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Piero

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Everything posted by Piero

  1. This is my Typhoon F-2000A in AMI (Italian Air Force) 4 Stormo colors, based in Grosseto-Italy. The model is built using the “old” Revell 1/32nd kit: this has details that are a mix between the pre-series Typhoons and the two-seater ones, not the best start to build an up-to-date single-seater Typhoon. Most of the panel lines has been rescribed and details added from scratch and using aftermarket sets too. Here is a list of the set: · Aires resin cockpit set · Aires resin exhaust nozzles · Aires resin wheel bay · Cold War Studios PE splitter plate · Cold War Studios PE canopy details · Two Mikes resin FOD intake covers · Wolf 3D Resin Parts external fuel tanks · Wolf 3D Resin Parts ESM-ECM pods · Wolf 3D Resin Parts antennas and exterior details · Wolf 3D Resin Parts APU & precooler outlet · Wolf 3D Resin Parts gun air vent · Wolf 3D Resin Parts flaperons & rudder · Wolf 3D Resin Parts wheel set · Wolf 3D Resin Parts MEL missile eject launchers It's a lot of resin sets and a bit of money... but they're worth it because they definitely help in quickly modifying the kit. The painting was done using airbrushed acrylics from Gunze and Tamiya. The metallic colors are Vallejo acrylics. For the brush details I used Vallejo colors. The decals are mostly from the Two Bobs sheet for the "Italian Typhoons": however, the Italian roundels and the 4 Stormo badge are incorrect in size and details. In this case I preferred to use the Tauro Models decals. In the end I'm satisfied with this model and I hope you like it! CIAO! Piero
  2. Hello, I received my 2 AJ37 kits last Tuesday. Better package, amazing kit as per the previous JA37. Two separate shipments... double customs duties . CIAO! Piero
  3. Hello, Jetmads emailed me just now. They are going to shipping batch including my order shortly to my packaging station. Let see. CIAO! Piero
  4. Hello, anyone has already received the new AJ37 Viggen? I'm still waiting mine and I don't have any news from Jetmads. CIAO! Piero
  5. Hello Ray, Yes, please post it on the website. CIAO! Piero
  6. Hello, this is my latest Harrier in 1/32. The starting kit is always the same old Trumpeter... unfortunately, Tamiya doesn't want to give us this gift… The model represents an RAF Harrier GR.7 based at Laarbruch in Germany in 1994. It has a beautiful tail adorned with the colors of the IV(AC) Squadron: this choice was adopted as a safety measure in terms of "visibility" during very low altitude flights and I believe also because this Harrier was used to participate in the summer airshows of that year. Speaking of the model, as I have already said with the previous Harriers that I have made, there are many things that need to be modified and added to this kit: A new resin nose made by me replaces che same plastic part of the kit that is really poorly made with completely incorrect details such as the FLIR and the ECM Zeus antennas. Furthermore, the panels are wrong and a slight square bulge is missed in the lower part, Also the RCV is completely redone because wrong. The glass covering the ARBS targeting system sensor must also be replaced with one of a more suitable shape. For the cockpit I’ve chose to use the Aires resin tub with a MK.12 seat made by me based on an MK.10 resin seat. For the HUD I’ve used the beautiful resin piece made by Flying Leathernecks Decals. The nose gear well also comes from an Aires resin set, the detail of which is unmatched The legs of the undercarriages are completely redone by me, while the wheels come from the Reskit resin set, beautiful. I didn't spend much time to work inside the large air intakes, because I had already decided from the start to apply a couple of anti-FOD which give also a bit of color once finished. This GR.7 had 100% LERX since it left the factory: these pieces were made by me using plasticard and detailed to match the fuselage panels and wing edges. The entire wing has been completely revised in its profile because the pieces of the kit are really poorly made: therefore the only solution is to study the profiles carefully with the photos and go down hard on the plastic parts with putty and sand paper. All the panel lines needs to be redone. All the panels lines must be redone also because those in the kit are completely wrong. The 4 exhaust nozzles of the Pegasus engine have also received care and details to make them a little more similar to the real ones, as for the protection metal plates. All 9 pylons have been replaced with the Flying Leathernecks Decals resin set: great 3D resin pieces with beautiful details. However, adaptation work to the wing plastic parts is also necessary here if a correct alignment of each pylon is desired. The empty gun pods are the plastic parts of the kit that need to be shortened and heavily detailed... I feel like I'm being a bit repetitive... One piece completely missing from the kit that is characteristic of all second generation RAF Harriers is the chaff&flare launcher box which is placed behind the ventral airbrake. This is a resin piece of my own making. All the bulges and antennas of the ECM/RWR system on the ventral fin and on the tail cone have been redone and detailed. As I said before, all the panels and rivets have been redone, as the various antennas and sensors. I’ve opened the access steps, added a retractable ladder and extended the In Flight Refueling Probe. The model is painted using Gunze (H) and Tamiya (XF) acrylic paints: The topside is in NATO Green, obtained with a mix of H-64 and H-309. The underside is in Lichen Green, obtained with a mix of XF-65 and XF-73. The decals come from various sheets (Model Alliance, Xtradecals, Zotz…). CIAO! Piero
