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'Gaboon Viper' of VAL-4 - Bin Thuy - 1971-1972


karimb

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Love it!   Good man....................got the chute packs sided for the pilot and observer. Its an often missed detail.     ;)

 

 

Brian, actually it was a small note at the bottom of the seats page on the NATOPS manual, i managed to catch it. i wonder why KH moulded the same side parapacks for the seats?! i keep going back thinking of this, it's not like it's a missing tiny blade antenna on the fuselage!

Edited by karimb
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Karim my Friend

Absolutely blown away with the seats and the details you scratched out. Simply beautiful work. The seatback cushions and belts just grabbed my attention.even without paint ... they look just tremendous.

You must have brought the Philadelphia eagles good luch as they beat the Falcons in the playoffs.

Keep 'em coming

Peter

 

 

Peter, i am back in Philadelphia and the transport driver told me the Eagles were going to superbowl... he told me keep coming to Philly you bring luck lol so i told him about your message here  :innocent:

Thanks for the kind words, i hope you like how they look now that they have been painted and weathered!

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Every time I think I couldn't be more impressed with your work Karim, you go and post something that blows me away again!

 

Kev

 

 

Kev you're too kind!

I am at a point in this build where i don't know wether it's love or hate but it's still progressing!

The seats were a joy to work on, mainly from the satisfaction of transforming parts that were basically 'representative' of what the seats looked like into something more believable...

thanks for leaving a word! 

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Fantastic work Karim - lovely to see this come together with such refined detailing being added. Another absolute cracker coming along here.

 

Torben

 

 

Torben!

Thanks for the kind comment... im trying the best i can to get this build up to scratch and there's a huge backlog of things to fix... i am not going to be overly critical of a kit, at the end of the day we are all modelers here, but they could have put some more effort into the kit. At this point i am still unsure if i have a lemon of a kit or if all of them are the same...

thanks for following!

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Amazing work, Karim!

We just need to modify your route slightly........ DFW.. Think DFW.....

 

Ernie!

I sat and had a meditation session. No DFW !!!

The roster came out just today for the month of Feb and I have one miami two new yorks and a boston...

I am going to have to talk to someone to get this issue sorted out. I don't know why they seem to have reassigned the DFW flights temporarily to the 777 fleet... I don't foresee the change back to our fleet to be very far out though which is great news. I still look forward to the day we will meet bro!!

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Despite the fact that there are not enough wings and no rigging, you are doing a great job on this build. I really enjoy seeing the quality of your build and especially the paintwork.

 

Don exactly my thoughts... not enough wings and no rigging. Oh how i miss my great war aircraft  :(

Got to say it though, i am enjoying the challenge of having to fix the c**p on this one though!

Thanks for leaving a word

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Hey guys!

Another update, again out of Philadelphia on a layover. Since our last update i had time to fly back to doha, do another flight, finish a recurrent ground course and here i am again. I managed to pull some benchtime between everything and i am happy to say there is quite the progress, specially on the seats. I am planning on getting the fuselage closed as the next step but more on that later in the post.

First and foremost, we are back in the painting business!! 

I received my brand spanking new Paasche compressor, a DC850R. I was expecting something the size of the DC600R and boy was i in for a surprise. That thing is a MONSTER weighing in a whopping 43 pounds. The tank itself is almost twice the width of the previous compressor assembly. Modified the outlet manifold downline of the regulator to remove the quick release adaptor (you have two independent airbrush outlets that you can use simultaneously!! both came with quick releases from factory! ) and added my own fixed male adaptor for the hose that runs to my brush. I thought of adding the second H&S brush i use but then decided against having it there attached while i am not using it.

That said, i am happy to be back in business and have promptly fired up the compressor after all the set up and took it for a ride. It's working a charm, the tank is quite big so the firing up of the motor is far in between and overall i can say the compressor is quite silent. happy chap i am!

 

Back to the Gaboon viper build!

