Daniel460

Excellent work on the nose gear Brian! 
 
Dan

Great detail paint work Brian. 
 
 Dan

I'm sure it will be a stunner when you are done Brian! 
 
I'm not really sure I like the response from HpH, that's a pretty darn expensive kit, you would think he would offer a fix for the issues. Not real good advertisement. I'm not one for spending the big bucks on a kit but the ME-410 and that TA-154 have been calling my name......but this has put a damper on it. 
 
Dan

The suspense is killing me............
 
Dan

November 9/22
 
 
No modeling update, but I did a little more “research” of my subject at the Aviation Nation Air Show at Nellis AFB this past weekend, hoping to see the Ghost scheme once again on the tarmac so that I could take more reference pics.  Well, 84-220 wasn’t on the ground, but 86-299 was, although it was roped off and made it hard to take pics, especially directly into the sun.
 
 

 
 

 
 
However, the reason 84-220 wasn’t on the ground was because it was flying!, when they do a sort of mock war games with several other fighter jets and ground attack aircraft.  This jet is obviously a “bad guy”, but man is it pretty.  Note that the digital camo-scheme is slightly different from jet to jet.
 
 

 
 

 
 
Oh-oh, an F-22 closing in for a kill!
 
 

 
 
Although I couldn’t get close-up reference pics, I sure got some good shots of the underside to help me with the camo-pattern of the bottom.
 
 

 
 

 
 
Just beautiful, and a real boost of inspiration to build this particular model.
 
 

 
 
Like most air show photography nuts, I took about 2,000 pictures which were mostly duplicates, when taking action shots at 12 frames per second- and deleted about 1,650 of them, leaving 350 that I’ll keep.  I have posted a few of them in the Aviation Forum here if you’re interested.
 
 
Nellis AFB Aviation Nation Air Show '22
 
 
Cheers,
Chuck

Yep that's often the case. If something needs to be done, you might as well do it now. No more putting everything off 'til the week end.

The snow has arrived, so I’m back with another build, but things are going to be quite different this time.  I finally retired this year which would normally mean more time for modeling, but it’s probably going to be the opposite scenario for at least a year or more.  Our house of 20 years needs some major renovations, so we will be moving out by next spring and I have to deal with all the hassles that come with that, before and after that time.  Combined with our travel plans, modeling will be hit and mostly miss, so I expect this build to take a long time.  I’m a bit reluctant to even start this thread as a result, but I need something to get my modeling mojo back in gear, so here goes!
 
 
I have been to the “Aviation Nation” air show at Nellis AFB near Las Vegas about 9 times over the years and I will be going back this year next week.    This air show is one of the better ones in all of North America and if you like fighter jets like I do, it’s a perfect way to get your “kerosene fix” with lots of noise.  You don’t have to worry about which fighter jets will perform, because most of them live there year-round.  You are guaranteed to see the F-22, F-35A, F-15C, F-15E, F-16 (home of the Thunderbirds) and F-18 E/F, because the Navy shows up every year with a Super Hornet, which will be a Growler this year.  Since “Red Flag” is held at Nellis every year, you will also see the Aggressor aircraft, which used to include F-15C/D’s of the 65th Aggressor Squadron which inspired my F-15C build below. 
 
 

 
 
Unfortunately, that squadron was disbanded in 2014 due to budget constraints, leaving just F-16’s with various squadrons and camouflage schemes.  The 65th Aggressor Squadron was reactivated in June this year with F-35A’s, however, so I’m hoping to see and photograph a few of these jets this year instead.  Maybe a future build?
 
 
65th Aggressor Squadron Reactivated with F-35A's
 
 
The last time I was at Nellis was 2019 before the pandemic, and one of the F-16 Aggressors had this really cool digital scheme which is supposed to sort of replicate the Russian SU-57 “Felon”.  Here’s a few pics I took of 84-220, but I’ve also found that this paint scheme can be found on 86-299 as well, so there’s at least two of them:
 
 

 
 

 
 
Note that although this is a new paint job, there are still dark maintenance touch-ups at the base of the tail.
 
