Cheetah11

The only Cheetah D with a diamond pattern and low vis springbok castles was 841. It was painted similar to the first batch of Cheetah C's in the lighter colour scheme, aprox FS 36375 and FS36320. 841 also had a red circle around the squadron badge denoting the squadron's training flight (also earlier windscreen and wheels). Later Che D repaints had the eagle castle and the darker color scheme. Cheers Nick

I wanted to do this out of the box but there are a few things that are open for improvement. I fortunately have spares from two Hasegawa kits which were binned. I build one as a Kahu in 1999 but an accident involving the falling of a shelf in the display cabinet wrecked it. The second I had an over ambitious plan to do a A-4M from the two seater in 2002. I could never find or make a satisfactory canopy. The first thing to fix was the solid nose wheel. One almost gets the idea this kit was badly copied from the 1/48 Hasegawa kit. After a bit of work using the Hasegawa wheel and shortening the oleo a little. I also had a look at the cockpit. The side consoles and IP are flat. Here is a comparison with the Hasegawa kit. 2011 kit versus 1976 kit. Really Trumpeter. The solution was to fit the side consoles of the Hasegawa kit to the Trumpeter cockpit. Slots in the fuselage sides needed to be enlarged. Thanks to Proxxon a quick job. Last thing while the paint is drying on the Tomcat is to paste Hasegawa wheels onto the Trumpeter U/C legs. The Trumpeter legs are 3mm longer but the wheel well is 3 mm deeper so not a great problem. I like the Has wheels more and the brakes are more detailed. The Trumpeter kit has a lot going for it but just a frustration on some of the details are compromised. Cheers Nick

I used photos as far as possible to try and get the cammo pattern right. The pattern was marked with a pencil from the photos and the profile provided by Techmod. There are some variation in the pattern on different aircraft which tends to confirm my theory that the pattern was spray painted freehand. And the brown airbrushed freehand. I used one of the few Xtracolor tins I have left. I find the enamel splutters a bit less. I am clearly not as steady as a few years back. I will blame it on the size of the model making it difficult to hold. That is my story and I am sticking to it. Tomorrow green and touch ups after the gloss Xtracolor has dried. We have gotten a bit spoilt with the quick dry lacquer paints. Cheers Nick

Hi Alain The A-4H was a simplified version developed for Israel with many US Navy sensitive equipment not installed. Externally it can be recognized by a squared off fin and a brake parachute as well as no avionics hump on the back. From 1970 DEFA 30mm cannon were fitted replacing the 20mm Colt weapons. Here is a photo of one prior to delivery. Hi Max On these two builds I will focus on colour and markings and not on too much detail. If all goes well maybe a third Cheers Nick

More missiles Alain. Luckily all done now. The bottom and top of the fuselage painted. I am glad now I took the time to scribe the fuselage. Some small touch ups still needed on the painting. I tested the brown with freehand airbrushing. Looking at photos of the real thing I am sure it was sprayed free hand since all the Iranian Tomcats had small but significant variations in the patterns. Cheers Nick

Thanks for posting Finn. I loved the cowboy style ammo belt, six shooter and knife of the pilot near the end of the video. Maybe it would not have stayed on during an ejection but it does looks cool for sure.

Hi Sean Great subject. Looking forward to this build. Cheers Nick

Hi Steve all the photos I had a look at the rudder is centred, so I will try and fix it. A bit of filling and sanding should fix it. In the mean time I added plastic card to the slat cut outs. I will shape them when the glue has dried. Cheers Nick.

Hi Alain, I find it a challenge to paint the missiles for which no decals are available but after two or so it becomes a pain. And as you say very time consuming. In the mean time the Tomcat is eating up my paint supply. I could have done two or three WW II fighters with the same amount of paint. Cheers Nick

I am not an expert on the F-15 but just a few pointers I picked up from my build. Apart from what has already been said the horizontal and vertical stabilizers are correct for the E. On the C the strengthening ribs on the horizontal stabilizers and rudder actuator fairings on the vertical stabilizer need to be sanded off. The drop tanks are not only the wrong shape but noticeable undersized.

While waiting for paint to dry on the Tomcat I started gluing the main parts together on the Skyhawk. The kit has much the same building "problem" as the KH Mirage 200o in that all panels are designed to be build open. This is great if you want to display an aircraft being serviced but not on the ramp ready to fly. The panels needed quite some adjustment to fit in the closed position. I was impressed by the fit until this popped up. I know there is a gap below the rudder but this is a bit extreme. Plastic strips to the rescue. The Colt 20mm guns will have to do as Defa 30 mm guns but I removed the stagger as the Defa guns were not staggered. Once the lower panels are in place very little will be seen thru the wheel bay so this should do. More trouble. Undersized and incorrect fan details. If you can get the Barracuda replacement. I printed a new inlet for the J52 engine with inlet guide vanes. A bit rough but after clean up and paint and it should look better than the kit parts. In the mean time I have written to Santa for a resin 3D printer but I am not too hopeful that he will get the message. Cheers Nick.

