Caerbannog Posted October 23, 2014 Author Share Posted October 23, 2014 This is a good idea with the punched plastic sheets. Sadly I did not check Britmodeller last night and I came up with another idea which is not as good as yours but made a good first impression when I tested it: I used brass tube and cut slots in it with a Dremel to replicate the supressors: I think they look nice for their own but they are not a good way to replicate the supressors. Before I install the other tube I will try your suggestion Col. I also drilled out the vents on the gun pack. The Airfix part shows these as small circles - I do not know why. Maybe my holes are wrong but I could not find any reference which shows these vents clearly. But I assume they were just holes and no circles: I missed to post this last pic before. It shows the intake part which is combined by using the CMK wheel well and the Airfix radome: Rene 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Wonderful detail work Rene. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Looking really good. Love your flash suppressors. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gruffy Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Nice work! I always love seeing airfixes finest being built! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperService Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Great work so far Rene! I hope it stops fighting you so much soon! The Aires u/c set was a bit of work but nothing like as much as you've had. Check your decal sheet BTW mine and MADMUSKY have both got sheets badly out of register. Barracuda stencils to the rescue! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted October 27, 2014 Author Share Posted October 27, 2014 Great work so far Rene! I hope it stops fighting you so much soon! The Aires u/c set was a bit of work but nothing like as much as you've had. Check your decal sheet BTW mine and MADMUSKY have both got sheets badly out of register. Barracuda stencils to the rescue! I thought the Aires set looks fine Will check my sheet - if it is out of register I will pull my self made decals out of the drawer which I did before Xtradecals released theirs. I only got the Xtradecalsheet because I thought they will be thinner and better to apply. Did some painting on the cockpit and seat (sorry no pics) and the intake (no pics either) and on the "flash hiders": I wanted to see if I can punch out nice small rings with my Waldron to replace the brass parts I did (see above) - the rings turned out nice and would most likely look better, but: The brass part was glued in so tightly that I just did not get it out again. So I decided to further improove the brass part and tell myself how lucky I am with these ridgid parts, which will not snap off a hundred times during painting etc. So here they are (sorry to post only pics I basically showed before already...): I had to use some Milliput on the one side to repair sme damage done because of lousy planning. Rene 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Don't feel you need to apologize for showing us those again. Fine and impressive work Rene. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted November 3, 2014 Author Share Posted November 3, 2014 Some progress at last. I thought I would never close up that fuselage... But first some other pics. I drilled out the intake of the fin and attached the CMK flaps. I thought they have a thinner edge than the kit parts and I already payed for them so why not use em? ;-) I finished painting the cockpit and the seat. I used gloss paint on the grey cockpit to help the washes and gave everything a flat clear coat after finished painting the details. The seat is 90% Aires - I only added the black and yellow handles which are made from coloured yarn (you guess it: black and yellow) which was twisted and secured with glue. The lousy pics do not really show it: Some final work in the front area was needed like aligning the intake (I did this twice...), sanding the cockpit tub to fit and adding the plastic parts which I cut from the kit intake part to fit the CMK wheel well. Some pieces of sprue were glued in to help with the cannon pod fit: The exhausts were weathered and assembled. I choose a not too clever way to install them: I was affraid that if I glued the resin exhaust cones into the plastic exhaust cover the thin superglue would maybe show up at the end and look ugly. Now I know it would have been better to "risk" this (and simply use very little of super glue in the first step) to get the exhausts properly aligned (which is difficult otherwise as the resin pieces have some space inside the plastic part. The truth is I wanted to get the fuselage together at last and was a bit in a hurry. Always a bad thing - so the bottom exhaust is a tiny bit off (why does it always look more pronounced in th epictures?): When the cockpit is sanded down properly the fit is quite good. I had to use a stronger clamp at the windshield base though which left a mark but no seam. This will be easy to repair. The only filler needed was on some sink marks but not on panel lines: The gun pack has very minor fitting issues as shown below. Also shown are two small details which I added to the intake: Hooray. So next will be adding the smaller bits to the fuselage and to attach the wings. Well and some cleaning up on the few puttied areas. Rene 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Lovely work Rene, it's really coming together and looks great. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Looking good Rene. Using this as good reference for mine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Rene, What diameter brass rod did you use for your "guns" ? I have the flash suppressors as part of the Flightpath kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted November 4, 2014 Author Share Posted November 4, 2014 Rene, What diameter brass rod did you use for your "guns" ? I have the flash suppressors as part of the Flightpath kit. Lucky you- I bet the flash suppressors in the Flightpath set make a way better representation (disc shaped and not like rings). I need to check tonight but I suppose the diameter was about 1,5 - 2 mm 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted November 6, 2014 Author Share Posted November 6, 2014 OK - yesterday I fitted the wings Suddenly everything goes pretty fast. A very handy new tool is the one shown below: I got it from abacus and can highly recomment it. I used it on the leading edges (the pic above was faked with BlueTac as I only have two hands...), the spine and on some small parts. Abacus has a topic about this tool here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234968885-innovative-seamcontour-stainless-steel-scraper/ One minor draw back as at the back of the cockpit as shown below: Other than that assembly went pretty well forward. I am still working on the Aeroclub nose ring which has some surface defects so I cannot simply polish it as others have done. So filling and sanding is needed. I will have to paint it with Alclad. Some more pics: Rene 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Lime Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Rene, A masterclass in model making! I'm seriously impressed with both the details and the easy style of writing you have in your updates, makes it all the more enjoyable. Mark. