Marcel111 Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 Hi guys, I have been tinkering away at this build for some time. Sine I managed to mess up my Mig-29 build on the final stretch, I've now switched to this being my principal current project. The Trumpeter kit is really fantastic! The shape is spot-on, the fit is incredible to the point where parts kinda just click in. The wing fence location is wrong but that is easy to forgive since that differs from A to E. There are very fine rivets all over the surface which shouldn't be there but I will choose to ignore those. This is the exact bird I'll be making, except mine will be loaded with 12x Mk20 on outboard MER's, a pretty common VA-65 Desert Storm load-out (pic is classified as free to use): Here are some pics of the cockpit. I used the Eduard color photo etch, then drilled tiny holes to accommodate ANYZ dials and switches. It's important to slightly overspray the Eduard photo etch with dark gray else the black and detail on those looks far too stark. Under even higher magnification: I've weathered with oils and only used a gray wash here and there and very sparingly. Small sidenote: Notice how the pilots rudder bottom surfaces are covered with anti-slip, I noticed that little feature on some pics. One downside to this approach is that it's all very fragile, if you look very very closely you'll notice that some switches have already broken off as a result of me dry-fitting the cockpit into the fuselage. I've watched the Doogs A-6E videos on youtube... apart from them being super entertaining, they are a huge help for the construction of this kit. The build sequence shown there should save a lot of heartache compared to following the instructions. It makes far more sense to attach the nose halves (and later wings) to the fuselage before gluing that together, like so: Cheers, Marcel johncrow, blackbetty, Rainer Hoffmann and 28 others 31 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotsman Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 A beautiful pit , I looked at those resin details , but I've come to realise that my eyesight really isn't up to the job these days Marcel111 and Ayovan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finn Posted February 14, 2021 Share Posted February 14, 2021 Not 500 but it has Rockeyes and shows the type of c/l tank it carries: Jari Scotsman and Marcel111 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted February 14, 2021 Share Posted February 14, 2021 Looking forward to this build! Notes will be taken for a future build. Mike Marcel111 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allthumbs Posted February 14, 2021 Share Posted February 14, 2021 Looking great Marcel! Marcel111 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misha71 Posted February 14, 2021 Share Posted February 14, 2021 awesome details Marcel111 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted February 14, 2021 Share Posted February 14, 2021 Marcel111 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squizzy 78 Posted February 15, 2021 Share Posted February 15, 2021 I’m on board with this Marcel! I’ve got the A model with a heap of aftermarket goodies, but I’m scared to start it for some reason. Looking forward to seeing this come together, good luck! Marcel111 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel111 Posted February 15, 2021 Author Share Posted February 15, 2021 (edited) Thanks for the encouragement guys! Jari, that middle pic is also interesting, it shows the standard boat hunting loadout, I think. Unfortunately this kit does have a feature of some kits for example also the Academy F/A-18 which I find hard to look at, namely truncated intakes (i.e. a reduction in intake C/S area as you move towards the engine). You don't have to know anything about Intruders or Hornets to know that this is nonsensical. I initially accidentally scratch-built the J52-P-408 engine with 14 guide vanes but was fortunately corrected by Rich over here on LSP. I'll be using this on my A-4F whenever I get around to building that. Note the size between the kit engine and my version (also relevant for my P-8 rendition): Here is what my J52-P-8 stack with 18 guide vanes looks like (components are dry-fit on top of each other): The front-most ring will form that sort of step in the intake in front of the engine. The really painful part of all of this was enlarging the actual intake. I used a Trumpeter Superhornet external tank as the end piece to shape the intake to: If you happen to do this yourself, be sure to dry fit more than I did. My enlarged intake interfered with the front wheel well a little, I could fix that by sanding the wheel well but it would have been a lot easier to just sit the enlarged section to the outside and down, I don't think there should be any interference then although you'll need to sand a bit of plastic to make it fit that way. It all ends up stacking together like so: I used Tamiya ceramic putty to build up the transition to the Superhornet tank section, getting a smooth finish took a lot of work: Had to cut this part out to fit the intakes but that doesn't matter at all: At this point the intake is glued in with the engine ready to be seated. Note the yellowish inside color which reconciles which pics I have seen of 500. Final very important note, be sure to follow the Doogs Models assembly steps and not the instructions. This way you can fit the nose very nicely, sand flush as needed and then place the intake. There will be a seam to fill between the nose halves but that's a straight line which is easy to work on. If you follow the instructions you'll end up with a major curved seam to fix which runs right along the intake splitter plate... not an easy fix at all. Cheers, Marcel Edited February 15, 2021 by Marcel111 Starfighter, Landrotten Highlander, allthumbs and 15 others 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finn Posted February 15, 2021 Share Posted February 15, 2021 1 hour ago, Marcel111 said: Jari, that middle pic is also interesting, it shows the standard boat hunting loadout, I think. I think they called it Surface Combat Air Patrol, here is a video showing the load much better, with a AGM-123 Skipper, that part runs for a couple of minutes: Jari F`s are my favs, jeroen_R90S and Marcel111 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allthumbs Posted February 15, 2021 Share Posted February 15, 2021 (edited) Marcel, Fantastic scratch building effort on the compressor disc/inlet guide vane assemblies, right down to those tiny T2 and P2 sensors. I love it! Rich Edited February 16, 2021 by allthumbs phasephantomphixer and Marcel111 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Youngtiger1 Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 Nice start Marcel. Though I like your Mig-29 project (sorry about the Bono) but I’m glad that your tackling The Intruder. Love all those switches and buttons you added to the cockpit. I need to get some of those Antz stuff. They sure are game changer. Marcel111 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeroen_R90S Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 Looking great, Marcel! Sorry to read about the MiG-29 :-/ Marcel111 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfighter Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 Yay! Can't wait to see this one come together, mate! Marcel111 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misha71 Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 great work Marcel111 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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