Col. Posted October 27, 2020 Share Posted October 27, 2020 Tidy work in the airbrake bays Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share Posted November 2, 2020 Thanks Col! I managed a small step this weekend, but if it was forwards or backwards I don't know. The primer stage was kicked off with a flurry of gluing down some of the remaining parts so one could have a chance to look over the seams. One thing struck me as odd and that was the belly pylons that needed much force to conform with the fuselage belly. There seems to be a lot more curve to it than what seems to be feasible for a straight pylon Gosh! The effect is off course made a little worse with my MW-1 being bent as well so that needs to be amended. Straight pylons they are not! I wonder why? By pure coincidence the extra girth is found around the wheel bays so a horrible thought dawned on me. I didn't thin the plastic enough when installing the Aires wheel bays. It is paramount that the raised area the the plastic bays resides is completely leveled! Something to keep in mind for a future Desert Babe. For now, I'll just sand the pylons flatter and call it a day. (and reset the MW-1 to be more level!) 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 hmm those Aires parts strike back even after they are in! you could slightly sand the pylons on their upper side to counteract the bananabelly.... need to check mine ..... 😨 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share Posted November 2, 2020 3 minutes ago, exdraken said: hmm those Aires parts strike back even after they are in! you could slightly sand the pylons on their upper side to counteract the bananabelly.... need to check mine ..... 😨 Sneaky little things , those Aires parts aren't they? Yeah, sanding the upper side and make that slightly bananashaped would work aswell, except for the fact that this time the Tamya glue really worked wonders, so I cannot rip of the pylons anymore. If I do that, I'll probably wreck the entire under fuselage... Here's hoping that you won't have any issues! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted December 7, 2020 Author Share Posted December 7, 2020 I seemed to hit a wall for the better part of November. Too bad really I tried to pick it up recently to get some things done on it and was heading back to the cockpit to finish that up properly. This was previously skipped since I wanted to join the fuselage together. What's left in the cockpit? Well, the bang seat for once, and I got a very clear picture of how the Martin Baker goodness shall look: The Aires set gives a rather nice resin seat, but with etched belts. Nothing wrong with that combination as such, but i can't really say that the etched fret looks promising. Maybe the destructions can give some advice? For the back harness there are two steps, and three pieces. The short PP3 is threaded onto PP2 and then PP4 is mated on top of that, once the buckle-thingy is bent. Ok, that looks reasonable. Let's have a look at the next stage: Oh dear. (stronger words used in real life) Did I miss a step somewhere? I'm still at this stage: This requires some pondering, for sure! While pondering, a nice shiny box arrived home. I'll just stick a few pieces together while I think over the belt assembly. No harm or delays to the Tonka can be foreseen due to me tinkering with a whiffy ground target, surely? In other news, the building permit came through, so now the house project starts to pick up speed. It currently looks as the foundation will be laid down in early February, and if the time plan holds up, week 39 is the finished date! Woohoo! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin W Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 Good luck with the house project but I dont want to read about you building targets when you have a Tona on the bench Colin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted December 11, 2020 Author Share Posted December 11, 2020 To obey is the road to happiness, or so my SWMBO tells me. I'll minimize the job on the targets, byt way of another secret swinger I'll refocus on the Tonka, promise! 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin W Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 Lucky you're building another house for the family so you have space in the first one for all the models. I expect the basement model gallery will cover the whole house? Colin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 Unfortunately, nothing has really happened on the Tonka front for quite a while 😳 However, the stash is now packed up as one many steps to moving house. Speaking of that, we now have a ok to start from the good folks at Varbergs town planning office! This means that the next three weeks will see some yellow machines transforming this lot To a more flat surface where the foundation can be built. Nice! But I should really get back to the Tonka... (and perhaps move this thread to the WIP section...) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 On 1/31/2021 at 9:34 AM, Christer A said: (and perhaps move this thread to the WIP section...) I do hope it is getting WIP or VIP (very important plane/project) soon again! wow, that was some earth movement happening there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted February 14, 2021 Author Share Posted February 14, 2021 Would you look at that: First and second round of the primer/sand/fill/scribe loop has been completed! Still a few more blemishes to fix, and I REALLY need to finish all fixed cockpit parts so I can close up the canopy... But I decided to order a new set of seatbelts since I'm quite disappointed in what Aires supplied. Eduard has just released a ASSTA 3.1 seat belt fret so I'll try to get hold of that one. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted February 22, 2021 Author Share Posted February 22, 2021 In order to get to the painting stage I ripped off the tape over the cockpit hole to have a look down there. Well, it seems that I had fit the major part, but left off the bang seats, instrument panels and a few other things. Right, let's get to work! I spent quite a few hours this weekend mulling over the instrument panels. Although lovely cast by Aires I though that the rear panel looked bit odd, and not just the instruments themselves (as pilots IP) It seems to me that the big displays have quite a large overhang, obscuring the stuff beneath. A quick googling left me quite convinced that Aires have screwed up yet again. Have a look at a RAF example See how the both display are quite flush and doesn't block the radar joystick? There is a slight overhang for sure but Aires interprets that to 4mm in 1/48 scale! Yeah, that will be a job to sort out....for someone else but me! Well, with that little issue forgotten, I stuck them into the cockpit and took a few glory shots Time to mask up the canopy and see if there is something to paint soon! In other news, the weather has been very very cold for quite some time Everything was quite frozen, but that didn't stop the brave men from flattening the building site, and start to lay down the bottom layer. There sure was a lot of gravel! Not so fun to work with that in -10ºC I'm sure. But work they did, and they managed to roll out an enormous yoga-mat I wonder what that is for? This week they'll start to actually construct something, which is the foundation. Luckily everything has thawed out, and spring is really getting closer by the minute. Comments and critique more than welcome! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paramedic Posted March 18, 2021 Share Posted March 18, 2021 The Tonka looks great, another kit I need to get... Seems like you are building the new house in the northern, north-eastern part of town? I might have to check in with a beer or two when the COVID-doo-doo is over.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted March 18, 2021 Author Share Posted March 18, 2021 Thanks Tobbe! You're guessing right, it's located in the north-eastern part, or it will be a part of the town in a few years when a couple of more blocks have been zoned, approved and built. Current status of the house is 4 walls, all windows, no front door, exterior insulation in place but no roof... See you for a beer and a rummage in the stash when it's done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted April 18, 2021 Author Share Posted April 18, 2021 Another 4 week of procrastrinations.... But I have finally installed the HUD, masked up the canopy and run the primer/fill/sand-loop more than a few times. So there! Today I also managed to lay down the first coat of paint. Not Mission Models, but Real Colors instead. It performs like a charm with some Gunze self levelling thinner. The smell is not so bad either, actually a lot less offensive than MrPaint. This now needs a little postshading to make it more visually appealing. In other news, the house project is clearly not run by me! By the end of February it looked like this: Two weeks later the foundation had been poured, and sufficiently hardened to start construction. Two weeks later still and the whole outside of the house was built! This was no pre-fab elements that came on a truck and was lifted into place, no, this was built by hand on site! Those guys were really quick! Off course, the inside is completely bare... However, now the tempo has fallen dramatically but the house is weather proof in all aspects, all scaffolds are gone, and soon they'll start on the interior. The concrete slab needs 6 months to cure fully, and until then it's really not recommended to put the final floor in. Oh well. This gives me more time to start another kit, finish a Tonka! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted May 16, 2021 Author Share Posted May 16, 2021 This weekend as a 4 day bank holiday thanks to Ascension Thursday and some well spent vacation day. What better way to spend it than with AK interactive paint masks and a Tonka? This spatter stencil was bought at a whim some time ago so lets use it. It could be used to lay down some spatter on top of a black base and that would work wonders, I think. What I did was to do an initial coat of the correct paint (in this instance the RealColor FS34079 Dark green, for the first part of the Norm-83 camo) Then I follow it up with a lightened version of this color , apply the mask and spatter away. Lastly, a very thin coat of the proper shade is built up on top to give the spatter some chance to peak through. When it work, it does give an interesting depth to the color. After the first dark green, it was followed up with RealColors RAL 6003 Olivegrün and RAL 712 Basalt Grau. Painting a bit, apply stencil, paint again and then allow sufficient time for the pain to cure sufficiently to withstand a new round of masking worked wonders with this paint. I feel that Gunze and Tamiya takes a little longer to cure than what RC does. Finally the entire Tonka was painted, and at that time it was all covered up in tape, to allow the airbrake bays and the tailfin, sweep surfaces and so on to receive the light gray. Thos egray areas are not in RAL but FS36173 instead for which I had to resort to an old bottle of Xtracrylix. Well, it still worked! That was quite the chore let me tell you, but how does it all look underneath? No overspray and just a small small spot where the paint lifted. Almost too good to be true! Time to do a clearcoat or five and continue to paint some metallic areas. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SallysDad Posted August 28, 2021 Share Posted August 28, 2021 Wow... great work!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted August 31, 2021 Author Share Posted August 31, 2021 Thanks a lot! I haven't been able to focus on this model (nor any other it seems) for a few months. To much to do with the new house that still isn't ours yet. 5 more weeks until the handover! During this time it has been painted Night, without the use of airbrush. Hopefully I'll be able to make modelling den 2.0 during the autumn/early winter. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 Just come across this Christer. Very nice Tornado, and I very much approve of the chosen scheme. I love the Tornado IDS, and I prefer the German schemes (Norm76 and Norm83, inc Marineflieger) most of all, although all Tornados looks so good! A very nice house too, but are you sure RAL 7021 Schwarzgrau would not look better? 🤣 Terry 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted August 31, 2021 Author Share Posted August 31, 2021 Thanks Terry! I'd love to build a Marineflieger in Norm-87 with a pair or Kormorans under the belly. If the rumors about a Eduard ECR-boxing comes through, then there might be a chance of such a beast. Could be very tempting! We toyed with the idea of NATO black as well as RAL 7021 but in the end RAL 9005 won out 😉 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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