chaos07

Impressive work. I'm looking forward to seeing how your cad/clamp project works out. There are a ton of ways to skin that cat, and this one is a new approach, or at least from what my internet searching has found over the years. Keep up the great work!

This is going to be an awesome thread to keep up with! An LSP Blackbird of any flavor is impressive, but the work you've put in for all the different versions is even more impressive.

Interesting concept.

Thanks, Chuck. The smaller details are what I enjoy with this hobby - research and of course the creation. Your builds and countless others drive me to do the little extra stuff that was glossed over in the past, and quite honestly, it has made the hobby that much more enjoyable. Hopefully, another week and the bench will see some more use. Just about finished healing up from the bite - but while I wait, CAD is in the hopper to learn to properly employ my new FDM 3D Printer. I want to clean up my work space some. Cheers.

Rick, The Craftoptics glasses are AWESOME! I have a pair of prescription readers, which I found to be far better than over-the-counter cheapies, and the focal distance was extended at my request when I ordered them. Those are good for general work, but the stereoscope from Craftoptics is a game changer for fine detail work. It took some time to get accustomed to them, but they are my go-to pair at the bench once I did. At first, I did not get the light, thinking that my bench had plenty, but after a while, I ordered the light and think that it will be handy in some situations, but not all. It is easily removable should you choose to go that route. Their customer service is outstanding as well. I had them change the focal length after first receiving them, and it was as simple as using their pre-paid shipping label and sending them back. It took just over a week to get them back in my hands. I ordered bifocals - distance, readers, magnification. They will set the prescription to any distance to include an intermediate level if you want (provided you need a correction). Highly recommended - even at the cost which is a bit steep. My back certainly benefits from not hunching over for small detail work.

Nice! When will these be available? I think the F-16 speed brakes need a new home for my current build!

Awesome! The overspray on the invasion stripes is particularly well done.

You nailed the patina and weathering on the NMF - awesome finish!

Love a greek viper! Excellent paintwork.

Outstanding work!

I second how well that came together. I wasn't sure if I could get the assembled intake in the lower fuselage, so I chickened out trying to smooth out the whole assembly like you did. Mine has a little gap, but it is what it is. I taped mine together and tried it a few different ways and it seemed like it was possible, but there was enough flex in the tape that I wasn't going to risk it not fitting once glued. I had good luck on an Academy intake by thinning the latex paint with water, but I stirred it with a rotary mixer for a good while to ensure it was fully mixed. Do you plan to add the outer intake parts after the internal structure is secured? The area I was most concerned with was the aft upper corners of the intake where it meets the lower fuselage just forward of the main gear wells. It did not look like I could rotate the intake into place without it binding up on me. Really awesome work. The rubber bands and TET is the ticket. That is staying in the toolbox for my next Viper build!

