lesthegringo
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Posts posted by lesthegringo
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Those intakes would look great with a shark mouth a la Tu-22M... too bad I don't build what if models!
Regards,
Yeah, if I have any issue at all with a Mig-31 kit, it was the relative lack of imagination when it came to schemes. I suspect that I'll end up doing a retro splinter or other nationality 'what if' to scratch that itch. Sorry, purists, I promise I will keep it locked up at home!
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Just curious, really, after seeing AMK's rather lovely looking MiG-31 in the jet modelling forum, do companies like Eduard work with the kit manufacturers to produce their aftermarket goodies?
After all, while the kit manufacturers want to do a good job (or at least some do - others just do the minimum, insert company name here....) they clearly are limited by the injection technology and pricing / complexity constraints. A good set of aftermarket stuff complements their kit and helps sell them, so it would seem logical that they would encourage it and maybe allow them access to develop their stuff in parallel. Maybe they get some pre-production kits to play with?
Like I said, just curious, but I bet quite a safe ten bucks that some resin nozzles and cockpit parts will very quickly be available for the MiG-31!
Les
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Thanks guys - there's a lhs here who would let me check out the contents first, so will go that route
Will let you know how I get on
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Incredibly good, I don't think I've looked forward to a kit to be released so much for years
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Guys, I posted this on Britmodeller, but didn't get any joy with an answer, so I thought I'd ask you guys in case
I am interested in buying one of the KH GR1 Jaguars, but read a build thread from a couple of years ago that seemed to indicate that the kit was prone to being shipped with cracked canopy parts. It also seemed to show a less than fantastic approach by Kittyhawk with regard to replacement parts.
Having had to recently put up with using a cracked main canopy on a Trumpeter MiG 23 (I broke it) because Trumpeter don't even answer let alone let you buy spares, I am wary of buying this and ending up with the same result, but this time without it being my fault.
Have KH got their act together, or is this still an issue?
Cheers
Les
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1/48th as I don't have a exhibition centre to display the 1/32nd scale bad boys. Not that I wouldn't like to be able to!
Les
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I have the Teig 14" lathe as sold by machine mart, harbor freight tools and grizzly tools. They are good, but need to be adjusted and used carefully as they are not super precision - you get what you pay for. However if you do spend the time to 'tune' it, as long as you use a good vernier or micrometer they are capable of turning out some nice parts. The biggest thing to be aware of is the backlash that comes with using fairly crude threaded leadscrews and also gib strips with not very good surface finish.
The only real weakness is the electronic speed control, which has failed twice on mine, but you can buy replacements.
Fignoggle also make improved parts to increase the accuracy and reduce the backlash, they even do a CNC kit if you want to go nuts. Cronos tools in Dunstable also do a good range of accessories.
Search the net for sites that talk about these and the parts for them, there's some great info out there
Hope this helps
Les
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Sio, we will be happy with you guys keeping up the great work!
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Sio, I have just been back and forth through all the photos, and the more I look the more I am impressed with the technical side of this kit. I can't claim to know the MiG-31 in any detail so will leave the accuracy comments to the guys who do. But further to my comment about ejector pin marks, what few I can see are either in irrelevant areas or really subdued, the latter being in the engine intake trunking / landing gear bay areas - are those as-moulded or have they been lightly dressed? I hope the landing gears doors look as good as that!
Another question I have concerns the full engine assembly - do you have to make all that detail and then have to hide it away in the inside so that they support the compressor inlet and turbine rear faces / afterburner augmenter tube? It seems such a shame, they look like the basis for a kit in themselves, and beautifully rendered.
Very impressed, you should look at a MiG-25 next.....please! Or maybe an SR-71.......
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Thanks, Sio, I hope you didn't think it was a criticism!
It must be difficult to prevent in certain areas, and is something we are all used to dealing with. I suppose a pair of related questions concern moulding / cooling flaws in the transparent parts (didn't Airfix recently have an issue with this?) and the dreaded ejector pin marks. Have the transparencies been test moulded yet, and are there any details of how the ejector pin marks are being mitigated?
I'm pretty confident seeing the rest of the attention to detail that they won't be an issue, but it would be great to hear about the thinking behind any design details on this
Thanks again!
