Cheetah11 Posted December 26, 2018 Author Share Posted December 26, 2018 (edited) I hope everyone had a good Christmas. Now onto the build. While waiting for the fuselage join to dry I started to do a few other items. The one thing that prevented me building this earlier was the lack of available markings for the F3. Fortunately the Sillouette Cutter enabled me to do some of the markings. The Revell kit is not too bad in external detail but a few things can be improved. The AIM-9L missiles are too long and I replaced them with items from the Tamiya F-15 kit. The LAU-7 launchers are correct in length but almost double the correct width. I sanded the launchers to a thinner profile by sanding the insides and then gluing it together. At the same time I detailed them a bit more by adding rails to the bottom. The launcher was then copied in resin to produce 3 copies. The bottom one is the original Revell missile. Enjoy Nick Edited December 26, 2018 by Cheetah11 Additional text added LSP_Kevin and johncrow 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheetah11 Posted January 3, 2019 Author Share Posted January 3, 2019 I worked during the festive season and the little time spare I had was used for visiting family, so not too much progress. I did manage some building, so here it is. The Tornado has anhedral (downward droop) on the tail-plane, as can be seen on the photo above, which I can't get quite right with the kit parts. I fixed this by gluing a 3,2mm rivet into the tail-planes and then bending it to the right angle. (I just eyeballed it from the photo as I could not find clear plans). I used a piece of 5mm plastic tube which passes thru the fuselage to make sure the alignment is correct. The rivet fits snugly into the tube making for a better fit and alignment. I also painted the missiles and turned a pitot tube on the Dremmel from brass rod using the kit part as a reference. Nick Greg W, Marcel111, blackbetty and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheetah11 Posted January 9, 2019 Author Share Posted January 9, 2019 (edited) I had to cannibalize parts of the undercarriage to repair my ECR Tornado when it suffered a collapse two years ago. Now it was time to scratch the uc door actuator arms and some other parts. Meanwhile I also painted some of the undercarriage parts and ejection seats and weapon pylons. I light weathering was done with pastels. Enjoy Nick Edited January 9, 2019 by Cheetah11 Additional text added johncrow, LSP_Kevin, ShelbyGT500 and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale32 Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 That is some excellent work! Wish I could do that sort of stuff. Cheers Bevan Cheetah11 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alain Gadbois Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 Excellent work here Nick! Alain Cheetah11 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcauchi Posted January 10, 2019 Share Posted January 10, 2019 Lovely detail work Cheetah11 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phartycr0c Posted January 10, 2019 Share Posted January 10, 2019 (edited) Hi Nick, Great work in progress, I built an F3 a few years ago using Meindert's F3 conversion. The Revell kit can with a little effort, as you've found, can be beaten into submission I was quite pleased with the results Edited January 10, 2019 by Phartycr0c Cheetah11, LSP_Kevin, Starfighter and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheetah11 Posted January 11, 2019 Author Share Posted January 11, 2019 (edited) Thanks for all the replies gents. On 1/9/2019 at 10:29 PM, Scale32 said: That is some excellent work! Wish I could do that sort of stuff. Cheers Bevan Bevan it is easier than you think. Just get a set of strips, tubes and rods from Evergreen and start. Some of the members on this forum share tips and techniques and I have learned so much here already. Your Tornado looks great Phartycr0c. Yours is in one of the schemes I considered for my build, but then settled for a Gulf War version. I love the attention to detail such as the open aux air intakes on take off. Great!! Nick Edited January 11, 2019 by Cheetah11 spelling Madmax and Scale32 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alain11 Posted January 11, 2019 Share Posted January 11, 2019 3 hours ago, Cheetah11 said: Thanks for all the replies gents. Bevan it is easier than you think. Just get a set of strips, tubes and rods from Evergreen and start. Nick indeed !! that's F Verlinden said years ago about his builds :" this is only some styrène scraps .........." but ........................not only Alain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheetah11 Posted January 12, 2019 Author Share Posted January 12, 2019 (edited) Fuselage is now together and primed, ready for painting. I had a bit of difficulty getting the right shade of Barley Grey. Humbrol makes the right color as a satin color , but try as I might I could not get a smooth finish with the types of thinners I used(I tried everything I could source including Humbrol.) In the end I used Tamiya lacquer but had to mix the colors, using the Humbrol tin lid as a reference. I hope the color looks right but at least it is super smooth. I tested it by doing the stabs and it looks right to my eye. I also tested my preferred method of weathering by using pastels to create darker areas around panel lines. I know it is a personal preference but even black lines on real aircraft lose the sharpness when viewing them at typical modeling distances. The NO STEP stencil was as small as I could cut with the Sillouette, so I hope the size is not too big. The two colors on the stab is only shadow when photographing. Nick Edited January 12, 2019 by Cheetah11 Additional text added zaxos345, johncrow, Alain Gadbois and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheetah11 Posted February 15, 2019 Author Share Posted February 15, 2019 Eventually a bit more progress on the Tornado. Work pressure and family seems to slow projects at the critical time for me. Got some more paint on. This model is eating up my Tamiya masking tape! A lot of masking for an almost all grey aircraft. I used some Tamiya lacquer mixed to match the Humbol tin lid for Barley Grey and Light Aircraft Grey. This looks fine to the eye compared to photos. I could not get the Humbrol to give a smooth finish. The Barley Grey was mixed with a small amount of black and white and sprayed at random places to break up the even finish and give an in service appearance. Sadly my efforts on the metal surfaces will still be mostly hidden by trust reverser soot in the near future. Nick Greg W, Starfighter, blackbetty and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheetah11 Posted March 1, 2019 Author Share Posted March 1, 2019 (edited) A bit more progress. The wheels and undercarriage on. I was fortunate the shortening of the nose gear turned out perfect. The model sits correctly with a small amount of nose down attitude. Now all the detail bits need to be added. Fortunately the look of the model is great. Not always possible wit a lot of cutting and splicing. thanks for looking Nick Edited March 1, 2019 by Cheetah11 Additional text added johncrow, Gazzas, alain11 and 10 others 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheetah11 Posted July 13, 2019 Author Share Posted July 13, 2019 (edited) Almost finish A few other distractions and a busy work schedule has slowed this build down a bit, but now it is almost finished. Next week I will add the drop tanks and missiles. Then only wait for my friend Sean to return from his beach holiday and take some photos of the model. Then onto the next fuselage stretch, the Cheetah C, and hopefully the last. Nick Edited July 13, 2019 by Cheetah11 spelling LSP_Kevin, johncrow, zaxos345 and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel111 Posted July 13, 2019 Share Posted July 13, 2019 Hello Nick, the F3 is looking beautiful, well done! Looking forward to your Cheetah... how will you be doing the windscreen on that? Cheers, Marcel Cheetah11 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheetah11 Posted July 13, 2019 Author Share Posted July 13, 2019 Thanks Marcel. For the windscreenof the Cheetah C I will have to venture into the dark art of vacu-forming. I have tried to sand and polish a Revell (old)canopy but without luck. In the mean time I need to finish the Tornado. I managed to finish the tanks and missiles today. The Tornado F3 initially carried the larger 2250 tanks. I gave the set on my kit away as I initially was doing a German ECR. Fortunately the RAF had solved the problem for me by swapping tanks between GR-1 and F3 Tornado aircraft later in the Gulf War as the mission profiles changed. So I can fit standard 1500 liter tanks and still have an accurate Gulf War F3. Only thing was the tanks were not repainted and retained the Desert Pink color. Here are the tanks and pylons all dressed up and ready to be fitted. Enjoy Nick blackbetty, Anthony in NZ, LSP_Kevin and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now