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31 Sqn Goldstars GR.4 1/32


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Thanks mirageiv and Sir T :)

How will you load the jet?

It will have the same load as the picture in my first post - Litening pod, Brimstone, and two Paveway IVs. All the ordnance will be inert. The headache will be Brimstones and the launcher which will need to be built from scratch.

On the wings I'm putting standard 1500lt tanks and the usual BOZ and Sky Shadow.

Thanks for looking :)

Edited by Brokenedge
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  • 2 weeks later...

Just back from a very pleasant week's holiday in Dorset B) and back to the modelling bench! I've missed it.

Finished the engine nozzles. Superb pieces from Flightpath.

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I soldered the main parts - three circumferential sections, each circular section is a 14-sided piece that interlocks with the others. Then there are 14 "butterfly" parts that fold in half and slot round the circumference which were glued.

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The reverse side shows the soldered sections.

So here's the comparison with the kit part!

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Well worth the extra work if you ask me!

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The back end more or less finished now - looking forward to painting it, even though the brass looks very nice on its own.

Next job - flaps and slats!

Al

Edited by Brokenedge
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Good job on the afterburners. My Flightpath set for this kit has just arrived this morning, is it traditional soldering methods your using? I've seen something before about some sort of 'easy solder paste', never done any soldering since I was at school!

Muzz

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Good job on the afterburners. My Flightpath set for this kit has just arrived this morning, is it traditional soldering methods your using? I've seen something before about some sort of 'easy solder paste', never done any soldering since I was at school!

Muzz

Thanks Muzz. The last soldering I did was when I used to fix Playstations back in the dim and distant. It's just the basic soldering iron and lead free solder. And a good flux helps no end.

The last one of these I did used CA glue for the joins. These two pieces took about three hours in total, much quicker than last time. And the joins are a lot stronger with solder.

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Great work Edge! Favourite aircraft! Favourite Squadron! Lucky enough to have served with the Goldstars and flown the GR in both 1 and 4 forms so looking forward to how this turns out. Keep up the awesome work. The tail pipes look incredible!

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Thanks nimrod and feifeitim!

Great work Edge! Favourite aircraft! Favourite Squadron! Lucky enough to have served with the Goldstars and flown the GR in both 1 and 4 forms so looking forward to how this turns out. Keep up the awesome work. The tail pipes look incredible!

Might have to pick your brains at some point, I'll be doing the cockpit last...!

Al

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well it looks like you've all been busy while i was away! Just needed to clear my head and revive the enthusiasm for this big Tornado.

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Got the flap tracks and fairing fitted on both wings. Bit more complex than i expected, but got there in the end.

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The flap tracks themselves needed an extra plastic shim to bring them flush to the top of the wing surface. I can see this wouldn't have been necessary if I'd fitted the spoilers. Oh well.

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Bit blurry, but this is the wing-body seals finished in Milliput, with the Flightpath edges fitted. Nice parts!

Also added some parts from the old (1991) Flightpath set for the old-tool Revell Tornado, which were still useful:

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These parts are undersized and quite indistinct on the kit. Can't miss them now!

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The metal plate around the remaining gun port is from the old set. The resin chin pods are from the updated (1999) set. They're faired in very easily with PP putty.

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This is the arrestor hook, missing from both the kit and the new Flightpath set. I had to open up the hole just in front of the thrust reverser buckets to accommodate it.

And now... introducing my seamless intakes!

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Yep - pictures, which will be laminated and stuck behind the intakes. Looks surprisingly convincing, and a lot quicker than trying to make the whole intake and compressor faces.

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Just the cuts to make for the slats and we're just about ready to put some primer on this monster. This job made much easier by the cutting template provided in the Flightpath flaps and slats set. I must say it's a lot neater and better looking than the Paragon resin flaps and slats i used for my last Tornado.

One last addition:

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Although they need puttying along the sides to fair them in, these Flightpath fascias for the otherwise blank Revell intakes are the biz!

Got a real positive energy about this build now - it will be finished for the GB!

Al

Edited by Brokenedge
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Looking great! Excellent rescribing on the underside of the fuselage. Never seen the Flightpath set built up before, crazy amount of detail in it.

Thanks a lot David. I haven't even done half of the set so far!

Big update today... I'm at that stage where I seem to be doing lots of work for not much visible progress.

Anyway - more Flightpath love :wub:

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Nose gear door - considerable improvement! This is what i like about Flightpath stuff - it's not just detail for detail's sake, it adds detail exactly where it's needed to lift the whole appearance of the kit.

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Blow-in doors from the old (1991) set.

The advantage of having three kits:

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I can use the spare set of canopies to mask off the cockpit area for painting. I still have a master set and a spare in case i blow it! In the pic you can also see I've drilled out the rescue handle (bottom right) which would just be a decal otherwise.

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Just needs a through wash and dry and it's finally ready for some primer! (At last!!) The sharp-eyed will notice that I've already fitted the nav lights (wingtips and intake sides) - they're an absolute pig to get to fit properly if you add them after painting, so I've blended them in perfectly, polished them up, and I'll mask them off before painting.

Moved on to some stores while I've got the enthusiasm...

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Paveway IV - used the Trumpeter version, but I haven't finished with them yet!

