Stokey Pete Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 This is delightful. The three different builds of this kit I've been following makes me want one for the stash. blackbetty 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 Excellent welding work on the tanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted February 13, 2020 Author Share Posted February 13, 2020 Thanks for the comments guys. Two things that I am not overly keen on doing with models are seat belts and brake lines. For some reason I find this stage of the build to be a bit of a pain! Needless to say, they both need to be done. First up, the brake lines on the undercarriage. The kit has some reasonably nice lines already there but they are moulded integrally with the leg and are a little to 2D for my liking. I sanded them off. I used .4mm lead wire and .4mm copper wire to depict the two lines that run up each leg. I used thin aluminium foil to replicate the brackets that hold each line in place. A very thin strip of it was passed behind the lines and then folded back up itself. I used the excellent RP Tools ring maker to fabricate some tie down rings. These replaced the kit tie down points which are just lumps of plastic as can be seen by the unmodified one on the left. Done. I hate using photo etch seatbelts, so I used the Aires photo etch and resin buckles and made my own belts from thin aluminium foil. The shoulder straps were next, I used a small section of copper wire at one end to allow me to roll the end over and form the attachment loop. as can be seen on the top strap. Looking at my reference pics, I noticed that on some of them, the pilots shoulder straps were hung over the side as can be seen in the following pics. An excellent pic (not Ron) of a pilot about to go flying. His helmet is on the windshield and the shoulder straps are just visible, hung over the side. Another pic of a maintenance scene. Same deal with the shoulder straps. I thought that this would be a great feature to incorporate, it would really give the model a human touch. I got in touch with Ron and asked him about what the protocol was when the pilots were about to go on a sortie. Here is his response: Typically, when we went out to the aircraft for a mission, we would mount the ladder and deposit our parachute into the cockpit and place our helmet on the top of the front windscreen. We would then dismount and conduct our preflight inspection of the aircraft. Upon completion of the preflight, we would go up the ladder and get into the cockpit. The crew chief would come up the ladder to help us strap in and it was typical for them to leave the straps hanging over the cockpit rail so that this would be easier to do. So -- short answers to your questions are - helmets were placed on the front windscreen until we put them on, and the safety straps were left hanging over the canopy rail until the chief helped us put them on. The photos you sent were authentic. Hope this helps you. Ron Based upon the pics, and Ron's great reply, I got to work and made it happen. I made a copy of the Aerobonus F-100 pilots head with helmet and carved out the head. This will be painted as per the pics that Ron supplied earlier in the thread with his name and checkers on it..... if I can paint them that small! The objective will be to draw the viewers eyes into the cockpit. Just need to work out the parachute pack. LSP_K2, Kagemusha, USMC Herc and 21 others 24 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutch Man Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 (edited) Amazing. Did you notice that the filler caps for the BLUs are off centre. It was a discussion on ARC that pointed me to this, of course mine were glued already. They should be on 10 to 12º off. You can see it from the picture with the full load out. Simply outstanding detail you show with the harness. Bookmarked! Kind regards, Robert Jan Edited February 13, 2020 by Dutch Man Forgot a dot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 Excellent work mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simmo.b Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 Sweet stuff mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel111 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 Incredible build and just love the little details like the belts hanging out te side. Cheers, Marcel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted February 27, 2020 Author Share Posted February 27, 2020 Some more work. I scratch built the small D shaped lump on the inside of each tank pylon. The pylon was sprayed with the light grey cam and then the dark green was applied approx. halfway along its length. I discovered that they were painted this way through viewing many photos. I have been experimenting with oil paints to add extra effects to the paint work. I added some blue spots to the uppermost panels of the burnt section, to simulate the reflection of the blue sky. This was blended in with a soft brush. It’s a very subtle effect but it’s there. LSP_Ray, Brett M, Out2gtcha and 22 others 25 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Ray Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 Beautiful results, Eric! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett M Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 Nice and subtle with the blue....awesome job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 "I have been experimenting with oil paints to add extra effects to the paint work. I added some blue spots to the uppermost panels of the burnt section, to simulate the reflection of the blue sky." What if there's a thundercruncher overhead mate and the sky is black? Seriously, looks really good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 Looking great. Question, do you have a step by step of how you did the rear paint with the came and the metal? It really looks stunning and i have no idea how to do something like this. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted February 28, 2020 Share Posted February 28, 2020 Awesome build! You nailed the rear engine area and that boarding ladder looks real. Cheers, Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted February 28, 2020 Share Posted February 28, 2020 Yeah, that heat area looks terrif! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted March 5, 2020 Author Share Posted March 5, 2020 (edited) On 2/28/2020 at 9:35 AM, Neo said: Looking great. Question, do you have a step by step of how you did the rear paint with the came and the metal? It really looks stunning and i have no idea how to do something like this. Cheers Hi Neo, I think there was a bit of a tutorial on how I did it a couple of pages back. Some more work. When fitting the master pitot tube, I discovered that the fairing that it inserted into was too big. The pitot tube has a very long moment arm and would easily break out of the fairing if hit so I wanted to fix it up and make it a bit more accurate as well. As can be seen, the fairing is far bigger than the pitot tube, and has already developed a crack. I ripped off the kit fairing and made up a much smaller fairing from plastic card, which I then glued onto it a long piece of brass tube which extended into the fuselage. I also positioned it further aft along the fuselage. I glued a larger diameter piece of brass tube over the fairly small stub on the master pitot tube, which fits nicely into the brass tube fairing. This pushes firmly together to allow the pitot tube to be easily removed for transport. Much better Edited March 5, 2020 by ericg blackbetty, Brett M, Victor K2 and 16 others 19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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