Jabba Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 It seems like you are having a bit of a battle there Dave. For a rather recently moulded kit that is a lot of filler, and I know that your modelling skills are a lot better than what you state earlier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted May 27, 2012 Author Share Posted May 27, 2012 It seems like you are having a bit of a battle there Dave. For a rather recently moulded kit that is a lot of filler, and I know that your modelling skills are a lot better than what you state earlier. There just seems to be quite a few rough edges that do require filler to clean them up. I'd be interested to know if anyone else is having similar issues! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandwagon 106 Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 (edited) I don't know about anybody else, but every F-16 kit I have done-Italeri, Hasgawa, Academy, Tamiya-in 1/32 and 1/48 have all had that centreline section problem-the part that covers the top of the wheel bay.Tamiya and Kinetic do it as a larger piece than the other but it is still a pain! I have yet to do a Kinetic-the Sufa will be first, but I imagine it being the same as the others. They all have it to varying degrees, and I find it has lessened as my experience grows (I've built a lot of Vipers over the years!), but it is one bit that always needs looking at. One, and only one manufacturer has made this area a non-issue-Hasegawa with their F-2. Good work though Dave-The Isrealis use the fin extension / parabrake for more avionics. Joel Edited May 27, 2012 by Bandwagon 106 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted May 27, 2012 Author Share Posted May 27, 2012 I don't know about anybody else, but every F-16 kit I have done-Italeri, Hasgawa, Academy, Tamiya-in 1/32 and 1/48 have all had that centreline section problem. I have yet to do a Kinetic-the Sufa will be first, but I imagine it being the same as the others. All to varying degrees, which have lessened as my experience grows (I've built a lot of Vipers over the years!). One, and only one manufacturer has made this area a non-issue-Hasegawa with their F-2. Good work though Dave-The Isrealis use the fin extension / parabrake for more avionics. Joel Thanks Joel. Perhaps it is the kit and not my lack of building skills! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandwagon 106 Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 Nothing wrong with your skills Dave, some kits need more work than others no matter if you are a veteran or a new comer. F-16s are no different, but it is good to have such a variety of versions. All the various kits out there have their plus and minuses, then again, it is such a complex shaped aircraft. Joel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Mcellaney Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 Dave, I don,t know if its just that kit but I am working 4 Kinetic F-16,s at the moment and they have all gone together rather well F-16I Sufa F-16C Barak F-16A F-16B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted May 27, 2012 Author Share Posted May 27, 2012 I built the Sufa a year or so ago and had very few problems with it, so maybe it is indeed just the kit. The one part on all the kits that i believe is a problem is the nose with 3 separate panels and then the nose cone to add in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted May 27, 2012 Author Share Posted May 27, 2012 Nothing wrong with your skills Dave, some kits need more work than others no matter if you are a veteran or a new comer. F-16s are no different, but it is good to have such a variety of versions. All the various kits out there have their plus and minuses, then again, it is such a complex shaped aircraft.Joel Thanks for the confidence boost Joel I'll take an F-14 any day! Though i do have some kits to build soon that i've never attempted, so should be interesting! I still think the Tamiya F-16 kit rules the roost, from what i remember anyway. Hopefully, my second entry will prove this to be true! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotthldr Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 The Kinetic Blk 52+ Hellenic boxing isn't the greatest of fits either, especially around the radome area as you state Interesting to see that Mikes kits are two tone Grey mouldings, what's the reason behind that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike V Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 Finally made a start on this fine, rainy, cold, miserable day!Cockpit built up and ready for paint: This is quite a bad fit as the piece is overly thick (as are quite a few parts on the kit it has to be said) I then moved on and added the two panels to the rear fuselage. I don't know why these are given as separate parts, quite annoying as the fit ain't great! I built up the main landing gear bay and installed that to the lower fuselage next: Same with the forward landing gear bay: These sections require a good bit of work to get a nice fit, and there are a lot of raised ejector pin marks that need removed. As i'm adding a FOD guard to the intake mouth, i didn't bother painting the interior parts. Call it cheating if you will! Also built up the avionics spine: The only aftermarket i'll be adding to the cockpit are the pavla seats (with casting block still attached!) It may not look it, but there's almost 4 hours of work there! Next up is to paint the cockpit and hopefully get the fuselage closed up. More to follow, Dave. Yeah, to say fit is rough overall is an under statement. The amount of clean up per part is more than twice that of the typical Hasegawa Hornet or Tamiya Viper. I forund the nose section to be particularly sloppy. Nice job cleaning all that mess up! Man, those seats look a bit soft and odd shaped; who makes them? Any problems fitting those resin seats in, since the kit cockpit is on the shallow side? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted May 28, 2012 Author Share Posted May 28, 2012 Yeah, to say fit is rough overall is an under statement. The amount of clean up per part is more than twice that of the typical Hasegawa Hornet or Tamiya Viper. I forund the nose section to be particularly sloppy. Nice job cleaning all that mess up! Man, those seats look a bit soft and odd shaped; who makes them? Any problems fitting those resin seats in, since the kit cockpit is on the shallow side? I agree with your description of the nose section! It is a mess! The seats are from pavla. They are quite detailed units, i don't think the camera has done them any justice. They fit snugly into the cockpit too. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted May 28, 2012 Author Share Posted May 28, 2012 The Kinetic Blk 52+ Hellenic boxing isn't the greatest of fits either, especially around the radome area as you state Interesting to see that Mikes kits are two tone Grey mouldings, what's the reason behind that? I see you have some filler on the exhaust section too! Interesting about the two tone grey as you say. The Sufa I build was two tone grey mouldings also, and the fit was much better. The overall grey ones seem to have the worse fit. Perhaps it was a moulding batch or some-such. In saying all that, she should still build up quite nicely Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotthldr Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 I see you have some filler on the exhaust section too! The rear fuselage(exhaust) section is part of the Aires exhaust set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted May 30, 2012 Author Share Posted May 30, 2012 The rear fuselage(exhaust) section is part of the Aires exhaust set. Looks to be a much tidier fit than the kit part! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich F Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Looking good sofar Dave, just one thing. Are you doing yours wheels up? If not you may have to modify the main landing gear legs to get them to fit as you need to fit these (part H10) before you fit the center landing gear bay section (part C42). Just thought I'd mention it incase you've missed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted May 30, 2012 Author Share Posted May 30, 2012 Looking good sofar Dave, just one thing. Are you doing yours wheels up? If not you may have to modify the main landing gear legs to get them to fit as you need to fit these (part H10) before you fit the center landing gear bay section (part C42).Just thought I'd mention it incase you've missed it. Bugger! Didn't realise that mate, thanks for the heads up. I'll have to sort that later. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted May 30, 2012 Author Share Posted May 30, 2012 (edited) A bit more to show this afternoon. Thanks to Rich's observation, i had to correct a cock up i'd made and remove parts of the main landing gear bay in order to fit the gear legs. This required some bending, breaking and swearing but I got there in the end! As well as fixing that error, i attached the ventral strakes, arrestor hook, antennae and cleaned up the exhaust area: Moved on and added the bulged nav lights on the intake trunking as well as adding the pylon for the Litening pod. I binned the kit part as it was horrific and replaced it with an example from Hasegawa's weapon set 'E': You may also notice the filler around the main gear well. As i've mentioned previously, this is quite a troublesome area, and it needs a bit of work. I'm not sure if it is just my skills (or lack thereof!), this particular kit or the Kinetic F-16's in general but I haven't heard of too many people having problems with this section, so might just be me! General look of the underside: A few more small bits just need cleaned up. Note also the deployed flaps have been attached. On that note, the flaps had two very prominent raised lumps that needed removed: Next, i moved to the nose to tidy up that mess! As i'm adding AOA covers, i removed the probes in order to get a better clean up. 40 minutes later, i think it's about as clean and smooth as i'll get it: A few more small bits to add along with a good tidy up and that will be her ready for priming. More to follow. Dave Edited May 30, 2012 by DaveJL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandwagon 106 Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Good work Dave, well done on the fix too. Joel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted May 30, 2012 Author Share Posted May 30, 2012 Good work Dave, well done on the fix too. Joel Thanks mate. Still looks very messy but a coat of primer will sort that out. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted June 3, 2012 Author Share Posted June 3, 2012 Kit is ready for priming. All areas that needed it, have been sanded and smoothed. Was a bit of a battle to get to this stage but anyway here she is ready for primer: Should hopefully have a lick of paint on by mid-week. More to follow. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 Good bit of progress today. The jet itself went off for priming so i concentrated on all the little parts and sub assemblies. First up, the missiles: GBU-10's (with drooped sensors added): Fuel Tanks: Litening Pod: FOD cover: ACES II ejection seats: Moved onto the canopy next. Quite a prominent seam line on it: Out came the micromesh (first time i've used this stuff). Started with the 3600 grit and worked my way up to 12000 grit. A coat of polish (supplied in the Little Cars craft kit) went on and this is the result: Quite happy for my first attempt! Canopy just needs a coat of 'smoke' now. Will leave the jet overnight to dry and commence painting in the next few days. More to follow. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyC Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 Very nice work especially on the canopy Dave. She is quite a 'filler hog' isn't she? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 Very nice work especially on the canopy Dave. She is quite a 'filler hog' isn't she? Thanks Andy. Yes, the kit was a brute to get together! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted June 13, 2012 Author Share Posted June 13, 2012 (edited) Paint on! Took about 7 hours in-between coats. Painted free hand. Colours are Tamiya XF-57 Buff, XF-21 sky (perfect match for the pale green colour) and Model Master dark tan. Underside is Model Master light ghost grey. Radome is dark sea grey. Next up is to highlight the panel lines, some detail painting and a coat of varnish ready for decals. More to follow. Dave Edited June 13, 2012 by DaveJL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted June 17, 2012 Author Share Posted June 17, 2012 Good bit of progress. Gloss coat was done a couple of days ago so on went the decals. The kits decals are superb (printed by Cartograf and designed by Skys decals): Litening pod glossed and decaled: Missiles: GBU-10's weathered. On that note, i've noticed that the IDF GBU-10's seemingly didn't have a yellow band around the nose: Boarding ladders (donated by 2 kind BM'ers from Hasegawa F-16's): Canopy with a coat of Tamiya smoke: GE-110 installed: The rest of the landing gear assembly is also in (minus one strut which snapped and needed repaired): A few other bits and pieces were painted too. Coming together nicely. Next up is to add a panel line wash. I normally use a very fine pencil for this, but want to add a bit more 'brown' to the lines. I plan to give the panels a go over with a watered down mixture of Tamiya smoke and flat black then remove the excess with watered down white spirit. Does anyone have any tips of their own for panel line washes? More to follow Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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