  7. Hello, does anyone know when these stiffener plates were applied to the rear fuselage section of the RAF Harrier GR.7? Especially if they had already been applied in 1994, and I can't find any reference about it. (picture is used for plastic modelling discussion only) CIAO! Piero
  8. Hello, Was it good enough my Kfir C.2?... "Shits happens" R.I.P. Kfir C.2... CIAO! Piero
  9. Hello, my Ecuadorian Kfir C.2 is finished. More pics in the RFI forum section soon. CIAO! Piero
  10. Here a picture just to try to explaine what I mean... CIAO! Piero
  11. Hi Alain, yes, the camo colors are Light Green and Dark Green... the problem with my pictures is due my smartphone camera setting in auto mode and with the green cutting mat. CIAO! Piero
  12. Hello, here the Ecuadorian Kfir with the camouflage applied. The colours are: Dark Green: Tamiya XF-61 as base plus Tamiya XF-13 to highlight the centre of the spot. Light Green: mix of Gunze H-511 with Tamiya XF-71 and few drops of Tamiya XF-88 Light Grey: Gunze H-311 Anti-glare panel: Tamiya XF-69 The camouflage pattern was done using Patafix rolls. The white stencils and the air intake cones has been painted on with an Off-White mix. Now it's time to paint the undercarriage bays and after that a gloss cote will be applied on the whole model. CIAO! Piero
  13. Hello, this is a focus on the "step" where the radome match the fuselage, as on the real Kfir. The whole model received a good layer of grey primer to check for any errors... After that, some preshading was sprayed with an almost black paint along the panel lines. CIAO! Piero
  14. Hi Alain, yes, at the end of the bottom of the radome there is like a "step": it is an hot air exit. I'll take a pic of this part on my model and I'll post. Decals for the Ecuadorian C2?... Good question... we'll see the new decal sheet from AZTEC... or I'll go with my own way CIAO! Piero
  15. Dry fit the resin radome part from the ScaleWorx set. Resin front wheel bay parts already painted using Vallejo acrylic paints. The cockpit using kit parts, resin seat and details from scratch. The same parts painted. Working on the fuselage removing the parts not on the Kfir. Adding extra vents... paneling and all the necessary for a Kfir. Fitting the lower part of the wings with lower fuselage. Dry fitting the resin J79 engine exhaust. And now all the part togheter ready for a final check. CIAO! Piero
  16. Under the front part of fuselage there is a bulge that houses the Doppler antenna: this piece is a resin part from the Isracast set. Here I've also added an antenna which is typical of Ecuadorian C2s. The plastic parts of the engine main air intakes kit are too long: the ScaleWorx set provides two resin intakes of the correct length with the cones already assembled. However, I preferred to use the plastic ones from the kit, suitably cut and shortened. I discarded the plastic air trunk parts because I will be applying two custom made FOD plugs. Above the main air intakes are mounted the typical Kfir canards, from C2 onwards: these are resin parts from the Isracast set which I preferred to the same ScaleWorx pieces. I've also added some plasticard fittings with the fuselage. About the fuselage in the same area all the panels surrounding the canards have to be redone because those in the kit are wrong. We arrive at the main fuselage part, which in the kit is divided into two longitudinal parts: this part requires a careful analysis with photos and technical drawings because having replaced the Atar engine with the J79 engine has led the Israeli designers to re-engineering all the auxiliary air intakes and hot air outlets as some access/inspection panels needs to be changed. Also on the right side there is a duct that runs along the attachment with the wing, while on the left side there is a small oval bulge. For all these details I used a mix of Isracast resin parts and scratch-built parts with plasticard. Air intakes and vents of the Mirage IIIE that are not present on the Kfir have been closed with cyanoacrylate glue and where necessary with plasticard. The plastic lower part of the fuselage needs the same adaptation work to accommodate the J79, therefore extra air intakes and vents, paneling and inspection panels and many fluid leakage points. I found it easier to assemble the underside of the wings with the underside of the fuselage than the instruction sheet sequence. This allows for an excellent fit of the wings and to already have the landing gear area ready for the bay parts. These are the Isracast resin pieces, which have better detail and more depth than the plastic parts, but these can be used if you prefer. The resin pieces fit quite well in size but need to be trimmed of the excess resin and adapted to the profile of the wings. The landing gear doors will be those in Isracast resin because of the correct shapes and dimensions for the Kfir. The wings have to be modified to receive the resin pieces of the additional "dog's tooth": for these I have chosen the ScaleWorx pieces which in terms of shape and size are designed for the Italeri kit. On