UKPonchoMan

Progress! Now primed...

Progress!! Now primed... First coat of dark grey is also on and I will post more pics later in the week...

This is my current setup - it's pretty simple. I could really do with 2 more lamps, diffusers and possibly some more powerful bulbs, but it seems to work OK for now...

Minor update... I used a resin exhast painted with a mixture of Testors MM Titanium Metallizer, with a little SnJ metal powder to help polish the Metallizer a little. Once this dried I sprayed Zero Paints Brilliant White inside the intakes and then used some black pastels to bring out the detail. Quite pleased with this!

Methinks a good article for the SIG website... :)

I was quite surprised how good it looks to be honest - I may stick with this approach instead of resin as it's a lot easier and looks nice!

It goes together well - just need to be careful with the seams. As the plastic is quite thick, there's not a lot you can do to flex the joins...

That makes a heck of a difference - looks SO much better... i wonder if it would work with the 1/72 kits too?

Is this basically the Italeri kit? If so, I guess the Italeri fuselage is the best choice as a starting point, as you've done?

Looking good - keep up the good work!

More progress on the F-84G - the fuselage is now fully assembled and I'm in the process of painting and detailling the cockpit...

More progress on the F-16C...

A little more progress on the F-4E... The approach I took to joining the fuselage halves worked quite well - whilst there is still a seam, it's not too bad:-

Time for an update... Basic assembly is not far off being complete - I just need to get the engine nacelles assembled:- I removed the AN/ALR-46 assemblies - I will add the AN/ALR-69 assemblies later.

It does sound like a good idea!!

Scott - many thanks!! Chris

Thanks Scott - the second pic was actually my inspiration for this build as I already had a TDU-10 built up which I'd planned to go onto an F-5F!!

I could be wrong, but it looks like an M1038A1 - source is here

...

Moving onto my second F-16 (this time a 'C from Rammstein), I again chose to use an Eduard color etch sheet rather than resin, and was again quite pleased with the result:-

One of the big problems with the Hasegawa kit is the poor joint between the front and rear fuselage sections. To avoid this I tried a different approach - I joined the front and rear sections together for one half to ensure a good match. Hopefully this should ensure the other side fits too!

I've now made a start on this, using one of the Hasegawa 'Es as a basis. I normally use resin cockpits, but for a change I decided to use the Eduard color etch set which turned out really well and quite impressed me. Whilst it doesn't have the same level of detail as resin, it does look nice and involves minimum effort!

Progress.... wings and tail attached, filled and sanded...

Thanks Benner - it was on my list of mods but I'd not gotten around to it. It's a bit of a pain that Italeri manage to model an early aircraft (i.e. with the AN/ALR-46) but DON'T include the gun vent covers!! Ho hum... I've started on the mods (thankfully minor) to update this to an early '90s aircraft, starting by removing the AN/ALR-46 fairings... The pics below show the fairings in place...

May well be the case - I'm not sure what the CFMs are for typical extractor hoods here but it's not very high. Having said that, there is the issue that range hoods present a fire risk as the motors aren't properly shielded for vapourised paint...