EF-2000 Typhoon, Revell 1/32: 3(F) Squadron, Operation ELLAMY

[kurnass77]

Marcel,

your Typhoon look superb already at this starting point,I can't imagine how look like when completed...

Gianni

[JMan]

WOW, Marcel another fine work in progress! I will be watching this one with much anticipation!

[Marcel111]

Thanks JMan, thanks Gianni!

Here is some progress:

I scratched the heat exchanger exhausts by:

1. Cutting out the clunky kit part to leave a void for the exhaust.

2. Measuring the circumference of the void.

3. Calculating the equivalent circle diamter.

4. Subtract ~1mm from that to select the appropriate brass tube size.

5. Squash the brass tube in a vice.

6. Add those little detail bit with plastic card.

Also, the intake is on the model:

Still looks pretty rough...

Marcel

Edited September 29, 2012 by Marcel111

[spike7451]

Nice work so far,however we (the RAF) do not use IRIS-T's & the LGB's are different than those used by other countries,especially the 1000lb ones that are an adaption of our standard 1000lb bomb & & a modified nose & tail section.The nose is particulary noticable as we use a MK960 MFBF (multi function bomb fuze)

I'm pretty sure AIM 120's weren't carried on Ellamy,but I'd have to check with a good friend who's an armourer on 6sqn now.

[JMan]

Great update. Excellent exhaust!

[Marcel111]

Thanks JMan!

Nice work so far,however we (the RAF) do not use IRIS-T's & the LGB's are different than those used by other countries,especially the 1000lb ones that are an adaption of our standard 1000lb bomb & & a modified nose & tail section.The nose is particulary noticable as we use a MK960 MFBF (multi function bomb fuze)

I'm pretty sure AIM 120's weren't carried on Ellamy,but I'd have to check with a good friend who's an armourer on 6sqn now.

Any additional info is always welcome, thx! I was initially going to build a GAF EF-2000, hence the Iris-T's.

The initial (A2A) RAF Ellamy loadout seems to have been 4x Aim-120's and 4x Asraam. Later, when they switched to A2G, the std loadout was a centerline Litening, 2xAsraam, 1x Aim-120 in the forward left recess, and either 2x or 4x 1000lb Enhanced Paveways. All of the above would be with 2x drop tanks.

I am now once again contemplating an A2G load just to make things more interesting, which means I'll have to modify the 1000lb Paveway that I have from the Revell Tornado kit.

Marcel

[spike7451]

Thanks JMan!

Any additional info is always welcome, thx! I was initially going to build a GAF EF-2000, hence the Iris-T's.

The initial (A2A) RAF Ellamy loadout seems to have been 4x Aim-120's and 4x Asraam. Later, when they switched to A2G, the std loadout was a centerline Litening, 2xAsraam, 1x Aim-120 in the forward left recess, and either 2x or 4x 1000lb Enhanced Paveways. All of the above would be with 2x drop tanks.

I am now once again contemplating an A2G load just to make things more interesting, which means I'll have to modify the 1000lb Paveway that I have from the Revell Tornado kit.

Marcel

If you need photo's of the paveways pm me.

[Marcel111]

Here is an update on this build. I have been slaving away at this but don't have any pretty results to show... but just to keep this thread alive I'll show some fairly ugly stuff.

Well, I really am proud of the heat exchanger exhaust, I sprayed it gray to see how it looks:

I have also done an about-face and decided to for an A2G load after all... that will mean 4x 1000lb Enhanced Paveways, plus 1x Aim-120, 2x Asraam and the usual drop tanks. So I had to cut out the requisite slots in the Aim-120 recesses:

And now for the intake. It is on the fuselarge, which counts for a lot. I cut out the forward grill so that I could replace it with the Eduard etch part. That results in a hole all the way to the inside of the intake. So I had to then fill the inside section of that hole with some platicard, lots of filler on the inside and then the etch part on the outside:

The front lip of the central divider is concave on the kit when in reality it is absolutely straight. I rectified that with some plastic card:

And now for the really ugly. The leading edge slats don't fit into the front lower side of the wing all that well. The fit should be perectly snug, have a look at this pic

Filled with superglue...

Sanded smooth...

Rescribing...

That's all for now.

Cheers,

Marcel

[JesniF-16]

Splendid work on the exchanger exhaust Marcel Your idea with the brass tube is just genius and the intakes on this build really look like a PITA to deal with, looks like a lot of putty and sanding involved... I bet all of the hard work will pay off after she's got some primer on...

