bar side Posted July 5, 2020 Author Share Posted July 5, 2020 Bit of liquid green to tidy up the saw tooth. Going to prime it next to see how it looks. Bit more on the seats, few more details to pick out Now the rear canopy has a strange step up above the wing which isn’t there. Not sure what I can do other than tape it straight and leave part of the canopy frame clear Compare that to the back canopy in the photo above 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted July 5, 2020 Author Share Posted July 5, 2020 Bit of primer on & she looks better than I expected. bit of filling to do under the nose and remembered I hadn’t fitted the tail bullet yet 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shorty84 Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 (edited) First of all, great job you are doing on the old ESCI Alpha Jet. Nice to see someone building one. Regarding that step on the rear canopy, I think the best way to "hide" it is to leave the area around it clear. There is a fairing on the real thing but much smaller. Seems the wing on the kit sits too high, overemphasizing this feature. The canopy looks to be the worst part anyway (look at the junction of the windshied to the front camopy in the comparison pics). Cheers Markus Edited July 5, 2020 by Shorty84 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dstream Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 3 hours ago, bar side said: Bit of liquid green to tidy up the saw tooth. Going to prime it next to see how it looks. Bit more on the seats, few more details to pick out Now the rear canopy has a strange step up above the wing which isn’t there. Not sure what I can do other than tape it straight and leave part of the canopy frame clear Compare that to the back canopy in the photo above Indeed, this quite odd. From the pictures, the end of the leading edge 'climbs' over a straight edged canopy. I would try what you said, but I would also try to sand off the curved frame. But this is me and this is your model, I know that sanding and polishing clear canopies might look scary. Best regards, Daniele Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted July 5, 2020 Author Share Posted July 5, 2020 Thanks @Shorty84 and @Dstream yes leaving the raised frame clear is the easy approach. I can’t say I have had a lot of success sanding down clear and polishing it to a decent standard again. To make it more complex the wing root on the kit is actually part of the canopy moulding , so getting in there would probably involve sanding good part of the canopy too. It’s not ideal but I’ll have a look at it and see 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dstream Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 Consider that anyway, nobody will stick with a picture in front of your model and check it. It will be Ok whatever way you choose to do it. 😉 Regards, Daniele 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted July 6, 2020 Author Share Posted July 6, 2020 More filling & sanding today. Fitted the tail bullet & sadder some filler to blend it in On the canopy glass, you can see how bizarrely the wing roots is moulded into the glass And taped along the right line it’s hard to make out the raised line of the frame. Think it will be ok left alone & painted along the tape line I have a feeling the canopy frames are wrong too, but again I will stick as the are & live with the iinaccuacy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted July 6, 2020 Share Posted July 6, 2020 The intakes look slightly the wrong shape to me too. Comparing the pictures of the model and the real thing at the bottom of page 2. The kit intake has a thick leading edge & is a semicircle whereas the real one has a thinner leading edge and seems to have an almost vertical side. The canopy is trickier. I wonder if they redesigned it with more of an upsweep at the rear to clear the wing? Which I agree does looks too high BTW. And, I too enjoy the challenge of an older kit. Given the time I'd have a bash at this one, I quite like the Alpha jet. I'd probably search for a better model and build them side by side to make it a bit easier though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted July 6, 2020 Author Share Posted July 6, 2020 Tough to tell on the intakes. The edge tends t9 be painted black hiding the shape. This one has a view the kit ones are probably a little shallow and don’t come straight out from the body enough top & bottom. Talking of old kits with errors & often modelled on the prototype, I once built an ESCI Tornado GR1. I think they guessed the main undercarriage- no idea how they thought it worked & totally different to the Revell one I built later. Learned from the chunky old ESCI kit though. Here she is lurking. Got a soft spot for her despite the problems 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted July 6, 2020 Share Posted July 6, 2020 5 minutes ago, bar side said: Tough to tell on the intakes. Yes, that French one shows that it should be semi circular, so they did get that right. But the lip seems thinner than the kit. Is it too late to rub a bit away? