ALF18
-
Content Count
3,823 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Calendar
Everything posted by ALF18
-
Next, I made some strips that will be more of a burnt metal surface. These can be used for exhaust nozzles, or for parts that are exposed to extreme heat near exhausts. In this case, I'll be making them with a light staining, for the parts of the Mirage III that are more of an almost gunmetal shade. I ensure I have a very sharp knife. In this case, I snapped off the blade to use a fresh part. Cutting the strips to make them fit into my tiny pot, I used very little pressure, and allowed the sharp blade to do the work. I then took some egg shells and put them in water in a little pot.
-
Starting to prepare the aluminum foil. First, I use a new cutting board to ensure there's no dust or plastic bits that will stick to it or mar the surface. I put the foil on the board, in preparation for application of the white glue. Note that the piece on the right is glossy side up. Applying glue on this side will mean that the foil applied will have a less glossy surface. The sheet on the left is the opposite. I used some tape to hold it in place while I brushed the glue on. Here, the glue is showing some thicker streaks. It's important when brushing glue on that you don't leave any r
-
Thanks for the detailed comparison of the kits. These are subjects I might do one day, so I'll follow with interest. ALF
-
Prep has started for the aluminum foil skin. I dug out my supplies, including the glue. I find that the little bottle from the Bare Metal Foil company works best, but I've also used the larger bottle. Lots of little wooden toothpicks, with wide ends for burnishing, and pointy ends to do small panel lines. Of course, some cheap aluminum foil from Dollarama. I'm working on the elevons. Study of other builds, etc, has shown that the outer two elevons on each side droop slightly (about 6 degrees) when parked. The kit comes with actuators that are posable in multiple positions, so that'
-
More progress. I glued the aft fuselage together, and attached the vertical tail. The front fuselage, with the cockpit, is not a great fit, but better than I expected for such a large kit with an odd assembly. I managed to knock off the left cockpit upper sidewall while dry fitting - that will go in after the fuselage is buttoned up. I tested out the PE (gold) part with the engine. Fits easily over it, not tightly, so not a concern. I later did some dry fitting with the tail cone, and found that there was a small gap between the fuselage under the tail and the tail cone, without th
-
Thanks for the link Karl. I’ll follow that build. My 104s will all be Canadian. My Dad flew them in Germany back when I was a teenager. The sound they made and the black smoke were unmistakable. ALF
-
Thanks Greg. Not as nice as yours... but that's a very high standard for anyone to aspire to! ALF
-
Duh! I didn't think of doing that. Great tip. Two questions about the 104: 1. Are you going to post a WIP? 2. What scheme are you doing? I have two single-seat 104s in 1/32 from Italeri to build, and one dual. Those might be next... or maybe a 1/32 T-33 from Special Hobby. I'm starting to plan a lot of natural metal jets. 🙂 ALF
-
I've put together a lot so far, taking the time to let stuff set. Patience is a virtue, my parents always said... too bad I refused to listen. It looks like the upper fuselage to lower fuselage join might be a bit rough, given all the parts that it includes. More on that later. I also built up the engine. Reading ahead in the instructions (who does that?!), I found that there's an option to leave the engine out and put it on a little cart. If the engine is left out, it doesn't appear that the empty fuselage can be made to look normal, so I think I'll put the engine in the fuselage.
-
For colours, the call-outs have letters. These use Italeri's own scheme, so I had to constantly refer to the front pages of the instructions. I finally chopped that page out and taped it to the shelf above my bench. What a pain to constantly refer to it by turning the pages! Of course, that page has some important stuff on the back (how to assemble the PE for the seat), so I will have to flip it over when I finish up the seat later on. For now, the seat is simply painted, ready for the PE. ALF
-
The cockpit detail is nice. One thing I found with this kit is there are several parts that don't click together with little holes and nubs, so I had to glue things in place and wait until they set before proceeding. This was true in putting together the nose gear well (shown here behind the cockpit) and some other cockpit wall parts.
-
I briefly considered using Quinta Studios or Red Fox 3D decals for the cockpit, but: 1. I can't afford them for all my builds, and 2. I didn't want to wait for delivery. So, I built the cockpit as-is, and painted it with Tamiya acrylics. I'm only going to use some silver dry-brushing on it, and maybe a few red and yellow highlights.
