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LTV A-7E Corsair II - Italeri 1/72


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Hi,

 

While the detailing work on the cockpit continues, I have applied a first layer of white on the underside and the moving surfaces. The tanks were also painted.

 

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The nose landing gear bay is still quite bare. I intend to add some details when I install the landing gear as most of the work will be to add actuators.

I have also painted the inner side of the main bay doors. Most are ok but some will need some additional finishing. No picture today but I will take one  when all doors (including the nose one) are completed.

 

Cheers,

 

Antoine

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Nice job mate, I've just had that experience which I'm sure many here on BM has had, where I'm just sitting here minding my own business and looking through your thread and then "BAM" I'm planning to build an A-7.... Now I know how people gather decent size stashes !!

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Hi,

 

Not a lot of progress since last time as I spent half of my modelling time looking for the PE head-up display frame that decided it was a ejector seat…

Fortunately, it misfired and after checking half of my workbench it appears it was still in the cockpit… Well, you know the story.:banghead:

Any way, it is back in place with its glass installed. Not sure of the green colour, but I like it this way.

Now the windshield is in place and the glue drying. Getting ready for the Light Gull Grey :yahoo:

 

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On the anticipation side, I have tried to find the best green paint for the tail and the nose. By comparing my stock with the decal sheet, the closest colour that is available to me during the lockdown is Gunze H26 (second from the left on the picture).

 

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Cheers,

 

Antoine

 

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Hi,

 

Slow progress, as always for me when paint starts. I always leave the paint to dry at least 24h between two sessions, especially when masking is involved. In addition, I had to sand and re-apply the white paint in some locations.

Then, the white areas were masked in preparation of the grey, except the tail unit as I was not happy with some visible sanding marks.

Today, I applied a second layer of grey FS2644 and tried to add some contrasts by using different shades of grey. I stopped at three… the basic H325 (given to be FS26440) , the H325 with some white in it and some darker grey (H335 Medium Sea Grey mixed with some white... I was also painting an RAF aircraft today...). Note that Gunze also provides FS16440 that is the Gloss version of that colour, under ref H315. I definitely prefer the first one (H325) as I had loads of problem with H315 in previous builts (drying time, sticky feeling, prone to finger prints...).

 

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Cheers,

 

Antoine

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Hi,

 

Early start today with the application of the bright green on the tail and the nose.

Once partly dry, I removed the mask to get an idea of the result of the paint. Some touch-ups are required but, overall, not too bad.😊

 

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Cheers,

 

Antoine

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi,

 

Thanks @Hook. It is indeed getting closer every day to the end by one baby steps after another.

Since last post, it is touch-up time! Some of them were due to small gaps in the masks. One was due to incorrect placement of the mask (the grey limitation was too high on the right-hand side of the fuselage).

 

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We are getting closer every day to the end by with baby steps.

I also added a few patches of grey colours to replace decals and some aluminium areas that are not indicated in the instructions but that are clearly visible on pictures under the forward half of the elevators.

 

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And of course, all those maskings lead to other touch-ups. I generally try to reduce the adherence of the tape by either using it several time or by gluing/removing it from the mat a couple of time, but sometime, the paint just wants to go off...

 

I'm going back for another spray session of white...

 

Cheers,

 

Antoine

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Hello Gents,

 

I’m a bit late on that discussion compared to the status of the model... Antennas and inlets have been added, details to the NLG bay doors have been added too. But I’ll come back later on that as I am so pleased but the model after applying the decals. I really like this white/grey scheme and the green tail just make it even better. Hope you like it too.

 

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Anyway, as you can see, it is on wooden legs for the time being. They are made of cocktail sticks glued with PVA glue in the NLG bay and in holes for wing pylons. Indeed, as the next step is the application of a black wash to highlight the engraved lines, I prefer not to fix the landing gears and other details like wing pylons as they may be either fragile or making the wash process difficult, or both.

 

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As it stands now, the model as received its second layer of gloss varnish to protect the decals. With regards to the decals, this is probably the best element of this kit. They are really lovely, easy to install and they react very well to Micro Set. Micro Sol can remain in its drawer as the adherence of the decal is very good.  One good point for Italeri!

