benjo Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 Yeah its got MEK in it but its thickened with something. normal MEK is runny like water and soaks into your body. I think they add the thick stuff for 2 reasons to help you to do long seams and to help stop it from getting past the skin so easy, although it probably still does. Just make your stabilators and vertical fins from styrene you will get a heaps better result, and healthier! Excellent work btw, could i suggest a nsame for the fictional carrier? how about HMAS ENDEAVOUR??? what you think? If i had the time id like to make this thing as well it just looks too good. Benny Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Midnight Storm Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Nice work!!! :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor Supporter Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 (edited) Euro 1 scheme Digital eagle scheme Yay, USAF schemes! :( Also, incredible work on your little guy there. Edited February 10, 2009 by Aggressor Supporter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor Supporter Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 how about the "king raptor" scheme from Command and Conquer Generals: Zero Hour That looks cool! Can you post more pics of it please and which Raptor kit did you use? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChristopherC Posted February 11, 2009 Author Share Posted February 11, 2009 (edited) Thanks for the kind words guys! I have a little more progress to report. I've attached the wings. I then glued some plastic strip to the fuselage to cover the gap, and to create a step between the fuselage and the wings. The idea being to make it look like the wings disappear into the fuselage rather than just being stuck to it. The tailplanes mk.II were a great success, and look quite nice attached. The vertical tails mk.II were again, fail. I tried to get the complex shape of the inner tail with plastic card and filler. The filler again warped the tail and generally looks bad. Below you see the first attempt at the top, and the second at the bottom. Hopefully tails mk.III succeed. Nothing fancy this time, just laminated plastic card I will sand to shape. Benny, I must admit that the name HMAS Endeavour has grown on me and I think I'll use it. I originally intended to use HMAS Australia as that was the planned name of Australia's next carrier back in the 80's. Even if that sale went ahead the carrier probably would have been too small to support the Sea Raptor (the carrier in question was the HMS Invincible, the sale of which was cancelled due to the Falklands war). Anyway, I like HMAS Endeavour. Maybe Australia buys a second hand Nimitz class carrier? Chris Edited February 11, 2009 by ChristopherC Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 The wing/fuselage fairing looks great! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sv51macross Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Looks pretty sweet Chris. Going to refine the panel lines/flaps on the wings? You really pulled it off with this concept, great job so far! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
benjo Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Benny, I must admit that the name HMAS Endeavour has grown on me and I think I'll use it. I originally intended to use HMAS Australia as that was the planned name of Australia's next carrier back in the 80's. Even if that sale went ahead the carrier probably would have been too small to support the Sea Raptor (the carrier in question was the HMS Invincible, the sale of which was cancelled due to the Falklands war). Anyway, I like HMAS Endeavour. Maybe Australia buys a second hand Nimitz class carrier?Chris Excellent work there mate. You really are onto something here. with the vertical tails, maybe you could just make them flat but at the same time use styrene to put strenghthening plates or straps on em so they can actually be flat but still look cool. straps that go almost all the way up the stabs.... just doubled up styrene, no filler required. OR, the alternative would be to cut the stabs down the middle, add your styrene in between, who cares if its thicker, you can sand it back to the same level, and then trim the leading and or trailing edges down?????????? Its been said too much these days, but YOU CAN DO IT! Also, i like your wing fairings. maybe you could add a very thin layer on top of it with the jaggy stealth style pattern on it, or at least on the trailing edge of the fairing maybe. or just scribe it on.... or just mask it on with a different shade when you airbrush your model. HMAS ENDEAVOUR looks better as a name on the side of your jet i think, and has a whole lot of history to it. I can remember it looked good as the name on the back of the huge man o war class ship in the 3rd pirates of the carribean movie. We like the idea of ozzy's new nimitz class carrier thats a good one. See that would make people want to join the navy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChristopherC Posted February 15, 2009 Author Share Posted February 15, 2009 Thanks for the feedback guys. I've gone the plastic card route for the vertical stabs. Just two sheets of card stuck together and sanded to shape, with the rudder detail scribed in. It looks acceptable. I'm going to fill in some of the extra lines on the wings, make the controls look a little more minimalist. Don't know if I'll add any extra detail to the fairings, I'll be happy