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted July 6, 2020 Author Share Posted July 6, 2020 3 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said: Yes, that French one shows that it should be semi circular, so they did get that right. But the lip seems thinner than the kit. Is it too late to rub a bit away? No I can get a curved file in there. Still filling & sanding so quite doable 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted July 6, 2020 Author Share Posted July 6, 2020 I guess you can see a bit more here where they got the shape from. I will probable make some blanks anyway so they can deceive the eye a bit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted July 8, 2020 Author Share Posted July 8, 2020 Few more bits on tonight. Vent on the body fitted - included in the kit but not clear where it fitted from the instructions. Will need a bit of sanding down. Rudder operator cover scratched and fitted on the tail side Pointy nose on, undercarriage doors on, gun pod on. Cut the flap hinges & fitted the two parts to the wing & flap to test it out. Going to fit the pylons after painting. Flaps going to be painted before fitting. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted July 8, 2020 Author Share Posted July 8, 2020 Both sets of flaps done & lots of green filler to dry over night 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted July 9, 2020 Author Share Posted July 9, 2020 Quick rub down and touch up. Think she is about ready for preshading & then paint I am planning to paint the body with the wings off to get the camo right under the wings. Also painting the wing undersides before they go on will be a lot easier. And I was going to paint & fit the pylons once the wings are fitted 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shalako Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 (edited) 10 hours ago, bar side said: I think you need to add a thin plastic card across the wing (I'm guessing it should be around 5cm x 0.5mm), to cover the flap's area because it looks a bit odd as it is. Do you have any good picture of the real aircraft to see how this are is? Edited July 10, 2020 by Shalako Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted July 10, 2020 Author Share Posted July 10, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, Shalako said: I think you need to add a thin plastic card across the wing (I'm guessing it should be around 5cm x 0.5mm), to cover the flap's area because it looks a bit odd as it is. Do you have any good picture of the real aircraft to see how this are is? At the moment they are not attached - just pushed in and will come out before painting. A thin strip might be good though - hadn’t considered that. Thanks Edited July 10, 2020 by bar side Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shalako Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 1 hour ago, bar side said: At the moment they are not attached - just pushed in and will come out before painting. A thin strip might be good though - hadn’t considered that. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted July 10, 2020 Author Share Posted July 10, 2020 Something like this? testing her on her wheels 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shalako Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 Spot on lad! Spot on! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted July 11, 2020 Author Share Posted July 11, 2020 Decided to preshaded the Alpha Jet today ready for some paint I was debating finishing the cockpit & attaching the canopy ready for paint when I had a bit of a do-it-now moment with the canopy. I haven’t built a 1/48 jet with the canopy closed, and I didn’t really want to start now. So I fired up the dremel and now I have three parts instead of one! given the dodgy canopy edge on the back I thought I won’t draw attention to it & leave that closed, posing it with the front only open. A compromise but I feel happier with that than a closed cockpit. it was this picture that set me thinking 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Filler Posted July 11, 2020 Share Posted July 11, 2020 That’s some top work with the dremel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted July 11, 2020 Author Share Posted July 11, 2020 4 hours ago, Filler said: That’s some top work with the dremel. Cheers - never fun cutting clear parts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted July 11, 2020 Author Share Posted July 11, 2020 Throwing paint at it today. Underside first The top is not finished yet & the wings are still only pushed on. Was going to finish the top painting once I have glued them in as I suspect they will need a touch of filler Plus the nose anti glare black strip needs doing and the canopy frame needs more work 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted July 12, 2020 Author Share Posted July 12, 2020 So the aim is something like this The earlier jets didn’t have the antenna under the cockpit & nose or the tail bullet, so they need to be added. As I am doing 40 + 10 I guess 40 + 06 is pretty near. I don’t have a tail shield Cant tell from the above shot if she has the black intake edges and leading edge back plate as per this And I assume the white vertical lines on the side of the intake are for the rear cockpit steps Think black intake edges might need doing But those white stripes With or without the black leading edges Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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