allthumbs

This kit is the old Hasegawa in a Revell box;
 
 
I used the kit decals out of this boxing!
 
There are two options besides the Swiss aircraft, both in agressor schemes and I´m pretty sure one of the options was Alconbury.
 

 
Stefan 

GRU-5 seats are appropriate for Vietnam Era Intruders. At least a couple of options exist in 1/32 scale: AMS Resin and RetroWings.
 
For Vietnam Era Crusaders, both the Martin Baker F5 and F7 seats were used. There are several options in 1/32, Sparkit being the best in my opinion.
 
My apologies to MD’s for the thread drift.
 

Here are some pictures of a utility light (often referred to as a “Grimes Light”) on a Boeing 757. From what I can tell, the basic design has remained unchanged for decades, although I don’t know if it goes all the way back to WWII.
 
Anyway, as I didn’t have a measuring tape handy, I got out the next best thing: my “NATO Standard” bank card, which measures 85.6mm by 54.0mm. 
 
Hope this helps a little!
 
Rich


 

 

 

 



 

Here are some pictures of a utility light (often referred to as a “Grimes Light”) on a Boeing 757. From what I can tell, the basic design has remained unchanged for decades, although I don’t know if it goes all the way back to WWII.
 
Anyway, as I didn’t have a measuring tape handy, I got out the next best thing: my “NATO Standard” bank card, which measures 85.6mm by 54.0mm. 
 
Hope this helps a little!
 
Rich


 

 

 

 



 

If my back-of-the-envelope calculations are correct, then a 1.9mm section of 1.3mm diameter metal tubing establishes the basic shape. A smaller telescoping section of rod stock could be used to create the red dial at the back.
 
HTH,
 
Rich
 

Article is posted!
Love the weathering!

We had them on B-52s, a lot of them . We called them C-4 lights, I don't believe they were on any ww2 types though I could be wrong on that[ been known to happen from time to time]. They had a rheostat to control brightness and could be switched to red if needed ,pretty cool. they were also on B-47s IIRC.

Here are some pictures of a utility light (often referred to as a “Grimes Light”) on a Boeing 757. From what I can tell, the basic design has remained unchanged for decades, although I don’t know if it goes all the way back to WWII.
 
Anyway, as I didn’t have a measuring tape handy, I got out the next best thing: my “NATO Standard” bank card, which measures 85.6mm by 54.0mm. 
 
Hope this helps a little!
 
Rich


 

 

 

 



 

Here are some pictures of a utility light (often referred to as a “Grimes Light”) on a Boeing 757. From what I can tell, the basic design has remained unchanged for decades, although I don’t know if it goes all the way back to WWII.
 
Anyway, as I didn’t have a measuring tape handy, I got out the next best thing: my “NATO Standard” bank card, which measures 85.6mm by 54.0mm. 
 
Hope this helps a little!
 
Rich


 

 

 

 



 

If my back-of-the-envelope calculations are correct, then a 1.9mm section of 1.3mm diameter metal tubing establishes the basic shape. A smaller telescoping section of rod stock could be used to create the red dial at the back.
 
HTH,
 
Rich
 

To be honest, I’m not at all certain about the early vs late H5, and its applicability to the F-4C. I based my “late” assumption on the pictures of the real seat shown on the first post of this thread, which appears to be an Air Force version with back cushions that match Sparkit’s “late” USN offering (BuNo 153005 and subsequent).
 
But when these aircraft (late production F-4B’s) were rolled out, F-4C production had already ended! So, perhaps, Charlie models were delivered with the USAF equivalent of the “early” H5. I can’t be sure.
 
Let us know what Sparkit has to say about it.
 
Rich
 
 
 

Marcel, congratulations on another stunner! The model is extremely realistic!
 
Rich 

3D “print to bag”
 

Thanks for checking in-

 
slowly getting there…

From the F-4E set which, I suspect, has much in common with their F-4D offering…

 

 

 
Hope this helps a little,
 
Rich

Beautiful and inspiring work…you have really done justice to this new kit.
 
