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1/48 SWS F-4J - VMFA-232 "Red Devils" 1972


DirkE

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Clearly not my fight (not my scale, not my type of aircraft), so you can disregard my comment at will, but I could not help to wonder at the comment:

 

"... as it is almost impossible for ordinary modelers to correct".

 

I am most certainly wrong, but it seems some scraping and judicious use of Milliput (or anything like it) can achieve the required shape change ...

 

Oh well, ...

 

Hubert

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Guest Airfixer

Great progress, Dirk. Keep it up.

 

Da macht Zuschauen echt Laune!

:goodjob:

 

[...]

I am most certainly wrong, but it seems some scraping and judicious use of Milliput (or anything like it) can achieve the required shape change ...

[...]

 

Or building a new rear intermediate fuselage based on 1/30th scale McAir loft/mould lines and fuselage cuts sheets? :hmmm:

Nope...just kidding...

 

SksqIIr.jpg

 

Ok, once spotted, it really sticks out.

But I wouldn't deem that kit "unbuildable" like some other folks in another galaxy do.

 

Erik

Edited by Airfixer
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Does not ZM and HKM, Tamiya and the like use 3D scanners to accurately scan in shapes now a days?   I seem to recall somewhere seeing pics of one of multiple model technicians holding and/or using hand held 3D scanners........................of course I could be WAY off base. It happens all the time.

 

You would think with accurate McDonald Douglas cross section references available and 3D scanning technologies, it would make getting the overall shape easier, but I suppose with humans nothing is infallible. 

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Guest Airfixer

Well put, Brian. Despite all the technology, tools or references, one should never underestimate the human factor...

 

I've got a notion that some of the CAD engineers are well capable of handling/editing/translating raw scanning data from the "point cloud", but have no idea how to "read" original McAir loft line/mould line/fuselage cut sheets, waterlines, etc.

 

c2PL7pp.jpg

 

 

 

What doesn't prevent talented and enthusiastic modellers from turning more or less partially flawed/allegedly flawed kits into great representations of the real thing.

Edited by Airfixer
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Keep in mind that in order for anyone to get any model "right" the designer has to be *intimately* familiar with the subject. That's one reason so many new kits are so horribly bad. Not naming names, but you know who I mean. If you don't sit and soak up every nuance of the real airplane, it's very easy for things like this to slip through the cracks. And even if you do do that, it's very easy for a designer to become so engrossed in a subject for so long that you "can't see the forest for the trees". I've made mistakes on decal art that I looked at for ages, and it never registered that it was wrong. When I stopped looking at it, and the printed decals came back to me weeks later, the mistake jumped out like an alligator and bit me in the face.

 

This is a multi-faceted problem. 3D scanning is great, but it's FAR from perfect. Manufacturer drawings are great, but rarely do they answer all the questions on shapes and proportions. In fact, as often as not, they raise as many questions as they answer. Nailing an airplane without a single shape error is pretty much a practical impossibility. Sometimes in human endeavors, fecal matter occurs.

 

I just hope ZM will fix this on subsequent kits, since this particular one isn't easy for the modeler to fix. I'm sorry to disagree with Mr. Roof, but ZM is wrong on this one.

 

Jennings,

 

Good point on getting so close to your work you miss something obvious.    We have to deal with that very subject on every Resin Project.

 

may I ask, do you have the kit and if so have you built it to view the finished result?  Just curious,  as the finished result is what is the goal and pictures can be deceiving.   I ask sincerely as making what is actually to scale does not necessarily work in making a finished product. Example is the fine writings and marking on wheels and tires.  If you make those to scale, the first coat of finish hides the lettering, so therefore those letters have to made much deeper than scale, so that the painted product looks correct.

 

I would also like to add that this is a very nice build, and to hijack it with a product complaint is not polite or appropriate.   If the subject is that important,  then I would kindly suggest that a dedicated thread be started and let the rest of us enjoy the build.  

 

just my 2 cents,

 

Gary

Edited by ghatherly
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Hey Dirk,

 

I really like the engine work you have done.   I plan on doing something similar with hoses and additional details.   The thought has also crossed my mind that since I have a 1/48 B-58 Hustler in the stash with all the resin goodies from Fisher and LoneStar to incorporate one of these engines into  a B-58 Build.   Keep up the great work!

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