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Italeri F-35A RNethAF


mgbooyv8

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi guys,

 

Back from my business trip and work continued on this one.

The paintwork was polished and the model was given some gloss coats with Alclad Aqua Gloss as preparation for the decals:

33249042908_1c20bf5be4_h.jpg

 

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Then it was decalling time.

The decals provided by Italeri are very good.

And they provided enough spares of some of the smaller stencilling decals, a nice touch.

The decals reaced well to Superscale Set and Sol.

Sometimes, the stronger Daco fluid (red label) was needed to ensure good behaviour. ;)

The decals were protected with a brushed-on layer of Klear (now Pledge):

47124420301_733ac6be19_h.jpg

 

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When all was dry, the vertical fins were installed.

Maybe you noticed the pieces of sprue at their location.

I glued them on some time ago to provide the inner surface of the fins a gluing surface, instead of relying on the bond at the lower edge.

This way, the join is much stronger.

The fins fit fairly well onto the surface, however, I used wood glue to fill in the small seam, followed with some careful brushing of FS36170 with a 000 brush:

47072196382_8a3b48e799_b.jpg

 

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Next post MRP Have glass matt coat. :)

 

 

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Hi guys,

 

The model was now ready to receive its coat of MRP Have Glass matt laquer.

Since this stuff is fairly "hot", I tested it on the separate doors first, to avoid ruining the paint job:

46210484775_998b627f72_h.jpg

 

This went well, so I continued with the rest of the model:

46210491655_3770dc3e11_b.jpg

 

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I'm not so sure if the MRP "Have Glass" matt coat captures the slight metal sheen, all "Have Glass" paints  show. :hmmm:

Anyway, there is no going back and I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. ;)

 

Ofcourse, I forgot to spray a few doors. :blowup:

Here they are, with their initial coat of lighter gray for the RAM panel edges, together with a few undercarriage items:

46400860384_9e42034295_c.jpg

 

To be continued!

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi guys,

 

A short update.

The masking was removed:

32298916507_cd0d2bb568_b.jpg

 

32298841117_78c96bd58a_b.jpg

 

There was no overspray in cockpit and bays! :)

I'm happy to report that the MRP Have Glass matt laquer gives a very subtle metal sheen to the model.

 

The doors also unmasked fairly good:

46326362205_88116fe2c7_h.jpg

 

On a few doors, a bit of overspray was visible or some paint torn away.

And.... the pieces of masking tape with part numbers scribbled on them left their trace on the white paint.

The numbers are faintly readable. So permanent marker ink also bleeds through tape over time. <_<

A bit of patch up will be needed. But that will be done after all the hinges are installed. :)

 

Attention now turned to the cockpit.

I bought the Eduard interior set to enhance the cockpit a little bit.

Although now it is much too late to use all the goodies of the set,

the cockpit tub can still be enhanced with some etch and there is some nice metal for ejection seat and canopy available

 

Here are all the etched metal parts added into the tub. it is a mix of Italeri and Eduard:

46326485235_fa648dc509_h.jpg

 

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The next step will be  painting of the tub.

Then, I can turn the model around to add doors, stores and undercarriage.

 

To be continued...

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi guys,

 

Time flies!

I've been busy putting the hinges on the weaponbay doors, but forgot to take pictures.

I will take them later. ;)

 

Meanwhile I decided I did not want to correct the too flat tyres of the kit wheels.

Instead I bought these:

47383854892_c7b33a8d72_c.jpg

 

No comparison! :lol:

 

Another focal point of the model is the canopy.

The internal frame is provided by Italeri, but according to the instructions, it has to be build-up in the transparent part.

Not ideal to avoid glue smears and to paint it.

 

I decided to see if it was feasible to build and paint the canopy frame separately.:hmmm:

The side frames have nasty mould seams over the rivets:

47383861032_4dc064b89e_h.jpg

 

The easiest way was remove them all and re-instate the rivets with Archer Rivets. One of the sheets I have contains strips with the right pitch.

 

Indeed it was feasible to build up the canopy frame separate.

Do several dry runs to ensure everything fits as it should!

The Eduard interior set also includes useful parts for the lower edge of the canopy, its securing latches and the rear bulkhead.

 

Here is the result. The other etched parts are from the kit:

40470842223_a380fe9310_b.jpg

 

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Two small mounting plates for the canopy hinges were added on the forward ledge, as seen on pictures

The black dots are the Archer rivets.

The frame is now ready to Paint it Black. ;)

 

To be continued.

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

 

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Really well done. Looking at yours i will definitely buy the eduard set in the future. The cockpit is so dull in the kit and the eduard set shows some of the finer detail that breaks up those flat panels. Awesome job with the canopy! Must have been tons of dry fitting to trust building it separate. Kudos to your skills!

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