Teutonic Starfighter

[Out2gtcha]

Great work Sean! 

[Derek B]

Staggeringly good work Sean - I am in awe! 

 

Derek

[Uncarina]

Sean,

 

Just catching up here. Stellar work and great subject aircraft as always! One approach I’ve used for the hexagonals is to take lengths of square styrene in the appropriate diameter, shave off the appropriate corners, then slice to the thickness of the bolts, if this makes sense.

 

Cheers,  Tom

[Dutch Man]

Hey Sean. Great work and very good inspiration. 

What is the book tittle you use for reference? Is it the Daco publication, if so, I have it on order and will be very useful for my next project.

Keep up the good work. It's very high level what you show.

 

Kind regards,

 

Robert Jan

[jenshb]

Great work, but making hexagonal bolt heads would do my head in.  Have you looked at Meng nuts and bolts?

 

http://www.missing-lynx.com/reviews/modern/mengsps008reviewcs_1.html

[Madmax]

Thanks Brian and Derek, much appreciated!

 

12 hours ago, Uncarina said:

Sean,

 

Just catching up here. Stellar work and great subject aircraft as always! One approach I’ve used for the hexagonals is to take lengths of square styrene in the appropriate diameter, shave off the appropriate corners, then slice to the thickness of the bolts, if this makes sense.

 

Cheers,  Tom

 

Hi Tom. I used to try trim round styrene rod into vague hexagons, but often just left the bolts heads round due to sheer frustration! A hexagon from a square is best left to origami experts , unless you have been cutting octagonal bolts - which is a very clever solution!

 

6 hours ago, Dutch Man said:

Hey Sean. Great work and very good inspiration. 

What is the book tittle you use for reference? Is it the Daco publication, if so, I have it on order and will be very useful for my next project.

Keep up the good work. It's very high level what you show.

 

Kind regards,

 

Robert Jan

 

Hi Robert Jan,

 

Good to have you on the Zipper program here on LSP!  I see Chris has raced through his build, and Joachim is savouring the Italeri experience with me. The reference you see in these photographs is actually a little booklet that came with the kit - and it has some great reference shots. I finally laid hands on the DACO book yesterday (thanks Lionel)! It is FANTASTIC, and you are certainly going to enjoy simply owning it, never mind the research.

 

I was in a bit of a hurry last night, and omitted these progress shots:

 

Although I have the Quickboost joysticks, I actually prefer the basics of the kit part, and with a bit of carving and drilling I came to this...

 

 

The IP is also quite presentable, and a bit of cleaning up and styrene additions will do the trick. I didn't have the patience to create the lovely T-handles that Joachim did on his TF, but these will do just to get some colour into the cockpit. I will be using the blank styrene sheet to put the instrument decals on, and attach it to the back of the IP. The rounded piece for the artificial horizon is an idea I have copied from Eric Galliers' Mirage IIICZ build (thank Eric)! I see from the photo that I left a handle off - where is that glue?

 

 

The rudder pedals were very blobby (a technical term), and some sanding and refining got them here. If only I could carve the Lockheed logo onto them...

 

 

 

In general the side consoles are Ok, but the detail is soft. I don't intend to do too much detail however, so some quick additions here and there will suffice. It should at least have the flap lever, as I would hate to know what the speed was on a heavy flapless approach. 

 

 

Some wiring and plumbing to complete the rear bulkhead, and soon I hope to hear the compressor running...

 

 

 

Keep up the good work Team Zipper.

 

Sean

[Madmax]

49 minutes ago, jenshb said:

Great work, but making hexagonal bolt heads would do my head in.  Have you looked at Meng nuts and bolts?

 

http://www.missing-lynx.com/reviews/modern/mengsps008reviewcs_1.html

 

That is definitely the answer! I have asked our local hobby store owner if he could get some, but we are literally quite isolated from the rest of the world for non-medical supplies at the moment. School maths for desperate times. 

[Derek B]

2 minutes ago, Madmax said:

 

That is definitely the answer! I have asked our local hobby store owner if he could get some, but we are literally quite isolated from the rest of the world for non-medical supplies at the moment. School maths for desperate times. 

 

Hi Sean,

 

Something I have thought about, but not yet tried, would be to try to create a tool to make your own hexagonal shaped bolt heads perhaps?

 

If you canfind a suitable diameter stainless steel hypodermic needle and modify end (under strong magnification) to a hexagonal shape? This may be achieved by first grinding the end of the needle square with a sharpening stone, followed by the crushing of the sides to obtain the correct hexagonal shape. finally, the outer edges/flanks of the needle wall can be chamfered to achieve sharp edges all around the hexagonal shape.