I started to paint some weapon parts this week. The AIM-54A proved to be a small challenge. The markings on the missile date to the mid seventies and even the original kit does not have the correct markings as decals. Only solution to reverse mask. I designed the markings on the Silhouette and then reverse masked them. The white needed a good many coats to cover the yellow and brown but worked in the end. Reverse mask applied And done More next week. Challenge now the stencils on the missile. Cheers Nick

Hi Dutik Welcome to the group. I know of only two F-5E aces, one Iranian and one Ethiopian. My guess is you will be doing the aircraft of Legesse Tefera from Ethiopia. Cheers Nick

My Tomcat build is going well and I decided to do another group build hopefully before the end of the cut off. It will be an almost OOB build wit only a resin seat. I have been collecting info on the A-4H in which Ezra Dotan claimed two Mig 17 aircraft on the 12th of May 1970. The Trumpeter kit is in my stash so I will soon start this in the background while finishing the Iranian F-4. ( At the moment I lost a bit of mojo for prop aircraft) So here goes. The subject The Model Cheers Nick

Hi Kevin Would a Skyhawk flown by Ezra Dotan qualify? I am ahead of schedule with the F-14 and would like to do another for the group build. Nick

Hi Mike too sort the problem of cup size I took a photo with a model many of us are familiar with, the 1/32 Hasegawa Bf 109 G. I also tested the mix for the illusive FS 30400 Sand. In the end I used the Tamiya 1/48 recommendation. It looks a little too much red but sort of matches photos(I know) on the ramp at Grumman ready for delivery, so I will go with it. Cheers Nick

Poor light but I could not resist posting this photo. A milestone where all the main components are glued together and showing the massive size of the model. Cheers Nick

Not much to show for the week but improving the canopy frame was time consuming. The Tamiya part is pretty basic and n needs a bit of improvement to fit in with the rest of the cockpit sill. First a frame was build around the Tamiya part and then detailed. And after priming Cheers Nick

Hi Kevin Iwata airbrushes have close tolerances and in my experience need to be lubricated to function flawlessly. Ultra Sonic cleaning most likely removed the lubricant as shipped by the factory. I use a tiny amount of Teflon grease (bought years ago at a gun show) whenever I re-assemble my Iwata's after cleaning. There is a tool available to clean the inside of the tip . I use Tamiya airbrush cleaner instead of lacquer thinner as it has stronger solvents. The one change I made to my HP-BC years ago (similar to the HP-C) was to replace the neoprene O-ring with a a cork one. The new Iwata airbrushes have hard Teflon seals and get sticky if any paint or thinner dries on it. BTW the HP-BC was bought in 1987 and still performs flawlessly. Using the bottom cup is a bit of a schlepp.

Thanks to Steve's help I could do the "HUD" glass. On the F-14A of the era the projection is onto the centre part of the windshield. I found two photos of Iranian Tomcats where the canvass cover over the instrument combing is dark grey .so I went with that colour. From these photos the cockpit appears to be a lot mote basic than later F-14A's, so not a lot needed to be added to the Tamiya kit parts. Hydraulic lines were added to the undercarriage legs but to be honest the gear legs are pretty good for such an old kit. Now most of the sub assemblies are scribed and sanded waiting for paint and final assembly. If all goes to plan I should finish before end Nov and then I can do another OOB build for this group. Cheers Nick

Hi Gazzas What a bummer. I hope you will recover the build. Nick

Alain here is some more spilling of ink. Refuelling probe in the nose, most likely to train Mirage IV pilots. Cheers Nick

Hi Denis The jettison drawing was used only to show the position of the balance piston (circled in blue). As you can see on the diagram they have no function during the jettison sequence. Two pyrotechnic activated pistons under the front of the canopy are the ones lifting the canopy during the jettison sequence. Cheers Nick

Hi Denis and iaf-man The word bungee is a bit of a misnomer. Both the single and dual seater Mirages had a gas filled piston to assist with the opening of the canopy. The single seater had one centrally behind the seat and the dual seater had two next to the seat. In this diagram it is clear and looking at the posted photos it is visible. The hinge arms is also depicted here. Cheers Nick

Hi Pete Just a heads up. The photos of the aircraft in the Israeli Air Force museum shows a Mir IIIC with an E wing and Kfir pylons. I looked at photos on the net and in some books and it seems that the E wing (and undercarriage) was fitted to some the CJ Mirages around the mid seventies and was done together with the fitting of the Atar 09C, replacing the 09B which has the longer tail section. I have no idea how many of the CJ Mirages were so fitted. Info on Israeli Mirages of the time is a bit scares so one will have to try and find a photo of the particular aircraft in a particular time frame. (I also suspect the E undercarriage will only fit on an E wing) Cheers Nick