Benner Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 (edited) Starting a thread for my next build. Am using the Academy F-111C kit to build a F-111F. I choose to use the F-111C kit because it has been updated with some improvements. I am using parts from a scrapped Hobbyboss EF-111A kit for the wings and bomb bay. Aftermarket I'm using: -Ozmods wheels -Dmold "TPII" intakes -Verliinden F-111F update set -will probably get the BlackBox cockpit, wished I could still get the Paragon exhausts. Will probably build 70-2370 using the Afterburner decal sheet. Load out will be four GBU-10 bombs, no Sidewinders, an AQL-131, and the AN/AVQ-26 Pave Tack Edited December 8, 2014 by Benner Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Benner Posted November 28, 2014 Author Share Posted November 28, 2014 started this build with the Hobbyboss wings. The model will be depicted as a parked plane so the wings will be partially swept back, slats and flaps in. The Hobbyboss kit parts have rivets all over; I'm sanding them away so the look will match the Academy kit which doesn't have any rivets. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nimrod77 Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 Interested in how this turns out! I'll be watching. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aigore Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 Soooo nice! Great start Benner, really feel the vark love on ARC :D Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Benner Posted December 2, 2014 Author Share Posted December 2, 2014 nearly done one wing .. here the Hobbyboss wing is test fitted with the upper fuselage of the Academy kit at the approximate wing sweep I want to depict. As shown on the underside of the other wing, Hobbyboss has holes for the pylons to represent either a wing fully swept or full forward. So, these holes were filled, and used the Academy F-111C placed against the Hobbyboss wing so to mark a hole for the wing pylons swivel point. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
polybebber Posted December 2, 2014 Share Posted December 2, 2014 wished I could still get the Paragon exhausts. Contact me offboard, I can help. Lothar Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nimrod77 Posted December 2, 2014 Share Posted December 2, 2014 Wouldn't it have been easier to get a set of Academy short wings instead of the HB one's? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Benner Posted December 2, 2014 Author Share Posted December 2, 2014 Wouldn't it have been easier to get a set of Academy short wings instead of the HB one's? yes, but I doubted anyone is willing to scrap an Academy kit to give me the wings. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
A-10 LOADER Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 My personal favorite version of the F-111 family. I have the Academy kit, with extras, so I'll be watching and following along. Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Benner Posted December 8, 2014 Author Share Posted December 8, 2014 Almost done with the wings. Thought I would compare the old kit parts with the updated parts of the F-111C kit as I build this model. Here is the new forward gear bay on the left, and the original on the right. I'm still going to use the original bay as I intend to fill it with weights and place it in the nose. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aigore Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 (edited) Noice! You wouldn't mind telling about the updates made in the "C" kit? Edited December 8, 2014 by Aigore Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Benner Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 (edited) Noice! You wouldn't mind telling about the updates made in the "C" kit? Sure thing, I'll show them as I come across them for the build, but I'll mainly just list them. Keep in mind this boxing is to represent F-111C before they were taken out of service -the front fuselage halfs have the alpha probe molded on, as is the little raised detail forward and lower of that probe. In earlier boxings, that raised detail was a recessed panel box with an "X". -the topside fuselage has a couple molded details which I will remove for the F-111F, I think it's a GPS in place of the old retractable nav light? I'm no expert on F-111C -new Pave Tack pod, it is only a partial pod as it only shows the exposed portion, but it's the nicest pod out there (I have it turned to hide the lens in this pic) things I will be using: -has the underside nose details included, KB-18 strike camera, Compass Sail antenna, beta probe, new UHF/Tacan antenna, temp. probe, etc.. -new forward gear bay and forward landing gear -wing pylons have recessed holes indicating where to drill to fit missile rails (not a big difference but what the heck, I will make use of it) -sway braces for the pylons -fuselage pylon for ECM pod (will probably use the Verlinden one instead) -metal pitot tube -complete decal sheet with lots of stencils, will use the black stencil decals as the plane I am building had black stencils and not the green / brown ones on the Afterburner decal sheet. things I won't be using -new wheels -ECM dispensers for the F-111C, other atennas, etc. -new control columns and instrument panel for the cockpit -a big sprue of weapons, including missiles, ecm pod, GBU-28, etc. -new cover for the wing glove (the spot the wing slides into the fuselage) Edited December 9, 2014 by Benner Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Check Six Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Yes; Another 'Vark build ! ! Will definitely be following this badboy. Let me know if you have any 'Vark tech questions. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Benner Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 fuselage has been cut to fit the Dmold intakes but I won't be putting them on until much later. The outline of the bomb bay has been cut and here is the lower fuselage with a dry fit of the Hobbyboss bomb bay. I thought about only cutting out the outer doors of the bomb bay and leaving the outline of the pave tack cradle but I decided it would be easier to build the cradle cut off from the fuselage and glued on later. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Benner Posted December 14, 2014 Author Share Posted December 14, 2014 the wings have been glued on and the rear fuselage glued together along with a few other parts. when dryfitting the fin, noticed there was a bend in at the base of the fin that will need fixing [ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Benner Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 For comparison, here are the various cockpits out there. first, the original IP. Second, the improved kit F-111C IP next, the Verlinden F-111F update set IP, which represents a F-111E IP then, the Blackbox F-111F piece which looks the most accurate to me. and here are the three cockpits without gluing all the tiny pieces on Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nimrod77 Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 I used the Black Box set in my F-111C which I modified to suit. Something to be aware of is the black box glare shield is over size. I had to trim it down to fit under the windshield by grinding away below it where it meets the cockpit tub. Depending on your aircraft, the water bottles behind the outboard shoulder of each aircrew is missing from the black box tub as well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
