My contribution

[moaning dolphin]

Greetings all

I awaiting my mother at Warminster train station so I thought I would at least register my build. I will be at centre parcs till Friday then it will be time to crack on! I'm doing the new Revell Hawk with Naval markings of FRADU at RNAS Culdrose. I think I went for XX157 but need to confirm when I get back home. As I am an engineer at Culdrose I see the Hawks around the hanger in various states of build and think how interesting that would be to build. I will build my in a certain state of undress, not sure how far I will go but the bonus is I can make it up as I go! I have loads of ideas having seen various panels opened up or removed. So if I don't like the shape of anything I can leave it off!

Well that's it until next week, I will be checking in so no slacking on all the other builds. Have fun y'all!!

Bob

[moaning dolphin]

Hello again everyone

Finally back and settled from my few days away and looking forward to some relaxing modelling to get over my holiday! Just to expand on my build I will be doing XX157 of FRADU at RNAS Culdrose using the Revell 1:32 kit. I won't bother with any of the contents shots as I am sure you have all seen them. I originally saw another Hawk at FRADU undergoing a repair and it had seats and engines out with loads of panels open, and I thought that will be the one, so I shall use a little license and model mine in stripped condition but with anniversary markings. I intended to open the two engine belly panels and show the inside of the engine bay. Unfortunately the nice intake supplied by Revell is a bit too long and to cut it down won't look right as it should be nice and round but the cut mark would be oval and too difficult for my skills to overcome. So the forward engine bay and engine will remain fitted, which will be a blessing later with not having to adjust the undercarriage!. I will remove the jet pipe and I shall have a go at doing an insert for the rear engine belly panel. If i can get a decent job of that done then I shall cut that panel out. So far the rear end looks like this:

Eagle eyed viewers will notice more panels from the fin missing and the rear exhaust fairing removed. So I dont get accused of cheating with only half a model I shall endeavour to model removed components in a sort of stripped down diarama stylee!

Ihave also cut away the ramjet doors and knocked up an insert for that area, it still needs a couple of components and piping fitted. Not too bothered about the broken lightning holse as they wont be very visible:

Then I cut out the forward avionics bay doors and did a 'naked' insert for this area. I may do this stripped or fit a couple of boxes in later, the remaining panel lines will be filled in,so far:

The scratch built doors:

The next problem was the rear rivetting detail. I have manage to get hold of some thin metal shim pack and this takes indentations well, also you can rub it down quite hard and the detail doesn't disappear as shown on this skin for inside the exhaust area.

et voila!

I then cut out a piece fo metal the same shapre as the panel with the raised detail and it seems to contour nicely to the curves. I have stuck this down with double sided sticky, but the finished article will be superglued in.

Finally drilled out the main instrument faces on the dash and will add decals to the rear and glass the front.

Finally a small appeal. I need to cover the exhaust inside in a 'chromate' yellow style primer, anyone shed any guidance on this? Whether there is someone out there who does a specific paint or if you know a good Humbrol mix then let us know.

Thats all for now folks

Cheers now

Bob

[Iain Ogilvie]

Crikey - that's a huge maount of detail being added - following this like glue!

As to the primer - I just mixed some up by eye for the rear of my first Hawk but can't remember what paints I used. Bear in mind it's not an exact shade in real life

Iain

[moaning dolphin]

Greetings and welcome to my next installment

Have just been pottering on with the cockpit, I drilled out the instruments and decalled from the rear then glossed the dials. Its not the best finish as the plastic is quite thick but in the end its an acceptable look. First from the front:

It does look a bit of a mess but alot of it will be hidden and the red plastic does make it look alot worse. From the front it looks alot better. I'm still not finished everything but I can finish off most of it later.

Has anyone else noticed of the instrument panel combing sits high, or is it due to my cockpit being fitted slightly high. Looks to be about 1mm too high. May have to do some extra work there.

The exhaust area is coming on nicely. Managed to get all the frames lined up and the hole central, then fitted a couple of rails and this is as good as done, as for the primer followed your advice Iain and mixed it by eye, its come out slightly dark but is ok for the internal structure. When I do the endframe ill knock some lighter stuff up.

Finally got the exhaust together but not alot can be seen so will make some intake blanks and block everything out.

