trickyrich

I still have the Ju-388J version which is the NightFighter so all is not lost!

very nice!!! That scheme is quite different to what you normally see, the finish is perfect, well done. I know all about compressor dramas, have had a few. I really need to replace my current one so I'm taking 20 models from the stash to tomorrows IPMS club meeting to try and sell. Am after a nice compressor so have to fund it some how. Most are ones I know I'll never build, but there is some rare stuff in there, even some rare resin stuff! (Huma Ju-288C, Planet Models Ju-388K/L & Westland Welkin NF, BaxMod G6 Rhino) All are long out of production. Hopefully I can move a few and make some money. I'm after either a Sparmax TC620X or Artlogic AC2418, neither are cheep unfortunately but they have a tank with I prefer.

as usual I'm late to some of these builds, but what a lovely job Steve, well done!! I know it's way too late now, but this site does have lots of nice photos on the Macchi. http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/Macchi It's a good go to place for anything military flying thing from Oz or NZ.

Nice choice for this build, I've only just found the thread. I've built a couple of these from their initial release from OZE in a previous GB. The Master Model Brass bits are a must, the kit ones, even though they're from Eduard, are pretty poor! The elevators are an issue as you have found, and do take a bit of work to correct. In my build I show how I corrected them. Plus if you have the chance and time (it may be a bit late now by the looks of it), those wing fences really need to be replaced, they are way too think. Some thin brass sheet or plastic will make a huge improvement. The undercarriage is poorly done as well and it may give you some issues, best is to drill out all the mounting points and put plastic pins in them. It'll make setting up the correct stance so much easier later on. There is some detail missing from the exhaust as well. But you've made a great start, I really enjoyed building this model, lots of fun. I'm currently on my 4th Fitter, the Su-7's big brother, the Su-22M4, plus i still have one to go in the stash, another Su-17/22. These models maybe getting a bit old but they are so much fun to build. Keep up the great work!!!

nice choice Werner. I didn't know you were a "clock-winder" as well from the 80's..........that explains a lot!!

yeah the only difference between them and the models ones is the addition of an actuator on the main wheel arm, plus a extra pair of nose gear for the Su-7. I'll use the new main arm and the rest of the kit's bits. I'll drill and pin all the pivot points, they won't work but it'll have lots of strength. Other than the main arms I'll attach the rest of the gear to the wheel wells, that'll be the first job tomorrow. I've finished the Typhoon!

Thanks for that. I had a set for the Typhoon but the upper wing roundels were too small, should be the 60" type but it they are much smaller than that and looked all wrong. The paint is same local stuff, SMS Lacquer Clear Flat, it's nice stuff and goes super flat, much like my fav Mr. Paint stuff. Don't know if it's available outside of Oz. https://www.scalemodeller.com.au

These decals are really weird, at first I thought they may have been too thick hence the problems I had with them. But they're actually really thin, its just there is no play in them. On flat and simple curved surfaces they should and probably do work quite nicely, maybe small ones on small complex curves will work. But on a set of curves like on the nose of the Typhoon they just have no give in them and will split as soon as you look at them (for that matter even thea simple complex curve as in the fuselage was too much for them). Even drowning them in setting and softening solutions do nothing to make them more pliable. The other thing I found when trying to remove the wing decals in that they adhered unevenly (the reason why I had to remove them). I may have been a bad batch, but there were other issues that really let them down. Anyway back to the update....and it'll be the last as well! The end is in sight and I can’t wait! She is starting to become work trying to sort out the final bit and pieces. I ended up deciding to mask and paint the roundels as it would be easier and less troublesome than using another set of decals. So a quick re-mask and touch-up first…… ….followed by some paint and there we go. I should have done this from the start! The only issue is that I didn’t rub back the surface where the decals were and it now shows up quite rough. I can’t be bothered for now doing anymore. If it does start to really bug me later one then I’ll just rub back the whole wing (should have in the first place) and re-do the whole lot. She does look good though, time for the flat coat. Right now she had the U/C fitted, canopy, exhausts, rudder (for the 3rd or 4thtime!! ), plus the rocket rails are just sitting there for the moment. The flat coat has definitely improved her look. One thing I’m still not sure of is what should be the colour of the insides on the radiator opening? I can’t for the life of me find a reference to it. I may go off and have a look at the instructions of the 1/24thAirfix beast to see if that helps. I now need to do the weathering bit, again not too sure how far to go. References don’t mention too much about the aircrafts general condition other than the black step pads were rough and very worn….not a great help. Will start and see how I go. I will though mist some super thinned white (or similar) over the upper surfaces to fade them down a wee bit, side and underneath will be left as is. Seeing this scheme is for the Post VE Day aircraft I my leave off the rockets and just leave the rails in place. Would hate for a rocket to go off and hit one of those pesky Ruskies! Plus there are lots of other wee things to finish. Hopefully I can before Saturday as I want to show her at the club meeting, so next update will be the gallery photos