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The Facebook site shows actual plastic, which seems to be high quality moulding
Cheers
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Fabulous looking model, it will certainly grace my shelves, and for that level of detail I am not going to moan at 100 dollars - look how much aftermarket details make 'normal' kits cost.
Two questions though, firstly will the instructions define how much weight (if any) will be required, or dare we hope include a shaped weight?
Secondly, I note that either side of the cockpit is a small fairing that goes to the engine splitter plates, and these have what look like deep sink marks on the upper surface - are these moulding marks or are they representative of some feature that is there on the real aircraft?
Cheers, guys, looking forward to seeing this
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Gents, I have a Tamiya Mosquito I am building
There are decals used for interior parts, especially the canopy framing that are used during the build, and while applying these I found that the decals were just breaking up all over the place. The decals themselves are not cracked, as I have seen in other cases, but the appear to be abnormally thin and brittle.
I've decided not to attempt to use them unless I have a way of ensuring that they don't break up, but can't think of how to prevent that, other than using a decal spray, which is not available locally. I do have a set of roundels and some minor stencilling from a previous kit that I can use for some of it, but until such time that I have a way of stabilising the others (like the warning lines over the radiators) then I can't finish the model
Any ideas?
Cheers
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CD-R's may work, but the photo-reactive layer is directly on the upper side covered by a protective lacquer. That means that the layer is harder to get off, plus the remaining layer will be thicker. I suppose you have nothing to lose by trying an old one!
Les
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Chippy, the MFD screens normally have a special non-reflective coating which tends to give a slightly greenish iridescent look. It is more subtle than the HUD's.
I was also toying with the idea of trying to use decal paper or decal film to try and capture that photo reactive layer - the 'disco balls' on Helicopters like the Huey Cobras are hard to replicate, and I wondered if there was a way of utilising that by making a silvery, iridescent decal to put on them
Let me know how you get on
Les
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Guys, I was fiddling about making a home made light spectrum analyser (don't ask) and stumbles upon a simple way of making those clear iridescent HUD panels that you see in modern jet fighters.
If you get an old DVD-R, score it heavily on both sides, then snap it in two. As you do this, you will see that the disc has an upper, often matt or coloured layer, a thin layer of silvery stuff (the photo-reactive layer) and a lower, clear layer. What you want is to peel apart the top and bottom layers. The top layer can be thrown out. The lower layer will probably still have the silvery photo reactive layer stuck to it, but this can be stripped off using masking tape. Once the silvery layer is off, you are left with a large sheet of slightly tinted clear plastic that on one side has an iridescent surface. My experience is that it is about 0.5mm thick, but it will depend on the type of disc you use.
The plastic is normally polycarbonate, which can be tricky to cut cleanly, so I would recommend the best course of action is to put some adhesive tape on both sides to protect the surface from scratches, then score the plastic using a sharp boxcutter type knife. You can then snap the plastic fairly cleanly, then use abrasive papers to clean up.
My plan is to also try using this as a way of making the display panels in the MFDS. I would leave the silvery layer on and insert a little piece into the panel, then use suitably coloured clear paint to match the screen colour. I'll let you all know how that works
Hope this helps someone
Les
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Unfortunately I have not even had the courtesy of a reply, so nothing so far.
I'll keep trying, I have nothing to lose by doing so
Les
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Thanks
I have put a post in the spares box, but it's a long shot, here's hoping though!
Les
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Had a disaster so need to replace some bits on my MiG-23, just wondering if anyone has successfully got them direct from Trumpeter. Can find a direct way on their site, so I have e-mailed the local importer / distributor, but I don't feel very hopeful.
Cheers
Les
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Getting back to modeling after 2 kids, one major move and a ton of lost bits here and there.
i'm just looking for the landing gear wheel hub and any help is always appreciated!
Hi there, can you tell me which part numbers they are, I think I may have some of them
Les
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Guys, following a disaster where I dropped a near finished model, I need a main canopy transparency as the original one is in pieces that are irrecoverable. I have looked for vac-form replacements, which don't seem to be available, so if anyone has a spare canopy or even a second hand one from a part finished model I would be a grateful recipient
Happy to pay for it , let me know if you have anything
Cheers
Les
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Nice replies, guys, and thanks to Chuck for the great tutorial - maybe a sticky is called for?
