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F-5 Tiger II VFC-111 Sundowners


PhilB

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Got the IP painted, .........

Not good close up but gives the effect from normal viewing distance.

...............

I'm pretty satisfied considering its totally OOB with no aftermarket goodies or scratchy stuff.

.................

Later,

Phil

I disagree Phil,.........it DOES look good even in close-up. :unsure:

You should be well satisfied. The whole pit/seat combo looks great! :clap2:

 

Keep at it, your doing a superb OOTB job :lol:

 

:piliot:

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Thanks for the kind words Dave, Kevin and Matt!

Geedub,

Seems there is life after Mr Edward after all!

Might start painting all my IP's if this is the reaction.

I know you are looking at the build on this one, I have found a few issues that will be of help if you come to do this particular kit.

There are serious issues with the wing fit and build sequence.

Hopefully I can take some pictures and post later today.

Thanks again guys.

Phil :speak_cool:

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Got the cockpit into the nose section and closed it up.

P5260896.jpg

A few issues here that I haven't mentioned before that may help anyone building this in the future:

The mechanism at the top of the seat gives options for an open or closed can 'o' pee. The instructions are wrong.

You should fit the opposite parts depending on your intentions. For an open cockpit they also suggest you fit part D36 when building the seat which is part of the canopy framing.

I would suggest leaving it at this stage as there are many opportunities for it to be badly adjusted on the completed model. Mount the frames ensuring they are at least the width of D36 if not a little wider.

I am going to mount the framing to the canopy then secure it to the back of the seat as a last thing. Means you can then adjust it for a good result.

The doors to cover the empty gun bay are an issue. The lower door has nothing to rest against during fitting and the upper door has a moulding on the fuse which its too low.

I used a large blob of blue tack in the bay then used it to support the doors which were fixed with Ca.

Its one of those "there's going to be a gap so where should it be" moments.

I decided to have it down the centre. This will be filled and rescribed as will the doors on the other side which are moulded with very deep and wide panel lines.

There is a lot of play in the nose cone fit so careful positioning will save a lot of heartache/sanding later.

back soon to "female dog" (wouldn't let me say b**ch) about wing fit issues!

Phil

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On my initial dry fit I thought there could be problems with the wing fit.

The instructions would have you attach the intakes before fitting the wing:

P5260904.jpg

This looks pretty good but you can't see is the large gap underneath.

The problem is that whilst the intakes do "firm up" the fit a little, the locating lug on the wing really hasn't much to attach to inside causing a great deal

of movement up and down.

Its a catch 22 situation as if you do fit the intakes first you cannot clean up the joint between the fuse and the nose section here:

P5260908.jpg

This area just rests on the lower fuselage giving a lot of opportunity for lateral movement even with the intakes attached.

P5260914.jpg

I've tried gluing it but any movement causes it to ping off.

I think the solution is to reinforce this area with a bit of card then fit the wings before the front fuse and the intakes.

I'm intending to use Milliput inside around the area where the wing attachments sit inside the fuse. Hopefully this will firm things up and give me the correct dihedral.

I knew this bugger would give me a fight somewhere!

Onward and upward! (wonder how I can get away with bugger and not b*tch???)

Phil :speak_cool:

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{~snippety~}

I know you are looking at the build on this one, I have found a few issues that will be of help if you come to do this particular kit.

There are serious issues with the wing fit and build sequence.

Hopefully I can take some pictures and post later today.

 

Phil :speak_cool:

Ah,...good to know Phil, thanks for the heads-up.

 

Got the cockpit into the nose section and closed it up.

{~snip~}

A few issues here that I haven't mentioned before that may help anyone building this in the future:

The mechanism at the top of the seat gives options for an open or closed can 'o' pee. The instructions are wrong.

You should fit the opposite parts depending on your intentions. For an open cockpit they also suggest you fit part D36 when building the seat which is part of the canopy framing.

I would suggest leaving it at this stage as there are many opportunities for it to be badly adjusted on the completed model. Mount the frames ensuring they are at least the width of D36 if not a little wider.

I am going to mount the framing to the canopy then secure it to the back of the seat as a last thing. Means you can then adjust it for a good result.

The doors to cover the empty gun bay are an issue. The lower door has nothing to rest against during fitting and the upper door has a moulding on the fuse which its too low.

I used a large blob of blue tack in the bay then used it to support the doors which were fixed with Ca.

Its one of those "there's going to be a gap so where should it be" moments.

I decided to have it down the centre. This will be filled and rescribed as will the doors on the other side which are moulded with very deep and wide panel lines.

There is a lot of play in the nose cone fit so careful positioning will save a lot of heartache/sanding later.

back soon to "female dog" (wouldn't let me say b**ch) about wing fit issues!

Phil

{~scribbling note furiously~} Got it. Definately need to follow your advice here. Cheers Phil. ;)

 

On my initial dry fit I thought there could be problems with the wing fit.

{~snip, snip~}

I knew this bugger would give me a fight somewhere!

Onward and upward! (wonder how I can get away with bugger and not b*tch???)

Phil :speak_cool:

Hmmm,... :hmmm: perhaps it's because one is noun, the other a verb? :blush:

 

Oh well, thanks again for pointing out the potential pitfalls. I'm eager to see how you resolve this wing fit issue.

 

;)

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Got the wings on OK.

