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Andrea Bolla

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Everything posted by Andrea Bolla

  1. Try using a scribing template like this: insert the bomb in the corresponding sized hole and fix it with blu-tack: then you can use the template as a guide to roll the masking tape in a straight line.
  2. Just a small update, put some paint here and there... I know painting figures in not really my best skill decided to go with a tan (a bit to dark) flightsuit for both figures and added a new canvas cover giving it a "soft" look
  3. Did the same surgery on the original resin parts and decided to keep much more of the plastic bits: trying to differentiate a bit the two figures I added a kneepad to the pilot and also removed the oxygen masks and added the floating bags; a new oxygen mask will come from a couple of Academy pilots. At first I thought it would be impossible to fit the pilot with his boots, so I removed them but found it was not enough: cut the legs and changed the angle a bit solved the problem and made room for the boots too... but th
  4. For the pilots a friend gave me an Aerobonus F-18 pilot with seat to test, but the resin seat has a very different angle and it does not fit at all... before looking for a different solution I decided to try a bit of surgery: made a quick copy of the resin seat (just to save the original one if the test gave a positive result) and then: fit is promising, need to work a bit on the legs but it seems feasible; added the sides from the plastic parts and a bit of putty now have to do it again twice on the original ones...
  5. Hi everyone, the time spent around engine design and test was filled filled working on several areas of the model generating an high entropy build; at first I was curious about draping decals over cockpit panels, something I have never done before: gave a base coat of paint matching the decal color for the panels and then applied decals wetting them with microset solution and completing with a few coats of microsol decals performed very well with microscale products, without silvering or excessive distortions. Cockpit tub received
  6. If you prefer separate belts, then Aires with Fine Molds Nano Aviation seatbelts. Amazing work so far Lucio.
  7. After a bit of time spent reworking the 3d design I got this: a new low pressure turbine with the bypass duct and with the afterburner gutter
  8. Still working on the engines, both the low pressure turbine and the augmentor gutter are badly replicated in the kit parts: and the worst part in this kit: Thought about some aftermarket replacement but considering that IMHO the best representation of this area is/was done by Shawn Hull or KA Models, the first long OOP and the latter more expensive than the kit itself I decided to design my own replacement parts: first test confirms it's printable on my YHD-101: have to fix a couple of things i
  9. Hi everyone, after a long hiatus I'm resurrecting this build: putting aside the nose section that caused this stop I worked on the engines; decided to split the one-piece tubes into three sections to make it easier fixing the seam and paint: to clean the seam on the corrugated tubes I made a "tool" with superfine Milliput simply pressed on the inner surface: and then, working with a small ball milling bit on the two halves before gluing them, made enough space for a good amount of superfine Milliput and formed it with the "tool".
  10. Same problem here, also tried other email address posted here without success.
  11. intake trunks needs taking care of ejector pin marks and a bit of sanding to remove tool machining marks; fit is really good so they will become seamless with just a bit of MrSurfacer. DACO book just arrived so I started working on the MLG cutting the oleo and preparing to replace it with a polished metal rod: while drilling the upper part a bit of Milliput come loose...
  12. Just another small update: modded the IFR receptacle support to match the modified door and, instead following instructions, glued part U2 before inserting the tub/well compound into fuselage. everything fits good so far.