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForestFan Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 Cracking modelling! Makes me feel inadequate...! FF 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 I agree, and you make it look like a matter of course, "Oh that bit is out of alignment - just sand it a little and rescribe." And then it looks perfect. Rene, you have definitely found your calling, and to all of our benefit as we get to watch and learn. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MADMUSKY Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Great work, ive stalled on mine, got the wings on, no filler required, but ive convinced myself wings are squint looking from the front but squint the other way looking from the rear......stopped looking as the more I looked I thought the tail was bowed too... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousAA72 Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 Some fantastic modelling there, very impressive. One thing to watch out for though, and that's the wings. The real Cambered wing was a complicated shape. The only way to replicate this on Airfix's kit is to add the leading edge part to the upper part and then add the lower part later. That retains the correct under camber. The wing should also droop. I can't really tell from your photo but it looks like you may have them on too "square" . When building mine I added a small wedge on the upper wing to help retain the correct droop... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted November 20, 2014 Author Share Posted November 20, 2014 Rene, A masterclass in model making! I'm seriously impressed with both the details and the easy style of writing you have in your updates, makes it all the more enjoyable. Mark. Thank you very much indeed - but better wait till I mess it up with painting Cracking modelling! Makes me feel inadequate...! FF Thank you - but this is really the very least I want I am unable to make MultiQuotes over two pages so I do it seperately... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted November 20, 2014 Author Share Posted November 20, 2014 I agree, and you make it look like a matter of course, "Oh that bit is out of alignment - just sand it a little and rescribe." And then it looks perfect. Rene, you have definitely found your calling, and to all of our benefit as we get to watch and learn. Thanks a lot. Great work, ive stalled on mine, got the wings on, no filler required, but ive convinced myself wings are squint looking from the front but squint the other way looking from the rear......stopped looking as the more I looked I thought the tail was bowed too... I perfectly know this. I help myself with a crosshair I draw on a cardboard (you can also draw an- or dehedral if appropiate). A window frame can also be useful or just a set square. In the end I think it is better to have a finished model that is not truly perfect than to have just another unfinished stowed away (it took me 16 years to finish my Testors SR-71 because of that ). Some fantastic modelling there, very impressive. One thing to watch out for though, and that's the wings. The real Cambered wing was a complicated shape. The only way to replicate this on Airfix's kit is to add the leading edge part to the upper part and then add the lower part later. That retains the correct under camber. The wing should also droop. I can't really tell from your photo but it looks like you may have them on too "square" . When building mine I added a small wedge on the upper wing to help retain the correct droop... Thanks Bill - maybe I messed it up but I just cannot see it really. I did glue the upper leading edge part to the upper part first so you could be right. But after my reply to Madmusky - what can I do than to go on? So here is finally a very little update. I got a cold as most people here and was not in the best spirit and condition to go down in the man cave. All I did is this: So I did the masking and finally finished the metal nose ring. I am probably the only one who painted it. Another thing which makes progress a bit slow is that my wife got a new dog and our cat is not too impressed. Now the cat spends the evening and sometimes the entire night in the workshop, which is OK but I do not like spraying while she is there of course - nobody wants a cat in the basement singing Lucy in the sky with diamonds all night (I have a spray booth made from a kitchen hood but still). Thanks for all your kind words again and work will continue. Rene 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 Looking real nice! One point I'd like to make seeing as you are going all out with this build, is the trailing edges of the ailerons are quite blunt or flat edged. not sharp. They taper, when viewed from the end to a sharpish edge towards the outer tip and in board they are 'squarish'. Here are some views of the Lightning at Tangmere Museum. Aileron trailing edge. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted November 20, 2014 Author Share Posted November 20, 2014 Really interesting - I have a look on the parts and see what I can do. It seems an easy task... Rene Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 I think a careful couple of passes with a flat file may do the trick. It worked OK on my ones I built sometime ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 Answer to post No.24: I believe the red strips to the edges of the Red Top fins are protective items slipped on to guard against damage to the fins. A bit like those used in stationary products for filing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted November 24, 2014 Author Share Posted November 24, 2014 I think a careful couple of passes with a flat file may do the trick. It worked OK on my ones I built sometime ago. As I did not install the ailerons in the fully neutral position it is a bit tricky to do this now. I did a first primer caot and will check when this is fully dry what to do... I have to even out some sink marks at the wings anyway. Answer to post No.24: I believe the red strips to the edges of the Red Top fins are protective items slipped on to guard against damage to the fins. Abit like those used in stationary products for filing. Hmmm - so it will be OK not to paint them? Highly tempting... I will check on one fin how to mask it and how good it works. If it is too much hassle I will leave it ;-) So here are the samller bits primed and the Red Tops and vertical painted white. The vertical is such a good fit that I keep it seperately untill painting is finished. I used Alclad grey primer for the first time and must say it is very nice so far. I used it directly from the bottle and srayed it with a bit more pressure. It dries quickly, so you can almost hold the model in hand and while spraying one side after the other - the primer you started with will be dry to the touch (wear latex gloves!). I used the cocktail sticks to hold it though: Next step on the primer will be sanding and polishing with Abralon pads (I just ordered some - hope they arrive by Wednesday) - I think they are the same stuff as Micro-Mesh only a tad cheaper and more easy to get here. Followed by a gloss base coad in dark grey. Some panels and hatches will be painted in other grey shades. Top coat will be either Alclad Chrome or Polished Aluminium - depending on how shiny I want it. Rene 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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