 

All that you would then need to do is chuck the needle in a pin vice (fairly close to the shaped end) then use it to apply a vertical pressure onto a suitably thin piece of plastic card to effectively 'punch out' a plastic hexagonal bolt head shape (you would obviously need to insert a suitable sized piece of wire into the need to remove the plastic hexagonal shape). 

 

This may or may not work, but it would certainly be worth considering.

 

Best regards and good luck

 

Derek

[Cheetah11]

Great work Sean. Do you a serial number and time period in mind yet?

 

Cheers

 

Nick
 

 

[Fanes]

Fantastic work Sean - especially on the side consoles and rear wall!

I'm really looking forward to see your finished IP (and compare it to mine )

 

Joachim

 

[Madmax]

On 5/6/2020 at 11:49 AM, Derek B said:

 

Something I have thought about, but not yet tried, would be to try to create a tool to make your own hexagonal shaped bolt heads perhaps?

 

 

Hi Derek,

 

Wow! I assume you have an engineering background, or enjoy improvising tools. I actually hope you are going to tackle your own suggestion, and show us how to make a "Derek B hex-punch" TM. I suspect it will actually work.

 

21 hours ago, Fanes said:

Fantastic work Sean - especially on the side consoles and rear wall!

I'm really looking forward to see your finished IP (and compare it to mine )

 

Joachim

 

 

Thanks Joachim!

 

You are some way ahead of me at this stage, and I have just seen how you are getting on with the instrument decals - tough game. The 1:48 scale decal sheet is the answer.

 

On 5/6/2020 at 1:45 PM, Cheetah11 said:

Great work Sean. Do you a serial number and time period in mind yet?

 

Cheers

 

Nick
 

 

 

Nick,

 

I was wondering about how you intend to complete your F-15? 

 

To your question however. I have a connection to these aircraft in a way - Our family spent three years in Germany in the mid seventies and we were surrounded by Starfighters. My dad was the South African Military Attaché at the time. I thought maybe I should do one from that time period, but was a bit underwhelmed with the mid service look. I do like the earlier scheme, when they stood outside and got some proper weathering.

 

 

 

I pulled out my reference books (and a bit of nostalgia), to see what else might look good.

 

 

The Kropf book is a real treat - look at this stunning shot! Who needs wings when you are in a missile?

 

 

How about a very early scheme...

 

 

Or something totally different?

 

 

 

 

Who knows Nick - looks like I may have to build a couple of them. I do have a secret favourite already for this build. All I will say is that it is a Luftwaffe aircraft. 

[Cheetah11]

I will guess. Looking at the AM ejection seat it will be pre 1967.

[mozart]

The Meng nuts are the nuts! Used them for several years now and they really do add that extra little touch of realism. Well worth getting if you can Sean. 

[Out2gtcha]

55 minutes ago, mozart said:

The Meng nuts are the nuts! Used them for several years now and they really do add that extra little touch of realism. Well worth getting if you can Sean. 

 

 

100% agreed. They come in various sizes of course, but I find the added use of the nuts with protruding bolt out the end, are especially helpful. The only down side to me personally, is I find its sometimes difficult to cut them away from the base sheet so that the end of the nut is straight. I do love them though, well worth the cost.

[Madmax]

15 hours ago, mozart said:

The Meng nuts are the nuts! Used them for several years now and they really do add that extra little touch of realism. Well worth getting if you can Sean. 

 

They really do look great Max! Our LHS had various Meng kits and I nearly bought some tanks to harvest bolts from, but a lack of salary this month brought me to my senses.  I nearly bought the Mini-Art beer bottles and wooden crates though - as our lock-down is rather draconian.

 

14 hours ago, Out2gtcha said:

 

 

100% agreed. They come in various sizes of course, but I find the added use of the nuts with protruding bolt out the end, are especially helpful. The only down side to me personally, is I find its sometimes difficult to cut them away from the base sheet so that the end of the nut is straight. I do love them though, well worth the cost.

 

Thanks Brian, it seems I am going to have to impress the urgency of getting these bolts on our hobby store owner!

 

15 hours ago, Cheetah11 said:

I will guess. Looking at the AM ejection seat it will be pre 1967.

 

That seat is a bit misleading Nick. General Steinhoff supplied the horseshoe pack separately...

 

Edited May 8, 2020 by Madmax