swimmer25k

I finally exorcised most of my panel line and construction demons. I still have some rescribing and filling to do on some small areas. I tried Alclad primer the other day, but it didn't want to airbrush. So, I blasted it with Gunze 1000. That stuff went on really smooth, but a little thick in some places. I'll have to rescribe some of the lines. Most of them are on top and pretty straight forward. I'm going to give the primer coat a day or two to harden up before I start to fix some small flaws and polish things out. As of now, it isn't much to look at, but hopefully I'll get some pane

Thanks for picture. I think that this picture was taken before all of the record flights were flown. The verticle stabs still have the stock antennae on the tips. The record flight configuration had the skinny little anti-flutter (?) devices installed instead. Also, check out the Eagle logo on the nose. When the record flights were going on, a panel was removed from under the logo, pulled off somehow, and then replaced without the artwork. I have some pictures highlighting this. Thanks again, Chris

Thanks for your help. I have about 50 shots that were taken by Doug Slowiak when the Streaker was breaking records. Check out my first post, and you can see some. I am looking for photos of top and bottom views if any are out there. I saw what Guy was talking about referncing the shoulders on the brake, but I'm too far along to make any changes like that. Most of all, it is too much work and the probability of FUBAR is in favor of the house.

I need some help from the Accuracy Police. I noticed in some pictures that the early A's (with the short speed-brake) had a pronounced ridge on the spine and/or the entire area is shaped differently than what the kit has to offer. I'm probably not going to be able to fix this, but did I miss something? Chris

Lastly, most of my rescribing is finished. I still have to scribe the areas around the horizontal stabs. The intakes proved to be the most troublesome, and I'll probably spend some more time on them as I go along. I started adding some of the Eduard photoetching and will get on the vents and grills next. The model was sprayed with 1000 surfacer. It fills in the panels, but they get gouged out pretty easy. Mr. Surfacer has been extremely useful for filling tiny scratches that cover most of the model.

I spent a majority of Sunday getting the data probe situated. Hasegawa would have you filling two large holes on the side of the probe with to monstrous vanes, and the hole on the bottom with the same. Reference photos show one downward vane, with two canted about 45 degrees down from the horizontal just behind. I filled in the kit holes with CA and sanded smooth. The bottom hole was used as a guide to drill holes for the canted parts. I used a .015" bit and filled with wire. The downward wire will have a vane attached to it (most likely built from styrene), and the sides will each have

I was out of town last week, so I didn't get a whole lot done on the Streak Eagle. Here are two primed pictures of the ejection seat. It was stolen from an Aires A-7D set. I've got a photo of the pilot climbing out of the plane and it shows the head-rest really well, so I'm pretty confident that I have the right seat in there. If anyone knows otherwise, please let me know before I paint and glue this sucker in.

Thanks. I just hope I don't punk out an paint it gray or Edwards white! I took a break from rescribing today because I wansn't in the mood to continue screwing up. Did easy work on it today instead.

Yes, I do. I wasn't completely intent on building the Streak Eagle so I left them in. Also, if I screw up the nmf, I can always go back to making it a regular A/C if I want to. Most likely an Edwards A.

Thanks. I tried some rescribing on the intakes and wasn't doing such a good job so filled in my goof-ups and quit for the day. I built the F-104 about 4 years ago. Hasegawa kit with the Cutting Edge NF conversion and cockpit. I love doing nm finishes, but I'm not so sure about this one! Kind of an ill fitting kit with lots of panels to mask and paint. I have some Hobby Decal dry transfers I want to try out, but I don't know how they will work on the Alclad. I'm going to have to try it out on some scrap pieces before I commit. I'd like to get it done for the Ft. Worth show in September

Thanks JanMan. I've never seen one at a show before, which is pretty much why I am building it. I like to build subjects that are a little off the wall, different, and something people would like to see (kind of like a Prowler). Until recently, I had never finished an F-16 in the 15 years I've been modelling. I also like to build models that are challenging so I can further develop my skills and get better at the hobby. I know this makes no sense because I have yet not to screw up a kit that was built OOB. But, to shoe-horn and shove an over-sized aftermarket, and overpriced resin and br