Rich

http://nabe3saviation.web.fc2.com/explanatione-fr.html
 
…from the sidebar, navigate to 1/32 models.
 
 

http://nabe3saviation.web.fc2.com/explanatione-fr.html
 
…from the sidebar, navigate to 1/32 models.
 
 

http://nabe3saviation.web.fc2.com/explanatione-fr.html
 
…from the sidebar, navigate to 1/32 models.
 
 

http://nabe3saviation.web.fc2.com/explanatione-fr.html
 
…from the sidebar, navigate to 1/32 models.
 
 

thank you chaps, you are all so very kind
 
 
Well Jay, having just done the wings I do have pains from RSI - it will pass, but yes sometimes I just have to push through the pain
 
 
 
Exactly Chuck, it is an adjustable trimming tab, but only on the ground - suits me, as it makes it easier to build
 
So, lots has gone on the last few weeks...
 
..the propeller was made as a 3D print which I found very hard to do as it's a complex shape which has oblong roots and quite a twist.. - the spinner cap is machined from solid aluminium so it can be polished like the original..
 

 
..I started the wings by filling the plastic frame with foam & filler - this was then refined many times and note they are complete with the ailerons in place so they can be cut out later...
 

 
..after a lot of finishing, the ailerons were removed...
 

 
..and so to the skinning... I drew out the plans that copied the layout of all the fastners that cover the entire surface.. by the time I finished I selected all objects in the drawing and for the four wing surfaces there were 8,962 rivets... that is bordering on the ridiculous and likely as many as I have done on entire airframes before..
 
,,nothing to do but get started, so here is a typical panel - the small dots are one rivet depression, the big dots two, which was even more demoralising..
 
..also seen is a template to score out a hatch with a pin in a pin vise..
 

 
..after 3 days and a very sore set of muscles they were done...
 

 

 
..no time to rest though, and the ailerons were completed..
 

 
..the wings were added using JB weld and given a day to set, then I could start the fillets - I have not done the front ones as they need to also cover the forward strut mount..
 

 

 
..with the wings on, I could add the belly oil cooler assembly - as with the fuselage sides this was a 3D printed buck over which the metal sheet was fomed..
 

 
..in two parts, it stretches all along the lower fuselage..
 

 
..with so much skinning going on, I fancied a change and so started on the beaching trolley - well at least the wire wheels of the trolley..
 
I 3D printed a hub, a rim and a jig..
 

 
..and then bent a lot of piano wire spokes and started to populate them
 

 
..and the finished wheels, along with some Pratts petrol cans I have seen in pictures with the airframe..
 

 

 
..and so before the painting starts next week, some final shots in all her nakedness...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
..time to start thinking about the finish...
 
until next time
 
TTFN
Peter
 
 
 
 

IMO, they would be better served to supersize their Wildcat series, from the early version all the way to FM-2.   The 109 field is a bit crowded.  The Wildcat has no real competition out there.   

And now for the big news. Some shots of the printed fuselage. I'm fine tuning the print and support setting for these but it should be good. Since I'm designing this as a base fuselage for all AD-5 variants, armors would be separate to add on as needed. Expect to see the interior furnished within this week. I'm redesigning the floorboard and sides since they don't look that flat and bare as I thought. Also need to finish my logo and furnish the webstore. 
 
P/s: The elevator is the piece I printed earlier in the post, gonna print new ones with updated panel lines too, couldn't squeeze them onto the build plate.
 
Any suggestion and critics are welcomed guys
 
 
 
 

 





 

Sheets are now in stock:
https://www.aoadecals.com

February 16/24
 
Not a lot of modeling progress, mostly because the ejection seat is a model on its own and takes a long time if you want it to look right.  With that in mind, I bought another Aires seat because the cockpit kit seat was broken and my repair of one of the corners just didn’t look right.  This is the so-called Type A seat and as you can see, other than different colored resin, it’s identical to the cockpit set seat.
 

