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RAAF 20th anniversary hornet - the perils of polishing 23/12


ClumsyDude

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Really,really awesome pit :) now that is REALISM at this bug  :thumbsup: 

And do not hurry it Jim, it will become your next great birdy, you've got all time at the world :)

Cheers my friend :)

 

 

Thanks Chavdar. I don't get a lot of bench time so "slow" is my only speed!

 

 

What a cockpit! Absolute realism!

  

 

Thanks Milan!

 

Office looks great but the windscreen with that prismatic sheen,wow!   like that.nailed it. :popcorn:

 

 

Thanks William. I can't remember who on LSP I got the tip from, but I used Plexus plastic polish after polishing out the seam. It looks really good (although I haven't been able to get the same result on the main canopy due to the frame making it hard to polish).

 

 

Stunning

 

 

Thanks mate, means a lot coming from a bloke who knows!

 

 

Lookin' the goods

 

 

Thanks Andrew! I used to crawl over these back in my AirTC days at high school ... still gives me goose pimples thinking about the first time I heard the jets on takeoff!

 

 

That cockpit looks fantastic..just wow!

 

 

Thanks Shaka, I appreciate it!

 

 

That is fantastic!  Love how you picked out the individual buttons. If there a tiny paintbrush you used, or just a team of gremlins?

 

 

 

 

 

Matt  :frantic:

 

 

Haha thanks Matt. I can assure you there are no gremlins involved, except for the ones who nick off with every little part I drop on my workshop floor. I would be nowhere without my optivisor though!

 

 

Great work on the pit, it turned out awesome

Cheers Bevan

Thanks Bevan!

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Ok, on to the main canopy. Like the windscreen, it needed a seam polished out; a combination of fine sandpaper, micro mesh polishing cloths, and Tamiya compound did the trick. That, and my secret weapon, which I guess is not so secret seeing as I learned about it from LSP ... plexus plastic polish.

 

EFA24DE4-F972-4A4C-B6B3-6C1DA556D7C8.jpg

 

I think I showed this one before, so humour me for reposting it as an intro ... anyhow, I attached the front frame from the kit, with the Aires mirrors and grab handles attached. I won't repost as it's in the thread earlier. I masked off the inside of the canopy and sprayed Alclad gunmetal, then got some gloss black on the mirrors, masked, and sprayed Alclad chrome.

 

1188F71E-1810-4B12-8F95-693A36784951.jpg

 

597A6F37-74AC-4AA0-A698-F36486F939EB.jpg

 

Next were the resin side frames from Aires. These have five parts each, so they take longer than you'd expect, especially if you're clumsy like me and keep dropping the tiny etched canopy hooks on the floor.

 

FE566F10-A042-4E06-BFAB-C02E4AAAD804.jpg

 

And here's the rear of the frame, done up as usual with brush painting, Peter's brilliant Airscale decals, and a wash.

 

4B0EE380-A2D9-4278-8115-AE93830C0A9C.jpg

 

Continually amazed by how good the Aires detail is. Same treatment on the side arms.

 

70F736DF-F773-4B22-B445-E75E7994B06A.jpg

 

Now, the painstaking job of brush painting the black edges on the mirrors ... don't think I did too good a job, but after three retries, I wasn't going back.

 

CCD43732-D996-4D5B-B76F-84DB6C8009DA.jpg

 

Looks ok through the canopy, which is how it'll be seen on the finished model.

 

3BB457AE-14D4-4222-A2BE-6549FA31FD4E.jpg

 

Side and rear frames attached ...

 

C13C21D0-0F77-45B5-9ABC-78EE6C89D8A4.jpg

 

A3304AC1-676E-4B9E-8986-E1FD369CFEB2.jpg

 

More in a moment ...

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Next job was to fit the canopy seal, which is visible on the Aires side and rear frame, but not on the plastic frame that the kit supplies. I superglued in some 0.5mm copper wire.

 

AB337994-197D-45FF-AF35-0ED98F271220.jpg

 

The eagle eyed (of which there are many on LSP) will note that in the above photo, I have clumsily broken off the Aires grab handles. I wasn't too upset about this as they looked too chunky anyway. In this photo you can see the replacements, made from 0.3mm copper wire, as well as the plastic reinforcement glued to the backs of the mirrors, which I was worried would go the same way.

 

AF47A6B0-D0A1-43CE-B8BF-56F853FDB9B8.jpg

 

Here it is with some gunmetal. I think the wire grab handles are a huge improvement (the wages of clumsiness is refinement!).

 

43B34D1E-5ABA-4EA0-8A9C-955A3072D433.jpg

 

A random shot of the frame detail ...

 

3E4420B5-792F-4DFB-903A-AE6BCD875EE1_1.j

 

And some Tamiya medium grey enamel on the seal ... can't even see where the wire joins up with the Aires bit! B)

 

D4AB528E-603A-496A-A49F-8044C8D5771C.jpg

 

Here it is from the outside ... I just marvel at the Aires detail.

 

D277D8BC-E935-4EFD-BBA4-0D8B56E17E0D.jpg

 

Thanks for following along everyone! Next up - the ClumsyDude replica of a RAAF seat harness!

 

Cheers

Jim

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