the plastic parts of the wings, the reinforcements not present on the Kfir must be removed and the "dog's tooth" present on the Mirage III, Mirage 5 and on the Kfir C1 must be closed with plasticard. The vertical fin is the plastic one from the kit, where I added the Isracast resin RWRs as well as the long and typical air intake in front of the leading edge. Another resin part is the rudder from the ScaleWorx set because it is properly longer at the bottom. The whole area where the vertical fin fit with the fuselage has received a series of interventions of adaptation and improvement of detail using plasticard and bi-component putty. In the upper part of the fin I added the two plasticard plates where the VOR antennas will be applied. The terminal area of the fuselage has received an important makeover, due to the necessary shortening of the engine exhaust area with the relative internal protection plate, the cone with cap which contains the braking parachute and above all the lower part where there is the typical Kfir canoe with combat camera, chaff&flare launchers and several antennas and air intakes. This part is resin cut out of the piece of the Isracast set and adapted to the plastic parts of the kit. This area too has receive details with plasticard. For the J79 engine exhaust I decided that I will use the resin set of the J79 for the F-104G Hasegawa by ResKit which has better detail than the resin piece of the Isracast set. The landing gears will be those of the kit suitably detailed. The wheels will be resin parts from ResKit's set. For the external loads I'll be back soon. And now few pictures I took during the work. CIAO! Piero
  17. Hello, studying the documentation it is evident how many differences there are between a Mirage IIIE and a Kfir… practically everything changes!!! Let's start from the front to the tail: New radome without the radar for interceptor and with the long pitot tube moved down. The new slime radome contains a radar rangefinder and is studded with passive radar receivers and antennas. I have two resin noses from the two conversion sets and I preferred to use the ScaleWorx nose because it has the correct dimensions even if the rear section connecting with the fuselage is specific for the Cheetah and needs to be eliminated. The nose of the Isracast is much thinner and therefore the difference with the forward fuselage section of the kit would be too noticeable. I removed some Israeli C2 specific panels that are not present on the Ecuadorian C2s and make new small fins along the front of the radome. The pitot tube is metal from the Isracast set. A Master metal pitot tube is also available on the market but it is slightly shorter, so I preferred to use the Isracast one which is more correct in size and has a better shape of the adapter plug to the radome. For the cockpit I chose to use the plastic parts of the kit, suitably sanded and detailed with the addition of instruments, consoles, buttons and switches made using plasticard. The seat, which on the Ecuadorian Kfir C2/TC2 has always been a Martin Baker MK.10 is the resin piece of the ScaleWorx set. Some boxes on the rear bulkhead of the cockpit are from the Isracast set with the addition of tin wiring. On the part that covers the rear area of the instrument panel I put a canvas to protect the wiring... I don't know if it was there on Ecuadorian Kfirs but I decided it was fine and to take this poetic license. The front part of the fuselage of the kit needs to be re-engraved in the paneling, which is incorrect in the cockpit area or interrupted by the split of the plastic pieces in the lower part. The nose gear bay is resin parts from the Isracast set. These parts once painted and assembled fits quite easily to the underside of the plastic fuselage. ...
  18. Hello, I had in my mind this project after finishing the Viggen model because I wanted another delta-canard jet. I had the Kfir C2 Isracast conversion for some time in my storage: this was for the old Mirage IIIE Revell kit. In addition, I had bought the ScaleWorx conversion for the Cheetah E designed for the new Mirage IIIE Italeri kit. So, I've got an Italeri Mirage IIIE kit reboxed by Revell, some good books as references and the job can be started! I was fascinated by the camouflage of the Ecuadorian Kfir C2 and also by the history behind their operational use during the mid 90s... so my Kfir will be one of these exotic birds. CIAO! Piero
  19. Hi Alain, no WIP at the moment. I took some pictures during the working on the main parts of the conversion, maybe I'll post a new topic this afternoonin the WIP section. CIAO! Piero
  20. ... and a couple of pics from the flight line... CIAO! Piero
  21. Hello, here the RFI of my MiG-23BN model. CIAO! Piero
  22. Hello my friends, thank you very much for your compliments on my Viggen! I'm very happy also that you enjoy my "Lego scaffolding" ... for me it's a so simple but effective tools for handling the models. It's to assemble with the size that you needs and to put away when the job is finished... and it's cheap too I want also specify that the metal rear end of the fuselage was painted using the Ammo Mig "Air Set - Bare Metal Aircraft Colors" acrylic paints. I find that these pre-diluted airbrush paints are so easy to use and the finish effect is great for me. Now I'm working on another delta-canard jet... see you soon! CIAO! Piero
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