jimmydel Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 This one will be slow as I work on it between other builds for publication, but I wanted to share. Sadly 1/32 decals are kind of lacking. Really wish Furball would upscale their excellent 1/48 Intruder sets. Can't use Trumpeter's decals because they are riddled with misspellings. Going with a Superscale sheet for this bird: Aftermarket: Eduard exterior and undercarriage PE sets AMS FOD covers and wheels True Details Resin seats AOA Stencil decals Microscale Green Lizard decals Done some work on the cockpit and seats. The seats are amazing. Some of the best resin pieces I've ever seen. They are at 90% just need a drybrush. IP and panel details were tediously picked out with a fine brush. The tub is glossed and needs a wash and some light weathering. 19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crobinsonh Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Lovely start - the cockpit looks superb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thepureness Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 I love that pit, amazing work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 The cockpit is looking great! Very nice work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Could you buy a set of Furball decals, scan them, blow them up 150%, and print onto decal paper? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmydel Posted August 10, 2015 Author Share Posted August 10, 2015 Thanks kindly folks. Much appreciated. Could you buy a set of Furball decals, scan them, blow them up 150%, and print onto decal paper? Well the folks at Furball seem to think another manufacturer did just that with some of their other decals, so I'm kinda hoping they do the same with the Intruder sets...lol.I'm not that keen on sinking a bunch of money and time into a build and then risking homemade decals honestly. I'm not confident on my ability to print them and I really don't trust the available decal papers. The home printed decals I've seen weren't too impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James G Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Great start Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmydel Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 Calling the cockpit done. Added a dark grey enamel wash with RLM 66. Hit some areas with a light dry-brushing (don't roll your eyes...still a valid technique ).Added the IP decal and backed it with some black paint. IP and coaming are not attached as it looks like I can add them after the fuselage is closed, so I'm minimizing the risk of damaging them with my clutzy nature.Bang seat stencils are from the AOA set and initial impressions of those decals is positive. Can't wait to use them on the main body.I've also been working on the landing gear and the nose bay.I like the provided metal struts, but they have seams that prove to be a PITA to remove.Apparently I deleted the in progress pics showing the PE embellishments on the gear legs. Mostly bolts and some pieces in the bay itself. Not anything I imagine anyone would notice, but it broke my PE fear and I like it (Didn't realize I missed focus on the strut, so I'll get better pics)Need to handle the arrestor hook bay and then I can close the fuselage...which looks like it will go together nicely. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F4u Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 Really nice pit and progressing well. Guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shalako Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 The cockpit looks AMAZING!!! Can't wait to see what you're going to do with the rest of this kit!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazyeagle Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 very nice so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmydel Posted August 22, 2015 Author Share Posted August 22, 2015 (edited) Ok, so I put the PE in the arrestor hook bay. Easy enough.So that meant I could close up the fuselage. It won't be any more difficult to paint installed than not.Fuselage join was tight. It just barely closes up. There's going to be some serious cleanup...which I'll have a weird method for (you'll see later). For whatever reason the rivet lines approaching the apex of the fuselage get really soft. I marked the lines so I could see them with a bronze sharpie and used a push pin to deepen them out. I like this because unlike and old airbrush needle it doesn't push plastic upward creating a crest around the outside of the hole. Naturally I'll have to touch these up after seam cleanup but if I hadn't enhanced them here they would have been much harder to see later.This area will be the real pain to clean up without obliterating stuff. (More on that when I work on it).The scheme on the Superscale sheet shows the airbrakes are not theperforated style. The A-6E kit apparently has the closed off pieces, but for the life of me I couldn't find them in this kit, so the holes had to be filled. I tried styrene plugs which didn't work all that well mostly...so I went then to Bondo and CA. The hold to the light test says they are good, but primer will tell the true tell.Of course AOA is coming out with a new sheet...so I'll likely drop the Superscale...provided I can do an A with the filled in brakes.Thing are really ugly now, but they'll be ok. Edited August 22, 2015 by jimmydel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breaker Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 I have the same kit in 48th and all the same problems exist there as well!. Does your top surface bow in towards the centre a tiny bit? Almost forming a dip running down the spine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmydel Posted August 22, 2015 Author Share Posted August 22, 2015 If it does I haven't noticed it. I'll have to look closer now. That's weird though. Someone is building the 1/48 version on another forum and I don't remember him mentioning that issue. His biggest problem was fitting the front wndscreen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmydel Posted September 8, 2015 Author Share Posted September 8, 2015 Not a terribly exciting update, but an update nonetheless.I did find a pic of the gear with the PE before paint, for an idea of what that added. (Complete - will be in the next update).It's been terribly slow going with seam cleanup. The top of the fuselage was a lot of work with CA and Bondo. I sprayed "check it" primer four times before finally getting rid of all the problems. This has consumed the large part of the work on this one for a while.Also, I sprayed behind the intakes, so I can paint there before fitting them.I've also spent some time filling in molded detail that I've been informed should only be present on the A-6E and Tram...these included some vent holes etc.Finally, I did some work on the canopy. I really don't think painting the inteior frame color from the outside is "doable" in 1/32. You can do it, but IMO it looks bad. So, I used an Eduard mask set to mask off the inside of the canopy and sprayed the interior color.This color is entirely on the inside of the pieces and looks much better than the alternative. Well worth the effort 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Looks to be well worth the effort! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F4u Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 Nice, Canopy looks good worth the extra work and the legs look good. Guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 This is looking good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SANDMAN0198 Posted September 20, 2015 Share Posted September 20, 2015 Love the cockpit detail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmydel Posted October 7, 2015 Author Share Posted October 7, 2015 This one is really slow going, folks, so please bear with me on the updates.There's been a change of plan for markings. AOA announced a new sheet a few weeks ago, and I was contacted by Steve Belanger of AOA to tell me about them. This greatly excited me, and I was able to get a sample from him for an upcoming SAMI review, but I'll certainly be using them on this build. SPECTACULAR sheet(s) to say the least.Now with the small updates.So I was dead set on the wing fold and I can't find a single pic of Intruders with folded wings and dropped flaps. I'm admittedly becoming more accuracy minded, so I did the flaps raised in prep for that. Got the inner wings on. These are a bit of a force it issue, but some careful gluing gets them down nicely.Unfortunately, after some test fitting I am 90% certain I'll be extending the wings. The fold engineering is incredibly stupid...and weak. So now I wish I had dropped the flaps for the visual interest of it all, but oh well.The bays needed to be painted before joining wings. There's some PE that extends across both parts, so that's yet to be attached.I got the intakes on and there are painless. I also got the nose on...which isn't as painless, there's a bit of a step on each side, but only in one spot (as can be seen by the putty). I suspect this was user error closing the forward fuselage not tight enough.Intakes were painted behind before attachment.This one is still very much in progress. It's just really slow going because of other stuff taking priority. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnthonyWan Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 Looks great... very neat work on the pit. Can't wait to see this coming together. I've got two of these to build later, so I'm taking notes from your build -Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F4u Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 Very nice.... don't worry about the slow updates just as long as you keep us in the loop when you do work on it as I also have one of these to do at some point. Guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 That pit is a model all by itself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phildagreek Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 Looks good, that cockpit is superb, nice work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucaP Posted April 26, 2017 Share Posted April 26, 2017 any news on this excellent building? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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