Raven Two (another Esci EF-111A in 1/72)

[bianfuxia]

Well, inspired by @Jasonb13 who just finished a really great model of this same kit, I called my EF-111 off the T-SOD (Temporary Shelf of Doom) and had a go at making enough progress to put me back on track for completion by the end of the GB.

 

The main problem that ground things to a halt was the little peg where the wing attached broke off. This made it impossible to have the wings swing and pretty hard to have the wings at all. Tonight I finally decided to fix them in the swept position, after various efforts to fix the problem by glueing on a new plug for the wing to attach to.

 

That effort pictured above didn't work in the end.

 

I had a nice looking rear fuselage:

 

And then added the nose.

 

The join wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and i used super glue to try to make everything a bit stronger.

 

Last of all I put a lot of putty in various gaps. I've already basically done the undercarriage so once I fix these seams, there's some more spraypainting to do and after that it should be pretty quick. 

 

 

 

[Jasonb13]

Nice work, keep it going now and you'll get it done!

[bianfuxia]

Well, I've been plugging away at this over the last little while.

 

I masked up what you saw in the last photo and gave it a spray of the light grey:

 

 

Then I added the intakes - in this pic below they've been sprayed as separate parts prior to assembly but since this photo I have re-sprayed them post-assembly. The join isn't perfect but I have run out of the spray paint so it's going to have to do.

 

 

My kid helped me with the masking and she asked what kind of plane this was.

 

Then she labelled it for me so I wouldn't forget what I was working on:

 

 

Nothing like the profile of an F-111 fully swept!

[bianfuxia]

Catching up on yesterday's progress:

 

 

Choosing the right grey for the panels on the tail...

 

 

Measuring up...

 

 

And done. I also painted the radome - you can't really tell in this shot but it's a slightly different shade, aligning with photos of the specific aircraft I found at these links:

 

Link 1

Link 2

[bianfuxia]

All set for the grey to be sprayed on as soon as the rain clears up!

 

Hoping this one will finally be finished by next weekend 😃

 

 

[bianfuxia]

Well, the join looks pretty heinous but I am calling it done. Not sure what else I can really do. I did clean up two bits that looked terrible after the first spray:

 

Now the painting is mercifully finished!

 

In that shot you can see the different colour I managed for the radome. Quite pleased with that.

 

 

The canopy fit is only so-so but it's good enough. I might prize off the hatch and do something about that pilot's face. He looks a bit grey, like an Area 51 inmate stole an F-111 in the dead of night....

 

This thing will be finished by the end of the coming week. At last!

[bianfuxia]

Undercarriage on:

 

And then I added the tail components and the exhausts - they didn't fit so well but I jammed them in there in the end.

 

[bianfuxia]

 

 

 

Turns out that the tail marking decals are exactly the same colour as the paint, and therefore invisible. So I need to print out some markings in a darker colour.

 

that's pretty much all that's left to do on this one now.

[bianfuxia]

 

 

This is just waiting on its tail markings now.

 

thanks for looking!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jasonb13]

Looks great! Like the paint job and colours, a good contrast, without being too strong, between the upper and lower camo colours.

[bianfuxia]

Thanks!

 

On looking at it now after a while of leaving it aside I am quite pleased with it. One of the better ones I've done!