 

Cheers,

 

Antoine

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Hi,

Hope you had a good weekend despite the changing weather.

I continued to work on the Corsair II and have probably achieved on of the last two big challenge of this kit (the remaining one being the canopy internal frame), that is the nose landing gear. Sorry for @Corsairfoxfouruncle and @Vultures1, still not the grand final 😉.

 

In this box, Italeri offers only half of the nose landing gear. Even if you keep the original nose landing gear installation, all the retraction mechanism is missing. And on this carrier-catapulted aircraft, it is a fair amount of metal…

 

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So after weeks of filling, sanding and painting, I’m back to what I prefer (for the time being) in our hobby: gluing plastic. But this time, it has to be from scratch.

First step: find good documentation (there are really good walkaround on the net) and sketch the mechanism (ok, could have done a better job)

 

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Second step: the main feature of that mechanism is an I-shape beam. This might be found in some shop but as I had none, I had to assemble my own using plastic cards of different thickness. A 1mm thick for the body and 1/2mm thick for the sides.

 

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Third step: put everything together, according to your sketch and to the reference picture. Test fit and redo if necessary, break it apart because you.ve got big fingers, assemble it again… until it fit in place with all the parts attached. It is not perfect? Leave it be or it will be worse!

 

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In the end, the chances for that assembly of being accurate are very slim but it does the trick, to my eyes anyway…

 

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Cheers,

 

Antoine

 

PS: while posting that update, I just realise I forgot a shielding plate behind the leg... I'll deal with it another time: time to prepare diner now!

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Hello,

 

We have never been closer to the end of this build: matt varnish has been applied, mask removed, tiny little PE bits glued in place. The aircraft has been loaded with its weapon.

 

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The only remaining thing is the canopy. You may remember I made some previous try in representing the internal frame. This frame is indeed visible from the outside. It will also be the support for the opening mechanism and for the rear bulkhead.

 

So far my first two try-outs were not conclusive.

Now I’ll be trying something completely new for me and use the silhouette portrait cutting machine that I’ve received for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. I’m still on the learning curve and am blocked by… my printer that has no more ink to print the calibration pattern :headbang:

Hopefully, next time, I’ll be able to give a bit more info on the Silhouette with, hopefully some good results.

 

Cheers,

 

Antoine

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Hello guys,

 

I’m happy to say that the Corsair is now completed.

As explained in my previous post, the last remaining big job was the canopy. Well, some may say that painting and gluing a canopy is not the most difficult part of a model, and I would agree (even though I know I have to make some progresses on that aspect of the hobby). In the case of the Corsair, analysis of walkaround pictures shows that an internal frame goes all around the pilot office, forming a kind of cocoon around him, probably for pressurisation purpose (please correct me if this is not for pressurisation). More importantly, this frame can be seen through the canopy sides as it is larger than the canopy frame.

One option would have been to paint that ‘pressurisation’ frame in black, from the inside of the canopy but then it would have been difficult to attach the rear part of the cocoon without risking some gluing mark on the transparency.

I will not come back on my previous tries. I’m sure some will have other solutions that would give perfect results. I’ll try to explain here how I did that internal frame using a cutting machine (Silhouette Portrait 2).

 

That first step is to ‘engineer’ that cocoon. What I mean there, is that one have to identify the part that will be cut, those that would be shaped, where you will have to use glue, what type of glue …. Here, as I was planning to use a cutting machine for the first time and as I was looking for as less gluing as possible, I decided to go for a interior frame that can be cut in one piece and that will fit inside the canopy. Then the rear part of the cocoon will be made of two parts: first a 1mm thick band of plastic that will be bent and glued to represent the lower part of the rear bulkhead and then the bulkhead made in thinner plasticard (I think it is .5 mm), cut in the right shape and bend. That bulkhead will then be glued on the lower band with Tamiya extra liquid cement and on the canopy frame using PVA glue to prevent any ‘accident’ and to fill all the inevitable gaps between the two parts. So that is the theory. Let move to the practical aspects …

 

Canopy frame: this part is the one that will be made using the Silhouette. To start with, one need a template. Here, I simply placed a piece of paper inside the canopy, keeping it in place with my little finger (nothing posh here, it’s just that it was the only finger fitting in…) and tracing the perimeter with a pencil with the other hand.

