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Tamiya 1:48 F-117A Grey Dragon +++ Finished +++


Jasonb13

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On ‎4‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 10:06 PM, Jasonb13 said:

 

I can leave it off, paint that part clear red and glue it on near the end. I've no idea why Tamiya include the part and don't include it in the instructions, which even tell you that it's not needed.

 

Those lights are used when the aircraft is in de-stealth mode if you understand what I am meaning, so this is why Tamiya may not have included it in the instructions but perhaps should have mentioned them.

 

This is coming along very nicely and the Grey colour scheme is definitely something different to the more normal Black.

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Great, thanks Jabba. I was wondering if they retracted or came off or something like that. Any pic I've found includes them, but of course they're not going to be taking pics while on a mission!

 

Haven't got near the bench in a while, but hoping to get back soon and to get the wheels finished and move on to the cockpit.

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Finally got a bit more work done on the treads on the wheels. I'm happy enough with the results, it's subtle enough, but that's always better than stark and obvious! I want to put a bit more of a wash on the white parts, but that's it really for the wheels/undercarriage

 

 

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Time for the cockpit I think, and I reckon I'll get started on it in a few evenings. Thanks...

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So, with the tyres done, it's on to the cockpit. I was a little torn between just using the kit details (which aren't bad) but in the end I couldn't resist the PE sets that the guy I'd bought the kit from had sourced for it. So I got started on it last night, getting some of the paint sprayed on the fuselage around the cockpit area, and also starting work on the PE and assembling the seat. Here's how it looks so far...

 

 

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The white 'sill' on the cockpit needs to be tidied up a bit. Next steps this evening will be to get some black paint on the correct parts, and then continue painting the details on the seat and adding a lot more PE! I didn't get a pic but I also got the inside and outside of the canopy masked. The inside was masked by the templates that come with the kit, the outside masked by the aftermarket masking the previous owner had bought, it was very handy to have both!

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Another little bit done tonight, and here's where I stand...

 

 

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Tomorrow night will get some painting done on the Ejection Seat, and then more PE goes on, along with some more PE on the cockpit panels. And then I can get started on the IP as well.

 

On another note, it's a while away, but I'm tempted to try to recreate the 'masking' on the picture I posted; numerous panels are in black instead of the two tone grey...

 

 

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I'm thinking it should be doable with some tape over the black primer before doing the camo in grey. It would definitely make the scheme even more interesting!

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Another little bit done this evening. Touched up some of the paint around the cockpit on the fuselage, and painted some details and did some dry-brushing on the ejection seat:

 

 

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Am pretty tired now, so I'll leave it as it is. Want to put a wash on it tomorrow night to bring out the seat padding, and then there's some PE to go on, seat belts and some handles etc. Have Monday off too so with some luck I might have most of the cockpit done by then.

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On 10/05/2019 at 23:10, Jasonb13 said:

On another note, it's a while away, but I'm tempted to try to recreate the 'masking' on the picture I posted; numerous panels are in black instead of the two tone grey...

 

I think it would look great with the black panels! Good luck with the future masking :)

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9 hours ago, AaronKSJ said:

 

I think it would look great with the black panels! Good luck with the future masking :)

Thanks, if it goes well, it would definitely add to the build.

 

Got the Ejection Seat finished now I reckon, not too bad and I'm happy enough with it...

 

 

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Next up is the IP I reckon, though I need to do the rudder pedals as well.

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Thanks, you gotta love PE for detail!

 

Speaking of which, I'm off work today and between getting other messages done, I've made a start on the Instrument Panel as well. Here's how it looks now...

 

 

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More work on it this evening hopefully...

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Coming along nicely. Some very good work on the ejection seat and instrument panel. I like the idea of the bits of black on the paint scheme, breaks up the grey a little.

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Thanks Jabba. We'll see how easy it is to turn the idea into reality! :)

 

Pretty much finished the cockpit now. Here's how it looks:

 

 

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Pretty happy with it. The Seat and HUD are only dry-fitted as leaving them off will make it easier to mask the fuselage and they can be added later on in the build. 

 

Next up is painting the exhaust vanes that go inside the aircraft, so that they can then be added to the fuselage and masked off. And then, I think, I get to add the cockpit tub to the upper fuselage and close the fuselage halves in place!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks Dermot!

 

Haven't got near the bench much recently, so progress has slowed somewhat. But I got little bits done. I noticed a scratch in one of the HUD panes, so I made new ones and got them in. And I got the cockpit added to the upper fuselage, and here's how it looks now (the seat and HUD are still dry-fitted):

 

 

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There's a horizontal line on the back wall of the cockpit, where the upper fuselage meets the cockpit back, that I have to decide if I can live with, or want to try to mask and take care of.

 

Really the only thing left to go into the fuselage before I join the halves together are the internal exhausts. They need to be painted/weather before being added, so I got them sprayed last night:

 

 

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It's hard to get a good pic of them online, but from what I can see, they look like they're a metal colour that's highly weathered, so that's what I'm going to try!

 

Thanks...

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Got a bit more done on this. Started weathering the exhausts, using pastels, mainly black but also some brown and red. Here how it looked with one done:

 

 

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And here's both of them done:

 

 

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As I said, it's not easy to get a clear photo of the exhausts on the real thing, but I'm trying to get it looking something like this...

 

 

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And here are my exhausts fitted to the fuselage...

 

 

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The plastic to the rear of the exhausts will be painted/weathered the same way as the exhausts themselves, once the airframe has been painted. And then the rear most 'strip' of fuselage behind the exhausts will be left much more shiny, as a lot of photos seem to show that...

 

 

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So, with the exhausts done, I do believe the next step is actually gluing the fuselage halves together! Then I'll get the filler out, and the masking tape, and then it's time for primer...

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That's really coming together well! Also, thanks for posting a great pic of the rear view of the exhausts. I shall be nicking it for future reference!

 

Alan

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So, before doing the fuselage halves, I decided to try to deal with the annoying gap between the cockpit tub and the fuselage. Some filling/sanding and lots of careful masking followed by a fresh spray of paint improved it, but it still wasn't great...

 

 

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So I decided to get a little more creative. Out came some Evergreen and the drill and I ended up with this...

 

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A quick spray of some grey and a dry-fit, and I have a fictitious but better looking solution!

 

 

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It makes the back wall look a bit busier too, which is good.

 

Then I finally got the fuselage halves glued together!

 

 

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Next up is filling and sanding, there's a seam all the way around the edge of the lower fuselage where it joins the upper one. I'll also probably add the 'bases' of the two tails and put filler around them if needed as well. Getting closer to primer...

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Another bit done, lots of tape and filler!

 

 

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Of course, most of it is the seam between the two fuselage halves. Am hoping, even with my poor filling/sanding skills, that I'll be able to make a decent job of it as they're all pretty flat surfaces!

 

Probably won't get back to the bench for a few days now, but next steps are sanding (funnily enough) and once that's complete (and I'm happy with it), I'll be masking all the internals to get ready for primer.

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After a few days away from the bench, I'm back making some progress again. Got lots of sanding done, and the seam is looking better (though as usual primer will tell the truth). Also have it all masked now as well, and here's how its looking now...

 

 

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With a bit of luck I might get the primer done tomorrow...

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Coming together very well. Good work on getting rid of the seam between the upper and lower fuselage parts. I like the idea behind the rear of the cockpit to hide that seam.

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