Stephen Pryke Posted January 15, 2021 Author Share Posted January 15, 2021 Undercarriage: Time to do the FOD covers now, as easier to insert while she`s on her back. The nav & targeting pods can go on too. Then it was varnishing all over & on to the decaling. Finally on her wheels & not a tail sitter! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Pryke Posted January 15, 2021 Author Share Posted January 15, 2021 Decals. surprising amount of small fiddly stencils even for 1/48! Wasn`t happy about that film showing around the LN so gently drew around the edges of the letters with a fresh scalpel blade, then picked the film away with a toothpick. Much better! I added a few little extras like a helmet left on a seat, & a mission map tucked into the canopy. I drilled out a pilot head from the Hasegawa crew set, & made the map using paper & coloured pencils. And that`s pretty much that! Time for the long awaited final reveal pics! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Pryke Posted January 15, 2021 Author Share Posted January 15, 2021 Revell F-15E 1/48 Scale 494thFS (Panthers) 48FW Based at RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk but here wearing nose art (Texas Ranger) as worn during undisclosed operations in Syria 2018. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 Well, the personal life does take away too much time, but that was gorgeous! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 Excellent, worth waiting for. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Pryke Posted January 19, 2021 Author Share Posted January 19, 2021 On 16/01/2021 at 07:01, Biggles87 said: Excellent, worth waiting for. John thank you. next up is the refueller. pics soon of complete build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Pryke Posted March 1, 2021 Author Share Posted March 1, 2021 Hello All Sorry about the delay but my mum passed away Jan. 22nd, & obviously the build had to be put on hold a while. Anyhow, now on with the Skunkmodels R-11 refueler. First job is building the chassis. Then I`ll build the 3 main top parts - cab, power unit & fuel tank. Once they`re on, it`ll be a matter of decaling & adding small parts like the mirrors, etc. So.........................................I noticed the plastic is very horrible. Has a strange, orange peel look in some places. Glue & sanding turns the plastic a much lighter shade of green, plus it`s very brittle. Very powdery when sanding, like resin. Small parts break just by looking at them - BEWARE! One thing you`ll want to do is drill out the end of the exhaust pipe to give the impression of a hole at the end, as the kit part is flat. Simple fix. with the chassis parts assembled & fully dried, it was time to prime. While the primer cured, I can continue with the cab. Cab parts ready for assembly. The kit doesn`t include a driver figure, but I wanted one for some strange reason so it was time to raid my Hasegawa ground crew box & look for a suitable donor/s. One figure provided the seated body (although 1 leg is straight out at 90 degrees!), while another figure was needed for the 1st figures missing head! straightened the leg by holding it over heat & gently bending it into position. Cab interior primed & painted.. Ear protectors gone. Now to remove his head! (DIABOLICAL LAUGHTER............!!!!) A quick mock up. Because of the steering wheel being already in place, I found I had no choice but to build my man around it. olive drab applied joins filled just needs his head! That`ll do pig. That`ll do. I`ll spray the cab outer when I have the other sections ready to paint, as they`re the same colour. now onto the fuel tank. What a freakin` nightmare this was to become. The kit tank is basically 2 sections - top half & bottom half. This will leave a join line/seam running all around the middle of the tank, which will need to be worked on to make it as near invisible as possible, as there is no seam on the real thing. And there lay the problem; the fit was terrible & the seam didn`t want to go! What follows are pics of the tank, showing the bad join with sprue goo liberally applied. After several attempts of filling, filing & sanding, (4 I think, including 1 after I`d primed), I got to the point where I felt it was ready for a coat of paint. And a straight-jacket! sprayed so close, the primer orange peeled on me, yet the seam STILL showed through! By this point I was contemplating using thin plasticard along the sides, as well as throwing it hard against the nearest wall!!!! Luckily, after sanding & a final re-spray of primer, it looked good enough to paint. I needed a break from the tank after all that so decided to do the wheels. Another downer is the tyres have no tread on them so I had to replicate some using a mini saw blade. not super detail but looking much more acceptable to the eye than nothing at all. On to the cab. A quick mock up couldn`t resist! Tamiya XF-81 Dark Green 2 (RAF) going on. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Pryke Posted March 1, 2021 Author Share Posted March 1, 2021 forgot to add these 2 handrails before painting. They refused to stick in place with poly & even with superglue (took several attempts, which spoilt the paint work so a respray is needed.) This plastic is HORRIBLE! That`s better. Time for gloss varnish. Decal time. Now to add the final parts. First the cab mirrors & lights. It`s now I discover one of the mirrors (pt17) is missing from the sprue!!! Have to try making one. Hobbycraft tool + spare sprue = Mirror. Then one part 16 breaks in half when I look at it for 2 seconds. After repairing with Tamiya thin, it later pings away from me during an attempted assembly, never to be seen again. Out of sheer frustration, I make 2 replacements from a steel sewing pin, and use them instead of the plastic parts. Final few parts nearly finished now. not good enough! No paint where the sprue was, so will need to be done again. I thought if I left them on the sprue, they wouldn`t get blown away. I`ll have to stick them onto tape & hope it holds, cos if one blows away, it`s adios amigo! Better & didn`t lose any. Almost finished................................because I`ve run out of glue!! Sorry!!!!! I just need to add the mirrors, & the rear ladder (- so close!) When I get these last parts on, I`ll get some decent pics with & without the rest of the dio. Back soon. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted March 1, 2021 Share Posted March 1, 2021 Reading this with added interest as I have opened the box on my tanker over the weekend. Yours is looking very nice now. I have the P38 car body filler ready to use on those tank side seams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 Been reading back through again to look at your R-11 details. Mine is coming together now & working on that tanks sides seam. I got carried away and started scratch building an extra tank in card & that turned in to a side project of an R-9 tanker. finding pictures of the inside of the cab for reference colours isn’t easy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Pryke Posted April 16, 2021 Author Share Posted April 16, 2021 On 13/03/2021 at 16:31, bar side said: Been reading back through again to look at your R-11 details. Mine is coming together now & working on that tanks sides seam. I got carried away and started scratch building an extra tank in card & that turned in to a side project of an R-9 tanker. finding pictures of the inside of the cab for reference colours isn’t easy! hi sorry for delay. couldn`t remember my password & kept getting locked out of my account ha ha. your trucks are looking fantastic. After all this time, I`ve finished the truck so will place it with the other models & take some pics to post here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 Looking forward to seeing it. Got my 2 finished. Just need some nice weather to get stuff set up outside. It enough room indoors in 1/48 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Pryke Posted April 26, 2021 Author Share Posted April 26, 2021 On 16/04/2021 at 22:25, bar side said: Looking forward to seeing it. Got my 2 finished. Just need some nice weather to get stuff set up outside. It enough room indoors in 1/48 how did you find the build? Did you keep your sanity dealing with the horrible plastic & that awful seam around the fuel tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Pryke Posted April 26, 2021 Author Share Posted April 26, 2021 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Pryke Posted April 26, 2021 Author Share Posted April 26, 2021 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Pryke Posted April 26, 2021 Author Share Posted April 26, 2021 Well that`s all folks! It`s been suggested I invest in the `Modern Airfield Background & Base` from Coastal Kits Display Bases for my Diorama. I`ll definitely look into it, but for now, I`m calling this project DONE! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 Looks great. I do like to see something around an aircraft & these really set off a very nice F-15E. I like the little box trolley too. 43 minutes ago, Stephen Pryke said: how did you find the build? Did you keep your sanity dealing with the horrible plastic & that awful seam around the fuel tank? Lots of filler around the edge. Mine had a whole about 5mm square chunk missing from one half too. I thought it was meant to be there for a while! I copied the dimensions for the R9 but used cardboard and rolled it over a central block of thicker formers. The join is underneath, so seamless from the side & easier than the kit one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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