  13. English is not my first language, so maybe my choice of words is not always perfect. The "fancy review" I was talking about is the one you quoted in bold and it's quite obvious that it's much more a promo than a review. I never denied that there are differences between the kit and Grumman blueprints and never said the shape of this kit is perfect too. For sure they are fantasy or BS both the "machining marks" and all the "problems" around infamous part U2 in the japanese video. For panel lines width up to your taste... maybe we could ask Janissar
  14. All the well known shape issues are there (hips, IFR, tailerons, MLG oleo compression), up to you if consider them a deal breaker or not. IMHO the most annoying one is the IFR because it's so emphasized by the paint line running nearby; to my eyes the most offending problem in the hips area is the wrong cross section of outer engine nacelle extending to the inflatable bags, the extra width being negligible; for the taileron shape I doubt I can spot the difference on a built model so again it's up to your personal knowledge of the subject; I'm used to replace LG oleos with polished
  15. Considering that this thread is about the kit and not about fancy reviews I'm not moving the goalpost at all: I have the kit, courtesy of my wallet, so I can check the real thing before spamming whatever BS found over the net. Surface detail is exactly like any other top quality kit (after my post I also looked at a KH Su-34 through the same micro and it has a slightly larger panel lines with a better surface finish, I have not added those pictures to my post because I changed the micro setup a bit so to be correct I should have re-took all the snapshots again), parting lines are p
  16. Let compare AMK with a recent kit (GWH Su-35) under the same conditions (Celestron digital micro at same enlargement): GWH AMK My nose section has been reworked (see my slow start build in "in progress" section) so you can see the original plastic only around the antenna plate (there is a bit of primer left I that used to check the panel re-scribing work around the IFR): and here the slime light frames toned down a bit and polished with 00000 steel wool (lot of cleaning required here):
  17. Of the statements you quoted in bold the only questionable one is about the accuracy and execution of surface detail, where it was clearly demonstrated that they are not nor accurate nor perfectly executed. Fit of main fuselage parts is indeed quite perfect and plastic surfaces are as smooth as they any other top quality kit (the "machining" marks on the surface in the build you posted are just nonsense). Panel line size/scale is just a matter of personal taste: even the worst maintained and battered A/C in quarter scale should be as smooth as silk with almost invisible
  18. It's a line between two separate parts not an engraved one, up to the builder how to finish that seam.
  19. Considering the conical shape of the nose and that part U2 attach to the front of the cockpit tub I suspect that it should be mounted before sliding the tub assembly into the fuselage. Beside that, if I was the video's author I would not have wasted the 3 minutes shown and would have sent that part directly to the scrap box.
  20. What do you mean? Do you think is the inner part (U2) that cause the gap? That part is absolutely unnecessary, it may have been designed to help to align the nose cone but it fits perfectly without it.
  21. Thanks for your kind reply! So we can see a "full dirty" wing just for seconds during spoiler checkup and in that precise spot on the deck, is this correct? Hold back bar is attached by the same guy? And a last general question, watching a few youtube videos about deck operations saw sometimes jacket/shirt color mismatch like a yellow jacket on a green shirt or brown on a white one: is this common or just an excepion. Thanks in advance for you patience...
  22. Did you had the same problem with your kit? I just tried a quick dry fit on mine and I don't have that large air gap on top; still not sure if the look of the multi-part one is better than the single piece.
  23. Real job kept me quite busy these days so just a little modeling done: cut a vinyl mask to re-scribe the lower NACA, gave a bit of primer (no photo taken sorry) to mark better the new position but found that filler was not perfect... Waiting for MrSurfacer to fully cure started to polish the clear parts: just a few minutes with a soft nail polish stick and a light buff with Novus 2 followed by Novus 1 and the mold lines are gone: mold line was a little heavier on the right rear part so I have t
  24. Mold lines are present in every single part of every kit: when possible they are placed where they cannot be seen, on round pieces like landing gear they are always present and visible, in a standard two piece mold canopy you have them mostrli placed on the bottom (not always, many kits have a mold line running in the middle) but the canopy itself cannot bear any undercut, so no omega shape is possible; otherwise with sliding molds you can have a beautiful omega shape with consistent thickness but at the cost of having two seam lines so this is not an "issue" but something that you have to dea
  25. Would like to know what is happening in and around the plane in this picture, would like to do something like this. Also curious about why the ifr probe covers are missing and if was common (sow other planes without those panels too). Please feel free to add as much info as you want about deck operations, appreciate your help. Thanks in advance.
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