 

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Once again this is one option and there are probably many others to get that result (for instance, holding the paper inside the canopy using a base in plasticine… that would have been less acrobatic…). Then, with the paper flat, I blackened the frame I wanted using an ink pen and cut it for some fit tests. Just don’t forget to ‘reduce’ it a bit as the initial marks were larger than the canopy.

 

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I decided then to try the PixScan option of the Silhouette. This option is very handy: you place your template on a dedicated mat, take a picture with your phone or a camera and load it on your computer. The Silhouette software will automatically replicate it at the right size (the software need calibration though). I will not detail this process more here. There should be several very good tutorials on internet. Just a note here: I’m not sponsored by Silhouette. I’m sure the same result might be obtained thank to other cutting machine. Anyway, it worked very well for my frame. Just be careful for the template to be fully flat on the mat. Because mine was a bit bent after being fitted inside the canopy several times, its shade was considered as a part of the template, hence a bit larger reproduction.

Then you go through all the vectorisation process and get ready for the first cut. To save my plasticard, I made a first try using some paper card. And as I was not happy with the result (it was too large… shade issue).

 

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I corrected the digital template and tried again… and again… until it was satisfactory. Then I replace the paper by plastic. The cutting settings have to be adapted (still have to optimise them) and after several other tries, you get an acceptable internal frame.

 

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The canopy assembly: the rest is classic scratch building and I followed the steps I defined at the beginning.

The frame was paint in black and glued inside the canopy using PVA glue to prevent any marks.

Then the lower back frame cut, bent, adjusted and glued, again with PVA glue (this time, to enable potential further adaptation).

Finally, the rear bulkhead was shaped, cut and glued with PVA glue at the top and with Tamiya liquid cement on the lower frame. At the same time, I glued a triangular shape inside the top of the frame (it is clearly visible on the actual aircraft).

 

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Once everything was dry, I happily tried it on the model… and it didn’t fit. It was not possible to place the canopy in an open position. This is where the PVA glue takes more sense. To correct the assembly, the lower back frame was carefully unglued and position a bit further back. The top of the bulkhead remained glued in the same position but ‘rotated’ around its top interface with the canopy. As the lower back frame then extended below the canopy, it was sawed using an electrical saw (it enable to apply less stress on the part).

A second try showed that it was now possible to present the canopy in an open position.

 

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Hence the back lower frame was then definitely glued with Tamiya cement and some more PVA glue was applied from the rear of the assembly (it would not be visible) to fill any gap between the bulkhead and the canopy frame.

After one night drying, some vertical braces were added and everything painted in black.

 

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Three PE rear mirrors and one handled were added and here it is! Finished!

 

Conclusion: gluing the canopy on the aircraft concluded this (very) long build (just had to add two pitots (?) on the nose of the beast).

Hope you are not bored by this long post. Pictures of the finished aircraft under the lovely summer sun tomorrow, promise!

In the mean time, stay safe and have a good night.

 

Cheers,

 

Antoine

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Nice work Antoine, it looks really good, with some good and sensible corrections and enhancements added. I make Greek and Swedish aircraft subjects, so now that I know that this Italeri A-7E kit contains HAF markings, I will buy it just on that strength alone! (thanks :) ).

 

Regards

 

Derek

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Hello,

 

I initially planned to place pictures of the completed model in the RFI section but a front wheel decided to go wobbly. So back to the workbench and RFI entry postponed to tomorrow.

Anyway, I promised pictures of the completed model for today, so here are the few taken before the wheel incident.

Hope you like this representation of the A-7E and that you enjoyed the WIP.

Thank you all for your support and advices you provided all along the building process. It really helped me to continue and saved the model from finishing on the shelf of doom.

 

Happy modelling!

 

Antoine

 

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11 hours ago, AntoineG said:

Hope you like this representation of the A-7E and that you enjoyed the WIP.

What's not to like - exemplary SLUFF!

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

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