Jump to content

Legendary Blackbird - Part 5: SR-71A "Blackbird" (1:48 Revell + 3D Printed Parts)


Recommended Posts

Blackbird colour as per aircraft manual and after discussing with people that have served the real thing is C-144 Black (emissivity black). Just black, nothing more nothing less. Of course under scale you can play with other tones but I suggest not blue. 

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/11/2022 at 10:01 AM, Serkan Sen said:

The wheel assemblies have been painted and the the wells have been glued to lower surface half:

3048.jpg

3049.jpg

3050.jpg

3051.jpg

 

Both fuselage halves have been glued together and now ready to fill seam lines. The struts will be placed after painting the aircraft hoping that the added positioning pins will hold the struts strong enough. We will see soon... 😁

Serkan

Can I buy a set of your landing gear bays from you? I have pause my construction until a set I available.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, gordinir8 said:

Can I buy a set of your landing gear bays from you? I have pause my construction until a set I available.

The upgrade sets will be available soon. I have already many printed sets in my stash but I will make them available after completing my build to proof/test especially how the landing gear struts stiff are.

 

Just drop me a message if you would like to get more information.

 

Serkan

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

After six hours work all decals have been placed on both sides:

3074.jpg

3075.jpg

 

I had a bad experience with Future/Pledge overcoat during my Flankerstein build but I decided to give a second chance to this product. I coated the with it to seal the decals before panel line wash.

 

Serkan

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Serkan Sen said:

 

I had a bad experience with Future/Pledge overcoat during my Flankerstein build but I decided to give a second chance to this product. I coated the with it to seal the decals before panel line wash.

 

I’ve had issues with Future/Pledge also, and have found it behaves better if a bit of leveling thinner is added.

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Serkan Sen said:

After six hours work all decals have been placed on both sides:

3074.jpg

3075.jpg

Very nice work, the nose shape does look so much better on your version 👍

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Alan P said:

Very nice work, the nose shape does look so much better on your version 👍

Thanks Alan. The sensor humps were too shallow and fortunately it is possible to build 17955 with the nose cone without the dents and humps.

Serkan

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another time consuming process: panel lines wash. But this time I received some fresh reinforcement from my daughter:

3076.jpg

3077.jpg

 

The half of the lower surface was completed:

3078.jpg

 

And after couple of hours both upper and lower surface panel wash has been completed:

3079.jpg

3080.jpg

 

Next step is to clean excess washes and apply the clear coat to seal them.

 

Serkan

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Serkan Sen said:

Another time consuming process: panel lines wash. But this time I received some fresh reinforcement from my daughter:

3076.jpg

3077.jpg

 

The half of the lower surface was completed:

3078.jpg

 

And after couple of hours both upper and lower surface panel wash has been completed:

3079.jpg

3080.jpg

 

Next step is to clean excess washes and apply the clear coat to seal them.

 

Serkan

Lovely little girl, i am sure the result will be very good, noticed a Hellenic air force F-102 at your cabinet?

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, gordinir8 said:

... noticed a Hellenic air force F-102 at your cabinet?

Yes I love this plane and I have many of them in 1:72 and 1:48 scales in my stash. But I never had time to build one of them and therefore decided to buy a die cast model  in 1:72 scale with HAF markings. Maybe in one day I can build a TAF F-102 as a counterpart...

Serkan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, Serkan Sen said:

Yes I love this plane and I have many of them in 1:72 and 1:48 scales in my stash. But I never had time to build one of them and therefore decided to buy a die cast model  in 1:72 scale with HAF markings. Maybe in one day I can build a TAF F-102 as a counterpart...

Serkan

In Greece we have a few of them left in air force bases incl. a two seater in a museum, nice airplane and very big.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, gordinir8 said:

In Greece we have a few of them left in air force bases incl. a two seater in a museum, nice airplane and very big.

Yes indeed.  I am planning to build  TF-102 side by side seater version. But I need to draw the 3D model first 😁

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, billn53 said:

I’ve had issues with Future/Pledge also, and have found it behaves better if a bit of leveling thinner is added.

