Graeme H Posted August 1, 2017 Share Posted August 1, 2017 (edited) OK, getting along with the HPM kit very nicely, so why not start another I thought (I think I've got what Enzo has) I got this a little while back, so thought now is as good a time as any to crack it open, actually I must confess that I did that several months ago, and put the forward fuselage and main fuselage together, but separately a total of four parts, so don't think that breaks any GB rools I have no idea yet what scheme I will make it, won't be the Argentine one though, already 3/4 way through doing one of those, maybe Brazil, or Colombian. first up box shot As you can see there is a lot of very fine rivet detail The Wheel well is a separate piece, with a couple of serious injector pins on the back, the instructions are a bit vague showing the top of the wheel well and a shaded area, which I assume means make it flat so it won't interfere with the upper wing come the time Also note on this shot the hole for the main undercarriage on the Port side, no, neither did I, so will have to do that later Also there are no location marks or anything to help position it, and it slides around all over the place, and doesn't fit both sides cleanly so clamped it lightly down, then moved it gently around to the correct position and glued So cut out a wing and after a lot of fettling as they say, got the gap down to this which is as about as good as I can get it, again clamp and glue so then add the tóther side, again after a lot of adjusting, and still got a gap, both now done up with different types of filler, which I am testing out. The red stuff is my tried and true automotive spot filler, and the lighter is Vallejo Plastic Putty, they seemed to need about the same time to dry, as I thought the Vallejo would be quicker, and as I need to very lightly scribe in a panle line, I have now gone over them both with CA, which will make them much tougher I hope. Edited August 1, 2017 by Graeme H additional 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted August 1, 2017 Share Posted August 1, 2017 Nice start Graeme, I'd like to see how these kits turn out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted August 1, 2017 Share Posted August 1, 2017 Yes, nice start Graeme, looks like slightly over engineered with the separate wheel well piece. So is this a resin kit or injection moulded styrene? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted August 1, 2017 Share Posted August 1, 2017 Nice start. Is that a Lebanon scheme in the box, seems rather interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme H Posted August 1, 2017 Author Share Posted August 1, 2017 13 hours ago, TrojanThunder said: Yes, nice start Graeme, looks like slightly over engineered with the separate wheel well piece. So is this a resin kit or injection moulded styrene? It's Injection moulded Ray, seems to owe a bit of heritage to the HPM kit, but the fit so far is nowhere near as good, these are the guys who are doing the IIIO in the near future, mentioned in the rumourmonger thread. So I wanted to see how it built before I went off getting a few of that newer boxing, think I will stick with getting a few of the HPM dual kit coming soon, and also it will not be long before HPM do the IIIC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted August 2, 2017 Share Posted August 2, 2017 Looks very promising! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme H Posted August 5, 2017 Author Share Posted August 5, 2017 OK, a small update The injector pins or whatever they are pose a big problem all the way through this build This is the cockpit and nose gear bay, and as you can see some serious clean up required Now the kit gives you an injection moulded Ejector Seat, and a resin one The difference in size is very pronounced and if fitted the IM one will really sit up too high, and there's nowhere to take any of the bottom I will probably use and AM one, neither of these as the resin one is way too small Now I tried the tailpipe and found there is no locating tabs or anything, and it will just fall inside, so I did the cheap method of using a bit of sprue cut down and sanded to size and juggling between the tailpipe and this managed to glue it in, must remember to add some CA before I put the wings on. It stuck out a bit too much, but after I adjusted the great lump of Plastic Injector stub got it just right The mainwheels are in 2 parts, and again a bit of serious cleaning up is required The unusual thing with this kit is that the intakes go all the way to the front, and you just add the rest to the inside, although again the fit leaves a bit to be desired This is the lower side, with one side adjusted and one not and the upper side Now going back a bit, I found that there was a serious problem if I fitted the nose gear bay to the cockpit, and couldn't figure out why, so split the two apart and just put the cockpit in and then after some judicious sanding on the nosegear bay, placed it and the and the fwd fuselage and wing together and added the Nosegear bay Oh dear, what's going on here? Then a lightbulb moment, I realised that the Nosegear bay is the same one that is used in the IIIC, which needs to be shorter for the shorter forward fuselage Oh and note the hole to locate the Nosegear Leg, well