-
Hello fellow modellers. This thread is mostly to allow my cousin to follow along (as a lurker, or member, whichever he chooses) to see how I do the bare metal finish with household aluminum. This will be entirely OOB, using kit decals. If this kit is anything like their superb 1/32 F-104, it should be fun to build. ALF
-
On Canadian F-5s and Hornets we called them formation lights as well. I think no pilot ever called them slime lights - I suspect it's the same people who call Hornets 'bugs' (which is not what those who fly them and work on them have ever called them). ALF
-
Sorry to be so late in picking this up again - busy moving, etc. USN and USMC used similar but more weapon varieties than we did. Mk 82, Mk 83, Mk 84 all possible. The two smaller bombs (82 and 83) could go on VERs on either of the wing stations, but most likely 2 and 8 because they would use more fuel (i.e. 3 tanks) when hogged up with bombs. Nighthawk pod on station 4 would provide laser designation, and FLIR tracking. Early LGBs would be carried, as would Mavericks USN/USMC carried HARMs Mk 20 Rockeye cluster bombs on VERs BL-755 cluster bombs possible (no
-
Yes, those holes are to allow the higher-pressure air to leak away from the intakes, via the splitters. Something nobody has mentioned yet about A vs C are the V/UHF antennae. The A models are the older stubby, straight antennae, while A+ (post ECP-583 A models) or C have a slanted, longer whip style antenna. This was concurrent with the change of radios from A to C and A+. Another difference can be later C and A+ will have a GPS antenna on the upper dorsal spine. It looks like a lump. C models also have extra ECM bumps on the dorsal spine just behind the canopy, which A and A
-
Do get the Quinta cockpit. I’ve built multiples of these kits. Sometimes like Phantom, with kit cockpit and resin seats. One with Eduard PE (which looked great). I bought 3 sets of Quinta for future builds, and have used their products on other kits. Fantastic cockpits. ALF
-
I am awestruck by your landing gear detailing. Tiny parts, beautifully done. Soon I hope to tackle some F-35 models, and yours will serve as a great reference build. ALF
-
Why Tamiya has not addressed the main complaint of their kits?
ALF18 replied to dai phan's topic in General Discussion
Same here! I was about to start opening up Tamiya boxes, when I realized that maybe, just maybe, Dai's definition of intermediate didn't matter to me. 🙂 Personally, I've never had a problem with Tamiya decals. ALF -
Again I'm late to the party, but have tried to catch up on what's going on with ARC when I stumbled on this. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I now feel very lucky to have gotten to visit this museum back in the early 90s. I was actively flying CF-18s, and was sent to Pensacola for a Spatial Disorientation course after we had some of our pilots die due to disorientation in cloud. That course was FAR more fun and interesting than the centrifuge training I had to do in Toronto as part of the training we all got. 1.5 minutes at 9 G was no fun at all. While I was on ba
-
Incredible. That dolt had no business being an instructor. I realized over the years as I left the military and got into civil aviation that having responsible, competent instructors was NOT a given in the civvy world. Sheesh. Makes for a good story, though. ALF
-
I suspect night vision has made spotlights obsolete. ALF
-
Wow, that's ugly. I hope Kinetic can help you. Early in the series of 1/48 F-5A/B from Kinetic, the main canopy had similar defects. They quickly mailed out replacements after modellers asked. ALF
-
This is a link to the Plastic Models Store in Kyiv, Ukraine. They just announced it with free shipping. If you sign up for the newsletter, you get 8% off. I've bought from them a few times - their profit goes to buy much-needed kit for the Ukrainian forces. Worth supporting them by buying from this store. https://plastic-models-store.com/icm-53054-135-sikorsky-ch-54a-tarhe-us-heavy-helicopter?utm_source=sendpulse&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=sendpulse-dec-report ALF
-
For our Canadian modelers, Kinetic just announced a CT-114 Tutor
ALF18 replied to Dave Roof's topic in Jet Modeling
Well said, as usual, Mike. The resin set was absolutely required. Even buying the resin and the HC kit new, without a 3rd-person markup, the cost would run up close to $100. Now, for a much more reasonable price (Kinetic makes great products at decent prices), we'll have a better kit that already includes many more extras than Rick Chin's resin. The gods have heard our prayers, buddy! ALF