HobbyBoss 1:48 A-7K Corsair II

[MarkdipXV711]

 

Successful visit to Scale Scotland 2019 @ BT Murrayfield 👌🏼... worth a visit if you havent been.

 

Only downside .. wishful thinking that I could do as well as this ... Superb 👏👏👏

 

 

 

 

So after a few weeks and the envy having subsided , I've started on the Hobbyboss Corsair II , the  A-7k version. Really like this kit and looking forward to having it in the blue/grey scheme.

 

First up, removed the canopy crease by sanding it and polishing, then it was dipped in Klear ( or latest Johnson product equivalent) 

 

 

Next up was the cockpit.. basic seats but raised detail on IP which should be ok with supplied instrument decals.

 

 

Ejection seats painted up and little bits n bobs added from spares box and wire to add interest. Seatbelts made from tinfoil sandwiched between some Tamiya tape. Excuse the poor photo but you get the idea .. 

 

 

Cockpit decals added and micro sol used ... Seatbelts might not be perfect but I'm well happy for a first time effort ..

 

 

Cockpit fairings are a snug fit.. no glue needed but some weathering required later before the canopy is fitted.

 

 

Overall fit of parts is superb in my opinion. Just a couple of gaps filled and sanded, especially the join in the engine intake ( moulded in two halves).

 

 

Two halves now glued together and the centre fuselage seam filled and sanded. Taking care not to destroy any of the recessed panel lines and detail on this kit.

 

 

 

Wings on and various underside pods and ventral spine fitted. Filler required for the wing joints but to be honest, not that much.

 

 

 

Looking at reference pictures, the small arial between the rear cockpit & extended spine should be removed. I think this would impede the intake for air to air refuelling. 

 

Going to leave the horizontal stabilisers off until paint applied, as they are molded in one piece and a great fit. On the real thing, there appears to be a swash plate or similar ?? on the fuselage at the front end of them. This will be much easier to paint with the stabilisers added after.

 

 

 

That's it for now... enjoying this kit but starting back shifts tomorrow so build on hold until later in the week.

 

Happy modelling 🤝👍

Edited October 16, 2019 by MarkdipXV711
Typo

[whiskey]

Nice progress. I love the two-seater SLUF.

[Red Dog]

Nice work, moving along quite smoothly.

[MarkdipXV711]

A bit of progress... Forgot to purchase a canopy mask but to be honest, in this scale, it wasn't an issue. Just used Tamiya tape and a sharp blade.

 

Also weathered the canopy edges and cowlings. I used pastel dust mixed with water and left it to dry then brushed it off with a soft bristle brush. This helped the rivets and other definition stand out. Finished of with some HB  pencil scratches. 

 

 

Finally, I tinted the HUD glass by dipping them in heavily thinned Tamiya clear green. When dry, they were dipped in clear and will be polished before fitting. 

 

Finally the wings completed by fitting the wing flaps, which were a tight fit. I did manage to snap one of the hinge pins underneath but easily sorted.

 

Regarding the painting stage, I'm planning to leave the remaining undercarriage off as well as the doors, just to make things easier as they are quite detailed inside and hopefully will save on masking.

 

Question - Does anyone know if the underwing weapons carriers are painted the same colours as the wing ie camouflaged in this case ??

 

Thanks for now 🤝

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

8 hours ago, MarkdipXV711 said:

Question - Does anyone know if the underwing weapons carriers are painted the same colours as the wing ie camouflaged in this case ??

Going by this photo which i believe is the box art markings I would say yes.

 

http://wikimedia.org/wiki/File:174th_Tactical_Fighter_Squadron_A-7K_Corsair_II_81-0073.jpg

 

https://www.airliners.net/photo/USA-Air-Force/LTV-A-7K-Corsair-II/1158140

 

https://www.airliners.net/photo/USA-Air-Force/LTV-A-7K-Corsair-II/1136539

Here is another “K”.

 

https://www.airliners.net/photo/USA-Air-Force/LTV-A-7K-Corsair-II/1356074

Dennis

Edited October 23, 2019 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[MarkdipXV711]

28 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Going by this photo which i believe is the box art markings I would say yes.

 

http://wikimedia.org/wiki/File:174th_Tactical_Fighter_Squadron_A-7K_Corsair_II_81-0073.jpg

 

https://www.airliners.net/photo/USA-Air-Force/LTV-A-7K-Corsair-II/1158140

 

https://www.airliners.net/photo/USA-Air-Force/LTV-A-7K-Corsair-II/1136539

Here is another “K”.