 

 
 
This camo-pattern would normally be very hard to replicate, but once I discovered that Aeromasks makes a masking and decal set for this very jet in 1/32 scale, I was hooked.  I’m also very fortunate to have accumulated a nice collection of aftermarket kits for this build, starting with the now rare Tamiya Thunderbirds kit, which is just the ticket for this small mouth Block 32 Viper, which is my subject.  I’m very unlikely to use all the pods, but it’s nice to have the following choices:
 
·       Tamiya F-16C Thunderbirds Block 32 Kit (60316)
·       Aires F-16C Cockpit Set (2066)
·       Aires F-16C Wheel Bays (2067)
·       ResKit F-16 (F100-PW) Exhaust Nozzle (RSU32-0018)
·       ResKit F-16 Block 25-32 Wheel Set (RS32-0024)
·       AeroMasks Camo Masks and Decals- Ghost Scheme (AM32-F1643T)
·       Two Bobs F-16C Fighting Fulcrums Decals (32-001)
·       Two Bobs Blue Fox Bandits Decals (32-0510
·       Two Bobs Blizzard Bad Guy Decals (32-063)
·       Cross Delta F-16C Stiffener Plates (CD32001)
·       Aires AN/ALQ-188 Electronic Attack Training Pod (2047)
·       Wolfpack AN/AAQ-33 Sniper Targeting Pod (WP32016)
·       Wolfpack AN/AAQ-28 Litening Targeting Pod (WP32014)
·       Kopecky Scale Models LAU-129 Missile Rails (32016)
 
 

 
A closer look at the stash...

 
 
I have a lot of photos I’ve taken over the years of Nellis F-16 Aggressors for reference and I have Jake Melampy’s “The Modern Viper Guide, The F-16 C/D Exposed”, which will be invaluable for all the fine details and variations of this jet.  I also have these great links, which give me further information and a few cool videos for inspiration:
 
 
F16 "Spooky" Paint Scheme
 
F16 Ghost Paint Scheme
 
Second F16 Gets Sukhoi SU-57 Paint Scheme
 
Video:  F-16 Gets New Look Ghost Paint Scheme
 
Video: F-16 Aggressor Ghost Paint First Flight
 
 
There are many builds of this kit and the Block 50 version that you can find on-line and many are spectacular, so I am unlikely to build something that really stands out from the crowd.  What I can do, however, is document in detail how I assembled and painted this model in a step-by-step fashion, with all the challenges and problem solving of aftermarket parts that rarely have good instructions, which is what I really enjoy doing.  With that in mind, let’s start with the Aires landing gear bays.
 
 
I have read on-line that the Aires gear bays are anything from a “drop-in” fit to very difficult and not worth the effort.  Aires is well known for great detail, but the larger resin parts are often a bit too small due to resin shrinkage.  I am happy to report that the gear bays fit, but they are far from “drop-in” and they require modification in order to be of any use for the kit metal landing gear.
 
Here's a pic of what you get out of the box, along with a small page of terrible instructions.  Other than letting you know which resin blocks to cut off, the instructions are next to useless.

 
Here is a pic of what the parts should look like with the resin blocks cut off, although I didn’t use the cross brace on the lower left, because I found the kit part (C 27) to be better with a few modifications.
 
 

 
 
One thing I always do with resin parts before I try to install them, is see what the kit parts look like instead, to give me an idea of fit and orientation.  Here is kit part B 24, along with side parts P 18 and F 16, dry fit into the lower fuselage.  Here I note the position of the side sills which is slightly recessed from the top edge, which must also be cut off since the resin gear bay has them already.  I’m not a big fan of the white plastic of this Thunderbirds kit, which makes it hard to see detail and even harder to photograph without much in the way of contrast.
 
 

Another angle
 

The sills were carefully cut off and sanded smooth.

 
The top view, which shows that B 24 fits over 4 screwed anchors that the resin doesn’t have, but it gives you an idea of where the gear bay should be, since it forms the bottom part of the rear intake.
 

Here are the kit parts and the metal landing gear, which I have flipped over so that you can see the pins on the top of the struts that go into holes of part F 16, with a screw that secures the middle.  Easy to do with nothing in the way at the front.

With everything installed on the resin part, however, including the central spine, there is no way to get the metal gear to fit as is, other than maybe bending the metal struts which could break and likely remain crooked.  A very bad design, especially without instructions.  What the heck was Aires thinking?!

 
The fix was to cut off the pins at the top of the struts, and also the resin side braces, in order to install the gear in a rotating fashion as shown in subsequent pics.  I’m happy to report that even without the pins or a screw in the middle, the gear is quite solid, even without glue.  The little side braces will be restored once the gear is installed permanently.

 
Dry fit into lower fuselage, showing that the notch of the landing gear must be slightly exposed if I want to install the gear at the end of the build, which I obviously do.  If you follow the kit instructions, the landing gear must be painted and installed early, which is always a pain.

 
With that problem mostly solved, here are the main kit parts for the nose gear, showing that the gear must also be installed early if you follow kit instructions.  The front of the gear has a small tab that fits under a cross brace, creating a forward tilt that is fairly strong.

Since the floor of the resin replacement must be flush to the intake, the detail on the kit parts must be removed.

 
With lots and lots of sanding on the top and tweaking the resin and kit parts underneath, you can get a pretty good fit.

While the nose gear can now be installed at the end of the build, it won’t tilt forward like it should, because of a cross bar that’s in the way of the front tab.  Again, what was Aires thinking?

 
The fix here is to cut a notch in the cross bar and add a small styrene block for reinforcement.  The triangular cross bars are also in the way, so I cut a two notches in the bottom of the gear leg where they won’t show later when glued into place.

 
All better now and with some CA glue, this gear assembly should be quite strong when installed at the end of the build.
 

 
With all the precise locations where the main landing gear bay should be installed, I decided to install it permanently into the lower fuselage with CA glue from behind.  That way I can clean up any glue marks or even move it if required, and painting it won’t be impeded.  As a matter of fact, it will be even easier to paint, because I’ll have something unpainted to hold onto.

 
Installation of the main gear is as before, by inserting the top of one strut, then rotating the central portion of the gear into the slot behind the main spine.  The front of the spine was cut back slightly to allow better access and the top of the metal insert was filed down a bit to allow clearance for a subsequent cross brace.
 
 

 
 
Mostly there, with the gear now straight, but tilting forward a bit as the central portion rests against the back end of the fuselage.
 
 

 
 
By pushing the gear down and rearward, it clicks into the recess at the back, which hides some of it..  It’s now strong enough to leave as is without glue, but I’ll likely use a drop or two to be sure when I install the landing gear at the end of the build.  Meanwhile, if you sand down the top of the resin spine, you can use the kit part C 27 that covers it, rather than the resin replacement that’s a bit thinner, but I found to be a bit too short.
 
 

 
Part C 27 fits fairly well and those gaps will close when I use glue.
 


 
The other gear bay placement consideration from the top, is how well the front lip will fit the back of the air intake.  It’s hard to see in this pic, but the resin sits fairly flush and after painting it white, the join should be almost invisible when viewed from the front.
 
 


 
The top of the intake, part B 31, doesn’t fit the resin as well on the sides, but with a little bit of interior sanding I should be able to get it close, although I don’t plan on making this join seamless as I will on the front intake parts.  To see this detail you’ll need a flashlight and a magnifying glass, so it just isn’t worth the hassle.  The front fan face, P 24, will be glued to the rear after painting.
 
 

 
The engine compartment comprised of parts C 15, 20 and 21, slide over the middle intake, while part C 34 that holds the kit gear bay parts in place, is no longer needed- and it doesn’t fit the thick resin part anyway.
e 28
 
So there you have it!  The Aires landing gear kit does fit the Tamiya kit fairly well, but it requires a number of important tweaks in order to do so, that I hope I’ve explained fairly clearly above.  If you have any questions, please fire away.
 
Next step will be to make the front intake parts seamless, paint them, then glue them to the lower fuselage.  After that I’ll clean up and paint the landing gear and associated parts, then paint and detail the gear bays.  When I will get all that done is a mystery since I will be gone most of November, but this start of a new project has got me excited and back in the modeling saddle once again!
 
 
Cheers,
Chuck

This thread never emerged out of the rabbit hole, and as it's now, predictably, become contentious I'm going to lock it.
 
If you had a scale model of the Statue of Liberty, and compared it with a hundred photographs of the real thing, it could look inaccurate compared with each one, but conform completely with the engineering drawings. It's all about perspective.

Here are four different photos of the same oil cooler taken with different focal lengths. Look at the oil cooler, no two are the same. This illustrates why photos cannot be used as any kind of evidence to measure "accuracy". 
 

 

I’m pleased to announce that our next title, Building the Airfix F6F-5 Hellcat in 1/24 Scale by our own Chuck Sawyer, has now reached the first draft stage, and is on schedule for publication in the next two weeks. I appreciate that “first draft” sounds like “half way”, but in reality, the book only needs a few tweaks and some spit and polish at this point.
 

 
Stay tuned for a release announcement soon!
 
Kev

I just use my home printer, Epsom 7750, and it turns out great. I then put them in a 3 ring binder. 

Got it downloaded and added to my KLP library. Another great collection of build correction/aftermarket additions to build a great aircraft! Oh and then Chuck shows you how to do a flawless black paint basecoat for your NMF.... How to work with HGW rivets and the tools he uses to build this show winner! I've said it before for the price of a magazine you can have a wealth of information at your finger tips! Great work Kevin and Chuck!
 
