bushande

Next time we'll see to the engines. Oh this is gonna be a blast! 🙄🤪

Last post for today: I'm not sure what that is, but I guess it's some kind of antenna or ECM thing, but the little bumps at the rear end of the wing roots are rendered round in the kit. But they should be flat according to the original. So they were sanded flat acordingly:

And here is the result of my fumbling that brought me close to a nervous breakdown. Almost a whole sheet of those things went into this.

O.k. ... and now it's going to get mighty funny again. I admit I wasn't aware of how many raised rivets the Tiffy has. It was absolute """fun""" to put that (For those that can't sens the sarcasm ... it wasn't!!!) . The rear area is teeming with these darned things, from the fin over the engine covers to the wing edges and the bleedair ducts on the belly, everything is full. What a joy. Let's look at the original again:

I also tried to readjust the rain vent and some panellines in front of the windshield. I admit that my reference photos are not optimal here. I still hope for a little bit of support to better adapt that later on ...

The intake ramps have a rather complicated structure on their sides. Revell's ramps are smooth on the sides, but I admit 1/48 is really too fiddly to turn anything around there. Nevertheless ...

There's still a tiny wee bit ahead of us but we ae almost there. Before I turn to the engines, a few small details are added to some individual parts and to the fuselage. The outer missile pylons still needed to get their chaff dispensers and all it too was a few details to the cooling vents and the rear. First a look at the original: and then a qucik fix to the kit parts, i.e. add the cooling vents and drill the rear open and ad some tape and bits to make it roughly look the part:

Just recently the insepector general of the German Luftwaffe visited Pax River and their Growlers and I think he also had a look at the Block-III specimen. I do wonder if we really chime into this thing as a replacement for our Tornados?! This year should eventually be interesting for those few folks who care about the matter in Germany.

Off into the cockpit with him and then that is it for today. Next time we will continue with a few more details on the hull.

And that's what the dude looks like painted ...

Unfortunately, the market doesn't really offer much in terms of matching figures. The only thing that comes into consideration is the "Modern RAF Pilot" figure by PJ productions. The figure is really very beautiful, but it is what it is, namely a pilot of the Royal Airforce and there are a few differences that can be clearly seen. In addition, the pilot is shown in a relaxed position with the visor open. So I have to carve a lot. The posture has to be changed, the helmet is roughly transformed into an ACS; I want to show the rotator for the visor a little differently, the pro

Well, today's post is a little shorter. I have dedicated myself to the pilot this time. Let's take a look at the original first. Similar to the Italian and Spanish Air Force and contrary to the RAF equipment, Luftwaffe pilots wear an ACS helmet with an MBU-20 mask and what is easily noticeable is the anchoring of the oxygen hose on the side of the helmet and the loops on the anti-G vest along with the connector module for the oxygen supply of the jet. The little things, such as the obligatory pen, won't like be noticed in that medium scale, but are a nice detail find out and ponder about on th

Yeah, but what are those pages good for then anyway?!!!

O.k. that's it for today. Next time the Ghost Tiger gets it's driver.

All that checking references makes you kind of loose sight from time to time. Spot the plane! Hihihihi 😂

Alright, fits just about right I think ..... And most importantly ... it sits at the right spot now!!!

Doooooooone! (well .... the canopy that is - finaly!)

Finally, I put some chrome foil onto a few unused old photoetch mirrors and formed the "Oh shoot"-handles on the side of the canopy frame out of thin wire, painted and finally glued the whole thing into the canopy.

As if the whole thing wasn't difficult enough, in addition, the pipes are also "dented". Aaaw maaaaaan, does that have to be ?! Well, we don't want this project to be boring after all hihihi. A couple of shaped and bent plastic rots and some wire should do the trick, I hope:

We are not yet there but it is almost done. There are the tubes of the air conditioning system that run along the canopy frame, there are a few hooks to fix the pulpit and surprise even more cables! On the port side is a small blue button under the glass with a safety notice. I will add it for fun while I'm at it anyways. And I must not forget to add the sfaety pin for the canopy lock and the hinge point just aft!

So .... last step, before we are done with the canopy and cockpit. The interior of the canopy is very complex, with many struts, lines, hooks and cables. I will not achieve 100 percent accuracy, but I think that I can at least somewhat upgrade what is in the kit, so that a realistic impression is created. First a look at the original again. What the interested modeller is likely to notice right away is the fact that the original has three struts, but Revell shows four. In addition, the struts also have recesses. Saves weight on the original, but gives me extra work on the model hihihi. So ther

After I finished painting the cockpit, the windshield was finally glued. The whole thing now looks like this:

Before I continue painting the cockpit, I want to attent once more to the HUD. The small transparent part included in the kit is very nice, but the connectors / fastenings with the projector unit are missing. This has to be carefully mimicked with thin wire. The original is actually clear, but reflects the incoming sun intensely green. For me it is such a striking feature that I would like to simulate that effect if possible. To do this, I pulled some thin holofoil onto the transparent part and the effect is not a 100 percent, but good enough for me to be an eye-catcher in the sun:

The entire area behind the pilot has many boxes, cables and wires. Revell basically presented this area very nicely, but it really lacks the necessary detail. Here the modeller is really "free to roam". As noted earlier, I cut away the little box, which is too much, and tried to add lots of wires, cables and wires hopefully according properly to the original. I confess it's not that easy in 1/48:

And as you can see, once the seat is in the tub, you can confidently save yourself adding the details to the rear wall of cockpit tub. I could have really let it go, but it wasn't a big deal either and better it's there and I don't need it than the other way around: