DaveJL Posted August 12, 2012 Author Posted August 12, 2012 (edited) A bit more done today. First job was to start the gruesome task of getting the nacelles into some sort of order. After about an hour and a half of filling and sanding, i was happy enough to install the first set of CE burner cans. These do not fit perfectly into the housing on the nacelles so i had to wrap a sleeve of styrene card around them in order to get a snug fit. After some research and hints from other members, I extended the CE cans by 7mm from the edge of the Nacelle as the CE nozzles are smaller than the opening on the nacelle: Once all 4 went in, i had to start forming the extended nacelle from putty: Going to be a lovely job getting that all nice and smooth! Here are the CE nozzles removed from their casting blocks: Once the nacelles have been cleaned up, i need to add the APU inbetween the exhausts and add a blade antennae under each engine pod. Once that is done, i'll add the CE nozzles and get them painted. While all this hardship was going on i made up the Shul24 SNIPER pod: A bit of filler was needed as i removed too much of the casting block and took a bit of the clear section with it Fuselage is all but finished: Dry fitted the wings just to see what she looks like! This kit has the great distinction of being possibly the only kit ever to use nearly a full tube of Squadron green putty! Next up is finish (hopefully) the engine pods. Once they are done i'll mask off the bomb bays and wheel wells and get a lick of primer on. More to come. Dave Edited August 12, 2012 by DaveJL
DaveJL Posted August 14, 2012 Author Posted August 14, 2012 Thanks guys, glad you like it. Phil, it is HUGE mate!! About the length of 3 1/48 F-14's!! Dave
smuts Posted August 15, 2012 Posted August 15, 2012 Bloody ell Dave, that's impresive mate, same old question though .............where you gonna put it after she's built!!! Andy.
Z Aviator Posted August 15, 2012 Posted August 15, 2012 She's not big, she's GIGANTIC!!!! I've got this kit in my stash, but I'm starting to realize that I'll probably never get around to build it.. I won't have anywhere to put it!!
DaveJL Posted August 15, 2012 Author Posted August 15, 2012 Thanks chaps. Doing a bit more on it today! Andy, no idea where it will go. Hopefully on top of a wardrobe, if not, it's destined for the attic i'm afraid Dave
Z Aviator Posted August 15, 2012 Posted August 15, 2012 Andy, no idea where it will go. Hopefully on top of a wardrobe, if not, it's destined for the attic i'm afraid Instead of putting in the attic, sell it on Ebay. There is always a market for well executed builds!
SaintsPhil Posted August 15, 2012 Posted August 15, 2012 Could you hang it from ceiling? Or wall mount it?
DaveJL Posted August 15, 2012 Author Posted August 15, 2012 Ok, more progress today! First job was to tidy up the modified nacelles. After sanding off the initial layer of squadron green, another layer was needed followed by the application of tamiya putty, as i find this gives a smoother finish for large filling jobs like this: Left that to one side to dry. Next, I assembled the SAC metal landing gear. First time i've used this sort of thing, and very pleased with it. The metal has a nice weight to it and is exactly the same dimensions as the kit parts, but with nicer detail: As i'm nearing the painting phase, I masked up all 3 bomb bays, crew access hatch and landing gear bays: Next, i returned to the engines. Still wasn't happy with the putty, as it still seemed a bit rough. So i donned a rubber glove, squeezed some putty onto a gloved finger tip and ran the filler slowly around the extended nacelle. Doing this gave a smoother, more even application when compared to a normal applicator (in my case an old knife!) Once dry, i sanded it off with fine grades of sandpaper. Also added antennae as per reference material on the undersides from plastic card and added the APU from the Eduard set. I'm going to paint the pods first before adding the CE nozzles. In terms of construction, that's about it before the painting phase! Hope to get the wheels, landing gear etc painted by the weekend then i'll start the jet itself. More to come. Dave
DaveJL Posted August 15, 2012 Author Posted August 15, 2012 (edited) Instead of putting in the attic, sell it on Ebay. There is always a market for well executed builds! Don't think i could bring myself to sell it after all the effort....plus it'd be a bugger to post! Dave Edited August 15, 2012 by DaveJL
DaveJL Posted August 15, 2012 Author Posted August 15, 2012 Could you hang it from ceiling? Or wall mount it? Might be too heavy for that with all the nose weight, metal gear, bombs, filler and resin! I'll think of something Dave
DaveJL Posted August 16, 2012 Author Posted August 16, 2012 Was testing out paints today and suddenly dawned on me that i'm going to need more than one tin! I've settled for Tamiya AS-27 'Gunship Grey 2' so a few more rattle cans are en route. That takes the total cost of this build to £160. Think this is just about the most expensive single project i've done! Dave
scotthldr Posted August 16, 2012 Posted August 16, 2012 No wife for me, still too young and adventurous with the ladies Dave When they hear about the size of your "BONE" the Ladies will become that little bit more adventurous
DaveJL Posted August 16, 2012 Author Posted August 16, 2012 When they hear about the size of your "BONE" the Ladies will become that little bit more adventurous Haha when they realise it's a 3 foot long model plane i'll have some explaining to do Dave