/Jesse

Edited October 27, 2012 by JesniF-16

[Marcel111]

Splendid work on the exchanger exhaust Marcel Your idea with the brass tube is just genius and the intakes on this build really look like a PITA to deal with, looks like a lot of putty and sanding involved... I bet all of the hard work will pay off after she's got some primer on...

/Jesse

Thanks Jesse! The good news on this kit is that it is not over-engineered meaning the parts count is pretty low... so I am making some quick progress right now.

Marcel

[Marcel111]

Since I will be doing a mission-marked A2G configuration, I will need 4x British 1000lb Enhanced Paveways. Here's a reference link so you can check my work (still missing seeker head and front control surfaces) :unsure:

I have also dropped the flaps and raised the ailerons... Typhoons tend to do these kind of things when parked, with some variations e.g. flaps can be dropped, level or raised...

I have also started constructing the centerline pylon:

... and added the stiffener plate to the vertical tail:

And finally, a little help from Eduard:

One more thing: My Aires exhaust set had some mold issues, so I e-mailed David at Aires and got replacement parts within 5 days of sending the e-mail--how's that for awesome customer service!

Marcel

Edited November 9, 2012 by Marcel111

[tonal]

Looking really awesome Sr., great work on this bird I might add. Lots of putty, filler and sanding plus re-scribing to boot! Your attention to the little things have been a great resource for me, keep up the great work!

Tonal

[Marcel111]

Tonal, big thanks for your support, much appreciated!

Here are some update pics. I am really satisfied with how this project is coming along now, it may not look all that pretty just yet but the basics are starting to really come together.

Thanks for looking!

:cheers:/>/>

Marcel

[Harold]

You are doing some amazing work so far. I will be following it as you work your way through a tough build.

Thanks for taking the time posting your progress.

Harold

[chuck540z3]

Excellent work as always Marcel! I recently spoke with a modeling friend who is a very, very skilled modeler and he built this same kit. "The worst kit I have ever tried to assemble", he told me. Now I'm REALLY impressed with your work so far. :thumbsup:/>

[erikztm]

I found this picture of the pod with its internals. You can even make out what looks to be that hole on the bottom one though the purpose eludes me, other then filling up the pod nicely with rain water. Are you sure it's not an antenna?

Edited December 16, 2012 by erikztm

[JesniF-16]

Marcel, everything looks really really nice! The intake grills really turned out perfect... great job :worship:/>

/Jesse

[Marcel111]

Thanks Harold, Chuck, Erik, Jesse!

Harold, couldn't do this one without you :salute:/> ... yet again!

Chuck, that really is encouragement! Especially the intake on this kit is a nighmare, but I think I have most of the tough work behind me now, so let the fun begin!

Erik, thanks for those pics, very useful. Those "holes" are definitely there, look closely at top views of Typhoons and you'll see them. This is the best close-up I have found of them but I still don't really see what goes on inside. I only noticed these after I assembled those pods, cutting them out was easy, filling them with whatever goes inside will be tricky.

:cheers:/>

Marcel

[erikztm]

Even in this large scale, you could probably get away with just blackening the insides. It looks like there's a ram-air intake on the underside of that compartiment, blowing cooling air in that vents out through the top hole slightly more to the rear of the compartiment. The intake will double as a drain pipe and the hole will probably be covered up on the ground.

A better picture:

[John Wolstenholme]

Hi Marcel, looks as/more challenging than a Trumpeter kit. Nice touch with the Al tip to the radome – done by hand or on a lathe (someone else)?

Looks like testing times what you are doing and succeedind with the intakes. I see the kit has only partial intake trunkings which a normal mortal would deal with by intake blanks.

The Eduard intake PE certainly added nice detail. So how did you attach it without filling in all the perforations?

Just a thought to protect your inlets/vents etc. I cover them with Tamiya tape (something low tack) which [a] keeps crap out and they are then flush with fuselage so as not to catch and break bits off.

The Dremel Mini Mite looks a bit grunty. What is the lowest available speed?

Thanks for making me look like a speed builder. :D/>

Best Wishes for Xmas.

John

[Marcel111]

Hi Marcel, looks as/more challenging than a Trumpeter kit. Nice touch with the Al tip to the radome – done by hand or on a lathe (someone else)?

Looks like testing times what you are doing and succeedind with the intakes. I see the kit has only partial intake trunkings which a normal mortal would deal with by intake blanks.

