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The Ghost Tiger Typhoon a little bigger (tackling the 1/48 Revell Eurofighter Typhoon as training for 1/32) - FINISHED


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So .... how do I best start this?
Some folks around her might know that the original design for the Ghost Tiger Typhoon  grew on my pile. The bird won "Best Painted Aircraft" at 2018's edition of the Nato Tiger Meet exercise and flew as the Luftwaffe's official display bird on several occassions.

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I was happy that Revell released it in at least 1/72. However, I would have liked it in a larger size and, understandably, I am not entirely satisfied with the decals of the Revell edition in many details compared to the original. The plan to create my own decals on a larger scale is well over a year old, but as life always has a say in it, everything has been delayed tremendously again and the whole thing still presents me with one or two small challenges. I thought once I did the decals in 1/48 i could just upscale them to 1/32, however that won't work, as the Revell 1/32 kit is not just an upscale of the 1/48 version as many might think. The kits are very very similar but the full body Tigo camo made it apparent that there are some details that are different and would lead to the stripes not sitting where they should be on the 1/32 kit if I just scaled them up. Hence the 1/32 edition still might take longer than expected as well. Nevertheless, my "trial version" in 1/48 is finally finished after a rich year and at least I am not totally dissatisfied:

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But why yet another WIP?!
After some research and various comparisons, I came to the same conclusion as most model builders, i.e. that the Revell kit represents the most shape accurate reproduction in every scale out of the few alternatives. However,  this doesn't mean that, in addition to the typical weaknesses in the detailing, the kit does not have some flaws in my eyes that "sweeten" a modeller's life. It may sound a bit arrogant, but there might be the one or other aspect of the kit that might be of interest to other modellers and that I wanted to draw attention to. In addition, I can hopefully clarify a problem that still prevents me from forwarding the decal templates to Harald from HaHen and for which I have not yet found a proper solution.

In this sense, let's fire away and please be gentle😊

Edited by bushande
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I had a little brain fart with a little special effect, which I would have loved to see on the original and which would actually have been possible without any problems, but due to an advanced roll-out date because the former inspector general for the Luftwaffe wanted the bird to be ready for a display at the Berlin airshow, i.e. a month before the original roll out for the NTM exercise, there just wasn't enough time and let's be honest , it might not have been a smart move in the end. Anyways, if it's not on the original, I#ll try to incorporate my brain fart at least into the model and that's why I decided to stupidly illuminate things. The Eufi (as we call the thing in Germany; Tiffy for Typhoon sadly has a rather negative conotation over here due to the Taifun of WW2) is not a giant in 1/48 and so it doesn't need more than two / three LEDs and later a few light guides ....

 

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Edited by bushande
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Now it might get a little more interesting. As I said, the kit is really great. It may lack detail, but the shape is ALMOST! spot on. For me personally, shape accuracy is more important than detailing, because correcting the former usually costs a lot more effort, if at all possible, than to mitigate or correct any details. After "studying" the original I noticed the following to-dos on the fuselage halves in a first step ... (shouldn't be a big deal):

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Just to be safe (also for me) a comparison with the original: The images should be taken sufficiently enough in direct profile (black lines) so that they do not completely succumb to any perspective effect. What is noticeable are not only the lack of; and incorrect panels, but also and above all that the canopy of the kit is approx. 3mm (what is that in inch - about 0.12 or so?) too far back or more precisely the windshield is too long and the canopy itself is too short. Most won't care, but I'm a nitpicker I confess. Exactly this circumstance makes it a bit difficult for me with regard to the decals for such a "full body" foil, because you have to rebuild the kit at this point for a really correct reproduction and the decals should actually follow it. But what about the modeller who shies away from that this conversion???: (I actually ran into similar problems when i did the decalling for the Tiger Tornado a few years back: 

 

 

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The belly side has been rendered very nicely. Few panellines and details are wrong and some details are still missing. What's in the pics is by no means all, but the rest will follow once the screws are set:

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The kit's details are nice but rudimentary. But basically I like this kit for precisely this reason. If you want to have something decent in the display case, you still have to exert yourself a bit in the classic way. The kit generally seems to be rather unpopular by all the aftermarket and add-on parts manufacturers, which surprises me ?! But that's exactly why the inclined model builder can really let off steam here and has to try and make something useful out of what's lying around. Model building in the traditional way hihihi 😋

After I had roughly drawn everything out, it was time to actually engrave and plunge in. Not exactly the most pleasant modelling job, but "wat mut dat mut" as we say over here (roughly translates into: What needs to be done, has to be done" hihi)! In the pictures it all still looks very rough, but in the end there will be a lot of future in those trenches and it will be reworked with thin sandpaper, so that everything will be somewhat flat in the end.

The formation lights are initially only roughly incised. If a stripe is wrong at the moment, it doesn't matter. The halves still need to get glued, then filled and sanded, and only then has the final engraving to be done properly. They now serve as a reference point for positioning the rudder hinge locks.

The openings for the heat bleed off grids on the side of the tail were also drilled. At the very end I'll set some do-it-yourself grills.

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Most Tiffy-Modellers are familiar with the clearly visible grill with the rather prominent intake walls on the side of the inlets. The effect can only be represented if you take the trouble and carefully sand the grilles open on the back. The opening for the APU was also drilled out as well.

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Due to the incorrectly placed panellines on the froward fuselage, the grill for the air conditioning system is a little too far forward. Hence: fill in and drill again. And just to make sure, again the comparison with the original. If you have the kit, you can dryfit the parts and you will notice that the small hole is a little too far forward in relation to the upper intake lip.

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The small push-through panel on the starboard side is also interesting and although Revell has captured almost all of the panels correctly here (apart from the large, prominent avionics panel, of course), the one or other panel line is not set correctly:

 

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Many thanks. Yes, I confess I tend to be a nitpicker here. The bird meant quite a lot to me and I do want a representation that comes as close to the original as possible for me.

But in general the aspect of additional detailing is what makes me enjoy the modelling at all. It's really the flavour in the soup for me so I really do enjoy the extra work on the kit.

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I had already warned about the screws (note: the rivets will be set later).
If I had to gentleman's parts the whole row with my hand and a needle, I would get insane. With a "riveting tool" it's not a big deal however. I am setting the port side here as an example; the starboard side differs at the end only on the fuselage and that part will follow later.

 

Here's a general overview first:

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It's actually not a big deal. It ultimately takes longer to see which rivets really make sense because they are immediately visible than to roll over the model two or three times with the Riveter. The top edge of the prominent avionics panel on the side of the cockpit is consequently still missing. This will be made up when the cockpit and the corresponding frame are set. What was very important to me is the correction of the line for the panel behind which the control for the canards is hidden. It is only a small change, but in my eyes it makes a big difference visually.

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