neither did I yet again 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 8, 2017 You are doing a lot of noticing Graeme. I am loving your commentary. glad you are taking the hits for those who have not yet attempted one of these. I think will stick with the 3-4 High PLanes kits I have in the stash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyTiger66 Posted August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 8, 2017 This is certainly an interesting build ! Most enjoyable to read; I hope it gets a little easier from here on in. Best regards TonyT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sven_ss Posted August 11, 2017 Share Posted August 11, 2017 I have the same box, so I will pay attention to your build! good job so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mountain goat Posted August 12, 2017 Share Posted August 12, 2017 Good of you to start on an RV for us, so we don't have to... Earnest good work going on there. Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme H Posted August 19, 2017 Author Share Posted August 19, 2017 OK, moving on, I felt the best way to deal with the nose gear bay was to fettle the living daylights out of the nose gear bay and make it fit flush with the outside, no mean feat let me assure you, the alternative is to have it looking quite a bit off by being dropped down much lower than the outside, but then that happened to me at the back end anyway DSC03778 by qfa_tsv, on Flickr One thing to note is the almost imperceptible join between the front and the back Oh well that's what filler is for isn't it? The fit on the upper side is not much better either, I'm beginning to think I have made some huge errors on this kit, but the front parts closed up beautifully, and the spine is a one piece affair so can't see where I might have done it differently DSC03776 by qfa_tsv, on Flickr The wing join also left a little to be desired, also a bit of superglue to fill the step on the spine DSC03779 by qfa_tsv, on Flickr You can see the nose gear bay was down a little and had to use a bit of plasticard to get the line right, and by extropation if I had lifted that more that gap between the wing and fuselage would have been much bigger and harder to fix, this was the best compromise, but it only happened on one side, so did I have the alignment out, well doubt it as the wing to fuselage fit was good with this set up DSC03782 by qfa_tsv, on Flickr Now this kit has the intakes done as part of the fuselage, maybe to make it an easier build, but to my mind a few joins are under the intakes and can't be easily got at to clean up, might I suggest that no other manufacturer takes up this idea. One thing that bothers me is the blatant similarity between some of the parts to the HPM kit, just some of the detail stuff has really stood out. The exhaust pipe itself, not the body is so similar that it even has the mould line about half way along the turkey feathers same place as the HPM kit, also this kit only includes the supersonic tanks, and gosh they can be mated to an HPM kit, with the locating pins in the same place, but strangely, or maybe not, there are no holes of suggestion of where on the wing on this kit they should go, go figure. SO, now I have to do more filling and sanding, filling and sanding, filling and sanding, etc So far this kit is dragging out all my Mirage Mojo bigtime 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEMPESTMK5 Posted August 23, 2017 Share Posted August 23, 2017 Good morning Graeme Good job so far but it looks like that this kit is not easy to build and I don't that I am going to buy it ... Best regards Patrice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted August 23, 2017 Share Posted August 23, 2017 I'm glad I haven't succumbed to one of these kits, but thanks for sharing your pain Graeme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gene K Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 On 8/1/2017 at 6:41 PM, Graeme H said: ... it will not be long before HPM do the IIIC Has there been an official announcement? Or rumor? Gene K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme H Posted September 4, 2017 Author Share Posted September 4, 2017 Well reluctantly getting back to this one, I found the radome, although not an exact plastic copy, had the same shape, so need thickening up a bit. I added a strip of plastic card around the middle following the engraved line, and using superglue filled it up and put it onto my drill sanded it down, will need to paint it to see if it looks all right, but with this kit I'm reluctant to wast much of my modelling time. DSC03790 by qfa_tsv, on Flickr I was now ready to attached the Elevons, so cut the inboard part which is called a trimmer I believe, and which rarely moves, whereas the elevons nearly always droop once the power is off. SO couldn't understand what the hell happened here, I had clamped the wings down, DSC03788 by qfa_tsv, on Flickr and didn't leave any gap, but the trimmers were way undersized in thickness compared to the wing, the whole thing seemed a little strange to me by now. I added some plastic card and Vellejo Acrylic Putty to increase the size and blend them in, but it was probably asking a bit much of the Vallejo Putty, because it just wouldn't dry properly, and was very soft