Clearly scale does come into this equation, I deal with 1/48 almost exclusively and so the scale thickness of PE is more of an issue. 1/32 stuff I think gives you more license, with the obvious downside of requiring more detail to look right, the way I see it is that by going up a scale, you have to add exponentially more to compensate. That of course opens the door to the aftermarket stuff, and means that to ensure you don't end up with a toy like model that extra yard is required. However a good paint job and weathering technique is at least as important, and I agree with Joel that the overall impression of the model is the most important aspect and both are elemental to that end
One thing I forgot to mention in my diatribe above was the limited value of the newer prepainted photo etch in certain circumstances. On 1/32 stuff I can see how you might not want to use it on even instrument panels, but for 1/48th I think it does work. However, when you get, say, a throttle quadrant, where you have to fold a bit of PE concertina style 5 times, the end result looks like what it is: a folded bit of sheet painted on one end, with the edges all needing painting and a little 2d lever bit sticking out, which also needs paining on the edges to match the paint on the rest of it. That's just nuts. The same goes for the grab handles, ejection seat pull rings and so forth. They are beautifully rendered with the stripes etc, except that you are then forced to try and paint the edges if you want to disguise the very obvious shiny bits left when you folded them over.
Something to take into account is the availability of some of the products; the debonder quoted in Chuck's tutorial is sadly not available here in Australia, and I only have Future, Gator's Grip plus a myriad of little tools and bits and bobs because I ask for them to be brought to me by visitors. That is not an excuse - people have made PE work with a lot less that I am privileged to have, but obviously having the right tools will also help where skill level is not as high.
For me the PITA factor versus the reward means PE will be limited to parts where there is a great difference to the model that can't be achieved by other means with a little work. Same goes for resin, but to a lesser degree, as the quite brilliant masters created out there by the likes of Zactomodels, Eduard and Aires to name a few can enhance a model way out of proportion to the effort put in. But I won't put it in if I can't see it afterwards, and if I have to re-invent or redesign the kit to make it fit it becomes self defeating. Just because it exists doesn't mean it has to be used
But as I said before, that's my view and plenty of examples exist where it is obvious that people have worked miracles with it all!
Les
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Disclaimer!! I will say up front that this is what I find, and that it is clear looking at other people's work that there are guys who can work miracles with PE and resin. I would never deny them the chance to have this media, and I am very aware of how lucky we are to have the choices we have in modern modelling.
For a while now I have been having a rather ambivalent relationship with aftermarket parts, particularly photo etched. Eduard's pre-coloured and sometimes self adhesive products can be a great addition to a model, creating a great looking cockpit, especially the instrument panel area; I don't kid myself that my modelling skills are such that I could produce such fine detail with that definition.
However, beyond these very obvious and very specific parts, for me it all goes sour. Some of my comments below are copied from a mini review I posted on another site, and following this I have become increasingly sceptical of the merit of PE.
The set I recently used was for the 1/48 MiG-23 from Trumpeter. Eduard provide you with two replacement intake ramps, which have nicely portrayed holes and details. When you fold up the parts, they look pretty good, except that the edges give them away as being pieces of folded sheet. My attempts to fill the corners with cyano were not good. Also, the very vague instructions as to how they fit onto the kit part, and where to cut don't help at all. I worked it out, including managing to work out which way up they go, but for me this is definitely a part where resin with photo etched inlays would be far better.
There are a multitude of grills, panels, panel surrounds and little sticky out bits (technical description there!) provided. Of them, the ones in the wheel bays look good, and are relatively easy to attach. The grills on the intakes are also 'easy' to attach, I chose to use Gunze Gloss Acrylic clear to stick them on as this a) works pretty well for medium sized parts and b ) some ammonia based window cleaner gets rid of the excess once it has dried on. However, the parts sit on the outside of the surface, and don't really look to scale; you would never see a 10-15mm step on the surface of a real plane. It's a tough one, you can't blame Eduard as they can't realistically make the parts any thinner, and you can't blame Trumpeter for not moulding in recesses for an aftermarket company! That leaves the option of making the recesses yourself, and while I know that there are some fantastic modellers out there who do exactly that, it is a step too far for me.