 
Before I show anything new, its best that I review what you need to do to the seat in order for it to fit on the Aires cockpit set seat rail properly.  This is what you get with no instructions as to how to get the rail past that valve-like feature at the back.
 

 
After scratching my head for a bit, I realized that you cut off the valve, because the seat rail has a replacement valve, albeit bigger.  Further, in order for the seat to fit low enough, the bottom needs to be sanded down, completely eroding off the lower control as shown.  None of this in in the instructions.
 

 
The correct position of the seat rail has the valve assembly attach to the middle-rear of the Flight Control System Recorder, while the back plate lines up with the triangular seat supports.  This pic also shows that I used the kit air sensor pitots or “horns”, because they look good for scale and are much stronger than the photo-etch Aires version, which require the addition of a small rod for the pitot tubes.  These parts were cut off kit Part G9 and glued in place.
 

 
Modern Viper seats have black sheepskin seat cushions that replace the original olive drab version, so we modelers typically create this rough surface by various methods.  Thinned putty roughed up with a microbrush is a common way of doing this, but I find it looks a bit too chunky for scale, so I tried some True-Earth anti-skid acrylic paint instead.  I think this method nails the look.  Besides being used for actual anti-skid surfaces, it would look great for Navy ablative coating on bombs as well.
 

 
A close-up.  The paint dries very quickly and is ready for flat black paint in no time.
 

 
As mentioned above, I was dreading the seatbelts which are photo etch, which makes them stiff and hard to paint.  Further, how do you not paint all the tiny buckles?
 

 
A few of you above suggested assembling the seat belts, painting them, then scraping off the paint on the buckles with a knife.  That turned out to work very well, so here’s what I did overall:
 
1)     Paint the seats like I did the cockpit, using gloss black followed by grey enamel, then a sealing coat of X-22
2)     Add painted detail and decals according to references.
3)     Spray with dull coat to knock down the shine, especially the seat cushions
4)     Anneal the seat belts with a flame for about 30-40 seconds to soften them
5)     Assemble the belts according to instructions, which is very hard to do and makes the assembly of HGW cloth seat belts seem like child’s play.  Since the Aires instructions are useless, I used mostly photo references to figure out what they should look like.   Since they are metal and will scratch the paint on the seat, I assembled them and shaped them to my spare kit seat.  If I did this again, I’d shape the seat belts before painting the seat
6)     Paint the shaped belts with enamel paint, which can be removed with solvent as required.  To hold the belts for painting and retain their new shape, I stuck them to poster putty rather than masking tape which would force them to be flat
7)     Scrape the paint off the buckles with a #11 knife.  Be careful to not dig down too hard, or you will reveal the brass underneath
8)     Glue the belts to the seat.  I used extra thin CA glue which is very tricky to do cleanly, but holds the belts rock solid immediately
9)     Re-spray the seats with dull coat, to knock down the shine of CA glue residue
 
The finished seat, at a magnification much more than can be seen with the naked eye, so please excuse the bits of crap here and there.....
 

 

 
All of my reference pics show that the forward belts are a darker color than the rear belts and shoulder belts, so I painted them accordingly.
 

 
I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to Airscale and their fantastic 1/32 Modern Jet Cockpit Warnings and Labels decal set (AS32), which I’ve used on my last 3-4 jets.  Every warning label you can think of is on this sheet, including some seat labels.  They come off the backing paper readily in hot water and react very well to Microsol to soften them over curved edges, but you have to be careful to not overdo it.  Take your time and you can position them on almost every complex surface imaginable.  If you like to build modern jets, they are a must have.
 

 
When the seat is placed into the cockpit, it really makes everything come together with additional detail and color.
 

 

 

 
 

 

 
 
So that’s it for awhile Gents.  As mentioned earlier, I’ll be vacationing in the southern hemisphere for the next 6 weeks, so modeling is on hold once again.  No worries, because I always finish my models and have yet to have a model hit the proverbial SOD!
 
Cheers,
Chuck