 

https://www.airliners.net/photo/USA-Air-Force/LTV-A-7K-Corsair-II/1356074

Dennis

Excellent photos.. saved for reference purposes. Many thanks 🤝

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

6 minutes ago, MarkdipXV711 said:

Excellent photos.. saved for reference purposes. Many thanks 🤝

Always happy to help. 

[MarkdipXV711]

As usual, changed my mind a fitted the undercarriage & doors so now she is sitting on pretty ...

 

 

The undercarriage was quite fiddly to fit and at first couldn't interpret the instructions that well, but a check of other BM members posts, showed the way. I had to sand down the door locating lugs a fair amount as they were to thick for the locating holes.

 

 

The plastacine blob is there just to hold the lower doors in position as the glue dries. The small struts and curved hinge pins were particularly fiddly. I'll let it set before tackling the remaining couple of smaller doors, which again will require a bit of sanding to sit correctly. Same will go for nose wheel doors.

 

Weapons pylons are a snug fit and not yet glued. This way I can paint them in situ and remove to fit the stores and weather at the end.

 

Still and enjoyable build. A good kit, well worth the money paid. 

 

Thanks for looking in  .. have a good weekend 🤝👍

 

[phildagreek]

Looks good! Your cockpit is impressive.

[MarkdipXV711]

1 hour ago, phildagreek said:

Looks good! Your cockpit is impressive.

Thank you.. just the kits supplied decal which pretty well represents the real thing but again a quality part of this kit. Seats are very basic but the addition of home made straps and some colour provides a nice distraction for the eye 🤔😄

[MarkdipXV711]

Decided to close up the stbd equipment bay as I wanted to keep that side clean looking. I will be leaving the port side access panels open , depending how the detailing goes.

 

 

Cockpit glass secured using PVA  clear glue. Wheels only held on with blu-tac.

 

The only gripe I have with this kit is the aft undercarriage bays, which are devoid of any detail, surprising since every other panel and wheel bay are nicely presented. 

 

 

I'll look out some plasticard and see if I can come up with something suitable. If not, then its a delve into my bits n bobs box.

 

Hopefully after this, I can get her into primer and see what needs attention. 

 

Thank for looking in 😄

[MarkdipXV711]

Getting the right tools for the right job ... took the advice and spent my birthday money on this bad boy !! 😉

Badger 1100 compressor with a 3 litre air tank. What a difference it makes, not only with the increased air pressure but so quiet and efficient.

 

 

Ultimate primer was also recommended as it is already mixed and ready to go but it does require a bit higher pressure to spray correctly.

 

 

The A-7 is now fully primed and set aside for a few days to go off properly. 

 

 

Next up will be painting the undercarriage and wheel bays white, then onto detailing the port avionics bay. 

 

After that ... preshading, so I'll see how the controllable air pressure feature works on the compressor.

 

Thanks for looking in 🤝

[MarkdipXV711]

Pre-shading done apart from the horizontal stabilisers..

 

 

.. it was all going so smoothly when I noted that my airbrush was starting to bubble and splatter the paint out of the paint cup. 

 

I stopped and gave the airbrush a quick clean out, thinking I had a residual paint blockage. 

 

Nope .. still getting splattered so a bit more cleaning and using an old needle I got loads of crap out from the needle tip nozzle. 

 

After I put it back together,  I did notice the needle protrudes a bit further than normal.

 

My airbrush is a Harder Steenbeck evolution and it didn't look or work right 

 

 

Then, under the magnifying lens, I saw this ... obviously been a bit ham fisted 🤔😥..

 

 

Split metal. Time to get on tinternet and source a replacement part.

 

Lesson learned, apart from this all good, some progress at least. Happy modelling 🤝🙂

[MarkdipXV711]

Replacement 0.15 nozzle arrived from www.air-craft.net 

 

Ordered Sunday and arrived today. Brilliant service. Airbrush up and running again and as it was so miserable outside, I got on with spraying all the white areas ie undercarriage & bays. 

Also mixed up an appropriate colour for the port avionics bay and the horizontal stabiliser swash plate ( I'm calling it that ) at the rear.

 

Some other areas given a small splash of colour and I will try a chipping/ weathering effect on some small areas, including the nose dome.

