colargol
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Everything posted by colargol
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I forgot to add that, as I am using a F-14B kit, their is a reinforcement plate around the RIO boarding step. It has to be removed by sanding (clear blue arrows)
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Very impressive !
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Hello, I am now at the gun stage. First, I filled the aft part of the gun piece with cyano glue (orange arrow), and I filled the spaces of the gun nozzle and the gun vents with styren pieces with Tamiya ultra-fluid glue (pink arrows) But then, I realised that the gun bubble should not go that far ... I represented something like the yellow area below, and it should be like the green one. Indeed, on first Tomcat (but not on the first prototype), the gun nozzle was shorter (see below). It is not v
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Hello, I carry on with the wings. The slats deployment rails are too wide (more than 1 mm. Taking the Hasegawa kit as a model, they should be more of less 0.75 mm wide). The first step is to reduce the width (from the red arrows to the green ones). After that, I will have a lot of puttying/sanding to make the ejection sinks disappear ... On the GWH kit, the rails of the slats are supposed to be inserted in gaps in the front part of the wings. It is not the case on the actual aircraft. These areas can be seen on so
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Hello, I am starting a new project: the first prototype of the Tomcat, in flight, on the GWH basis. I will use a F-14B kit to do so. Why ? Because I wanted to represent a VF-102 F-14B(Upgrade) with a HUD. But VF-102 never had F-14B(Upgrade) with a HUD ... but, I am happy to have the decals for a future Academy kit. And also, I've never build the GWH Tomcat and I wanted to see if the kit was worth it ... (because, I could have bought 2 Academy kits for the same price, and I would still have some money for extradetailling kits). I have to confess that is not my first
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Hello, these are the picture of my B-2A spirit, at 1/72 scale. The kit basis is the modelcollect one, but nothing is good on this kit and quite everything (except for 6 pieces) has to be rebuild if you want to have something looking like a B-2A. The fitting is not even poor. It is impossible without modification. It requires a lot of scratchbuilding. A lot. A lot lot. If you are not experienced modeller, don't do that. Wait. At least a long time. Or two long times. Enough for another B-2A kit from another manufacturer to be produced. Nevertheless, after 18 months, I ha
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Last post about the building ... I have positionned the main landing gear. I insert the brass rods (green arrow) and glued them with Kristal Klear. It was usefull, compared to cyano glue because the position was not correct first. Then, the struts (pink arrow) are positionned. I have put pieces of styren (blue arrows) inside the engine bays to be able to positionned the closed doors. I had trouble with the acces ladder articulations ... one of them fall in the acces hatch and decided to visit the cockpit. I was u
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Hello, no more weathering. I've checked on the pictures I have and the landing gear are not very dirty so I decided to let it as I did before (use of grey wash on the landing gear - that's all). I have made some leaking streaks on the bottom, but not too much. On picture of the actual B-2A, it is possible to see some large area more glossy during flight, but I am not sure of the origin of this contrast. I tend to think it's due to a huge water hose cleaning (as this operation can be seen on several pictures) and I suspect some remaining water to be evacuate when the plane is flying.
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Hello and Thanks 😉 I carry on with the varnish. I have tried the Pébéo one (a french trade mark for painters mostly), but I wasn't convince by the result, even if the matt effect is very strong (what I was looking for), but the varnish coat seems to be fragile ... so I used Tamiya matt varnish (XF-86), diluted in X-20A. Over the Pébéo coat, it keeps the matt effect, but give it more protection. After that, I've removed the remaining masks (jet exhaust, windshield and the astronavigation window). I have several correction to make, but so far it looks good. I
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I will check again in my weathering process (the doors are not perfectly clean anyway) ... to be continued 😉
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Hi, eventually, I have found the origin of my color choice : Squadron/signal book and Begemot decals explaination sheet give FS36081. ModelCollect and Testor kit ask for FS36118 ... First, I finish the painting job for the compressor first stage and the crocodile flap inside part. Before starting the decals phase, I put a layer of gloss varnish on the kit: I am using Starwax product, an equivalent of "Future", but more dense. I mix it with X-20A from Tamiya and windscreen liquid (50% Starwax, 25% X-20A and 25% windshield liquid). Th
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Hello and thanks for the comments 😉 I will now present the top part painting. I begin with a mix of colors to represent a light-middle grey (mix of Gunze grey H301, Gunze blue H56 and Tamiya grey XF-66). Then I have used the New Ware masks (with some corrections) and I have used some Aizu masking band to represent structural line and the articulation of control surface (aera painted with a darker grey - H401 + H301). Some of the masks have to be repositionned (blue arrows) to be aligned with the axis of the aircraft (it is not the case on the p
