Pappy121 Posted March 8, 2014 Author Share Posted March 8, 2014 G'day people, Now that my wheels have arrived, nothing is holding me back from working on the undercarriage units. I have been mucking around with the nose gear unit today. Unfortunately I did not take any progress pics as I was too busy working on the item. Tamiya have captured the complex shape of the nose gear unit but it can still stand to be improved a little. The drag brace should have a short open section where it connects to the nose gear strut. I started by removing the representation of the drag brace actuator and chain drilling until I had the makings of a slot. This was cleaned up with files and a new drag brace actuator made from a short section of plastic rod. The nose wheel steering unit has a rectangle shaped piece of plastic on top of it. I cut this off and replaced it with several section of round stock more or less resembling my references. To these, I then added some pre-bent sections of copper wire. The scissor links were cut off and replaced with finer items supplied in the Edaurd PE set. The job of adding various electrical and hydraulic lines was then begun. Once all of these were added 9or as many as I could manage!), the landing light was added. The straps that hold all these cables and tubes onto the strut were made from fine slices of lead foil, The final touch was the small section of square sstock to represent the towing link. I had a little left so I made a start on the main gear units. I have cut off the scissor links in preparation for their Eduard replacements. the unit on the left has also had the moulded on tie-down ring sanded off. The main gear units are more of a blank canvas and will need some plumbing and cables added to them to make them look more convincing, cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted March 9, 2014 Author Share Posted March 9, 2014 G'day people, A small update today. I have finished detailing the undercarriage units. Various details were added using scrap plastic, lead foil, lead wire and some PE components compliments of teh Eduard PE set. I also added some PE details to the main undercariage rear doors. The PE set provides some very small hinges to replace the solid lumps moulded onto the doors. They were lots of fun to fold up! The PE set also supplies replacement hinges. I have decided not to use these for a couple of reasons.The firstreason is that as is, the kit parts fit very well with excellent alignment. The replacement hinges may upset that and even a small mis-alignment would be noticeable. Secondly, strength. The PE hinges will have very little contact surface area and would be prone to breakage. The current hinges are moulded onto the door and would be quite robust. This is an important consideration when I need to transport the kit. I have also sanded off the kit hinge detail on the nose gear door. I will need to restore some electrical cable details that were destroyed in the process. I think I will add the hinges after the jet is painted as the door, now devoid of its hinge details, is a perfect mask for the nose gear bay contents, cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Check Six Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 Very clean work you're doing there, mate ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
USMC6094 Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 thats a great looking build and its coming along nicely Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted March 12, 2014 Author Share Posted March 12, 2014 Very clean work you're doing there, mate ! G'day C6, Anyone who likes F-111's is okay in my book! thats a great looking build and its coming along nicely Thanks very much! G'day people, I have painted up the gear but I still need to find some sort of generic setncilling for the undercarriage legs, there are plenty of them. Incidentally, there is a business opportunity for all you decal manufacturers out there, nobody makes a sheet of dedicated or generic undercarriage data decals. This would be a great help for detailing as most modern aircraft have heaps of servicing decals applied to their gear legs, hydraulic actuators etc. I apologise fro the crap pics, I am no photographer! I have started to get other parts of teh airframe ready. I have assembled the 'ruddervons'and used sprue glue to fill in the gaps. The ruddervon bases were assembled earlier and the sprue glue has been sanded back, eliminating any traces of teh seams cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
USMC6094 Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 (edited) man even as model, a dirty Air Force bird is still one clean airplane that landing gear is beautiful Edited March 12, 2014 by USMC6094 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted March 15, 2014 Author Share Posted March 15, 2014 man even as model, a dirty Air Force bird is still one clean airplane that landing gear is beautiful Thanks very much, G'day people, The undercarriage units are inching closer to completion. I have applied some data placard decals to the u/c units and although the are a little undersized, I think that they really set them off. The addition of the Eduard PE light bezels adds the final touch, The gear test fitted to make sure that the paint has not created any new fit problems, , cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted March 16, 2014 Author Share Posted March 16, 2014 G'day people, A small update today. The Royale Resin wheels have been painted up but they are only dry fitted in these pics. The front wheel is ultra clean as my reference pics show this to be the case. I would like to add some wash to pop out the wheel bolts but I do not want to overdo the effect, I will need to think on that one. The main gear units are a no brainer as the lower wheel hub area behind the brake disc is dirty, even on a well maintained jet due to the brake and rubber dust generated upon upon landing. The landing light bezels are hard to photograph as my camera wants to focus on other stuff (even in macro) Some more details have been added to the goobers. I have added a pair of cartridge retainers to the bomb rack and some of the details on the goobers were picked out as well as applying a general wash and light drybrush. cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Skinny_Mike Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Great looking build pappy. Your landing gear are works of art! Keep up the good work. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Check Six Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Beautiful work on the landing gear . I especially like what you did on the Lady-beetle. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted March 16, 2014 Author Share Posted March 16, 2014 Beautiful work on the landing gear . I especially like what you did on the Lady-beetle. See, this is why they say you should not work with children or animals! cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beaconroot Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 Awesome work Pappy! Cannot wait to see the final product. Jim Root Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted March 23, 2014 Author Share Posted March 23, 2014 Awesome work Pappy! Cannot wait to see the final product. Jim Root G'day Jim, Thanks very much, unfortunately I am away from the bench for a little while due to work commitmemts so I won't be able to make any more progress until I return, cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted May 21, 2014 Author Share Posted May 21, 2014 (edited) G'day people, I have managed to get back to the bench and do a little more work on project Gobby. The position of the rear GBU-27 tail arming lanyard position for the right hand bomb kept gnawing at me. As depicted in the kit stores, both of the bombs are identical. the problem I had was that this means that there would be very little room for the armourers to fit the rear lanyard on the right hand bomb as the weapons bay door would restrict access. There is a picture (page 34) in the Squadron Signal F-1117A Walkaround monograph that depicts a GBU-27 being walked over to the jet to be loaded onto the right hand station. Interestingly, the tail arming lanyard seems to be on the opposite side of the left hand bomb, i.e at the 3 o'clock position instead of the 9 o'clock position when viewed from the rear. So it would seem I have two choices; Ignore it Fix it! Here is my choice I cut off the rear aerofoil group and re-attached it 180 degrees from the original position so that the right hand bomb is now a mirror image of the left hand bomb. I also decided that I wanted one bomb fully loaded and the second in the process of being loaded. The laser guided GBU family of bombs are loaded is stages. The bomb body and tail aerofoil group are loaded as one unit. The seeker head (CCG) is then attached to the loaded bomb using some screws and the arming lanyards for the various bits are then attached. Once this is completed, the steering fins for the CCG are finally installed. I want my CCG to be in the process of being inspected, having just been removed from its transport container. For this to happen I had to saw off the kit CCG which is moulded integrally. I also need to hollow out the inside to represent the gizzards inside the CCG. So I made a resin cast of the CCG using a GBU-27 from a friend's F-1117A kit. The front of the bomb didn't escape either as it was also hollowed out to represent the mating collar to which the CCG is attached. I have also succumbed to peer pressure and will now fill in most of the wing and fuselage panel lines. I was hoping that a few applications of Mr Surfacer 500 would suffice but this approach still leaves faint traces of the panel lines which are just not visible on the real deal. If I had left them, it would most likely annoy me every time I looked at the kit so........... Here is the lower fuselage having the fist of several coats of Mr Surfacer 500 applied Yecchhh! Here is the upper fuselage after several coats and progressive sanding I have adding the Eduard PE screens. Most of the PE set is surplus as I elected to use the Aires cockpit and weapons bay sets, but the PE set still provides some useful external details which the kit lacks, cheers, Pappy Edited May 21, 2014 by Pappy121 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wolfgun33 Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 Wow! You detail work is incredible!! Very nice work! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beaconroot Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Hey Pappy you ever finish this one? Really like to see it finished. Just checking. Jim Root Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted December 27, 2016 Author Share Posted December 27, 2016 4 hours ago, Beaconroot said: Hey Pappy you ever finish this one? Really like to see it finished. Just checking. Jim Root G'day Jim, it is n the queue, but not near the front. I see that you are following this. When I get back to it, I will post in this WIP, so you will know when I am workin' on her again, cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
A-10 LOADER Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Glad to hear this news Pappy, I'll be looking forward to your return to this project. Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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