Stormy Skies - Part 1: Typhoon Mk Ib D-Day (Academy 1/72)

[jrlx]

Hi again,

 

Here's an update of work done before I went on holidays. The first thing I wanted to solve was the installation of the resin exhausts. For this, I had to remove the moulded-on exhausts from the fuselage halves and open up slots for installing the resin exhausts from the inside. To determine the right size of the slots, I placed one of the resin exhausts next to the moulded-on representations:

IMAG6413

 

IMAG61414

 

The ridges along the resin exhausts should not be visible after installation: this determined the width of the slots. The length should be slightly shorter than the length of the moulded-on exhausts.

 

With the dimensions figured out, I removed the moulded-on exhausts with a nº 10 blade:

IMAG6415

 

Next, I used a piece of Dymo tape as a guide to scribe the slot edges:

IMAG6416

 

A scriber and a short-width micro-saw were used to open the slots:

IMAG6417

 

Here's one of the resulting slots:

IMAG6418

 

After some cleaning and a few adjustments, I managed to fit the resin part from the inside:

IMAG6419

 

In order for the resin part to fit, the length of the slot had to be slightly longer, which created a gap:

IMAG6421

 

On this end of the slot, I also had to create a bevelled transition from the inside to the outside, in order to clear the passage for the last exhaust pipe:

IMAG6422

 

To close the above mentioned gap, I glued on the inside a small piece of plastic cut from the sprues:

IMAG6423

 

The exhausts will be installed at the end of the build, to avoid damage to the resin parts and their paint job.

 

With the exhaust installation sorted out, I moved on to the other resin replacements. The next picture shows the resin propeller spinner compared to the kit's parts. The resin part solves the problem of the short length of the kit part:

IMAG6424

 

The resin propeller blades also look much better than the plastic ones:

IMAG6425

 

The resin radiator replaces the kit's parts 18 and 19 and looks very different:

IMAG6426

 

There's also a resin replacement for the pitot tube part. Removing the resin part from the cast block without breaking it will be a challenge:

IMAG6427

 

The main wheels also look much better in resin:

IMAG6428

 

Finally, I removed the front of the fuselage halves. This is needed both to install the resin exhausts from the inside at the end and the propeller spinner:

IMAG6429

 

I hope to post further progress next week.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Jaime

 

 

 

[CedB]

Nice work Jaime  

It's going to be fiddly getting those exhausts in but worth effort - they look great.

[jrlx]

5 hours ago, CedB said:

Nice work Jaime  

It's going to be fiddly getting those exhausts in but worth effort - they look great.

Thanks Ced! It will be a bit challenging but installing them now would cause a lot of trouble during the build.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

[Robert Stuart]

Looks challenging, especially getting those exhausts in later

[jrlx]

9 hours ago, Robert Stuart said:

Looks challenging, especially getting those exhausts in later

I've done the same with a Bf 109, so I'm pretty sure it's doable. Anyway, I'll test the installation from the inside with the fuselage held close with tape.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

[Lawzer]

Looking good! 👍

[jrlx]

Hi again,

 

As usual, I didn't progress any further with this build for a long time. Now, I'm using the opportunity of the Bomber/Strike/Ground attack GB to try and finish it.

 

Picking it up where I left, I removed the resin parts (front intake, wheels and pitot tube) from the moulding blocks:

IMAG6480

 

Next, I had to remove the cockpit walls detail from the fuselage halves, as I'll be using the PE detail set from Eduard. Here we can see the raised detail moulded in plastic:

IMAG6481

 

All this was removed with a curved bladed, sanded and polished:

IMAG6482

 

The radiator flap will be replaced by PE and needs to be cut off. Here's the area to remove:

IMAG6485

 

After removal:

IMAG6486

 

The spine behind the cockpit has a guide for the sliding canopy. This is moulded in plastic but will be replaced by PE, and needs to be removed.

 

Original:

IMAG6487

 

After removal:

IMAG6488

 

Next, holes for installing the rocket pylons must be opened on the undersides of wings. The cartridge ejectors must also be opened. This was done in two steps: first, by drilling small holes:

IMAG6489

 

Finally, the openings were finished using a nº 11 blade:

IMAG6490

 

I'll finish this update showing a comparison of the various tail planes I have for this build.

 

On the bottom right of the picture we can see the original kit parts, which are not correct for the machine I'm building, since it used a horizontal tail plane similar to the Tempest Mk V. On the left side of the picture we can see the tail plane parts of the Academy Tempest Mk V. However, I managed to find the Quickboost correction for the Academy Typhoon, which is shown on the top right of the picture:

IMAG6491

 

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

[Col.]

Good progress Jamie and some decent aftermarket upgrades to help you along the way  

[jrlx]

14 hours ago, Col. said:

Good progress Jamie and some decent aftermarket upgrades to help you along the way  

 

Thanks Col. The upgrades should make the model much more realistic.

[jrlx]

Hi again,

 

Some more progress, this time with PE.

 

The kit's seat will be replaced by several PE parts, which provides a lot more detail:

IMAG6492

 

IMAG6494

 

IMAG6495

 

The bulkhead behind the seat also gets a PE improvement on its top. But first the top of the plastic part must be removed, as shown in the following pictures:

IMAG6496

 

IMAG6497

 

IMAG6498

 

The control column also gets a bit more detail:

IMAG6499

 

IMAG6500

 

The tubular structure around the cockpit and the open bottom of the cockpit are completely made up of PE parts:

IMAG6501

 

IMAG6502

 

IMAG6503

 

The rudder pedals are also replaced by PE parts and a 0.5 mm copper wire:

IMAG6504

 

IMAG6505

 

Finally, the rudder pedals are glued to the cockpit tubing:

IMAG6508

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Jaime

 

 

[stevehnz]

Nice to see this surface again, having one of these in stock, it makes for an interesting thread, though, not being a AM junkie, not that I'm insinuating anything mind, I possibly won't feel obliged to lash out for quite as many bits as you have, though some of the etch & the 'zorsts & the radiator & the tyres &... whoa, is that a rabbit hole in front of me.  

Steve.

[jrlx]

Hi @stevehnz it's great to have you on board.

 

I admit I'm an AM junkie 😊 I think it results in my being quite slow in my modeling. Right now I'm also building two matchbox kits in the Matchbox GB and I'll do them OOB for a change. Hopefully, these will be finished in a short time.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

[jrlx]

Hi again,

 

Continuing with the PE, I glued the lateral panels to the cockpit walls:

IMAG6506

 

The port panel got some detailing:

IMAG6507

 

The throttle lever is made of several PE parts glued in layers. It will later be glued to the tubular structure of the cockpit:

IMAG6509

 

The instrument panel is also a PE part, which must first be bent in several places:

IMAG6510

 

Several PE levers were glued to the lateral consoles of the instrument panel:

IMAG6511

 

There's an additional side panel, which needs bending in several points:

IMAG6512

 

IMAG6513

 

It was finished with additional PE detailing:

IMAG6514

 

The panel on the starboard cockpit wall got some PE detailing as well:

IMAG6518

 

Finally, I applied a PE part to the wheel well:

IMAG6519

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

[arfa1983]

Nice neat work with the photoetch 

[Col.]

Good metal-working skills Jamie  

[Hewy]

This is looking superb 👍

[desert falcon]

Wow, that PE work of yours are looking really good 👍