Fvdm

Another picture of the product from web.
Some of the dials have yellowish clear color

What a nice paintjob. I love it.

Those fasteners look great. 

Nice, another mustang. Have fun with it. 

Hi all,
Thanks for your comments and support - appreciated.
 
Jeff:
Actually of all the rigging, the cross bracing for the forward cabane struts was probably the easiest to rig.
1. Fit the two rigging lines (0.08 mm mono-filament) to the underside of the upper wing (before the wing is fitted).
2. Drill two holes (0.3 mm diameter drill) diagonally through the bracing centre piece.
3. Once the upper wing is fitted, slide onto each line a 0.51 mm nut (RB Motion) and cut 0.4 mm tube (Albion Alloys).
4. Pass each of the two lines through the top holes drilled into the bracing centre piece.
5. Hold the centre piece with tweezers and with the other hand hold the free ends of both rigging lines.
6. Slide the centre piece up towards the upper wing, keeping it central between the struts (needs to stop around 7 mm from the upper wing).
NOTE: Check that both lines will clear the outside of the gun cooling jackets when attached to the fuselage (adjust position of centre piece if required).
7. Apply drops of CA adhesive to secure the tubes, nuts and lines in position at the top of the centre piece only.
8. Once fixed slide onto the bottom of each line a tube, two nuts then a second tube.
9. Keeping the lines taut, secure through the pre-molded location 'eye' at the bottom of the forward cabane struts.
10. Position the nuts and tubes and secure in position using CA adhesive.
 
Mike
 

The two windshields are delicately cast resin, very thin and fragile, which is why I guess a spare is provided:

 
With care I masked and fitted them, they really are a very precise fit:

 
Meanwhile, I've started painting the prop:

I have used “Archer fine transfer” fasteners set for detailing engine cowling.
 

Once again great work.

Nice detailling. I wonder how it looks when painted.

I should really be moving on to something else but I just can’t resist tackling my third F-16. I started on the Academy two-seater back when I was doing my F-16A and I have been building some subassemblies here and there as made synergistic sense with the other F-16’s. For example, the canopy is polished, Future-dipped and good to go. The (Tamiya) tanks are done with a first coat of paint on them, the ACMI pod is entirely complete, the AIM-9CATM is almost done, the Zacto intake is already painted white inside and the Aires wheel well is ready to be dropped in. In short, I think completing this model will take less than half the time it will take me to do the Legendary Grumman Product project I have lined up next.
 
 
Here is the exact aircraft I will be doing (pic has free for use rights):
 

 
 
I will be using the AFV Club F-16B kit, which is essentially the Academy kit with all the plastic that you would get with the various variants of that plus some resin parts. The most important parts for what will be an F-16D Block 30 are the correct wheels required for a Block 30 and also the non-bulged main landing gear doors. I will use the heavyweight legs when I should be using lightweight main gear but I honestly find it almost impossible to recognize the difference. More important is that I don’t need to use the bulged main gear doors of the kit, which look off from far away (more on that later).
 
 
I will be using the Two Bobs Arctic Aggressor sheet together with some custom serial number decals and a second red/yellow “6” from the spares box and that should be about it as far as turning this into a Block30 Aggressor.
 
 
The Tamiya F-16 kit is generally superior to the Academy kit but the Academy kit has some advantages. And of course it is the only two-seater in town. Here is my summary of the ADVANTAGES of the Academy kit (roughly in order of importance):
1.      Zacto makes beautiful small and big mouth intakes for the Academy F-16. These are drop-and-go and do away with the tedious seam-filling required for the Tamiya kit.
2.      The Aires wheel well fits absolutely perfectly into this kit. I would speculate that Aires designed the set for the Academy kit and then only modified the little panel between the bays for the Tamiya kit. I would strongly advise against using the Aires set on the Tamiya kit, the fit is poor requiring a chain reaction of modifications.
3.      The wing leading edge is molded as part of the wing. For the Tamiya kit, I find that the separately produced leading edge is difficult to glue in such that the gap, especially around the hinges, is perfectly neat and consistent. No such worries on the Academy kit.
4.      Academy added some nice detail in places where Tamiya didn’t provide any, e.g. on the underside of the center wing pylons.
 
And here are some of what I consider to be must-fix problems of the Academy kit. I am sure there are plenty of additional inaccuracies on the kit but these are the ones that I consider to be too glaring to ignore:
1.      The kit intake is spaced too close to the fuselage. Apparently the intake is also misshapen but I have a hard time recognizing that. This is a must-fix issue in my book but fortunately Zacto has turned vice into virtue with his fantastic intakes.
2.      The Academy gun muzzle has the slots vertical instead of being slightly slanted back. To my eye this makes the kit look wrong from across the room because this error is right in the focal point of the model. You can address this problem a few different ways and Academy supplies two muzzles so you can mess around a little to see what works. I ended up throwing money at the problem and bought the respective sprue from the Tamiya kit, the Tamiya muzzle fits into the Academy kit almost perfectly. Going the Tamiya route will also ensure a consistent look as my various F-16’s are displayed together.
3.      The Academy wingtip and outer wing launch rails (LAU-129) are far too skinny. Simple fix is to use some Tamiya LAU-129’s from the spares box.
4.      The bulged main gear doors look way too bulged. I didn’t need these anyway but I think these could just be sanded down to get a better look.
And with that, I am launching this thread! More to follow…
 
Cheers,
Marcel

Thx guys, the encouragement is very motivating!
 
