Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted April 24, 2020 Share Posted April 24, 2020 Nice tidy work Alan, the fettled and painted parts look great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted April 24, 2020 Author Share Posted April 24, 2020 5 hours ago, Andwil said: Nice idea using its of tape as “filler”. AW Thanks, it's worth trying, Tamiya tape sticks forever and the plastic backing stands up to any kind of paint or primer I've used. 5 hours ago, Romeo Alpha Yankee said: Nice tidy work Alan, the fettled and painted parts look great Thanks again Ray 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scimitar F1 Posted April 24, 2020 Share Posted April 24, 2020 Love the attitude to this build! I have this to make and this build is inspiring! Most of the old Mono jets fall into this category and look great when done. That said I could not do it without using superglue and talc as a filler. Impressed what you are managing with tube fillers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted April 24, 2020 Share Posted April 24, 2020 Coming along in leaps and bounds Al. As with all things taking time so that parts fit properly is the key to your success. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted April 24, 2020 Author Share Posted April 24, 2020 Thanks very much gents 👍 33 minutes ago, Scimitar F1 said: Love the attitude to this build! I have this to make and this build is inspiring! Most of the old Mono jets fall into this category and look great when done. That said I could not do it without using superglue and talc as a filler. Impressed what you are managing with tube fillers Yes, it's complicated to build but worth the effort. I'd rather build a kit that gives the modeller some work to do, but that's just me. And I did have to get the superglue out on one seam, but managed to keep most of them well under control 😉 17 minutes ago, Jabba said: Coming along in leaps and bounds Al. As with all things taking time so that parts fit properly is the key to your success. Yep, a long history of building Revell 1/32 jets makes you careful 😂 Thanks again, Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted April 24, 2020 Author Share Posted April 24, 2020 Turns out I did take photos of the canopy frame, just didn't upload them. Strange tooling again - both sides join in the middle but I suppose it means they can put detail and cutaways in opposit sides of the frame. Also you can see where the attachment bars have been extended and strengthened. Join lines on the visible sides covered with thin plastic card - quicker and neater than puttying. Once painted the join is very visible but shouldn't be seen when it's installed. But the upper side is fine! Next thing was installing the HUD and canopy: The canopy part needs pressure to conform - I'm using white canopy glue so it won't cure for a good few hours. The join looks nice and smooth though. The new HUD looks good - on the real thing there are two optic glass surfaces, but no way were they both going to fit under there. There's about 1mm of clearance between the HUD and canopy, so that's enough! Managed to do my ankle in so the rest of the day will be wasted on 'RICE'. 😠 Alan 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infofrog Posted April 24, 2020 Share Posted April 24, 2020 very nice work Rick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted April 25, 2020 Author Share Posted April 25, 2020 23 hours ago, infofrog said: very nice work Rick Thanks Rick, also for putting me up to building this with your positive build log of this kit 👍 Today was landing gear and wingfolds day, and let's just say the kit lost some of its lustre at this stage! The buildup of the gears is a bit weird and very fiddly - everything (literally) is supplied in two halves and requires a LOT of cleanup to remove flash, sprue attachment points and then covering up the seams. I mean, look at this: Below you can see where I've had to make some scratch parts and also demonstrates how Tamiya tape can cover a multitude of seams! The main landing gears aren't as neatly moulded and detailed as the Academy ones but still look nice and busy when finished: Again, Tamiya tape to hide the ugliest seams - it'll do! One really nice thing with test-fitting the gears - they fit so tight and solid in their mounts I was worried I wouldn't be able to get them out again! It also sits completely straight on all three gears which is a massive relief. Moving on... The arrestor hook breakdown means you have to assemble both the mounting and even the hook itself from two halves (yes you guessed it ) Again, Tamiya tape to the rescue to hide the join lines. The nose cone just slotted on, very nice natural seam line there. But the gun mount at the front is again a very fussy construction - the two outer thirds are connected to the fuselage halves, then you attach the nose cone, and finally there's a separate central third to add. Of course, all of them require fettling to all fit together. Once the glue's dried, I can tidy it all