Another lessons learned the hard way: DON'T try to sand the Future/Pledge coat!..

 

Some areas on the upper surface had "orange peel" texture and I wanted to remove them with 4000 grit sand paper very gently. When the process was completed I washed the entire plane under the shower and I saw that some of the decals were gone:

"U.S. AIR FORCE", "Ejection Seat" warnings and "Air conditioning bay" markings... I was a bit frustrated and also very angry. But I remembered that I need the decals for my pending 1:72 M-21 build and why not to use this opportunity (?) to print out the decals for both:

3081.jpg

 

The new decals have been applied and this time the entire aircraft was coated with Model Master Gloss varnish (no more Future!..):

3082.jpg

3083.jpg

 

Now the aircraft is ready to apply final dull coat.

 

Serkan

 

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Serkan Sen said:

no more Future!.

I never have an issue with it. I always add a small amount of Windex to it to thin it, though.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The dull coat has been applied and the spikes and exhausts have been placed:

3084.jpg

3085.jpg

3086.jpg

3087.jpg

 

Some of the decals have silvering effects. I must admit that I haven't noticed in the late night before overcoating them with gloss varnish. When I realised that it was too late to fix...

 

Serkan

  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It looks very good to me Serkan, makes me want to start mine.  Today I received some resin and 3D printed parts that I had ordered some time ago.  The wheels, instrument panels and seat straps are from Eduard (there was also a canopy and set of wheel masks) the 3D printed ejection seats,  cockpit detailing and rear bulkheads are from Metallic Details..  These two small packages cost 50% of the cost of the Revell Blackbird kit. :doh:

IMG_1908

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Retired Bob said:

It looks very good to me Serkan, makes me want to start mine.  Today I received some resin and 3D printed parts that I had ordered some time ago.  The wheels, instrument panels and seat straps are from Eduard (there was also a canopy and set of wheel masks) the 3D printed ejection seats,  cockpit detailing and rear bulkheads are from Metallic Details..  These two small packages cost 50% of the cost of the Revell Blackbird kit. :doh:

They look very nice Bob. Except the wheels unfortunately all these beautifully detailed parts won't be visible much.

What are still missing the 3D printed MLG and NLG bays and struts, nozzle/exhaust details, intake and spikes, and a pitot tube... 😁

 

Serkan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here are some pictures of nose and main wheel wells:

3088.jpg

3089.jpg

3090.jpg

 

I am not good in weathering and detailing the wells but I think this is acceptable for a beginner. My technical skills have been always superior to artistic skills even in the primary school. 😁

Next step is to assemble MLG and NLG struts and wheels.

 

Serkan

  • Like 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Serkan Sen said:

What are still missing the 3D printed MLG and NLG bays and struts, nozzle/exhaust details, intake and spikes, and a pitot tube... 😁

Metallic details also make 3D printed MLG & NLG bays, MLG legs, wheels with separate tyres and  intake spikes but they are a lot of money!  The Master pitot tube I already have.  :happy:

 

9 minutes ago, Serkan Sen said:

I am not good in weathering and detailing the wells but I think this is acceptable for a beginner.

The real aircraft always looked clean to me, so I would not get excited about too much weathering.  Most modellers overdo it anyway.

Your 3D printed MLG & NLG bays look very good, much better than Revell made theirs.  :thumbsup:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, Serkan Sen said:

They look very nice Bob. Except the wheels unfortunately all these beautifully detailed parts won't be visible much.

I wasn't sure about getting the Eduard resin wheels, Reskit are going to make some, I like their wheels, the tyres are not underinflated like a lot of resin wheels are.

In the real world, aircraft takeoff and land at high speed, an underinflated tyre would either burst or come off the rim, they should be round with a very small flat spot to show the weight of the aircraft. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice so far but I wonder why you have this silvering since the surface was gloss. Maybe Revell decals are not that good. I will be very cautious with mine now that I saw this. NLG bay looks fantastic and much much better than Revells.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...