Just gonna pootle along for the next few days to get to a point where I can stick the fuselage together, just looking forward to banishing that red plastic........its doing my eyes in!

Cheers now

Bob

Edited May 2, 2011 by moaning dolphin

[moaning dolphin]

Greetings again,

Not has change since the last update, I've been very busy. Work has been non stop then my wekend was disrupted by Helstons Flora Day and both my kids were dancing in their last dance this year so it was a bit manic, but fantastic! Anyhoo, I digress. I've potted around in the cockpit adding a few items and I reckon its close to being ready to close up. I've also opened a couple of panels in the fin. The actual panels are recessed with a large lip to sit on so to replicate this I have cut the panel holes smaller but left the remaining detail. As I am doing the 100 Anniversary version the main decal will cover the fin, and when almost set cut out the larger panel out of the decal and put this on some thin tin and use it as a template to cut out the panel. Did you follow that? you will! I then added some detail in there to replicate bellcranks and rods. It looks a bit messy at the mo, but i'm sure it will look ok later.

Now the phots:

First the Cockpit, nearly wrapped

The messy inerior:

The view from outside:

Thanks for looking in

Cheers now

Bob

[jimbuna]

Coming along nicely...great attention to detail.

[Antony Robertson]

Wow, this is going to look amazing!

Antony

[Mark M]

WOW THIS IS FAB!!!

[Shaun]

This should be sweet, lots of work to cram into 3 months!

Keep it coming.

Shaun.

[xffw45343tg]

Very realistic weathering on the cockpit floor and fantastic detail on the avionics bays. Keep up the good work.

[macgregor]

Another exciting Hawk in the making, keep up the great work.

Mac

[moaning dolphin]

Greetings once again everyone and thankyou for the kind words, I am slowly chipping away at this but will have to pull my finger out and crack on as I am away during July so have about 6 weeks to go! It sounds like ages but I started over 6 weeks ago and that felt like just yesterday.

Well the progress has been ok. The fuselage is together and ready for final priming, the main wheel wells are underway and hopefully will be in a position to fix the wings on over the weekend. I am happy with the progress so far apart from one thing which I shall highlight in a mo. Now the Fots:

First an overall shot of a battered airframe. I primed to highlight any flaws and rubbed down. The nose was quite bad due to the insert but the rest was a tidy up. (when I say quite bad, I am refering to Revel bad, which isn't really that bad, in comparison to others!)

Now the wings, I decided to remove the winglets because A/ they are a bit pants and B/ there are only 7 not 8! as you can see ..... they gotta go!

The replacements are a strip of my metal shim. They are just under 2mm by 3mm with a pointed end and then folded! They do look quite good but really do mess your eyes up. First can you spot them?

There they are:

Next is my little (or maybe not so) problem. I origanlly fitted the cockpit tub into one half and dont think it sat quite right. Having joined the 2 halfs and fitted the instrument panel combing there is a huge gap as you can see

I dont know if the tub is too high or the I/P is too high. Everything seems to be sitting flush so cant see what the snag is. I'mgoing to have to fill the combing in, shouldn't be too much of a snag though. I checked the fit of the front windscreen. Unfortunately it catches on the upright stopwatch and pin mounts i scratch built on the top of the panel, but I shall overcome. The last two fots of my snag, any one else had this fault?

The final problem is I may not have a complete stensil set, especially the yellow no foot markings. I notice Hannants have some but aren't released yet so will have to wait for them. Apart from that all is going well and hoping to get at least some more done this week end.

Cheers now

Bob

[jimbuna]

Looking very good.

[Darby]

Have they still got the Seahawk stuck on a pole at the main gate? It was looking a bit grubby when I was based there in 88.

[moaning dolphin]

Have they still got the Seahawk stuck on a pole at the main gate? It was looking a bit grubby when I was based there in 88.

Yep its still there but on the other side of the road. It was taken away a few years ago for a repaint but is back to looking like its old grubby self again

Just had an email from Hannants releasing their stencil set (must be psychic!) http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/X32039 the picture isn't working so does anyone know if this one contains the yellow markings for the black bird?

Cheers now

Bob

[Mark M]

looking good mate

[Antony Robertson]

Looking good!

The front coaming sat high on mine too but when the windscreen is fitted you wouldn't know.