DaveJL Posted August 19, 2012 Author Posted August 19, 2012 Some more progress to show. I'm waiting on delivery of a few tins of Gunship grey, so i need to wait until they arrive to paint the fuselage. I cracked on with painting some of the smaller parts. First up, the Sniper pod: Wheels, with tyres attached: CE nozzles with actuator arms attached: Engine pods sprayed and glossed: CE nozzles attached to the nacelles: The fit isn't perfect, but it'll do for all you can see of them. Also attached my crude FOD covers for the intakes, made from folded up squares of tin foil: Just need to trim them and paint them red. Next up is to spray the fuselage. The wings, horizontal stabilisers, bomb bay doors and landing gear doors have all been done but i've run out of paint! I'm off work all week, so i hope (emphasis on the word 'hope' ) to have this all but finished by this time next week. More to come. Dave
DaveJL Posted August 20, 2012 Author Posted August 20, 2012 Good bit to show today! First up, the intakes. My FOD covers were crap in all honesty so I decided to bin them and try again. Due to the shape of the intakes, it was very hard to get a piece of styrene to fit. If I could go back and do it again, i'd insert the FOD covers before closing the pods. So in the end i decided to scrap the FOD cover idea and instead inserted bits of card to replicate the RCS vanes: Looks terrible, but it's one thing i'll have to live with. Can't really see much of the interior anyway. Next up, i finished the landing gear: Bomb bay doors: Sniper pod with a Flory models wash and flat coat applied: Crew access ladder with some light weathering: Next, i added the decals to the main wings then applied a wash to these, the nacelles and horizontal stabilisers, followed by a matt coat: Thats most of the sub assemblies finished and ready to be attached. After all that was done, it was time for the big one!! Overall Tamiya AS-27 gunship grey 2. A full tin just about covered the whole jet!! Next up is to paint the radome, paint the panels containing the Radio Frequency Surveillance/ electronic counter measures system or RFS/CMS (seen here just in front of the wing and below the angled antennae) paint the DAS blister and a few other little bits. Still on course to have it done by weeks end! More to come Dave
Chris Jephcott Posted August 20, 2012 Posted August 20, 2012 That's incredible work and really taking shape now!!! Fantastic stuff.
DaveJL Posted August 21, 2012 Author Posted August 21, 2012 Good bit more to show!! Painted the radome, GPS dome, DAS blister and the RFS/CMS panels early this morning. Once dry, on went the first coat of gloss. After a few hours, a second coat went on and now she is just about ready for decals! Using Vallejo rattle cans for the varnish. Great stuff! Next up is to get the decals on, another gloss coat, followed by a panel line wash, weathering and a Matt coat. Hope to have this done by Thursday evening. More to come. Dave
DaveJL Posted August 22, 2012 Author Posted August 22, 2012 Decals are on! Went for 85-0085 'No Antidote II' of the 37th BS/28th BW. The bomb tally under the cockpit is fictional for this jet, but i couldn't have my heavy bomber without some mission marks! Coat of gloss is on and will be left to set overnight. Will apply a panel line wash tomorrow and hopefully a flat coat. More to come. Dave
Basosz Posted August 22, 2012 Posted August 22, 2012 Just a thought for the FOD covers... couldn't you use one of those old sponges for the kitchen... the double sided ones? One side is the thin rough scratchy side and the rest is just a sponge (don't know if you have those where you live). That would hold the shape of the intakes without damaging them, and you could probably fit some plastic (from a sandwich/lunch bag or similar) over it. Would be well removable too.
DaveJL Posted August 22, 2012 Author Posted August 22, 2012 Just a thought for the FOD covers... couldn't you use one of those old sponges for the kitchen... the double sided ones? One side is the thin rough scratchy side and the rest is just a sponge (don't know if you have those where you live). That would hold the shape of the intakes without damaging them, and you could probably fit some plastic (from a sandwich/lunch bag or similar) over it. Would be well removable too. I might try that actually, i'll have a look tomorrow, see what I have. Thanks for the tip! Dave
DaveJL Posted August 23, 2012 Author Posted August 23, 2012 Getting there with the build today it really tried my patience. More on that later. First thing I did this morning was add a panel line wash over the entire jet: Once this was dry (left for about an hour) I cleaned off the excess with a damp cloth. Then the rest of the weathering was done, followed by a flat coat: While that was drying, I tried again with the FOD guards. Using Basosz's idea (in reply above) I cut four rectangles from a fine sponge: Test fitted: Painted and installed. Great idea, thanks for the tip Basosz!! After this, it all started to get a bit heated. The landing gear was a pain in the bottom to fit as every time i tried to glue it, the metal just fell over under it's own weight. I eventually got it and left to dry while I vented my anger at the gym. Should have waited until later....as the bomb bay doors would just not sit the way they were supposed to. I ended up having to hold each one in place for about 20 minutes until the glue set. The resulting arm cramp was lovely. After that fiasco and a good deal of cursing, I also installed the crew access ladder and the landing gear doors. Finally, i added the engines. Almost lost interest in it today but the finish line is in sight! Next up is to tidy up some paint, add the Sniper pod, wings and Horizontal stabilisers and that should be that! More to come. Dave
Basosz Posted August 23, 2012 Posted August 23, 2012 I'm well glad to see that worked! Usually it's me stealing ideas from here. It's still a frelling monster of a kit but it looks cracking.
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