nzdavidh

Nice repair - great to be able to pull that off. I guess plan B would be the yellow remove before flight cover they put over the FLIR window. I think that grey colour is the window sill seal (for want of a better expression) and its on the inside of the window. Possibly something Trumpeter could have provided as a part to paint grey and attach inside the clear part. Nice work masking that off, I hate jobs like that.

Scary stuff! Did you have to take the bit with the carefully masked yellow stripes off or was that a permanent casualty?

Eric what references are you using for the bomb bay? I have the 1/48 kit and Bombay conversion?

That is some damn fine machining... very nice.

Man, I could never add that many stencils so quickly... I hate that job it is soooo boring. Top effort

The other thing the hemostat is great for is holding a rolled piece of sandpaper which you can then use to clean up seam lines inside jet intakes and other hard to reach places...

Some nice progress there, should look striking finished. Anyone looking for lockable scissors might want to ask for a hemostat...

This build is fantastic, love the intakes

Looks to be coming along very nicely. That's a damn fine first up effort. I can't imagine ever mounting something on a swastika but each to their own..

Promising start Eric. There are some great specialist CAD drawing/3D modelling sites on the web. I'll see if I can track down the link, there's one in particular where the forum participants provide a lot of good technical feedback particularly about capturing shapes - I wonder if any one would go for an Erakanoplan in 1/32

Like the paint work, nice muted colours. What does the fluid it is leaking down the fuselage come from?

This build is superb.

Hi Eric Scribing that line will definitely help. I've had a look at the pictures and the 1/48 copies I have of the 27 (from the Tamiya F-1117 kit) and the 28 (Academy). The fin assembly that mates to the bomb casing should extend beyond the fins. I think that's what is throwing me about your conversion. At the moment, the scribed line mid-way through the fins looks like the start of the fin assembly. I like to paint the fin assembly different colours from the bomb casing as it adds colour and interest, so to me it's important they're clearly differentiated. As you say, it's a WIP so you can scribe the flange. Looking forward to seeing the finished Nighthawk...

That's probably the most important thing! For me, that gallery you've linked to, particularly picture number 8 in the series, demonstrates that the fin assembly and profile on the GBU27s and 28s are different. Flightpath look to have nailed it.

Superb. Love the EJ Kai

Some nice work there Eric. I like the bomb sway braces. As it's the focal point for your model, it might be an idea to fill the pin marks inside the cradles. I also wonder about using the Tamiya Bomb as the basis for a GBU-27. The bunker buster bomb in the F-15 kit has a different profile at the back end... I think by cutting the Tamiya bunker buster you've end up with a bit of a hybrid weapon... the front end of a GBU-27 and the back end of a GBU-28. To my eye at least, the GBU-27 doesn't bulge out to the fin assembly as the 28 - i.e it should be a constant diameter to the assembly as in the flightpath set. Here's a nice profile of the GBU-27 You can see how the profile is diffent at the back end in this photo of a GBU-28 penatrator Looking forward to the finished product

Fantastic. I'd love to know how you achieved the metal effects... Stunning