Peter Lloyd Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 If I may, this seems like a good time to build this. What do you mean, 'tidy your room'? That's time I could spend building. Nice bits. A fair bit for flash, some of it a bit thick, such as that around the fin. But, lovely resin wheel well and seat. Plastic is cut: 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Lloyd Posted April 25, 2019 Author Share Posted April 25, 2019 The cockpit parts are very good, and it's nice to have a 'pit that looks so good without much work... ... but I'm not sure how this coaming is supposed to fit. Over? Under? A flush fit? The instructions would really benefit from some 'after' illustrations, it's just individual parts with arrows, and I was often unsure whether I was putting things in the correct place. This has led to problems. Getting that rear wall of the cockpit to agree with the rest of it has been tricky. In the end, as usual, I have just left the problems in place. The wheel well was the same. Nothing positive to locate it (okay, this is a short-run kit). Thinning the thick fuselage didn't really help anything, and in the end the well piece is sunk too far into the fuselage. I have no way to adjust it so that problem is being immortalised, too. The upper and lower halves of the fuselage didn't want to come together, and it was hard to discern exactly where the obstruction was. Lots of grinding, guessing which bits to cut, slowly brought the gaps to a close, only to find I'd taken out too much from the intake walls. Again, on kits that lack positive 'landmarks' for locating things, it would be a big benefit to have reference drawings of parts in place. After all, all these interior parts have to be fitted before the fuse is brought together, and it's impossible to dry fit it. I don't want to appear too critical, this is a good kit in terms of detail and the complex curves of the fuselage look like a P-80 to me. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 (edited) Very nice, and good to see another one of these built. I put one together a while back and really enjoyed it. I 'm sorry but I can't recall the cockpit/IP coaming fit issues. Maybe I just blanked them out ;). good luck! Martin Edited April 27, 2019 by RidgeRunner 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Lloyd Posted April 27, 2019 Author Share Posted April 27, 2019 On 4/26/2019 at 7:47 AM, RidgeRunner said: I 'm sorry but I can't recall the cockpit/IP coaming fit issues. Maybe I just blanked them out ;). Maryin Wow Maryin, that is lovely! I have read a few reviews (always after I start building) and these seem to indicate the problems and how to get around them. I have found Sword kits seem to vary between excellent (the Xtrakit Spitfire XII) and almost bunbuildable (the old Helldiver), getting better over time. The problems I'm having are nothing too bad or unexpected, it's just the inability to test fit without gluing the interior in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted April 27, 2019 Share Posted April 27, 2019 Thanks Pete. I enjoyed that build. I'm drawn to Latin machines, that are different and colourful. Martin (my typo!) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Lloyd Posted April 27, 2019 Author Share Posted April 27, 2019 Well I'm not expecting to see another Colombian AF fighter for a while! I like to do some odd subjects, but I tend to do pretty conventional schemes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Lloyd Posted May 1, 2019 Author Share Posted May 1, 2019 On we go... The seam between the intake and fuselage side is minimal, but it should be smooth. I'm not sure I'll be able to do much about it. But, I think Sword have engineered this as well as can be hoped. That coaming again. I have carefully sliced at the cockpit ledge, and can work the coaming into a better spot. Thinning there before you start would be a good move. It's not something easy to 'test fit' ahead of gluing the fuselage together. The wing root fit is good. There is a small step at the front of this join on the other side, I scraped away at the fuselage side of the seam to minimise this. I also sanded the wing and fuselage halves quite generously, whcih was a good move. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Lloyd Posted May 8, 2019 Author Share Posted May 8, 2019 Nearly ready for paint. I went with the Lockheed wing tip tanks, rather than the Japanese-made ones which were more common in Korea. It seems each time the tanks were jettisoned, the American taxpayer had to pay only about 1/20th the price for the different tanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Lloyd Posted May 9, 2019 Author Share Posted May 9, 2019 Alclad chrome. My first time using Alclad, and I am sold. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted May 9, 2019 Share Posted May 9, 2019 That looks to have come up really well Peter. I'm liking what I see. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Lloyd Posted May 10, 2019 Author Share Posted May 10, 2019 Sword decals are about the best in the business, which is useful on this finish as I'm not doing the layers of gloss coat to sandwich the decal. I couldn't quite make the nose stripe come together on the top, but it shouldn't be too hard to fix. I'm not sure what if any work I will do to accentuate the panel lines.... it actually looks quite authentic as it is (the nature of the finish that is, the model of course has compromises). I'm really happy with this bright finish on the F-80... because the plane is all complex curves, the shininess adds something. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted May 10, 2019 Share Posted May 10, 2019 It's looking very nice Peter. I was interested too by your earlier comment about the different types of drop tanks - I had wondered about that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Lloyd Posted May 10, 2019 Author Share Posted May 10, 2019 5 hours ago, CliffB said: It's looking very nice Peter. I was interested too by your earlier comment about the different types of drop tanks - I had wondered about that! I read this recently in a Bill Gunston book, but I haven't quite been able to find exactly where... I wasn't thinking of building the Shooting Star then! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoftScience Posted May 10, 2019 Share Posted May 10, 2019 I wouldn't do any washes on this. I agree that it looks good as it is. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 On 5/10/2019 at 5:18 PM, SoftScience said: I wouldn't do any washes on this. I agree that it looks good as it is. Ditto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted May 22, 2019 Share Posted May 22, 2019 This is an inspirational build for sure Peter. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted May 22, 2019 Share Posted May 22, 2019 First go with Alclad Chrome and you can do that? 😮👍 Outstanding! Alan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Lloyd Posted July 14, 2019 Author Share Posted July 14, 2019 Thanks everyone! I am just about to put this in the gallery: as I departed home for a stint of work overseas I didn't bring images of thee rest of the build, but it was really just adding detail parts and trying not to ruin things by handling and dropping the model. Apart from some pain around the air intakes and the need to carefully fettle the resin wheel well pieces, it's a good kit. But the qualification is a big one: you need a third and fourth hand to hold everything in place to see whether it will close up around those resin parts, it's very hard to test fit, and it might even be worth trying white glue or something for temporary assembly. In the end my nose gear well is too deep and I couldn't pull it back flush, so I left it. I also lose the nose gear lights so they are not on the final model (yet). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 A nice looking model. You have done well to get rid of the seams that you had on a natural metal finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tailspin Turtle Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 On 5/10/2019 at 1:51 AM, CliffB said: It's looking very nice Peter. I was interested too by your earlier comment about the different types of drop tanks - I had wondered about that! For what it's worth: https://tailhooktopics.blogspot.com/2017/06/lockheed-pf-80-shooting-star-tip-tanks.html 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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