RNoAF Aerobatic Team Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Nice Jens! What du you use to re-scribe the panel lines? All hjelp settes pris på! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parabat Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 Jens, This is incredible! The cockpit alone is a work of art, and that cannon opening is fantastic! I will definitely be using some of these as reference for future builds, this is truely inspiring stuff. Thanks for sharing your work with us mortals. Rip-Cord Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coneheadff Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 (edited) WOW! Those are a lot of instructions for some items I wanted to solve myself...THANKS!!! Fantastic work! Edited January 22, 2012 by coneheadff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev1n Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 ditto ^ ^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucas Enrique Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Superb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Mullen Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Coming along nicely Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 (edited) Glad to see you find useful tips and inspiration. I've been inspired my many other modellers building the Hasegawa kitty, and if I can make it easier to tackle this kit and make you push your own boundaries, then it's all worth it. Had a rather good modelling weekend, and was able to make lots of progress. I think the clue to successfully build this kit is to regard it as a limited run kit. Dryfit and check often, and there are lots of little shape issues that can be improved on. One of these being the bottom of the rudders. The kit rudders have a straight lower edge, and this makes the rudder almost touch the exhaust fairing. Pics in various reference books show that the rudder angles up slightly 13 mms from the trailing edge before there is a small angle that is perpendicular to the rudder panel line. A small detail that I think adds to the finesse of models is to make the control surfaces look like separate parts, so I cut a slot on the top of the rudder with a fine razor saw. The effect of the modification on the rudder on the inside necessitated some repairs with a bit of plasticard. There is quite a gap on the real thing as well here. The main effort of the weekend was getting the rear fuselage together, and to do this I also had to glue the wings together so I could use them as templates for the seals. After truing up the mating surface to the forward fuselage, I glued two tabs to help align these two assemblies as well as providing extra strength. The upper intake lip (or splitter?) doesn't fit too well even after trimming and there are sinkmarks too. I picked up a tip from the Model Art Profile book and added some plasticard to make it wider. The fuselage parts have been merged, and not surprisingly there is the need for filler on that join too. A preliminary check indicates that the amount of resin up front maks further noseweights unnecessary even with the wings swept aft, but I'll double check that with the exhaust in place before gluing the nosecone on... Jens Edited January 24, 2012 by jenshb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coneheadff Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Hi Jens While working on my Tomcat I saw something that you might consider too...and of course everybody else, too Take a look at the scan from Daco's great book. You can see the upper part of the aft fuselage "lifting" with the wings swept back. As you're investing so much time and detail in your build...you might want to do those two cuts in your fuselage and sand the edges a bit. Cheers, Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 (edited) Hi Alex - that is something I will look into... Can't see the pic yet, but I think I know what you mean. Thanks for the suggestion. Jens Edited January 30, 2012 by jenshb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 That pit looks like a stand alone model in itself! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 Well, that job was ten minutes with a razor saw and superglue - thanks for the tip Alex. Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 The wing seal on the upper fuselage could be better. This is what the kit provides. The red arrow points to what looks like a sinkmark above the wing hinge, but there is no sudden change in thickness of the plastic in this area, so this must have been created in the tool. Is there a "dimple" like this on the real Tomcat? It is quite shallow, and won't be noticeable unless the light is low and casts shadows, and none of my references show it clearly. Jens Jens, checking some pictures on the Squadron Walk Around shows that a similar "dimple" is indeed there, although I'm not sure Hasegawa reprouced it correctly. Great job on your model, is looking really good. Must say that the Aires wheel well is a huge improvement over the kit parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted February 12, 2012 Author Share Posted February 12, 2012 These past few weeks have shown the less endearable sides of the kit and the Aires aftermarket. Before I could get to this stage to verify the nose would stay on the ground... ...I had to fit the Aires exhausts. Studying the instructions, the only way I can see these work is to remove a lot of material. Kit to the left, and the modified part to the right. I recently bought a Unimat miniature lathe and multi tool, and this really came in handy here. And this is then how it's supposed to fit. Now, the exhaust fairings of the kit aren't stellar, and they are missing some panel lines every three segments. To recreate these, I made a simple template that will allow me to scribe these more consistently. Now, seeing that these parts miss details, and the extent of modification to them that is necessary to fit the resin exhausts - why on earth didn't Aires include these in the set? The far worst aspect of this kit from a fit point of view is the intakes. I thought I'd finished the intakes until I put them on the kit with the shock ramps, only to find gaps of 0.5 mm either side. My solution was to glue 0.5 mm plasticard to either side of the intakes as shown. These were then Milliputed again and I've lost count of the number of times I've sanded, primed, micromeshed and painted these intakes. I think I've spent about a quarter of the building time just to get the intake halfway decent. The ramps were not assembled according to Hasegawa's instructions. I left the actuator out on the forward ramps and made some new ones for the rear ramps. Even so, I think they are a little bit too low for the subsonic position - I'll pretend there is some leakage in the system:) Another modification is to make a step in this position as pics in the DACO book show there is a step there when the wings are in the oversweep position. The kit is smooth here, and it was a ten minute job with a razor saw. Just put the intakes on for show as I'm still awaiting the ethced brass sett from AMUR Reaver coming from the other side of Russia. In the meantime, there are other sub assemblies to be worked on... Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