AIM-9L/M Sidewinders:

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I used the Academy missiles off an old F-16 build which is now in the bin, so they're the first thing on the build to be finished!

Guest appearance from the now cleaned up and detailed BOZ pod:

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My favourite store so far for this model is the Litening II/III pod:

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Used the one included in the Academy F-16I Sufa kit. It needed some help covering up the nasty seam behind the tracking head. Just a piece of plastic card cut to size and blended in with sanding sticks.

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I used a self-adhesive, translucent polarised film from Hasegawa - I bought it years ago and it's lasted through loads of builds - i still have most of the sheet left. Can't recommend it enough.
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It also needed the large vent adding on the back end - I just cut some Aber mesh to fit. I use the Aber mesh S09 set which is just about perfect for 1/32 aircraft and helicopters. Again, a couple of sheets of this has lasted me for about 10 models.
I missed taking pics of the drop tanks, but they're also finished - really annoying mix of raised and inscribed panel lines, so they took a good hour to clean up properly. But they're done now, along with the pylons. I've also assembled the landing gear, and cleaned up the kit doors (covered in sink marks and ejector pin marks - typical Revell 1/32 for those what knows!)
Tomorrow: paint!
Al
Edited by Brokenedge
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Thanks exdraken :)

Just had a thought - should this be carrying ASRAAM instead of AIM-9? I need to change the missiles to inert rounds anyway, should I be more up to date?

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Thanks guys, and David for the links. I might have to find some of those then. But then again, it possibly would carry inert Sidewinders rather than inert ASRAAMs. Anyone know? feifeitim?

Stores ready for primer - before.....

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...and after.

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Note the hi-tec masking method:

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I used Halfords Plastic Primer as usual - warm the can and shake for about 4-5 mins. It goes on very matt, so it does need sanding down prior to paint. That might seem a bit long-winded, but as a primer it sticks like crazy to plastic, resin or photoetch and makes a nice uniform finish.

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After micromeshing the difference in finish is obvious!

Did the metalwork at the back before the base colour of Medium Sea Grey:

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Got a very nice finish from using Hawkeye Talon acrylic NMF aluminium. Sprays straight from the pot, and cleans up with water. I buffed it with polishing powder for a shiny finish on the thrust reverser buckets. My gloves didn't last that bit.

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Did the rest of the metalwork with Mr Metal Color Stainless, buffed with an old baby's toothbrush. (It was the toothbrush that was old. I suppose we're all old babies now.) The blue and orange heat staining was done with Tamiya weathering powders. (Looks better in real life, but don't they all!)

Finished nozzles in Mr Metal Color Dark Iron, buffed with said toothbrush:

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Still need special effects, but thankfully I managed to finish them without destroying the delicate photoetch!

Nozzles attached and masked ready for paint.

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So far everything's worked! Hope it all continues....!

Al

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Nice stuff, good idea masking off the metal first, the other way around as I found is sure a PITA! If the jet you are modelling is 'in deployment' everything would be live IIRC. The ASRAAM wouldn't be to hard to make I guess, even possibly from the winder, if you needed to have them. Maybe even from 1/48 AMRAAMS with added fins. Then again I'm from the school of 'if it looks right, it's fine' so maybe not 100% accurate.

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Weapons wise in the UK, they usually fly with either to BOZ pods on, or a BOZ and a Sky Shadow on the outer pylons. Then they usually have little jugs on, only time they really use the big jugs is if they are on an excerise. Above the tanks on them pylons youll usually find a dummy training ASRAMM on the left and a RAIDS pod on the right handside and then finally they will have a Lightning pod on underneath most of the time.

Shader is different, normal set up from out there as can be seen in pictures is, BOZ pod on one side, on the other you would have a terma pod on the other side. They fly with the big jugs on and above them are BOL lauchers with nothing on them. Underneath you have 2 Paveway IV on the right handside with a Lightning pod at the fronton the left and then finally a Brimestone launcher with 2 Brimestones on at the back on the left

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Excellent build, and you are doing a far better job of yours than I am with my 1/32 GR1. I have to agree with you that the detail added by the Flightpath sets is phenominal. Looking forward to seeing more.

Cheers,

Tom.

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Thanks a lot for the info guys. I intend to show it as a UK based exercise aircraft from the present day, so your suggestions are very useful.

real nice!

I use the Halfords primer, have never sanded back - what grade do yo use?

Hi Tim and thanks. In this case I used micromesh starting with 1500 through 3600, 6000 and 12000. Probably overkill, but the surface is as smooth as the original plastic!
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Thanks mate!

Well, this one isn't going to make the GB deadline (unless by "230th August" you mean 18 March 2016?) but it's got close enough.

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Paint on with some contrasting panels - this particular aircraft doesn't look as patchwork as some, but it still needs a few more colours!

Ready for wheelwells to be painted:

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I'm using Halfords white primer for the undercoat, if one bit of overspray gets on the enamel underneath, it's going to attack it, so have to be careful....

Thankfully all went well!

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All the pale grey parts are now painted with Xtracrylix Light Gray FS36495.

Just realised I've probably got at least a month's more work on this, so could it be moved to Work in Progress after the GB deadline please?

Al

Edited by Brokenedge
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