billn53 Posted May 24, 2020 Share Posted May 24, 2020 Outstanding work. I’m impressed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rizon Posted May 28, 2020 Author Share Posted May 28, 2020 (edited) Next up I completed the assembly of the horizontal stabilisers. Having decided to go for foldable wings, I also wanted to have these moveable. To prevent them from just flopping around, I made a simple friction lock. For this I cut three sections of plastic tubing and glued the smallest one on a 1 mm aluminium rod. Then added a small spring followed by the part that gets bonded to the fuselage, in other words it is only sliding on the shaft. The last and longest part is again bonded to the aluminium shaft in a way that the spring is compressed. The normal force then exerted between the interface gives enough friction to lock the flying surface into an arbitrary positon. The stabilisers them selves are from two 0.5 mm sheets that are bonded only on the perimeter, and the torque tube forms the main spar to complete the thin walled structure. Now I only have to install the stabilisers…. R Edited May 28, 2020 by Rizon 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie_c67 Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 Probably too late for you, and not sure where in the world you are, but there’s an article in the June edition of “Aeroplane” that talks about the RAF getting the F-117 (twice!) and mentions the naval version albeit very briefly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rizon Posted June 6, 2020 Author Share Posted June 6, 2020 Thanks for the heads-up! Will be on the lookout for that edition of Aeroplane. Somewhere on the net I also came across that story of the F-117 being offered to the UK. Didn`t know twice though! R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rizon Posted June 7, 2020 Author Share Posted June 7, 2020 (edited) Now for a bit on the legs. I already had the basic landing gear built with the 3D printed wheels. Now I got around to adding a bit more detail. The detail is loosely based on the F-14 landing gear – so don’t go and compare it too closely with the real thing please… 🙂 Still needs a bit of refinement and cleaning up, I’ll to that when I have a coat of primer on. And this is what it looks like installed. I prefer to have my landing gears removable for easier transport or storage, so they are not glued in. Only pushed into receiving holes made from tubing. I also added most gear bay doors. Then the intake screens. That is not a trivial task. My first idea was to install them by dissolving thin sections of stretched sprue all around the edges and having the screen sandwiched in the middle. This did not quite work out, so I resorted to cyno glue. Not a good idea, as the glue wants to wick into the mesh. Eventually I got something semi-ok, I think. The installation is still a work in progress, as the stiffening bar down the middle etc. is missing and some cleaning up still to do. R Edited June 7, 2020 by Rizon 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jalles Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 Wow, this is coming along well, I'm looking forward to the finished product. The landing gear look great, I'm going to need to learn how to do that since I always seem to be in need of landing gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rizon Posted June 19, 2020 Author Share Posted June 19, 2020 (edited) For the most part all the smaller details have been completed now. Things like scribing, filling the last bits of imperfections, and smaller details added. Effectively she is ready for the paint shop now. Not everything is attached yet though, as for some it is easier to attach after painting. R Edited June 19, 2020 by Rizon 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn M Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 outstanding work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew D Jolly Rogers guy Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 This is a masterpiece! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jalles Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 That looks fantastic! The folding wings really are genius! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rizon Posted June 22, 2020 Author Share Posted June 22, 2020 (edited) Something I tried this weekend was to coat the canopy in gold. I decided to try this route instead of a yellow/orange tint to try and get the different refraction and opaqueness that gold coated canopies show. After experimenting with several gold powders and paints, the most useable procedure I came up with was to coat the canopy with future to give a very smooth surface. Then using “Rub ‘n Buff” apply a thin layer by finger to the canopy. Either interior of exterior surface seems to work equally well. Bit undecided if I am happy with the current result or take it off and try once more. The trial canopy looks marginally better… Anyway, here is what I currently have: R Edited June 22, 2020 by Rizon 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey-1980 Posted June 22, 2020 Share Posted June 22, 2020 fantastic work so far! Very impressed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rizon Posted June 23, 2020 Author Share Posted June 23, 2020 (edited) Decided to re-do the canopy coating…. I removed the previous enamel clear coats with Oxitol. Then did a coating inside and out with Future and let that set properly. Then I applied a small amount of Rub ‘n Buff on the outside, and buffing it slightly. Additionally I applied some gold glitter powder over the Rub ‘n Buff waxy layer. By applying it with a fingertip, only the very finest particles remain behind. To date the best result my experimentation has resulted in… R Edited June 23, 2020 by Rizon 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rizon Posted June 29, 2020 Author Share Posted June 29, 2020 (edited) Now I got to the point where I painted the model in my interpretation of “Have Glass”. I had a can of a local brand of rattle can spray paint that was labelled “cast iron grey”. The first time I used it (for non-model related work), it kind of reminded me of that Have Glass paint. When I made a sample and coated it with Tamiya Matt varnish, it really looked the part. So, I decanted some, let it de-gas, and used by old airbrush to apply some. Once sufficiently dry I gave it a thin mist of Tamiya Matt. And once that was dry, I gave the matt coat slight buff with a buffing stick. The net result is rather surprising – the coating changes depending on the light conditions and incident angle. At some angles it is matt, others gloss grey, others highly metallic. The coating also amplifies the temperature of the light (warm vs cold) for some reason Here masked and ready for paint: Unmasked under afternoon / cloudy conditions with incandescent light: And in full morning light only: The photos don’t show the effect all that well. However it looks really spectacular, and weird, when handling the model in person. Next up is detail paint works…. R Edited June 29, 2020 by Rizon 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Durbon Posted June 29, 2020 Share Posted June 29, 2020 That is such a cool project. Well done! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rizon Posted July 26, 2020 Author Share Posted July 26, 2020 (edited) Entering the finishing stages; detail painting and most decals are on. Final assembly and weathering only thing remaining: R Edited July 26, 2020 by Rizon 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted July 26, 2020 Share Posted July 26, 2020 Lokks great! And even moresinister and aggressive than its AF brother! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shorty84 Posted July 26, 2020 Share Posted July 26, 2020 I've been following your build from the beginning but did not say anything as I don't feel I could contribute something meaningful except to say how much I enjoy such builds (heavy rework of kits). I had much the same idea when I saw the different planned developments of the Nighthawk but filed it away to the other 1000 ideas I have. Quite a pity the Nighthawk was never developed further or exported...your interpretation definitely looks great and that gold tint on the canopy turned out really nice as well. Cheers Markus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rizon Posted August 22, 2020 Author Share Posted August 22, 2020 (edited) Calling this one complete. Some better and more detailed pictures to follow in RFI R Edited August 22, 2020 by Rizon 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted August 22, 2020 Share Posted August 22, 2020 fantastic work! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rizon Posted August 23, 2020 Author Share Posted August 23, 2020 RFI is up: R 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serkan Sen Posted August 26, 2020 Share Posted August 26, 2020 Beautifully built aircraft. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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