 
Thx Jaws, the flightline look is exactly what I am going for
 
Well, she is done! Here are some preliminary pics, taken under poor lighting conditions. I plan on taking some better shots and Chuck has very kindly also offered to edit them a little more professionally, once I have those shots I will post them in the Ready for Inspection section. But here goes for now:
 

 

 

 

 

 
And the double is officially complete:
 

 
Thanks for looking!
 
Marcel

As a break from my 1/200 USS Arizona project, I've been working on a legacy hornet. I'm planning to throw pretty much everything I can in the way of aftermarket gear into this project, and see what I can come up with.
The jet I'm planning to build is from VFA-86 Sidewinders from 2004.
For this project, I'm using the following aftermarket sets
Cam pro decals
Aires cockpit 
Aires wheel bays
Eduard photo etched sets
AMUR Reaver photo etch
DMold intakes
Airscale cockpit upgrade sets
Zactomodels  aim 9L/ M sidewinders
and no doubt I'll be getting my hands on some resin wheels, and depending on what weapons load I go for, some resin bombs as well.
 
While I'm waiting for the rest of the aftermarket gear to come in, I've started on the wings, cleaning them up to build with the wings folded.
 
 
I know these kit have been around for a long time now, but if you haven't built one yet, the surface detail is fantastic and the general fit, is great. When the cockpit comes in, I'll be starting on getting the pit and front wheel bay into position, and painting them. 
Any advice on any sections of modelling would be welcomed.
 
Thanks for looking.

Progress, slow and steady.  Having read several biplane builds, especially with Silver Wing kits, it seems fitting the cabane struts first is the way to go.  I made a little "jig" out of plastic card to get the fixing points as accurate as possible based on the location points on the underside of the top wing.
 



Doors on:

Testing fitting the top wing, looks ok:

I wanted to fit the exhausts at the end of painting etc so added some plasicard to the insides.
 

 
Then trimmed and thinned the exhaust mounts so they'd fit from the outside.
 

 
Also fitted the barracuda oil cooler
 

 
And the Aims replacement gun cowling. Fit was almost perfect. Just a quick sand for an invisible join then describe the panel line later.
 

 
Mr Surfacer 1500 to prime and check
 

 
Adding the tail section. 3 tail options in the box. Photos of my build are nearly impossible to tell the exact version, so went with the late version without the long lower tab.
 

Today update.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for the motivating replies everyone!  Seems like a month since my last post, but it's only been a week. 
 
The paint lift problems continued prompting me to strip away all of the paint between the empennage and the cockpit.  This solved most (but not all) of the problem but caused some collateral damage.  Rudder, both lower radiator flaps, and aerial all got knocked off.  I have the aerial back on, but the radiator flaps got knocked off a second time due to all of the handling while masking today.
 
Despite all of that, I'm pretty happy with the results.  These are all masks:

 

 

 
I still have to paint the underwing crosses and the dotted red lines on the wings...  but I've done enough for one day.
 
Thanks for looking!
 
Gaz

Hi all,
I think I'll call the rigging done!!
There's still few tweaks to the weathering, rigging end fittings and turnbuckles etc and of course the base of the display case, but the Camel is getting close to completion.
Mike

It certainly looks like a busy cockpit.

Looks good. I'm very interested in this build.
 
Ferry

Great woodwork. I can imagine that the wood was high gloss. After all, flying was luxery. But a semi gloss will do the job I think.

I think a flying dutchman is always a good idea.   

I decided not to cut out the ailerons so I went on with the wings. I cut away the brackets at the rigging because these were more then 0.5mm thick which is way overscaled. I will replace these with 0.25mm styreen. Also the holes were filled en I will make smaller holes because Trumpeter made a mistake with the rigging. In the picture below you will see that Trumpeter wants you to place PE1, PE2 and PE3. In all my references I can't find these and Thomas Lund also warned me about this.
 

 

 
I decided to glue the rightwings and leftwings but I'll glue these to the fuselage when everything is sprayed in color
 
The handle for folding the wings is replaced with PE
 

 
When you glue everything together (without the rigging that is) it looks like this
 

 
A litlle putty is still needed.
Upper center wing with some PE
 

 
The fuselage after priming. The oilcooler is till dryfit. This wil also be glued after spraying.
 

 
At last a dryfit because i want to place the rigging with everything in place. Just to prefent some misallignment.
 