Antony

[moaning dolphin]

Greetings again all

Well progress was quite slow last week but has suddenly shot forward. I finally got the wheel wells sorted to a stage I could close them up. Then at last the wings were dry fitted and I thought i was onto a winner, but alas no! Where I put extra wires though for detail it all caught on the intake trunking! I had decided to fit intake blanks, so the easiest option was to chop the buggers out with a dremmel. After a bit of butchery they popped out with minimal damage. When I did get them out I noticed that I had forgot to put the exhaust turbine in so in the end it worked out so I could then fit that. I'm not happy yet with the completed wells as the weathering isn't right but i can come back to it slow time later, they now look like thus:

You can also see the filler at the wing joint. I think this is more down to my mistake modelling rather than Revells moulding.

With the wings attached. It has been rubbed down and then primed and rubbed down again. The next fot shows the replaced vortex generators on the wings, which I think look better than the kit effort, although they are quite hard to see.

I have assembled the seats and will detail them and put them on a trolley as opposed to fitting them. I did ponder on the etch I have seen on another thread, but I shall have a go myself and see how they come out. If I make a hash of it I may stick them under a dust cover

And final fot is after several rub downs and primes, its had its last filler and almost ready for the black.

Today I have managed to get the top coats on. I sprayed the fin Halfords Appliance white as a gloss background for the anniversary decal, and the rest of the fuselage was sprayed in Halfords gloss black. It is looking quite fine in my opinion but you'll have to wait a bit longer for the pics. I have the Xtra decal set for the Anniversary markings to fit and hopefully my stensil markings will also arrive tomorrow so looks like the next few days will be death by decalling.

Thanks for looking

Cheers now

Bob

[Alpha Delta 210]

Wow! Incredible attention to detail! Puts mine to shame.

[Murdo]

Looking great mate.

Are those the kit seats or AM?

[moaning dolphin]

Looking great mate.

Are those the kit seats or AM?

No they are the kit ones, just primed to get away from that awful red! The kit seats are rather quite good.

Cheers now

Bob

[jimbuna]

Coming along nicely.

[moaning dolphin]

Greetings again all

Well I have now finished the first set of decals, putting on the anniversary marking and, if I don't mind saying so myself, she is looking quite fine! The decals went on fine although the fin decal will need a little touch up on the leading edge. The only snag I had was when i put MicroSol on one of the serials and then smudged it with my fat thumb, but managed to butcher together a couple of spares, so panic averted. Now for the fots so far:

The removed rudder

Fitted the windscreen, i did put the stopwatch in the up position but it has caught on the glass. With hindsight I should have done the back pilots one and displayed that up, but hey ho!

I have also been tinkering with the seats, as they will be displayed out of the aircraft I have been pondering on the moulded on features. Most are acceptable but i don't like the half air bottle,

So have been looking for an alternative, luckily Revell supply you with several. All the plastic overshoots are luckily about the right size

I shall experiment over the week end and let you know how it goes!

Finally my next task is the RAM turbine, this is the what i am aiming for:

Should be a piece of piddle!!!

Cheers now

Bob

[moaning dolphin]

Hello everybody,

I think its been a bit of time since my last update but I have been chipping away at this slowly. The main work is done and its the numerous little niggly details that require doing. Its slow and laborious and if this wasnt in a group build I think it would have hit the pending shelf. The decaling is 99% done, just u/c doors requiring doing. So her she is!

Next is the detailing on the RAM air turbine. Not too hard to knock up. Just bits and bobs from the spares box, the hardest part was shaping the main body as it was sooooo fiddly and small especially for my cluster fingers!

Next is the fin which is looking quite ok after decalling and with the panels open, although it is very clean in there!

Finally i've been working on the canopy, and came up with an ingenious idea for reproducing the MDC cord, only to see some other bugger post it on their build!! So geedubelyer you have a very ingenious idea for the MDC and I shall be doing it your way! First practice shot is a bit fiddly but will start afresh when i'm happy with the procedure. The only thing holding me up is I was going to secure it with Micro Gloss, but seemed to have put it in my usual 'safe place'!

Thats all for now. hopefully by the end of the week end it will be sitting on some wheels!

Cheers now

Bob

[jimbuna]

Fantastic work.