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1/72 F-111C, 1 Sqn RAAF and F-111D, 27 TFW


Andrew

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On 28/04/2017 at 8:31 AM, trickyrich said:

...that mod to the cradle looks pretty straight forward...

 

Hmmm.

 

Yes, the mod to the cradle was fairly straightforward (remembering that I've had to estimate/best guess where the cuts for the head recess should be, that the depth of the recess had to be increased and some rescribing done, as well as cut out the underside of the forward fuselage halves at the corresponding location in anticipation of interference with the underside), but the head and turret have been much more tricky. It's taken a lot of perseverance (and the odd swear word) just to get the bits to where they stand today. The prospect of ever doing this again (for an F-111F, say) turns me off - I think this is the sort of endeavour that prompted folks to investigate resin casting; I'd better get on board with that caper.

 

Back to my update - I thought that I had tinkered, adjusted and cleaned the elements sufficiently to warrant giving them a coat of primer:

 

34435171175_c1927a8175_c.jpgP1000513 by Andrew

 

A few things needed correction, so got on with that and then tested the fit. More work needed. Tinker, adjust, replace, swear a little more. Try again, scrape, shave, finagle, tested the fit.

 

Cry. Place to one side.

 

Sigh, resume, sigh, bleat to the missus, finesse, tinker, photograph:

 

34304495181_c3c9c4cbd3_c.jpgP1000518 by Andrew

 

Test fit (in the hope that photography cures all fit issues), resume scraping, shim, trim, file, sand.Test fit.

 

Quick, glue the ball in the turret! Reduce depth of head recess (God bless my Dremel and its many burr bits), sand edges flat and glue a simplified ceiling/underside in place. Glue forward part of pod in place. Photograph:

 

34435170305_f43b8afc4c_c.jpgP1000522 by Andrew

 

These have been put to one side for now, lest I do something stupid and chase perfection at the expense of okay.

 

Work on the cockpit continues - I'm keen to get the forward fuselages together.

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Masterful work Andrew, so are you going to cast some of these up for me? I need one or 2 for my Hasegawa builds :P

 

Seriously, you have done a great job there. How did you get the head mechanism out in such an elegant manner? I would have needed 3 of those kit supplied assemblies to get the result you got from one.

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Thanks for your kind words Ray, much appreciated.

 

Here's a little secret about the head (ball) - I'm using one from an Ertl (Esci-like) F-111F kit from the early '90s, with much adjustment to fit the Hasegawa turret. As I was planning this sub-project, I could see no obvious way that I could remove the Hasegawa ball from the turret and retain each element for re-use, and I was certainly prepared to sacrifice two Hasegawa heads to achieve one complete repositioned head and turret. I was far from confident that I could successfully build the balance of the removed head (even if it was the turret element that was cut away), so I went hunting for the ball element from the Ertl kit. The whole Pave Tack pod assembly as provided by Ertl is far less precise-looking than the Hasegawa offering and still just depicts Pave Tack inflight; its only saving grace was the separate head (actually it's only about 85% of the head - they provide the entire 'face' or 'plane' of the head's designator windows as a clear part). It has still needed additions and rework to improve its appearance and also fit into the Hasegawa turret - while I'm happy with the result now, it's been a tad trying - I nearly wielded the knife on the second Hasegawa pod just to get a new head quite a few times...

 

Casting a few more would be the sensible solution. If I ever get organised, I'll let you know... maybe Alfred could be persuaded to do some for both (all three?) of us?

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Thanks to all for your interest.

 

The photos below show recent work on 1.) the intakes for the F-111D and 2.) the cockpits for both, which should now be ready for insertion into the forward fuselage halves.

 

I think it took longer to mask the panels that are visible at the start of Triple Plow II inlets than it did to paint them... still, once I'd worked out how to do it, the whole process was quite enjoyable.

 

34522789342_cefef7bbac_b.jpgP1000524 by Andrew

 

33874656223_e2ab07feea_b.jpgP1000527 by Andrew

 

The F-111C's rear cockpit bulkhead was a bit 'gappy' when I tested its fit in the fuselage, so I added some thin plastic stock to the circumference to improve the fit. Given that I'd already removed paint as I cleaned up this additional plastic, I took the opportunity to add a little detail and then repainted the cockpit grey; the photo immediately below shows masking in place to protect earlier work.

 

34522788862_81f62ff45e_b.jpgP1000533 by Andrew

 

34553977771_6bfb75fc64_b.jpgP1000536 by Andrew

 

bye for now,

 

Andrew.

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  • 2 weeks later...
1 hour ago, AdrianMF said:

Lovely work! I'm going to quietly ignore the coloured panels in the inlets...

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

1 hour ago, Jabba said:

 

Snap.

I'm  with these two,,great work though Andrew 

Glynn

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Hi Ray,

 

Thanks for looking in and your kind comments. Sad to hear of your own F-111 project, though I'm sure you're being kept busy by other builds - I look forward to catching up in November.

 

Andrew.

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I just caught up with this Andrew. Great stuff :thumbsup2:.

 

I've just started the Hasegawa F-111 G boxing. It's the first Hasegawa kit I've ever made, the first jet in over a decade and the first F-111!

 

I'm quite phased by it so your build here is helping..  It's giving me valuable  clues as to  what to do.

 

Your intakes are stunning; also the cockpits look great.

 

Looking forward to the next instalment 

All best regards

TonyT

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Wow, thanks to all for your interest and kind words - they are much-needed encouragement as my motivation for this build wanes.

 

I've made a little progress over recent days and will hopefully update the thread with pics in the near future; stay tuned.

 

Andrew.

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Upper fuselage parts have now been added to both builds (plus some tiresome, as yet unfinished work to create the F-111C's chaff and flare dispensers on the tail booms, just visible in the bottom pic):

 

34757896540_09a564ec50_b.jpg

 

35104712766_bbc7d1cbff_b.jpg

 

Neither upper fuselage can be said to have been a hassle-free fit, with the upper part on the F-111C needing a little shim at the front (not shown in the photo but it was hammered into place this morning) and that of the F-111D suffered from being narrower than the lower fuselage, particularly immediately aft of the cutouts for the wings. The issue is really with the lower fuselage section, not the upper, as I discovered a few weeks ago when installing the compressor face / bulkhead - it's as if the entire lower fuselage piece has 'relaxed' too much as it was pulled from the mould... I realise that the lower fuselage for an F-111D, E, F etc needs to be wider in places to account for the Triple Plow II inlets, but on my piece the extra 'width' continues further aft to the middle of that piece. Where things got difficult was in marrying the upper and lower sections, because the same upper fuselage piece is used for all variants. Very gradual gluing and lots of constant pressure brought the two pieces into near alignment, and the join has now held for 36 hours. The omen bodes well....

 

Thanks for looking in.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I had to paint the metallic areas of the 'peanut' section (the area beneath the fin and between the exhausts) before adding it to the rest of the airframe, so I did the nozzles at the same time. Everything received a priming coat of Stynylrez and the metallic colours applied were a mix of Mr Paint, Testors Metalisers and Mr Color Super Metallic. These were then covered with Testors' Metaliser sealing lacquer.

 

34689297743_c399bb4811_c.jpgP1000508

 

35499046715_5ac1a6368f_c.jpgP1000618

 

cheers,

 

Andrew.

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Some really nice work with the engines. I know what you mean with getting the upper and lower fuselage parts together. I had a similar issue, plus the shim that I can't remember having on other Hasegawa F-111s that I have built. Well done in getting them together

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  • 4 weeks later...
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