mmaker Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 (edited) Great build mate! You did a fine job in the cockpit too! If Kinetic do a 1/72 version... What scheme did you planned? G'day George, Thanks very much. I am going to do it up in the green and grey QinetiQ (ex Luftwaffe Alpha Jet A) scheme with British roundels and fin flash. Probably XJ645 or 646 cheers, Pappy Edited January 10, 2014 by Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 My little brother just graduated from ETPS in November last year... Cool! Is he Biggles 82, or Ginger81? I see these jets a fair amount, because I only live just down the road from ETPS. Love the sprue glue idea, Pappy; what proportions (or sprue to glue) do you use, or is it just trial and error? Gorgeous cockpit, BTW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 Cool! Is he Biggles 82, or Ginger81? I see these jets a fair amount, because I only live just down the road from ETPS. Love the sprue glue idea, Pappy; what proportions (or sprue to glue) do you use, or is it just trial and error? Gorgeous cockpit, BTW. EW, The proportions are entirely trial and error. I start with the dregs from a bottle of Tamiya extra thin cement (green lid), when the brush no longer reaches the glue at the bottom, it will be come a donor for sprue glue. I add enough chopped bits of sprue to leave a complete layer in the bottom of the jar. The smaller you cut the bits, the quicker the solvent dissolves the sprue (and the quicker you lose your patience!), leave overnight and it will be good to go in the morning. The consistency varies depending on what viscosity you want. I have two grades, thin for minor filling and smoothing work, and heavy for really big gap filling. Be careful applying generously to thin plastic as it can melt/distort the surrounding styrene so best to build up in layers if required, cheers, Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles81 Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Merry New Year Ken! Wow, I guess your brother is a little bit good at flying then? Not sure about that Pappy, I have not yet flown with him. I have driven with him and that was bad enough........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 Not sure about that Pappy, I have not yet flown with him. I have driven with him and that was bad enough........ Flying can't be that can it? You just aim for the ground and miss! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 I am liking the way this is shaping up! Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 G'day Martin, Thanks very much. A little more progress today. I attached the intakes and their associated ducts yesterday. I only applied the glue to the upper portion of the air intakes. Since the lower fuselage section is not yet fixed in place, the fuselage sides have a tendency to spring inwards without the rigidity that the upper wheel bay insert confers. I temporarily attached these items while the glue was setting up to help ensure a good alignment of the intakes to the fuselage. A lights sanding is all these items will need to blend all the components in once the lower fuselage is permanently attached. Today I had a play with detailing the main gear bays. My kit will be depicted in-flight with the undercarriage cycling. I don't intend to replicate every nut and bolt, but i do want to add some 'busy up' the main gear bays. I have started by adding a floor to the rear of each bay My references show some sort of avionics boxes mounted on this rear shelf so I have chopped up some styrene section. I then used a punch and die set to make four shock mounts for each box, then these were installed onto the new gear bay floor I don't have a lot of pics, so a lot of what I am doing is a guestimate, it is by no means accurate! cheers, Pappy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coneheadff Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 (edited) Good progress! Looking fwd to see your LDG in transition. The fit of the lower fuselage isn't that bad. What are the two Evergreen pieces on top of the wheel wells for? Cheers, Alex Edited January 11, 2014 by coneheadff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 Good progress! Looking fwd to see your LDG in transition. The fit of the lower fuselage isn't that bad. What are the two Evergreen pieces on top of the wheel wells for? Cheers, Alex Explained in the post above.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmaker Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Great progress! Too bad there's nowhere some detail photos from the bays... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 Great progress! Too bad there's nowhere some detail photos from the bays... Thanks George, a lack of photos is both bad and good. On the downside, any detail added is only a guess, on the upside, it is harder for people to point stuff out that is wrong! G'day people, The main gear bay is just about done, just the painting to go now. I have added some hydraulic lines and electrical wiring wiring. I will be the first to admit it is not 100% accurate, but it does look better than just an empty hole. A test fit to see if anything would would foul when the time came to close up the fuselage, happily no dramas here either. Hopefully a bit of paint will bring everything to life. I have also cleaned up the small gap where the front windshield meets the nose. I used some plastic card and my sprue glue mixture applied liberally to fill the gap. It has come up very nicely! cheers, Pappy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark 64 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Looking good. Please correct me if I am wrong but wasnt there an Alplajet in 1/35 scale in the making? In any case yours looks awesome. I dig that plane. Oliver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 Looking good. Please correct me if I am wrong but wasnt there an Alplajet in 1/35 scale in the making? In any case yours looks awesome. I dig that plane. Oliver Dunno, you're telling the story..... G'day Oliver, thanks for thre kind words. 