The Eduard set includes replacement intake auxiliary doors, but the instructions on how they should fit are poor. After finally locating a photo showing the inside of the intake, I worked out how they went, but after putting them in I am not happy with the result. I could have made a more accurate job just sticking some thin styrene strips to the kit part, and saved myself a whole lot of trouble. Next time I won't bother with the Eduard parts for this.
The cockpit colour etch is great, although due to the complicated sidewall console shape is a multi microscopic part fest. Again, Gunze clear was used to attach the non self adhesive bits. Some of the more tiny parts are left off, when I went to the trouble of putting one of them on, afterwards I couldn't even see it was there until I used a magnifying glass.
The remainder of the etched parts were for the undercarriage, and frankly were so much of a pain to try and attach that I gave up on most of it. Some of the bits would be better represented by bits of styrene, and others were those little ones that when trying to use cyano to attach, will attach themselves to absolutely everything except what you are trying to put it on.
So to sum up my ramblings on this photo etch set, while for stuff like the cockpit and wheel / avionics bays, or where there are grills to be represented they clearly can make a difference, for me their use on the rest is at best a compromised solution, and at worst a lot of trouble for very little benefit. With hindsight, I think that some of the parts could have been used to make templates for some scratched styrene pieces, or maybe used in conjunction with styrene sheet to make a better composite part (intake ramps come to mind). However, the biggest downside for me is having to use cyano which is as unforgiving as it is difficult to use. Until a proper alternative comes along, for photo etch I will stick to using the self adhesive cockpit sets along with some limited interior bits. PE unfortunately many times looks like what it is - a bit of thin sheet with some detail on one face tacked onto another part.
Resin sets are arguably as much, if not more trouble than photo etch; you only need to see the myriad of WIP builds on the various forums to see where ill fitting resin sets have given their builders huge headaches, even when supposedly the parts were made for the very kit they were fitting it to. However, the difference is that when well executed resin is an excellent medium. For the very same MiG-23, the Eduard and Aires resin parts were superb. The level of detail far surpasses what can be produced with styrene, in that it can have re-entrant features, plus surface detail and shape can be more accurately rendered due to the moulding process. The downsides are of course the requirement to saw off casting blocks, the need to paint what is a quite spectacularly complicated part, and depending on whose rendition of resin it is, slow death by grinding and dry fit.
So where am I going with all this rambling? Well, I suppose what I'm trying to say is that while there are tons of aftermarket goodies out there, some of it is obviously out there to feed off modellers with AMS rather than because it actually adds to the model. Mostly I think this applies to photo etch, where my thought at seeing certain parts is 'why?'. The answer of course is to make a PE fret look value for money, but the reality is that styrene, resin or even scratch built parts would be a more effective solution. I bought Eduard's own MiG-21, the weekend edition without any etch, or resin..... and apart from the passing thought that the PE cockpit instrument panels would be nice as Eduard have clearly designed it with that in mind (you have to scratch your own styrene ones for decals) I felt zero need for the aftermarket goodies.
I'm all for resin and photo etch, where they add to a model - a conversion to a different version, fixing an issue caused by 2D moulding techniques, rendering detail unobtainable by other methods. From now on, I'm only going to battle with this stuff when necessary, I'm going to enjoy my modelling!
Les
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I built the Cyber Hobby kit, and with a couple of minor exceptions found it a lovely kit. I thought the detail, fit and general quality of it was such that I would unhesitatingly recommend it. It has some lovely touches, like a complete one piece canopy for those who don't fancy a jigsaw puzzle, a nicely detailed and superbly fitting cockpit, great main bay details and very positive wing fixing spars
The minor issues I had were that the main gear attachment is not particularly clear, even when you try to test fit. I fitted it, and it holds just fine, but I am still not 100% sure it is completely correctly positioned. The other was the engine nacelles, which a) were missing both the upper portions (fixed by the retailer immediately) and B) without the engines seemed to not fit as nicely as the rest of the kit.
It was in fact such a good kit to build that I made a point of stating so in a separate post.
However, if was to build another Bf110, I will try one of the Eduard ones out of sheer curiosity
Les
AMK will release a MiG-31!
in Jet Modeling
Posted
Do you have to be sour about even about a comment that was intended in a humorous manner? Obviously I'm not taking a hobby seriously enough.....