DSC03806 by qfa_tsv, on Flickr So turned to Superglue yet again, and will sand it flat and rescribe just as soon as I get a bit of enthusiasm for this. The Elevons themselves I think I can fudge a bit as they will be drooped, so hide a lot of the difference, have to see how it will look when the time comes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEMPESTMK5 Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 Good afternoon Graeme I have just read your last post and the issue you faced with the putty I recommend you this one http://www.internetmodeler.com/scalemodels/nrtools/Perfect-Plastic-Putty.php It is very easy to use Best regards and best luck with the rest of your build Patrice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted September 9, 2017 Share Posted September 9, 2017 Graeme, you 'trimmers' are called 'Pitch Dampers' Don't you love how some spare plastic card can save your bacon when the kit does not play the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mountain goat Posted September 10, 2017 Share Posted September 10, 2017 Wow. What a demanding little kit this is. Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme H Posted September 26, 2017 Author Share Posted September 26, 2017 OK, not posted anything for a while, so small update Got the Elevons on, and yes there is a mismatch on the lower side, and no, I'm not showing you yet, just something I will live with. I was originally undecided about the colour scheme, and had ruled out the Argentine one, as I have one of those on the go, so, thought I would maybe do the Venezuelan one, so sprayed on some desert sand that the instructions call out, and went searching for photos for the real thing, unable to find any without the red triangle / delta that they have on their aircraft, doesn't mean it was not applied until later, so chicken out and thought I would do a Brazilian one, as most of the other schemes have no dorsal fillet. Now the Brazilian one had the French type of Doppler under the nose, the one included with the RV kit looked a bit funky in shape, so used the HPM spare DSCN0816 by qfa_tsv, on Flickr Fitted the windscreen, and hopefully get it masked up over the next few days DSCN0819 by qfa_tsv, on Flickr 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme H Posted October 4, 2017 Author Share Posted October 4, 2017 Some paint on this one as well, decided I would do the Brazilian scheme as something simple I hope. Found that I had oversanded around the pitch dampers using my battery powered sander, so sand down some more, slowly getting there I think it is the rather soft plastic, but then again there was a big difference in height between the two. DSCN0823 by qfa_tsv, on Flickr 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 So an early F-103 it will be then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme H Posted October 4, 2017 Author Share Posted October 4, 2017 Yep an early F103 that's the plan, the decals are in the kit, not sure what to do about the rivets on the spine that area doesn't have any on the real thing will just try sanding down to see if that will do it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme H Posted October 7, 2017 Author Share Posted October 7, 2017 Working rather slowly on this one, but have managed to thin the paint down with a bit of 4000 wet n dry, and put on another coat Rivets are less offensive now I hope DSCN0830 by qfa_tsv, on Flickr and I found several other Mirage projects that I have been wasting some time on also, must avoid the temptation. The one that is going to be an Argentine one is the very old Italeri F-21 Kfir, which is a very poor kit, well complete piece of junk really, no way does it represent a decent F=21 Kfir, there are so many errors, and it is only with the substantial amount of spares that come in the HPM/PJ kit that allowed it to get to this stage, I have a resin cockpit for the interior, and yes I can fit with the kit like this. The silver one is an HPM Mk2 kit which I stated about a year ago, or maybe the last Mirage GB, anyway I filled the panel lines with Deluxe Perfect Plastic Putty, took me all of 20 mins, and have been toying with it since, I plan on this one being an RAAF one with the sprayed silver finish probably 2 OCU, I won't attempt to get either of these 2 done during this GB. DSCN0833 by qfa_tsv, on Flickr DSCN0834 by qfa_tsv, on Flickr and of course those Mirage pilots will need some training so a near complete 2 seater that was from the last Mirage GB I'm thinking of starting a topic "Graeme's Mirage Kuta builds" after this GB finishes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gene K Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 12 hours ago, Graeme H said: I'm thinking of starting a topic "Graeme's Mirage Kuta builds" after this GB finishes HUH? I had to look up "Kuta", and The Urban Dictionary gave me this: kuta A prank where you fart into your phone when someone picks up then hang up. watch this, I am going to kuta JJ when he picks up the phone Seriously, I really admire all your Mirage projects, and look forward to your continued progress! Gene K P.S. I assume your use of "Kuta" is the Australian meaning of "the best". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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