I used Milliput inside the fuse(fingers just long enough) to firm up the tabs on the wings. (With hindsight I could have used Slo Zap on the internal wingtabs instead of Milliput, just a question of being able to get it in there.)

It was still a little floppy waiting for it to set so I made sure I had a good joint on the top of the wings and the smallest gap underneath.

I set it up on the mat with a couple of sanding sticks under the wingtips to give it a flat dihedral then ran very thin Zap CA into the top wing to fuse joint.

After a couple of minutes I was able to run Slo Zap thick CA into the seam underneath, immediately running a cotton bud along the seam to give a smooth joint.

The intakes needed a bit of sanding to get a good fit and again I used thin CA for the joints.

I had a few moments with the CA jumping off the sewing needle applicator onto the model as my sanding had produced a bit of static!

Had to keep earthing myself on the radiator in the room :BANGHEAD2: .

 

P5280916.jpg

 

The cockpit to fuse joint can be a bit tricky. As I mentioned before I attached the front fuse to the rear before attaching the intakes. I could then clean up the seam and scribe(badly) a panel which is pretty visible on the box photo(which is my main reference!).

I'm trying to resist rescribing the whole thing but there are a few panels that are clearly visible.

 

P5280918.jpg

 

Lots of curves to line up on the cockpit to fuse joint. It has the ability to "rotate" when adjusting the fit.

Taped one side then tacked it in place on the opposite side using thin CA. This meant I could use finger pressure on the joint to get a flush fit whilst dropping the CA in.

Apart from a couple of passes with a sanding stick, its pretty flat.

More soon.

Phil

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Man that is too funny. Leave the pilot as is and paint that sucker! Russ would have loved it!!!!!

 

Looking good so far. Please keep the posts coming!!!!

 

THOR

Your wish is my command Sir!

post-13803-1275049680.jpg

Sorry about the dodgy brown boots! Won't see em in the pit anyway. Strange built up heels on em. Wonder if he is actually Tom Cruise???

:BANGHEAD2:

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Look at all the fun I miss while building, and posting about it.... I just love it when I get to laugh, and follow along a build.....Russ would really get a kick out of that pilot, with the finger gesture, and the heels...WOW, do it to it Phil!!! Very Nice OOB F-5... ;)

 

Peace,

 

Alfonso

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Too cool Phil! I think he needs some art on that helmet though. Maybe a pudding cup or siropwaffle???

Matt, I had to Google those two, and now I understand and I see where you are coming from.

I flirted with the idea of getting a Taco Bell logo but it went in the "far too difficult" tray.

I'm working on something so bear with me...... ;)

Thanks for the kind words Alfonso!

Geedub, yes good old fashioned Humbrol black gloss put on thick with a VSB (very small brush)

Phil

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Well, I've been trying to get things done and I've finally got her nearly ready for primer.

The Little Princess has been off school on half term holiday all last week so been trying to keep her occupied as well.

Also been working on the Tomcat weaponry, got to make a big push to finish that one as well.

Anyway, looking at my references (box top photo) I noticed that the main gear doors appear to be up when the aircraft is on the ground.

Hasegawa have them moulded as a one piece affair showing them fixed in the down position.

I had a look at the walkaround on ARC (Yes Matt if you class this as "research" I am guilty and will fall on my scriber but I think its correcting the wrongs!)

and confirmed this to be so.

The kit doors have the lower small part of the door with a hinge but it was not a matter of simply sawing through them and gluing them up. The "fingers" of the hinge were opposite and not alternate.

They also didn't fit the fuse so I had to chop them up, file new hinges and extend them with card:

P6050953.jpg

Lost the hinge but I may scribe it back later (Yeah right!)

On the fuse the fit is much better. I'll close any gaps when I attach them properly:

P6050955.jpg

I also made a new problem with the tail myself.

I was using my trenching tools(scribers) to define the rudder a bit better only to find the kit engraved seams didn't line up.

End result big piece missing at the end of the tail.

I cut the rudder out and tried several times to sand it to shape at the top (making it smaller by the minute) until I thought it would be better to add card to the bottom instead:

P6050958.jpg

Added some rod to give it a bit of strength and it now lines up pretty well:

P6050962.jpg

I rescribed the whole tail but apart from some panels around the nose I will be leaving the raised lines elsewhere.

Gotta get her finished, I'm gathering stuff for the next project!

Phil

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Your scribing is so clean Phil, it makes me sick! What implement are you using?

 

No ritual suicide will be necessary for your transgression into research on this build. :BANGHEAD2:

 

You just could not help yourself... I understand.

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Your scribing is so clean Phil, it makes me sick! What implement are you using?

 

No ritual suicide will be necessary for your transgression into research on this build. :piliot:

 

You just could not help yourself... I understand.

Well Matt,

I've got Tamiya/Hasegawa/BMF/MicroMark scribers, and they all have their uses, I'm leaning towards the Hasegawa at the moment though!

Anyway Fella, getting back to the subject, you asked for some art on his helmet so how about this. I decided to put the pilots nickname in code on the back of his bone dome.

I'm not sure if you use this term across your side of the pond but the Brits,Aussies and Kiwis certainly do.

Its very rude in keeping with his attitude. Also kind of links in with your French pilot.

The clue is "say what you see"

post-13803-1275744416.jpg

Phil :BANGHEAD2:

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