 

That's it for now.. cheers 🤝👍

 

 

[MarkdipXV711]

Lesson learned .. thought I'd purchased the correct paints for this model. I thought we had two choices... acrylic or enamel based paints !!

 

Turned out Mr Color are lacquer based acrylics and I didn't realise. I've never used them before. They immediately went all gungy when mixed with Tamiya or xtracrylix thinners.

 

 

Just as well they reacted in my paint cup and I never got anywhere near my model. I've now been advised to source Gunze/Mr Color thinners. Doh !! 🙄

 

Whilst waiting on my airbrush cleaner to do its thing , I used MRP pre mixed extra flat black on the nose cone and upper tail section. Great stuff, if a little pungent ... again RTFL ... they too are lacquer based.

 

Liquid mask applied to the wheels and will be left overnight to set.

 

[MarkdipXV711]

Ready for main colours ... there is a reason you should leave off the undercarriage struts and temporarily close & fix the doors... saves on the masking !!

 

 

Especially with the inside being white. It's done now though and looking at references,  the colour schemes varied slightly from state to state .

 

 

Some have black canopy surrounds and some camouflaged and some again have a black nose cone, some not. 

 

 

Used the doors on the avionics bay as a mask and I'll see how it turns out. Some residual liquid mask used to hopefully expose some wear around the crew steps.

 

That's enough for now .. sourced the Mr Color thinners so main colour scheme planned for later in the week.

 

Thanks for dropping by 😉🤝

[MarkdipXV711]

1st coat on of the lighter grey.. mixed with the correct thinners this time !!

Went on a treat but in places, I sprayed too thick a coat or multiple passes. I'll let it dry overnight and have a look in natural daylight.

 

 

When I'm happy, I will mask up for the darker shade of the cammo and keep the feathered edges to a minimum, not a fan and not skilled enough at freehand.

 

 

Not much progress I'll admit but started nonetheless.  👍

[phildagreek]

Looks good!

[thepureness]

What issue of SAMI is that in first picture?

[MarkdipXV711]

3 hours ago, thepureness said:

What issue of SAMI is that in first picture?

... just in from Christmas dinner 🍾🍻... its volume 23 issue 8 ( August 2017) ... hic 👌😜

[MarkdipXV711]

Masking night .. part ii

 

A tedious job and it took longer than I thought it would. Now ready for the second colour .. maybe tomorrow.  

 

.. if not , see you all in 2020. Have a great New Year all 🤝👍

[MarkdipXV711]

Second colour on ... easy to use Mr Color paints and they spray very easy but they do smell a bit !! ... mask required but nothing ventured etc..

 

 

Couple of areas need touching up, however I'll try a bit of panel shading on a few random panels first and see how it looks. The preshading is quite noticable at the demarcation between the two shades of grey.

 

 

One problem I've encountered is that I think I've left the liquid mask on too long ...

 

 

Apart from using the cocktail stick and perseverance... anyone have any good tips to remove old sticky liquid mask ??

 

 

Cheers 

[MarkdipXV711]

Residual liquid mask fluid finally removed with the aid of my magnifying lense and patience 

 

 

.. and of course and dental tool thingy. Next time, I'll definitely not fit undercarriage and use the doors as the masks .

 

 

Happy enough to call this stage complete and decided as I had time and the space to do so .. clear coat of varnish applied. Used Humbrol clear varnish and it sprayed neat just fine as I used an 0.4 nozzle & needle upgrade for my H&S evolution airbrush.

 

 

That's all for now, will leave this alone for a few days.. next stage are the decals 😉👍

[MarkdipXV711]

Decals on 😁, the hobbyboss decals are quite stubborn to leave their backing paper. They required a couple of soaks in warm water and plenty of micro set. A couple of them broke due to rough handling but salvageable.

 

 

Quite a few small " no step " decals so crossed off each decal as I applied it, so I wouldn't miss any.

 

 

All the decals have been given a good wash with micro sol and will leave overnight for them to settle. More will be applied where necessary,  then it will be a coat of clear to seal them in. 

 

So far.. so good 👍

[MarkdipXV711]

Flory wash applied and left to dry overnight..

 

 

Then removed carefully with damp cotton buds & paper towel.

 

 

 

 

 

Pleased thus far.. next stage , weapons & pylons then hopefully a final tidy up and some more weathering.

 

Enjoying this build ... cheers 👍