up properly. On to the wingfolds: These are a nice, sturdy construction and much beefier than those on the Academy Hornet, which make you afraid to breathe on them. The Revell versions are formed from an interlocking sandwich which when glued together is rock solid. However... They really don't fit the wing tip parts. The mounting tab (the trapezoid shaped ends in the pic above) as assembled is way too thick for the recess in the wings. If I'd tried to force it home, the assembled wingtips would have split apart. Soooo... I cut off the upper half of the 'sandwich' near the hinge line and replaced it with a much thinner shim of plastic card shaped to fit the recess. Now it's the right thickness. Also - the Revell instructions tell you to mount the wingfolds at exactly 90deg, but in fact they fold in about 10deg past the vertical, so mount them at 80deg instead. I just eyeballed it making sure they were symmetrical. Talking of symmetry - the kit as constructed is almost perfectly symmetrical. All the angles (wings, LEXs, gear legs, fins) are in line and balanced. Another big plus for the kit design. It may be fiddly and require a lot of modeller input, but the basics are good. Cheers, Alan 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infofrog Posted April 25, 2020 Share Posted April 25, 2020 looking good . I wished I had little more time to work on my model Rick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted April 25, 2020 Author Share Posted April 25, 2020 43 minutes ago, infofrog said: looking good . I wished I had little more time to work on my model Rick Thanks again Rick. Time is one thing I have plenty of right now 🙄 I'd be going nuts if it wasn't for modelling... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infofrog Posted April 25, 2020 Share Posted April 25, 2020 1 minute ago, Alan P said: Thanks again Rick. Time is one thing I have plenty of right now 🙄 I'd be going nuts if it wasn't for modelling... I understand . i was in same boat for 2 Months . Then 2 weeks ago I went back to work . I do understand Rick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted April 27, 2020 Share Posted April 27, 2020 Very nice work!! First time I hear sombody not only complain about this minster kit! Very refreshing 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted April 27, 2020 Author Share Posted April 27, 2020 13 minutes ago, exdraken said: Very nice work!! First time I hear sombody not only complain about this minster kit! Very refreshing Thanks very much! Maybe it's true what they say about positive mental attitude 😇 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted April 27, 2020 Share Posted April 27, 2020 What a weird way of making the U/C, I know that this is in a bigger scale than what I am used to building but it still should not be that complicated and delicate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted April 27, 2020 Author Share Posted April 27, 2020 23 hours ago, Jabba said: What a weird way of making the U/C, I know that this is in a bigger scale than what I am used to building but it still should not be that complicated and delicate. True! Luckily when built up the gear is pretty strong, but I might have to rethink my planned weapons load due to the weight - expect to see fewer bombs and more missiles... Here's the last two days' update: The flap tracks might look straight, but they ain't! Had to chop off some bits of the flap hinges to compensate. All fitted okay in the end. When I built the Academy Hornet, there was a big gap down the length of the leading edge slats which I had to fill. Revell gives you two separate sets of parts depending whether flaps are deployed or retracted, so no problems there. However, after gluing the trailing edge flaps down, it left a gap all the way down the edge! So, out with the putty again... Tidied up some of the other seams with PPP putty, wiped smooth with a wet cotton bud. Unfortunately I found some bigger gaps that needed filling, so decided it was best to get those out of the way: The pesky three-part cannon port 👆 The fixed forward canopy also needed blending in better. One of my pet peeves on models is where the fixed canopy section has obvious seams around it just because it's a clear part. Nope! This is how we finished the weekend: I'm sure I'm going to knock off that arrestor hook before the build is done, mark my words! Alan 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebra Posted April 27, 2020 Share Posted April 27, 2020 Crikey that things big! Looking good Alan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted April 27, 2020 Author Share Posted April 27, 2020 Today gave me some good opportunities to progress this build - it's exactly a week since I started building. I primed it this morning and had to do some more puttying around the inside of the intakes. That took the morning and this afternoon I got the first paint on! Using MRP Paints throughout - their Compass/Ghost Gray colours are very good. The other advantage being lacquers is they dry very