The pitot and the other pipe on the tail I installed. Well, this time I worked on my panel lines. Before giving the surface, any coat of primer or color. Since I want to have the panel lines not so strong. In reality, you see there on such an a/c just the shade of the small gap, or of a difference of thickness. Dirt is on a carrier a/c seldom, but the wear is visible. I will pre shade the panels in dependence what and where. You will see more next time. The exhaust area I sprayed with C-8 from Mr.Color from Gunze. Right afterward I gave them a coat with GX-112 gloss varnish to protect the aluminum surface during masking. Afterward I masked it and shaded with diluted black the heat resistant panels. The pure metal panels above this area I masked and afterward they got a little bit of black shade. That is actually all. No Alclad. After I finished that all, I gave this area a flat finish with GX-113. Now I have to mask the model for final spraying it. Happy modelling

Hallo again Subject of today: · The air intake · Installation in the fuselage · Wing installation · New way of economic weathering with more realistic look Now the air intake: Here you may notice the circular end as shown in the photo. There is a very uncomfortable design error, the step. It wobbles and you may get the right or wrong position during installation! Take care for ejection marks at the whole intake trunk from the entry to the outlet. I stiffened it with the thinnest evergreen sheet! Now the end of the fuselage as shown in the photos: A support for the end of the wing & fuselage part is missing. It wobbles also! Awful area to grind. I am sure that ZM will not delete these flaws for the E version! The surface treatment: I decided to make weathering more realistic. The black panel lines not so prominent. To achieve this, I put the black panel line fluid from Tamiya straight on the blank plastic surface. Afterward I did pre shading in white in the center of panels. Afterward spraying in the colour as intended. That is all. See and judge yourself! Well, the airframe is quite well, slats and cockpit glass is missing yet. Well, I will continue very soon. Happy modelling

Hallo again Subjects of today: · The Cockpit · The Ejektion seat · Sanding and filling the fuselage I did not use the etched parts, because of the missing 3D effect. The painting was not complicated, routine. The instructions are good, to get along. It is my third Phantom from ZM. The instruction are generally confusing, and there is no overview for parts. Example: The lever for opening the hood! 4 different parts, for zooms, but no overview. In design business, the designer would drive all the people of a workshop crazy! However, the modeler should be resistant for all flaws and errors. You may see the installation of the pitot tube, with the missing diameter called out. 0.8 mm. Measure this, but if you do not have this equipment, you are in a bad position. The next miracle: The lever from the etched parts, handle is prepainted and it should be red. How to fold it? I guess the designer was absent with his brain! Next issue is the banana ejection seat. A new invention from Eduard Brasin. The tolerances are not quite right. The assembled part looks like that. I put it in the garbage. Yes, many stones lay on the path. I resume, if a new starter, a young modeler is confronted with such a high concentration of nonsense, he may give up. Remind yourself on easy to read instructions of Revell Monogram! Alternatively, Airfix! The fuselage halves are nicely detailed. Specially the tail. However, the lower part of the cross section does not fit. Between hook area and parachute compartment, the tangents do not match at all. This is at all ZM Phantoms the most to sand area! Now the fuselage is done. Filled with CA and glued. I removed the AOA indicator. I will take the AOA from Hobby Decal. This one is better to install. It is a correct design. You need a 0.5mm hole, and the base of the indicator has 1mm. Therefore, there is a shoulder to rest and glue. Much better than Master. There is no shoulder, and you may lose the AOA, if it slips away. The pitot tub and the other tube at the fin I removed. To be replaced by ZM set of etched parts, maybe done by Master. I am sorry of all the bad subjects, modelling should be a joy! Anyway, I will proceed. I am used to distress. Happy modelling

Hallo again This will be my fourth Phantom in 1/48 scale. The S version. My first one of the US Navy and even my last one. The next will be a RF-4E from the IAF. This a/c will be from VF-151. It will be in grey (4 different tones). To achieve a good effect, I will use a basic black paint, with lightning the panel center. In addition, to get repair panels in different pre-shades. The externals I reduce to the centerline tank only, to show this interesting wing! Here I use (not correct) the left over brasin seat from the USAF. I hope to get it that way that the differences will not be shown. The oxygen gauge at the seat cushion I will cover with the harness. In the kit, the floor is very difficult designed for the uniform plastic ejection seat (the same at all versions!). This understructure I had to remove for the brasin seat. I wanted to use etched parts, but I lose all the 3D effect. Not at all! I will paint it. Well, so let us see, what it will look like. Until next time. Happy modelling

The blog about the F-4E Kurnas is now closed. An F-4S from ZM in 1/48 will follow. Happy modelling