periklis_sale Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 great progress my friend :clap2::clap2: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coneheadff Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Wonderful progress, Jens!!! I absolutely empathize with you on those intakes. They are crap and I really hope that TwoMikes will release the full-depth intakes soon. Cheers, Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 (edited) Ah, didn't know that TwoMikes are planning to release improved (and corrected!) intakes for this kit. It certainly will take a huge chunk our of the building time if they don't suffer shrinkage that must be corrected with filler. Don't think I've mentioned that before, but the intake lips on the Hasegawa kit aren't right - they are too square in the corners, but not as bad as the HobbyBoss kit. The lower and lower sidelips are supposed to be blunt, but the kit has the lower lip as sharp, and the sides are too blunt. I think this will be a must for the next one. Jens Edited February 13, 2012 by jenshb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DannyB Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Incredible work on those intakes, it's really starting to come together! Can't wait to see it finished Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Great stuff Jens, a lot of useful tips here ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 Glad you find the thread useful:) I must admit I wasn't expecting so many little inaccuracies in this kit, although they aren't really showstoppers. Two little improvements of the day: First the antennas on the stabs. The kit has these as ovals and not very pronounced, wheras all photos I can see has them as a circular crossection. Cut a slot in the stab, shape a piece of plastic rod, glue in place and then sand the trailing edge flush with the tip of the stab. The other minor detail I discovered this evening while looking at the Profile book and trying to work out why the slots in the lower fuselage were blanked and new ones moved forward. To me, the slots look like they are in the right place, but the ventral fins not only are too far aft, the NACA scoop is also too far aft even when the fins are moved forward. I made the holes ovals so I could move the fins forward, and then I filed two slots in the fin forward of where the intake is on the kit part so I could glue a strip of 0.25x1 mm Evergreen plastic to bring it forward. Once dry, I'll fill and sand to shape. This also has the benefit of making the intake look hollow:) What will tomorrow bring? Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted February 18, 2012 Author Share Posted February 18, 2012 After seeing a review on Hyperscale for an etched brass set from A.M.U.R. Reaver, I knew I had to have them, and promptly sent off an email ordering two - one for the A and the other for the D. The etched set provides details that are not available in other etched sets, but will add a lot to the model. http://www.hyperscale.com/2012/reviews/acc...2reviewrk_1.htm Payment was swiftly arranged through PayPal, and four days later they were on their way. I never knew where Khabarovsk was until recently:) Two days ago, they arrived, and I personally think they are better than the decided to start work with the most complex part of this fret - the guide vanes. This would also allow me to get those intakes on. The instructions don't recommend an order of work, and after thinking about it, I decided to first curve the strip to form the ring. To keep the centre flat, I made a hole in a piece of plasticard and a dowel. I pressed the centre down while twisting the guide vanes with a pair of tweezers. Finally, I twisted the vane that held the "ring", and the result looking like this. Then I folded the Ring through 90 degrees and inserted the end of the vanes into their slots in the ring while supergluing them one by one. Fit here is actually quite good, but you need to take your time and go slowly. The instructions tell you to use the intake cone from the kit, but this is not quite right for the TF30, so I decided to make my own. Adding a few details on the way, and it all ended up like this with the kit compressors. To fit the grilles, I chose to carve out a recess in the surface and drill a hole to create the open space behind it. This would give me more surface area to stick the parts to. A piece of tape to hold the part in place and roughly level with the surface. The same procedure was repeated for the cooling gills on the top surface for the stabilator actuators. Modified and standard kit...no contest. Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucas Enrique Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Jenshb, Its incredible your work!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parabat Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 This is absolutely masterclass Jens, thanks for sharing. Parabat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coneheadff Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 That is a great build, Jens!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Great work Jens, this model is becoming better and better ! Those etched parts are very interesting, might have to invest some money in them myself... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 Thanks guys, hopefully I can get the intakes on this week, and then there will be a weekend of modelling... Still plenty to do on this one. Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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