to get it all smooth and level. Still more sanding to go. I also need to scribe in a refueling probe door somewhere. Probably in the same place as the Tomcat and Hornet would make the most sense. I'm thinking of displaying this with one side bay open, showing an ASRAAM, and maybe one or both main bays open, with a JDAM and AMRAAM in each. I still can't decide whether or not to give it external fuel tanks. Chris Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChristopherC Posted February 16, 2009 Author Share Posted February 16, 2009 A few more pictures. I added some "stealthy" reinforcement plates to the horizontal stabilisers. Also added some diamond shaped panels to the wings. These could signify where underwing pylons attach, or just be access panels, whatever you like. I'll sand them down so that they're not so pronounced. I've also filled in some of the panel lines on the wings. Here are the vertical tails prior to being glued on. The rudder detail is scribed in. And here's a shot with the tails attached. Construction is pretty much done now, just have to sort out the landing gear and possibly external stores. In this angle you can also make out the new refueling probe door. Chris Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kingoalie Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Cool stuff Chris! How about using the nose landing gear from Dragon's F/A-18E kit? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sv51macross Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 This is a fantastic project! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TaiidanTomcat Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Cool stuff Chris! How about using the nose landing gear from Dragon's F/A-18E kit? I think thats a brilliant idea, most of the USNs aircraft have the twin wheel up front and i think its one of those things (like the Refuelling door you added -very cool BTW) that would add to it with subtlety. Great work! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChristopherC Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 Cool stuff Chris! How about using the nose landing gear from Dragon's F/A-18E kit? :wacko: Of course! I was planning on somehow doubling the nose wheels but I just remembered that each F/A-18E kit comes with two nose struts. So I do have something to use after all. I think I've still got a few useable F-14 nose wheel copies around as well. Chris Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChristopherC Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 I dry fitted the wheels to see what it looks like. The nose gear is a modified leg from a Dragon super hornet. Still have to add the catapult launch bar and the diagonal support behind the leg. Here's a couple of shots with primer on, just to check everything is filled nicely. There's a few things to fix up still before I start painting for real. And here's a shot with an unmodified trumpeter Raptor. I haven't been able to find equivalent RAN colours in Gunze, so I think I'll just make them up. I'm leaning towards gull grey for the lighter colour, and dark ghost grey for the darker one. Chris Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kingoalie Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Chris, It's coming along nicely. This picture almost reminds me of an F-111 for some reason. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 ^ :) Yeah, does indeed look "Aardvark"-ish... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
weirich1 Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Chris, great looking build . . . awesome drawing in your signatures Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor Supporter Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 Looking great! Keep it up. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChristopherC Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share Posted March 3, 2009 After a brief break I'm back. Been on overseas with no internet access (and diabolical 3G data rates), only to come back and find that ARC had imploded. Thank god it's back now. Anyway, some pictures. I've put on the major camouflage colours now. Light Gull Grey (H51) Masked with preshading Dark Ghost Grey (H307) and the masks removed. And a closeup of the tail, with the check pattern on the tip Thanks for the comments guys! Chris Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 ;) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChristopherC Posted March 4, 2009 Author Share Posted March 4, 2009 Did the weapons and gear bays today. Soon the decalling fun will commence! Chris Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor Supporter Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 Looking great there with those colors! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcat RIO Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 (edited) woweeee.. that's a nice camo scheme.. i think the HMAS austrailia and the CVX will definitely carry a few of these! Edited March 4, 2009 by Tomcat RIO Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Damn, I missed this thread! Now all is good I have caught up and you have done a great job! Will we see this on the Expo tables in June? :D I hate to steal your idea but I just happen to have a 1/72 Revell Raptor kit and some spare pig wings and yours looks so great I would love to reproduce it in 1/72 perhaps as a twin seater. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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