I plan on using Alclad for about 90% of the model. I will use some Testors metalizer shades. Right now I'm planning on shooting the entire model with duraluminum and then the other big areas (check out the box art above) with modified mixtures of their pale burnt metal, pale gold, and copper. Other panels will be done with shades of aluminum, dark aluminum, steel, and/or titanium. There are some areas that photos suggest are painted the 5 Bay blue/green such as just below the front windscreen, the panels around the lights (collision?) on the tail, and even one of the large doors on the for

Thanks Willie. I can't believe how fast you got your Super Horent finished. Looks very good. Great scheme. I languished on mine for about 4-5 months. How are the sheep?

There's the love!

Believe it or not, it was a coin flip between the two colors. Red came up heads. The biggest debate about the whole thing was if I could get a baby seat in the back. The look on my wife's face when that sucker fit in there was priceless. She was plumb out of reasons not to get it, other than the price tag. Ugh.

Thanks Chuck. You are right about the boxes in the 5 bay. It is hard to tell if they were there. I have photos of the avionics bays behind the radome which shows that most of the boxes were there. Behind the cockpit is pretty much impossible to tell, but the Black Box TEWS boxes were one giant piece of resin. So, to err on the side of laziness, I left them as one piece. Who knows, I might goof up the NMF so bad that I'll have to paint it white with orange tips and make an Edwards bird out of it. As for the GT... It is a 2006 with a Roush charger, brakes, wheels, exhausts, short-throw sh

I tend to run out of modelling supplies in a hurry or forget to pick up necessary items on my weekly pilgrimage, so this is how I get to the local Hobby Town USA (20 miles away) 15 minutes before closing.

The AOA probe made from a sewing needle. The intakes on this kit are particularly troublesome. After the trunk halves were glued together, layered in a bunch of 500 and sanded smooth. Several treatments of 1000 white primer, and then finished with Gunze gloss white. The compressor fronts are Alclad aluminum. A lot of work, but worth the effort.

The wing roots that seemed to take about a year to sand out and get completely smooth. I have to finish rescribing the rest of the model to get my panel lines even. A lot of what you see scribed is through a generous layer of 500 Surfacer. Look Ma, no tail-hook.

Here are couple of more cockpit picutures. I still have a lot of work to do on the sills, canopy jack, lock, and instrument coaming. The ejection seat will be an ESCAPAC seat stolen from an Aires A-7D cockpit set. I have a bunch of pictures taken from the original slides which shows that this seat was fitted.

Here is the right side intake after filling and sanding. Scibing soon to follow. I also had to fill in the gun muzzle area. It was fared over on the real thing with what looks like fiberglass, but I could be wrong.

Here are some more pictures. Sorry about the quality of some of these shots. Hopefully my next efforts will be a little better. I started off with the Hasegawa kit using Eduard photoetching for the cockpit and eventually on the exterior. I'm also going to add Aires exhausts. The 5 bay using the kit parts weren't that great so I fused the Black Box parts to the kit tub. I think it worked out pretty well. For the AOA probes I sanded off the kit parts and used the sharp ends of sewing needles. The wing root has a massive seam that runs down the entire length. Since it will be NMF I can't

Thanks!

Thanks for the comments. I'm not computer savy. How do I go about using the IMG tag and ditching the links? I'm going to reshoot some of the pictures and try again. Chris

I've been working for a while on a F-15A Streak Eagle. This is my first attempt to post anything on this web-site with pictures attached. I'm building the Hasegawa kit with Aires exhausts, Eduard photo-etch, and some Black Box cockpit parts as well. Chris The cockpit before painting: The cockpit was painted with Gunze Japanese interior blue green with aluminum Alcad misted over it. I felt that the Gunze as too deep a blue and rich of a color. The Alclad knocked the edge off a little bit. Eduard color etch in the front cockpit area. Gotta fix those pedals! Once I get more towards