 
I also had a little setback. I wanted to make the torpedo but when I wanted to take the sprue out of the box I noticed there wasn't any sprue P. I looked very carefully, I searched my hole room but I couldn't find it. Bummer. I went to the LHS and told the problem. They will contact the importer to see if they can get a replacement sprue. I also contacted the customerservice of Trumpeter. I don't have high hopes but you never know. So, if you own this kit please check if sprue P is present before you are going to build it. 
I will check the net for measurements and will try to make a torpedo from scratch because i really want a torpedo under the plane.
 
Thanks for watching 
 

I decided not to cut out the ailerons so I went on with the wings. I cut away the brackets at the rigging because these were more then 0.5mm thick which is way overscaled. I will replace these with 0.25mm styreen. Also the holes were filled en I will make smaller holes because Trumpeter made a mistake with the rigging. In the picture below you will see that Trumpeter wants you to place PE1, PE2 and PE3. In all my references I can't find these and Thomas Lund also warned me about this.
 

 

 
I decided to glue the rightwings and leftwings but I'll glue these to the fuselage when everything is sprayed in color
 
The handle for folding the wings is replaced with PE
 

 
When you glue everything together (without the rigging that is) it looks like this
 

 
A litlle putty is still needed.
Upper center wing with some PE
 

 
The fuselage after priming. The oilcooler is till dryfit. This wil also be glued after spraying.
 

 
At last a dryfit because i want to place the rigging with everything in place. Just to prefent some misallignment.
 

 
I also had a little setback. I wanted to make the torpedo but when I wanted to take the sprue out of the box I noticed there wasn't any sprue P. I looked very carefully, I searched my hole room but I couldn't find it. Bummer. I went to the LHS and told the problem. They will contact the importer to see if they can get a replacement sprue. I also contacted the customerservice of Trumpeter. I don't have high hopes but you never know. So, if you own this kit please check if sprue P is present before you are going to build it. 
I will check the net for measurements and will try to make a torpedo from scratch because i really want a torpedo under the plane.
 
Thanks for watching 
 

I decided not to cut out the ailerons so I went on with the wings. I cut away the brackets at the rigging because these were more then 0.5mm thick which is way overscaled. I will replace these with 0.25mm styreen. Also the holes were filled en I will make smaller holes because Trumpeter made a mistake with the rigging. In the picture below you will see that Trumpeter wants you to place PE1, PE2 and PE3. In all my references I can't find these and Thomas Lund also warned me about this.
 

 

 
I decided to glue the rightwings and leftwings but I'll glue these to the fuselage when everything is sprayed in color
 
The handle for folding the wings is replaced with PE
 

 
When you glue everything together (without the rigging that is) it looks like this
 

 
A litlle putty is still needed.
Upper center wing with some PE
 

 
The fuselage after priming. The oilcooler is till dryfit. This wil also be glued after spraying.
 

 
At last a dryfit because i want to place the rigging with everything in place. Just to prefent some misallignment.
 

 
I also had a little setback. I wanted to make the torpedo but when I wanted to take the sprue out of the box I noticed there wasn't any sprue P. I looked very carefully, I searched my hole room but I couldn't find it. Bummer. I went to the LHS and told the problem. They will contact the importer to see if they can get a replacement sprue. I also contacted the customerservice of Trumpeter. I don't have high hopes but you never know. So, if you own this kit please check if sprue P is present before you are going to build it. 
I will check the net for measurements and will try to make a torpedo from scratch because i really want a torpedo under the plane.
 
Thanks for watching 
 

I decided not to cut out the ailerons so I went on with the wings. I cut away the brackets at the rigging because these were more then 0.5mm thick which is way overscaled. I will replace these with 0.25mm styreen. Also the holes were filled en I will make smaller holes because Trumpeter made a mistake with the rigging. In the picture below you will see that Trumpeter wants you to place PE1, PE2 and PE3. In all my references I can't find these and Thomas Lund also warned me about this.
 

 

 
I decided to glue the rightwings and leftwings but I'll glue these to the fuselage when everything is sprayed in color
 
The handle for folding the wings is replaced with PE
 

 
When you glue everything together (without the rigging that is) it looks like this
 

 
A litlle putty is still needed.
Upper center wing with some PE
 

 
The fuselage after priming. The oilcooler is till dryfit. This wil also be glued after spraying.
 

 
At last a dryfit because i want to place the rigging with everything in place. Just to prefent some misallignment.
 

 
I also had a little setback. I wanted to make the torpedo but when I wanted to take the sprue out of the box I noticed there wasn't any sprue P. I looked very carefully, I searched my hole room but I couldn't find it. Bummer. I went to the LHS and told the problem. They will contact the importer to see if they can get a replacement sprue. I also contacted the customerservice of Trumpeter. I don't have high hopes but you never know. So, if you own this kit please check if sprue P is present before you are going to build it. 
I will check the net for measurements and will try to make a torpedo from scratch because i really want a torpedo under the plane.
 
Thanks for watching