First let me thank everyone for dropping by and encouraging me. This kit is hmmm, well the more you work on it the more things have to be modified and fixed to either be 'correct' or just plainly to fit where the parts are supposed to fit. Before having received the compressor i decided to push on with the stuff i was able to finish in preparation for eventually closing up the fuselage halves. It was time to deal with the nosewheel bay. The ton of ejector pinmarks are sitting right there between the ribs of the bay instead of being on the reverse of the part which is completely hidden under the cockpit floor assembly. In comes Eduard pe which cleverly conceals everything and you are left with only one ejector pinmark at the bottom of the nosewheel bay. I filled that single ejector pinmark with ca and microballons and sanded it down with a fibreglass pen. I used CA and debonder to clean up the gluing marks where the Eduard PE sits. The bulkhead that sits on top of the nosewheel bay and closes off the cockpit to nosewheel section did not fit on top of the part even prior to my modifications to add the pe to it. I had to cut around one mm from either side of the inside of the frame to get it to sit with some pressure on top of the part. Also the instructions are not very clear on where and against what that part has to butt up but i figured since you have a positioning ridge on the top of the nosewheel bay. Guys, just keep sanding that part and push it back until it sits flush with the top part and clicks, instructions don't show that. I replaced the pe 'relay box' and wire with styrene and lead wire of the correct size to get more volume out of that assembly. That assembly still hasn't been painted to date but will be along with the nose area of the fuselage before i join both halves up.

Another thing i have decided on, to my great sorrow is to have the cargo area closed up. I figured there wouldn't be much visible once the fuselage halves are mated and basically you'd have to either directly shine a light into the area or handle the model to be able to see what's inside. closed she will be. I recycled the lead sheet i used for the paneling and reused the wire bundles to wire up the observer IP to the throttle on the observer side. The IPs were given a flat coat and the dial faces were given a drop of krystal klear to simulate the glass. The black side consoles also were give a coat of matt and the rest of the cockpit was left in satin. 

I glued in the control columns in too.

The seats were initially painted black to check if the texture was okay and i am happy to say the backrests turned out okay. The seat colors might not be correct, that is just to let you guys know. I am completely avoiding the KH color callouts because they are inaccurate when compared to period photos, and all i have to go with is photos from the references i have. I came up with a mix and match of colors that should be close enough to be called okay. I painted the seat cushions with a shade of green, the seat framing was painted the same color of the cockpit interior, the parapacks were painted olive green to give a different green shade to those and the ties picked out in rubber black. The seatbelts were painted medium blue. The cushions were weathered with oils after having added the really good AOA seat decals. Those behaved beautifully to solvaset and the backrest decals nestled in the texture of the seat. I don't know how accurate the texturing of the backseats is but it does add a bit to the seats. The little items on the seats were brush painted with tamiya acrylics thinned to flow better, the wiring on the seats was painted green black for a change. I am still in the process of adding the o2 hose attachments to the side of the seats and at the time of writing this they have been already painted a light gray, washed with brown and attached to their respective areas on the sidewalls...

Next month's work roster has just come out and it's pretty much smooth sailing with 4 flights to the states and the rest of the time with days off here and there so i plan on having some modeling time and progressing with this build as it's precariously tethering on a ledge between the shelf of death or continuing forward. I think the deal breaker will be the fit of the glassware and the wings, everything else i can muster enough patience for...

I am feeling a creeping urge to get my hands on some wingnut wings plastic  :hmmm:

 

As always boys your comments and input is always appreciated!

Karim

 

below in no specific order, some of the photos have the seat sides with the wash applied, some with a partial wash, some this some that, just a random amount of photos of the in progress work!

 

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Is Philly the closest you're likely to fly to DC?

For the time being the 350 fleet doesn't fly to DC but the plan is for us to operate that route instead of the triples once the 350-1000s start rolling in in the next couple of months!

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Guest Peterpools

Karim mt Friend

Are you kidding me ... strike any thoughts of Gaboon Viper heading for the Shelf of Doom .. way to much incredible work to even let that thought cross your mind!

WOW, Eduard's PE surely was a life saver in taking care of business with the injector pin marks as an extra added bonus to it's primary detail function.

WOW, do those seats look good and with the belts ... two gems.

One fantastic front office .. looking real good

Keep 'em comin

Peter

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