 Not a jet kind of guy... I now own two Hasegawa 104's with numerous aftermarket accessories and a Trumpeter F-105G for good measure. Chuck you are a bad influence! 
 
Cheers, Dan
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks for the nice feedback, Dan. You just know I'm going to quote you on the website now!
 
Kev

Got it downloaded and added to my KLP library. Another great collection of build correction/aftermarket additions to build a great aircraft! Oh and then Chuck shows you how to do a flawless black paint basecoat for your NMF.... How to work with HGW rivets and the tools he uses to build this show winner! I've said it before for the price of a magazine you can have a wealth of information at your finger tips! Great work Kevin and Chuck!
 
 Not a jet kind of guy... I now own two Hasegawa 104's with numerous aftermarket accessories and a Trumpeter F-105G for good measure. Chuck you are a bad influence! 
 
Cheers, Dan
 
 
 
 
 

Having now had a chance for a quick perusal of your new title, a few observations:
First, for anyone contemplating tackling the Italeri 104, Chuck's description of the build is very comprehensive and nicely covered in both text and photos. Second, even if you are not a fan of the F-104, if you are interested in producing a natural metal finish with paints, Chuck has given a detailed account of his experiments with Alclad as well as clear coats and a few metallic washes which should prove really useful to you. Those of you who have followed his builds know that Chuck does a great job describing his methods, and the "tutorial" sections in this volume are excellent examples. Finally, as a bit of a Starfighter nut myself, I really like the the extensive walk around section as well as the complete coverage of available (and not so available) aftermarket accessories and decals for the F-104 in "our" scale. Bravo, gentlemen, on an excellent publication!
 
Cheers,  Rockie

Yes, most excellent to see you (and your wife) again too, Daniel, I get a real kick out of chatting with you two. And the big jets can be addicting. My stash is probably a pretty close 50/50 mishmash of jets and props, though I suspect there may be a few more props.  As to me being good, well if I don't get caught, it's irrelevant.

Hey Kevin, it was great to see you there today. And because of your harassing I now have a very large box with a 1/32 scale F-105G in it. So I have three flame throwers in my collection! A F-104C and a F-104 G/S and the Weasel.
 
 Be good......yeah that's not going to happen.....:)
 
 Dan

Last, but certainly not least, also purchased from a good friend that's probably one of the best aircraft modelers in the entire region, I snatched both of these (hold onto your chairs), for $70 total.
 

Now on to the goodies: Scott Van Aken seems to invariably have something that I want, but rather than books this time, I snatched these two Barracuda items. Both of these had been on my “wants” list, and I couldn’t pass on the great prices, especially the two 1:24 rocket assemblers (for my big ol’ Airfix Typhoon kit).
 

The one ship model that I actually liked, a 1:200 Nelson, built by the gent in the background, a good friend of mine. (Armor kits, usually fairly dark by their very nature, were almost impossible to make out clearly, so I didn’t bother.)
 

Maybe covid had something to do with the low turnout. The big B-17 and B-24 look really good!
 
Cheers....Ron

The 1:32 and larger jets: What you see is what it was.
 

 

Now on to the photos. 1:32 and larger props: The B-17 appears to perhaps be the brand new HKM kit? I really have no idea.
 

 

 

Well, our regional has now come and gone, and I must say that it was a very large disappointment, and in several respects. A. Much of the local vendors, that are nearly always present, were not, for reasons unknown, though vendor participation in general, was pretty decent, as you’d expect at a regional. B. Many of the local personalities, contest entrants and non-contest individuals alike, were also absent, and again for reasons unknown. The largest disappointment however, was the rather pathetic contest entry numbers. For instance, categories that are normally fairly well presented at even our annual event, were way down. Large scale props; three entries total. Large scale jets: two entries total.
 
There was, for me at least, an uptick or two to the show, inasmuch as instead of running my mouth with the dozens of local guys that I know and are usually present, I instead had plenty of time to check out both the vendor area as well as the contest room, which as you’ll see later, did work to my advantage. Regarding the contest room, the lighting was perhaps the poorest I’ve seen in ages, and someone also decided it was a good idea to use black table runners instead of the usual white, making photo taking a real challenge, to say the least.

I recently visited a hobby shop I’d never been to before, Hobby Haven in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. I found a Kitty Hawk Kingfisher. $45. I calmly paid for it, walked to my Ford and got the hell out of town.
 
Adam