1/35 scale sounds like an unusual scale for a jet ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 (edited) Edited due multiple post Edited January 12, 2014 by Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coneheadff Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Looking great! I didn't realize those are the same boxes in the posts above. Thought they are inside the fuselage, on top of the wheel well. Oh boy, should get my eyes checked :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 G'day CH, Don't look too closely, I will say up front that this area is not 100% accurate, I took a leaf out of the Shep Payne book of 'creative gizmology' ;P Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 G'day people, The fuselage assembly is rapidly drawing to an end. I have attached the upper wheel section to the lower fuselage section. This deviated from the instruction sequence slightly which would have you attach the upper wheel bay section before attaching the lower fuselage section. I chose this sequence because I feel it results in a better seam inside the wheel bay, while still allowing the whole assembly to be inserted into the upper fuselage assembly. A few small gaps were encountered, but nothing drastic. A small gap at the nose, And another at the rear, And finally on these small sections that meet the intake cowls. These were dealt with using a good dollop of sprue glue, simples! The wheel bays are looking busier now The seam of the lower fuselage section continues quite cleverly along the top of the two panels aft of the wheel bays. The fit here is excellent I have also test fitted the two exhaust components to illustrate the great fit of these parts as well, cheers, Pappy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 16, 2014 Author Share Posted January 16, 2014 G'day people, A little more progress. The lower fuselage seams have now been taken care of. The 'zorsts have also been attached, and I am very chuffed with the fit of these items, This completes the major fuselage assembly, I just need to add the canopies and crew to complete and then it is time to add the wings, cheers, Pappy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 19, 2014 Author Share Posted January 19, 2014 G'day people,Wings are now on. As the the majority of the construction to date, these went on without any dramaThe only sticking point now are the drivers.I have raided the spares box and found a couple of nice Hasegawa Viper drivers. Usually the biggest issue with adding a figure to to a cockpit is that the figure's legs are too close together to clear the centre pedestal. the F-16 crew don't have this issue, however, due to the cockpit ergonomics of F-16's, the figure's arms are very widely spaced as befits a design with a side stick controller. In this case, this means the figure needs to be modified to fit by thinning down the left arm and altering the right side of the torso to bring the joystick arm back across the body.The feet were also lopped off as they do not quite find the rudder pedals.I also added a gentle curve to the lower forearm to improve the fit.The helmets will also need modification to better represent the British style flight gear.Does anyone have any good pics of the helmets and oxy mask set-up used by UK Alpha Jet crews?cheers,Pappy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 very nice progress! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 G'day people,I have added the LPY's to the drivers, it also helps to make them look less like USAF/USN aircrew as well. The LPY's were made using a 'worm' of Milliput superfine white epoxy putty, which was blended and sculpted to shape using a wet toothpick.Ready for painting!cheers,Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 G'day people,Here are the same bits after a splash of paint.I still need to do some work to the heads before they are ready for paint.cheers,Pappy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 G'day people,Here are the same bits after a splash of paint.I still need to do some work to the heads before they are ready for paint.cheers,Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 (edited) G'day people,I have managed to shoe-horn in the crew.I was anxious to see how well the canopies would fit. My kit will be depicted in-flight,so a poor canopy fit will be very noticeable and detract from the finished appearance.Dry fitting the canopies revealed that the canopy hinges on the forward canopy needed to be reduced in length and thinned down,Whilst the spacing of the rear canopy hinges is a smidge too closewhich is why the rear of the canopy is sitting high.I have also added a small strip of Milliput to each of the crew helmets. This was textured to hopefully look like wrinkles to represent the cloth protective visor cover seen on top of the helmet.cheers,Pappy Edited January 22, 2014 by Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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