quickly. This accepted masking tape about 30mins after applying. Here's the Dark Ghost Gray on top, left the spine and tails in primer in preparation for the black special markings. This was a looooong masking job! And there's always gaps no matter what you do. I sprayed on AMT-6 black, a Russian WW2 colour that's really a black grey. I think proper jet black might not look convincing once I start the paint effects. And when the masks came off - I'll definitely take that as a finish! Looking forward to the next step. This has come out very well, surpassing all my expectations for what I'd believed was going to be an also-ran next to the Academy Hornet - this could upstage it! Cheers, Alan 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted April 27, 2020 Author Share Posted April 27, 2020 2 minutes ago, zebra said: Crikey that things big! Looking good Alan Thanks mate, it really is a monster. About as big as the F-15 which is the biggest 1/32 jet I've built so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted April 28, 2020 Author Share Posted April 28, 2020 Also: 9 hours ago, Alan P said: I'm sure I'm going to knock off that arrestor hook before the build is done, mark my words! Guess what happened as I was removing the masking tape... 🙄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andwil Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 On 4/28/2020 at 6:19 AM, Alan P said: I'm sure I'm going to knock off that arrestor hook before the build is done, mark my words! 17 hours ago, Alan P said: Guess what happened as I was removing the masking tape... 🙄 Jinx! AW 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 Knock a bit of the build is a sign of a good modeller, I’m sure of it. shes looking great! Rob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted April 29, 2020 Author Share Posted April 29, 2020 Hopefully not going to be too good before the rest is built Rob Gloss coat went on yesterday, while that was drying I got to thinking about the payload. Originally was thinking about standoff missiles and a mix of bombs but too much resin was involved, making the weight increase above the realistic long-term strength of the landing gear. So out went the JSOW and SLAM and in came some HARM missiles left over from the Academy kit. Seen a few photos of these on the outboard pylons, so a cunning plan has emerged. This will be a SEAD/DEAD evaluation test using the standard anti-SAM site weapons - HARM, 2000lb GBU-31 JDAM and 500lb GBU-38s. Feels better! Also will be adding a couple of AIM-9X on the wingtips - the kit pylons are not useable empty because of the way they're moulded. This will be a fun day out on the China Lake Ranges! Next, the solution for the bomb coatings - all USN/USMC live bombs have an ablative fire-resistant coating applied to avoid a repetition of the infamous USS Forrestal incident. To replicate this I tried something new: Just dab this stuff on with a piece of sponge. Takes about a day to fully cure, and then it can be primed: Looks good enough to me. Here's the CAM JDAM with the ablative coating for comparison: Close enough! Cheers, Alan 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted April 29, 2020 Author Share Posted April 29, 2020 Okay, now for some really good news! One of the things that was nagging at me since I decided to make the box decals version was whether the quality of the decals would live up to the promise of the design. The answer is a resounding yes! The kit decals are among the best I've ever used from a kit. Excellent news and a huge relief. I can just get on with it now. CAVEAT: I always try any kit decals with both my go-to setting solutions to see if one works better than the other - I tend to use Mr Mark Softer for 'Eastern' decals and MicroSet/Sol for 'Western' ones. I tried both on these and the hands-down winner is the MicroSet/Sol two-step process using warm/hot water to dip the decals first. Lukewarm/cool water doesn't seem to activate the decals as effectively. Quality/register is excellent, all the stencils are clear and legible. How good are these stars? Unfortunately there's one real faux pas - all the stencils for the upper side are in a different colour to the ones on the underside with the result they are almost EXACTLY the same colour as the paint I used. There are actually two decals applied in this pic. Can you spot the camouflaged one? I applied them all anyway just in case the flat coat makes them more visible. Almost done the right hand side and I'm really pleased with the results Looking forward to continuing this, often decals are my Achilles heel and cause undue stress in a build. Not this time! Alan 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infofrog Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 WOW so nice . You did amazing job Rick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andwil Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 Looking fantastic! AW 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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