A minor update from the past few weeks. Having just returned from out of town, this shows what was done before a week away with family out of town. Plenty of re-scribing and refinement is still in order, but this was a big step forward so some primer and paint can soon begin. First, some rework on the RAM panels on the box beams of the jet. Previously I spent some time fine-tuning the little holes that were molded into the kit parts. This looked really good to my eye right up to the point I noticed on several of my reference photos the Polish jets are most certainly smooth across the length of the beam. Returning to delivery photos and those taken in the past couple of months, all of the jets show a smooth surface here. So . . . . some application of CA and sanding was in order. While attending to this, I wanted to sort out a small gap at the wing root at the leading edge on the bottom of the fuselage. In my installation, there is a very small step where the fuselage halves meet and the wings join the fuselage. This area should be smooth, and given it will be an in-flight model with the belly in full eye-level view, I wanted to address this. In an effort not to ruin a very good shape, I glued in some small triangles of .010 styrene with some TET, and after cured, a small scraper leveled most of the bulk. Then a few minutes with some finer grit sandpaper brings a smooth transition for what was once a small step. There is still some cleanup needed, and with a primer coat the success of this "fix" will become evident. Scribing is still needed to restore details that were covered up. Next, the gear doors needed permanent fixing. The fit was ok with the block 50/52 doors for the main gear and was much better with the supplied door from the Thunderbirds kit. Some rather large gaps were present at the base and leading edges of both main gear doors. Styrene shims and a healthy dose of CA filled in the gaps before a rough-in-sanding session. As shown here, the model is sanded to 600 grit. I'll take it to 2000 grit before primer and paint. I was careful to restore the odd-shaped panels between the main gear doors periodically as I sanded ensuring they remained intact. The other details will be easy to add using normal scribing techniques. My skills fall short on these smaller irregular panels - (I'm still procrastinating on the parabrake housing . . . .). My intent when filling in all the gaps with CA was to get after the scribing the same day. That did not occur, and I found that scribing into 2-day-old CA was problematic at best. Some chipping and wandering of the scribing tool occurred no matter the pressure I used, so I filled in the gaps and cleaned them up for another approach. Relying on fine-tooth saws for straight lines in some cases, I thought I would cut up one of these and make a smaller version. The thickness is what I want around the gear doors, and these will be flat-bottomed, not v-grooved like the remaining panel lines on this kit, which have been, or will be re-scribed in their entirety. This should show up as a "larger" gap even though it is the same thickness as the other lines - that appearance will be due to the flat bottom. I did find that cutting these blades with metal snips was not acceptable. The hardening process makes them brittle, and small fragments of the blade flew everywhere - eye protection was a blessing this day.. Depending on whether or not I like using the modified blade, I'll cut a few with a cutoff wheel in my rotary tool and stick them in the stash of blades for future use. The X-acto handle did not grip the thin metal at all, but two layers of Tamiya tape made it thick enough to hold strong and not rotate in the handle. I have some PE saw blades, but they flex more than I want them to in use, and these blades do not seem to cut as well as these straight blades do. With some scribing guides in place, this little guy should make short and accurate work of reinstating the gaps around the gear doors, especially around the bulges for the larger wheel/tires. The last area that received some attention is the speed brakes. I've not yet decided if they will be posed open or closed, but the engineering of the kit makes it easy to sort that out at the end or have both. The kit parts are pretty good, with the actuators having the most issues regarding fine detail. Some work addressing ejector pin marks was pegging the fun meter given the small space. Tamiya did an excellent job with the molding here, the brakes themselves are exceptionally thin at the trailing edge, making use of the Eduard brass parts I have on hand not needed for this build - at least for now. The area that still needs some work is the actuators. Some holes need to be added to the braces that attach to the panels, but the mounting surface is in the way. I'm debating cutting that off and re-gluing it later to allow for drilling 2 holes on each side. The Eduard parts provide some PE to apply over to show these holes, but the real deal shows them to be all the way through. Some small bumpers and what appear to be grease fittings will be added once the holes are sorted out. Mr. Disolved putty was used because it sands a bit better than CA and can be activated with some MLT if needed. Sharpie was used to highlight the work in progress ensuring a smooth surface. The small tabs will get removed from the upper brake panels and replacements will be positioned at the forward edge of the opening like little fingers that stick up to replicate the real thing, should the open brakes be used. Plenty of work remains before these are ready for primer and paint. Lastly, it may be some time before another update. My left forearm is recovering from a pretty bad bite from a neighborhood dog, and until the wounds are at least healed over, stitches out, and I have better mobility in that hand, the plastic will have to wait. Unfortunately, this happened the night before coming back home from a week out of town, but thankfully all the squishy parts are still somewhat intact. Had the dog got me a bit lower, it would have been tough to count to 10 using fingers. Thanks for checking in!

Somehow I did not catch this build on the first round - looking forward to see how it comes along!

That's going to be tough Chuck - having to look at your exceptional work and learn from the excellent play-by-play in a format that is not 4:3 . . . . Excellent work as always - and I certainly didn't notice the photo format difference until you mentioned it - Keep em coming! In all seriousness - the amount of effort you put into the editorial/photography of your builds certainly shows. Even though many of us may not notice the little things you do to create these threads (photo formatting, labeling of photos, etc.), you've always been one willing to highlight things others may never see, and that is what makes threads like yours stand out as much as they do.

Outstanding!