thanks... just a teeny tiny update. The tail has been sorted out and fitted, I'm really happy with the shape and fit. there's some minor filling of the joins to sort out, stretched sprue should sort that out. The wing/fuselage joins are pretty much done now as well. The only bad one was one of the underside ones, my fault because I forgot to thin down the wing cross section. The join was the problem one on the last build, so I should have remembered earlier! I can just about start to devote more time to her and the Typhoon is in the last stages oh the build (thank god!!). One thing I have found unfortunately is that the SAC metal U/C is almost as bad as the kits gear! So I'm going to mix-n-match them, hopefully I can make something half reasonable out of all those bits!

not an ROCAF F-104? If I don't get this one right I'll go sit in the corner and play with my imaginary friend........

Ooooo look what my lovely (he's actually quite scary) postman delivered today!! .... and some lovely PE bits to go with it! So crazy me will try for 3, 1/72nd, 1/48th, and 1/32nd...... This will be an interesting GB.........can't wait!

thanks....now i just wish i could shrink a Typhoon down to 1/32nd or do some cunning Photoshop work (which I do have to say I'm sort of good at), as my current build is giving me real grief! If you have seen anything I've built I just need to somehow try and make it life like somehow, I just can't do pretty models. So they have to be grubby and looked used. Every build for me is a learning thing, especially AFV's, I'm really out of my comfort zone with these. So I throw some mud and dust and see what happens.......plus I try to copy some of the amazing builds I see on this site. Thanks for the nice comments, I'm glad you like the build.

AAAARRRrrrrrrrr you do love to tease... It's the "even scored a couple of kills for the country" that is getting me... I had thought a ROC Mirage 2000-5...which would be nice to see, or a ROK F-16. If none of these wonderful ideas then I give up....... But next time you get stuck just come see me for ideas!

I was thinking of an Indonesian A-4 Skyhawk, but they haven't shot at anyone for quite a while.

Time for a quick update. I’m struggle to keep away from this build at the moment, I need to get one with the Typhoon but I keep getting drawn back to this one. Guess I’m having so much fun with her. Ok, the wee change to the hump is pretty well done, there’s a slight change, which now matches the profile a bit better. Was it worth the effort for something so small……… With the new tail bits that is a definite yes. The shapes are now all correct and the details are much better/clearer. It actually stitched together fairly simpily though I have had to raise the whole lot a fraction with a thin strip of card. That’ll actually help when it comes time to fit it, plus you can see the plastic pins to help secure it in place. Originally just being a butt joint wouldn’t have given it any strength. I’ve added a small piece of plastic card to fill in the opening on the nose wheel well, from when it was repositioned. Finally the wings. As I’m not doing the flaps down I wanted to be able to sweep the wings back, unfortunately you can’t seem to be able to do this with this model. The wings I think are too fat and won’t fit in the opening at any position other than fully forward. I initially tried just sanding the joining surfaces on a spare set but this just gave me a weird profile and though they’ll sort of sweep back they all wrong when fully open. This time I’ve sanded back the rear section from the control surfaces back, this section was really rounded where it should be flat and the trailing edge was way too think before. Now the wings will sweep back. There’s still a bit of a gap when fully open but I really do like the look when swept back. The only other thing done was to clean up the wing/fuselage joins. Plus I’ve sort of remembered that I haven’t actually added any weights to the nose yet …….no so easy task now! I just drill out the section in front of the IP, I have a new cowling to fit there anyway. Hopefully by the weekend I can start to go whole hog on her, it’s really not too far away from painting time….now that will be fun!