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1/32 Kitty Hawk F-5E Kicked Up A Notch. Oct 3/19. Finished!


chuck540z3

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11 hours ago, Squizzy said:

Looking great Chuck! 

Blending those fuselage sections together must have been a PITA! But the results you're getting must be very rewarding. Great work. 

 

Thank you sir.  Like most modelers, I spend the most time on the very thing I hate, which is sanding.  When you get nice and smooth results, however, all those hours of sanding seem to disappear and the end result is well worth the effort.  As I've mentioned many times before, using a dark panel line wash is an excellent way of checking your work and revealing flaws that cannot otherwise be seen.  After a first coat of paint I will inevitably find a few more flaws, but it's so much easier to fix most of them now.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

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Always enjoy your pre-paint work, Chuck!  Highlighting the surface details to illustrate the work really raises the bar since close-up photography can such an unforgiving perspective.  Making those unsightly joints disappear takes lots of patience and re-iterative work but like you say, the results make it worth the effort.

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Intake Update!  It looks like the Phase Hanger seamless intakes are coming soon:

 

Phase Hanger Resin Accessories on Facebook

 

And GT Resin will have some of their own in about 3-4 weeks?

 

GT Resin

 

Since I haven't seen either, I can't vouch for which ones are going to be the best (nor would I), but either product has to be a lot better than PVC plastic pipe!  With intakes en route, all that's really needed now is a decent resin cockpit.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

 

 

Edited by chuck540z3
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great to see you back Chuck and the F-5 looks awesome so far.

 

This might help (I hope you can see these) - it's a Brazilian F-5EM but hopefully lots of the details will be applicable to your aircraft

 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.2119456571651287&type=3

 

for future reference, that's from a fantastic Facebook group called aircraft walkarounds, well worth joining

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On 3/22/2019 at 3:13 AM, richdlc said:

great to see you back Chuck and the F-5 looks awesome so far.

 

This might help (I hope you can see these) - it's a Brazilian F-5EM but hopefully lots of the details will be applicable to your aircraft

 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.2119456571651287&type=3

 

for future reference, that's from a fantastic Facebook group called aircraft walkarounds, well worth joining

 

Thank you, and to be honest, I should never have left.

 

When I click on the Facebook link it won't let me in.  How do I do that?

 

Cheers,

Chuck

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19 hours ago, chuck540z3 said:

 

Thank you, and to be honest, I should never have left.

 

When I click on the Facebook link it won't let me in.  How do I do that?

 

Cheers,

Chuck

 

OK Chuck

 

go to facebook and search for 'aircraft walkarounds' in groups. Request to join the group et voila!

Once approved, search for whatever aircraft you want in the 'search this group' box.  You may even be able to do that without joining the group, but I don't think so

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Thanks!

 

March 28/19

 

 

As shown earlier, I used white styrene sheet at the rear of the front intake parts, to both fill the gaps and provide a sharp demarcation line between the black at the front and the white that will blend into the front of the intake pipes.  Before assembly, the inner parts were painted so that the finish would be smooth, avoiding airbrush air turbulence.

 

 

0amb1g.jpg

 

 

The parts were then glued together, oozing Tamiya Extra Thin Cement (TETC) into the join from the outside, to avoid paint damage on the inside.  As you can see, the kit parts fit like crap, so there was a lot of work to sand down the raised lips and fill the seam line.

 

 

rmQyPq.jpg

 

 

I also painted the inner sides of the intake while the surface was exposed, again to create a smooth paint finish.  I’ve done this as well on the insides of my F-15C Eagle intakes and the vari-ramps (splitters) on my F-4E Phantom.  Better to paint this area now than try to squeeze paint in there later.

 

 

nEcqZn.jpg

 

 

The front intake parts don’t fit the fuselage very well either, partially because KH decided to make the rear of the navigation lights fit into a slot on the fuselage.  There’s no reason for this, since the lights are not recessed into the fuselage on the real deal, but it forces you to place the intake in the very center with no allowance to move it up or down to create a better fit.  Further, the join does not exist as a panel line, so it must be filled and eliminated.

 

 

BEFORE:

 

2UULyc.jpg

 

 

AFTER- Using lots of CA glue and sanding to create this much smoother finish.

 

 

uwP2Jz.jpg

 

 

BEFORE- The other side has the same problems.

 

 

fjSUVT.jpg

 

 

AFTER:

 

 

Y8TqMk.jpg

 

 

BEFORE.  The bottom, as usual, is worse.

 

 

uc5v8K.jpg

 

 

AFTER.  The lines in purple should be filled and eliminated, while the weak detail on the kit parts needs to be rescribed and the rivets repunched.

 

 

EHFSaB.jpg

 

 

Same pic without the colored lines, which still show “ghost panel lines” from prior staining.

 

nNyiU7.jpg

Edited by chuck540z3
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A view from the top, showing in purple which joins to eliminate.

 

 

 

ZPYbJB.jpg

 

 

 

Same pic without the colored lines.

 

 

 

y7pDTr.jpg

 

 

 

With the front intake extensions painted on the inside and glued on, the sharp contrast from black to white creates a nice sense of depth and unless you use a flashlight like this pic, you really can’t see where the join is.  Could this be the first build of this kit with full intakes?

 

 

 

PR62nG.jpg

 

 

 

e5A0K9.jpg

 

 

 

That’s it for now.  Next up will be wings and landing gear, which have their own set of challenges!

 

 

 

Cheers,

Chuck

Edited by chuck540z3
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