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Hello, I follow with the painting of the belly of the beast. First step: the masking of the bays. I have tried several technics. Generally, I put a piece of masking tape on the interior side of the bay, then I fill the inner part, either with masking tape (red arrows), or with a piece of paper of the adapted size and shape (pink arrows), of with pieces of paper towel that I humidified later with water (orange arrow). In each case, I perfect the hermeticity with Ammo Mig liquid masking. I have also "masked" the acces hatch with the acces hatch door (that I will not use -
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Hello, I am starting the external painting 😉 I decided to start with the metallic gaz exhausst. After several layer of Tamiya gloss black (due to re-sanding/re-puttying process to improve the surface quality), I started with several mixes of Vallejo Metal Color. The best liquid to dilute seems to be the car windshield liquid (with other liquid, including Tamiya X-20A, I have a formation of flake). I have also painted several other places in black (yellows arrows) because there are to lozange apertures in the fuselage. I have also filled the small buble holes in th
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One more time, be carreful to the geometry. If you are not in a perpendicular projection, the angle measurements will be wrong. According to Wikipedia, the angle is 35° between an imaginary line perpendicular to the nose and the longitudinal axis. Therefore, the angle of the nose should be 110° (180° - 2x35°). On the kit, I measure between 112 and113° so it is not that wrong. On this point, Modelcollect kit is not that bad (the Testor seems to be between 110° and 111°). colargol
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Hello, it's a tricky geometrical illusion ... I reckon that looking at detailed pictures of this part, I have to make an effort not to see a 90° angle : see this picture or this one For me, both edge of the double rudder are parallel to the external part of the wing.
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Hello, in fact, I re-worked the control surface. The second outboard inferior part were rebuild because they don't have the correct curvature (hence the white Evergeen part). As the curvature is not so "negative" for the inboard elevons inferior parts, I kept the modelcollect pieces. I have also sand the extremity of the control surface to have a less smooth/sharper corner.
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Hello, I have connected the wings to the fuselage. It's huge ! After that, I had to work on the connexion between pieces. The gap is huge too ! I was able to put 0.5 mm Evergreen pieces in some place. After that, I put the inboard elevons (yellow arrows). They are not connected to the fuselage up to the end (black arrows), so these places have to be build. The final windshield is in place. I wanted to sand the window of the astro-intertial central with toothpaste. Unfortunatel
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I first started with the Testor one several years ago and I can not deny it could be worst. The air intake are also on a wrong position and everything has to be rebuild concerning "the inside parts"; but at that time, Testor had not access to photos and books as it is the case now. In the end, I think it is the same amount of work that could be required for both kits, but Testor had and has an excuse. Nevertheless, the modelcollect kit has the advantage to propose separate flaps and a representation of air duct in the air intake.
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Thanks for the comment ... I carry on with my little multicolored arrows 😉 I have glued the top and bottom part of the fuselage. I had to cut a part of the bottom of the cockpit because the bolts I have used are taking to much place (the error counter is then : me: 1, Modelcollect: 16012). I decided to fill the scribing on most of the aircraft because it is not present on the actual aircraft. They could have represent the APU exhaust of some of the diamond-shaped exhausts on the top but no. 16013. For the wings, I first thought to not modify the
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Hello and thanks for the comment ! For the kit to be horizontal, a lot of weight has to be added (more than 50 g) According to the building guide, the wings have to be glued on the lateral sides of the fuselage (after assembling top and bottom parts of the central fuselage). Except that geometricaly, without modification, it is not possible. I don't know if people from ModelCollect have tried to build their own kit but if it is the case, they are very indulgent with themselves ... So I decided (in the noble way to have at least one piece of thi
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I carry on with the painting (I tend to do several copies of the same piece to have the choice in the end to pick up the best one). and this is the piece in place Now I make the washes (using Ammo MiG panel line wash, Light and Medium Grey) It is not an heavy wash process, the aircraft is quite clean generally. This is the stairway in place : and the rest of the bays At first, I wanted to instal
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Hello and thanks for the comments 😉 I have build the astro-inertial unit based on pictures of the SR-71 one (the Schiffer books explains that the B-2A one is inherited from the SR-71 one). I have found pictures of the SR-71 one here. It will be later painted in dark shades. Sorry for blur effect ... colargol
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I carry on. After a layer of varnish (Starwax product, diluted with alcool. An equivalent of Future in France), I put some small decals, from pictural references, using spare decals (see the yellow arrows) more details: I want to represent the 82-1068 "Spirit of New York", proposed by ModelCollect. Unfortunately, ModelCollect forgot to represent the serial number "1068" on the front gear left structure. As the font is very specific, I decided to represent it myself using clear dec
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Hello, No, unfortunately, I will not build the engine compartment. I don't have any photo of this part of the aircraft and it is very uncommon to see it open. I let this part open so it will be easier to paint the first compressor stage and to assemble them at the end. colargol