The Eduard intake PE certainly added nice detail. So how did you attach it without filling in all the perforations?

Just a thought to protect your inlets/vents etc. I cover them with Tamiya tape (something low tack) which [a] keeps crap out and they are then flush with fuselage so as not to catch and break bits off.

The Dremel Mini Mite looks a bit grunty. What is the lowest available speed?

Thanks for making me look like a speed builder. />

Best Wishes for Xmas.

John

Ha, I constantly ask myself if this is easier or harder than my Trumpeter Flanker. On the plus side, shape accuracy is there, unlike most Trumpeter kits. On the other hand, the basic quality is at times not much better than the Revell 60’s vintage Mirage I built a while ago.

I produced the Al tip from Al rod, ground it to shape with that same Dremel, using a grinding disk. The whole affair doesn’t take more than 10 minutes.

Intakes: Apart from lacking any meaningful trunking, the splitter plate has raised detail to represent the perforations—a total no-no. The Eduard perforated plate is made for the Trumpeter kit, so getting it to fit on the Revel kit was quite a challenge—needless to say the Revell and Trumpeter dimensions are totally different. As for using the PE grille part, I bent it to shape around an appropriately sized piece of tubing and then glued it in with CA (before gluing it in a set in a piece of plastic card so that when I filled in the hole from the inside it wouldn’t run into the vent). Great minds think alike… I masked off the vent before using putty to fill seams.

Can’t remember what the min setting was on that Dremel… I have since gotten a new and different one (had to since I moved from the U.S. to Switzerland).

“Speedbuilderâ€â€¦ Ouch! In my defence I will say that I did a Trumpeter Su-27 in the mean time and also moved the family and myself across the Atlantic.

Big thanks for the pics, very valuable, both from the perspective of seeing what goes on underneath the canopy and also how weathered Typhoons get.

Merry Christmas!

Cheers,

Marcel

[Youngtiger1]

Nice to see this is still advancing with some sharp detail work. Btw, l know you are building Su-27, but holy molly, you have your hands full with several large projects going all at once :jaw-dropping:/> I wish I has space and time to do similar. Keep up the good work.

Mike

[Marcel111]

Nice to see this is still advancing with some sharp detail work. Btw, l know you are building Su-27, but holy molly, you have your hands full with several large projects going all at once I wish I has space and time to do similar. Keep up the good work.

Mike

Thanks Mike! Fortunately, my Flanker is now finished :banana:/>/>/>/>

Here is an update on the instrument coaming and HUD work. First off, the bad:

Fortunately I dry-fitted the windscreen and it didn't fit over the Aires instrument coaming at all. I found this to be pretty odd since all of the latest-released stuff from Aires seems to fit absolutely perfectly. On further inspection I found that the cockpit set I have been using was the version designed for the Trumpeter kit... so either I must have accidentlly ordered the wrong set, or I was shipped the wrong set. After a whole bunch of swearing and then sanding and then re-introducing detail, I got everything to fit. I am still somewhat amazed that I got the cockpit as well as the set behind the seat to fit the Revell kit when they were made for the Trumpeter kit.

The HUD has kept me busy the last three days. I stuck some appropriately-cut iridescent bow to the HUD glass from the Aires set (this process is often times referred to as the Guy'esian wide-angle holographic HUD method). It was pretty fiddly to cut to shape perfectly. I initially tried to glue the iridescent piece to the Aires piece with Future, but it wouldn't hold. So I ended up using Kristal Klear, which worked well. It takes forever to dry, in fact if you look at the pics below you'll notice an opaque spot in the center of the HUD glass where the Kristal Klear has still not entirely dried.

On my F-15E I just used the iridescent material as-is.

However the Typhoon HUD glass is very thick and there is hardly any framing around it, so this wouldn't have been ok... I guess my standards have also just changed...

The Typhoon HUD stands a little more vertical than most other HUDs. And here is the nice geen reflection...

Thanks for looking,

Marcel

[geedubelyer]

Hi Marcel, Happy New Year.

Excellent work on the HUD. It looks just about perfect.

I'm glad you got around the issue with the different sized resin. That could have been a problem. Good job.

[JesniF-16]

Wow, great job on the HUD Marcel. Looks perfect :sunrevolves:/> I wouldn't mind finding yer thread on the Strike Eagle either :hmmm:/> That baby looks perfect as well....

/Jesse