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Alconbury Aggressor.


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44 minutes ago, gingerbob said:

Well, if that's the way it is, buy a 32nd and go out in style!

A friend of mine used to work at Specialised Mouldings in Huntingdon and he worked on the full sized replica that was the gate guardian at Alconbury. That would do nicely! I wonder if it's still there........

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46 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

Yes it is, for now............😁

 

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If it isn't tomorrow morning we'll know who needs a bigger workbench :innocent:

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5 hours ago, modelling minion said:

A little warning for anyone else planning on building an Alconbury aggressor using one of the Two Bobs sheets. These aircraft looked quite different at different times during their service and this is not mentioned on the sheet, for instance the one I am building (74-1553) carried different camo schemes and had great variations in the markings applied, both the national markings and those specific to the airframe ie, full colour markings with solid black lettering and black centred bort number or low vis markings with outline only black lettering and red centred bort number as she is depicted on the sheet. However to build her accurately from this time period you need to add the "plate" on the top of the tail fin which was fitted to F-5E's after a few years of service, this is not mentioned or catered for in the kit and isn't mentioned on the decal sheet instructions either. Its not a massive problem but if you want an accurate model it is something you need to be aware of. To fix this I have made a "plate" from some thin plastic cut and then sanded to shape, to make clear what I am talking about here is a pic of the tail with the "plate" fitted on top;

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Hopefully I will get the first of the camo aolours on her today.

 

Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

 

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Yes, the fin tip plate is in the kit. It might not be mentioned in the instructions, but it's in the box. I have used the part on several of my F-5Es.

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Jens

 

Edited by Jens
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Nice progress Craig.
Just dug through my kit to find the fin plate(?) part, then saw Jens is ahead of me.
FWIW, its part no P22. Apparently the Swiss didn't use them (much, ever?), but they were present when the Austrians borrowed those same machines.

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9 minutes ago, Robert Stuart said:

Nice progress Craig.
Just dug through my kit to find the fin plate(?) part, then saw Jens is ahead of me.
FWIW, its part no P22. Apparently the Swiss didn't use them (much, ever?), but they were present when the Austrians borrowed those same machines.

Thanks Robert.

I decided not to look for the kit part as my homemade one is securely fitted but thanks for pointing out it's part number.👍

I have the Verlinden Lock On book on the F-5E/F which mostly features Swiss aircraft and there isn't a plate to be seen in any of the pics in the book.

 

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Well after doing battle with my airbrush for a few days, and lots of masking, the Tiger has gained it's stripes! I used a mix of Gunze (H85), Akan (73099) and Tamiya (XF-52) for the camouflage and I am quite happy with how it has turned out;

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Somehow even with copious amounts of Blutak and tape there was some paint in areas where it shouldn't be, mostly at tight curves on the fuselage, and I found the best way to deal with it was with the moistened end of a wooden cocktail stick rubbing it very gently and it removed the overspray without having to resort to further masking and painting, result!

 

Next job is to get a good gloss finish before I can start with the decals, last time I used AFV Club decals they simply shattered in the water so I'm not looking forward to using those, although I only plan on using the stencils and warning markings as the rest will be covered by the Two Bobs decals.

 

Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

 

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Looks great Craig 👍🏽
i like it a lot, the colors really match and you made a nice blutak pattern!


….you masked the metal paint of the hot end before spraying the camo, right? 😜

 

Sam

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25 minutes ago, Sam said:

Looks great Craig 👍🏽
i like it a lot, the colors really match and you made a nice blutak pattern!


….you masked the metal paint of the hot end before spraying the camo, right? 😜

 

Sam

 

15 minutes ago, Lex77 said:

Looking very good Craig!

Thanks Sam and Lex, very much appreciated guys.👍

Yes Sam I painted the  exhaust area before the rest of the camo, I used Vallejo silver for that.

 

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Just now, modelling minion said:

 

Thanks Sam and Lex, very much appreciated guys.👍

Yes Sam I painted the  exhaust area before the rest of the camo, I used Vallejo silver for that.

 

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Some of the silver came off 😜

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14 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Yes I noticed that mate, I will be touching it up tomorrow.👍

 

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Pulling off paint with masking tape is one of my horrors. I told myself the day it happens, I will sand off the entire associated panel and respray it. I have experienced troubles with hiding such spots when some primer came off uncontrolledly whilst sanding. It‘s an acrylics only problem I suppose. Or a Sam specific problem. 

Edited by Sam
Sam doesnt know how to use iphone keyboards
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1 hour ago, Sam said:

Pulling off paint with masking tape is one of my horrors. I told myself the day it happens, I will sand off the entire associated panel and respray it. I have experienced troubles with hiding such spots when some primer came off uncontrolledly whilst sanding. It‘s an acrylics only problem I suppose. Or a Sam specific problem. 

Definitely not a Sam specific problem, happens to all of us at times which is why I tend to use tape that I have used before on the metallic paint but it let me down this time.

1 hour ago, DaveJL said:

Looking good mate!

Thanks Dave, much appreciated mate.👍

 

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