F-104nut Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Off to a awesome start and looking really sweet. I love what you have going on her. We was at RAF Lakenheath from 83-86 . My dad was crew chief on the F-111 with the 493rd TFS. I will be following this build. Keep up the awesome work :) Cheers Brian P.S. Seeing your build brings back awesome memories of being over there. I loved the tree years we was there :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Check Six Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 (edited) Your build's is coming along very nicely! Have you decided which cockpit you're going to use? For Christmas I got two more F-111s: An Academy FB-111A and Academy EF-111A. BTW; I have a set of DMold 'Vark intakes. I dry-fit them on my Hobby Boss FB-111A to see if they'll work. After a second or two of grinding, they fit rather well. I will have to use styrene strips of a specific thickness to space the intakes out a little more from the fuselage but otherwise they'll fit great! As soon as DMold restocks the 'Vark intakes I'll be ordering twelve more for my other F-111s in my stash. Edited December 31, 2014 by Check Six Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Benner Posted January 2, 2015 Author Share Posted January 2, 2015 (edited) Something to be aware of is the black box glare shield is over size. I had to trim it down to fit under the windshield by grinding away below it where it meets the cockpit tub. Depending on your aircraft, the water bottles behind the outboard shoulder of each aircrew is missing from the black box tub as well. Thanks for the tip. I did notice the detail about the water bottles; I'm going to drill a couple of holes to represent the space for holding the bottles. I might use the Verlinden PE for the ECS vents too. Have you decided which cockpit you're going to use? BTW; I have a set of DMold 'Vark intakes. I dry-fit them on my Hobby Boss FB-111A to see if they'll work. After a second or two of grinding, they fit rather well. I will have to use styrene strips of a specific thickness to space the intakes out a little more from the fuselage but otherwise they'll fit great! As soon as DMold restocks the 'Vark intakes I'll be ordering twelve more for my other F-111s in my stash. I decided the Blackbox cockpit was the best. I did use the control columns from the Verlinden set as I was missing parts for the control columns with my BlackBox set. Interesting about the Dmold intakes and the Hobbyboss kit. Though If I build more Aardvarks I will likely stick to the Academy kit still. Here's how my cockpit looks so far. I had to cut away resin at the bottom of the set to fit with the new Academy nose gear bay. I also removed resin at the lower rear of the set to allow clearance with the Hobbyboss bomb bay I used. Below the resin cockpit is the updated control columns on their sprue; beside is the original kit control colum. Quite a difference... Edited January 2, 2015 by Benner Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Benner, Once again I'll be following one of your F-111 builds, this time it's the F-111F. While I know little of modern jets, as I've been a prop modeler most of my life, over the last year I've started splitting my modeling time equally between the two. I try follow certain jet builds where I know that I'll learn something about the real aircraft as well as specifics in modeling techniques to achieve that accuracy. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nimrod77 Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 (edited) Though If I build more Aardvarks I will likely stick to the Academy kit still. I would too. The Academy kit is a much better starting point to get an accurate F-111 than the HB kit even with all the HB bells and whistles, the Aca kit has a better shape & correct canopy/windshield shape. The flaps vanes on the HB kit are to square (they should taper towards the tip of the wings), engine exhausts have only 5 supports when they should have 6.... Edited January 2, 2015 by nimrod77 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Benner Posted January 2, 2015 Author Share Posted January 2, 2015 I would too. The Academy kit is a much better starting point to get an accurate F-111 than the HB kit even with all the HB bells and whistles, the Aca kit has a better shape & correct canopy/windshield shape. The flaps vanes on the HB kit are to square (they should taper towards the tip of the wings), engine exhausts have only 5 supports when they should have 6.... When I was researching kit pros / cons between the kits, the canopy issue was easy to spot but thanks to you and MrVark I learned about the other issues. At the beginning of this build, I was going to use the Pave Tack cradle from Hobbyboss until I realized how horrible it and the bomb bay doors are; into the trash they went. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nimrod77 Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Yeah, I scratch built a weapons bay for my pig. Wasn't too hard to be honest... Have a look at my old build and you can see what I mean if your interested. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Check Six Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 I would too. The Academy kit is a much better starting point to get an accurate F-111 than the HB kit even with all the HB bells and whistles, the Aca kit has a better shape & correct canopy/windshield shape. The flaps vanes on the HB kit are to square (they should taper towards the tip of the wings), engine exhausts have only 5 supports when they should have 6.... Oh; Will definitely make note for future reference of your observations! Thanks for sharing. I knew about the HB windscreen/canopy issue. Since my HB FB-111A build will have canopies open, it will be harder to spot. The flaps and exhaust issues are new to me, though. What screams out to me regarding inaccuracy involves both Academy and HB: Both models represent ONLY the early F-111s (A/B/C/) via the fuselage width at the engine intakes. F-111D/E/F/G/FB-111A had the triple plow II AND the intakes were moved approx. 5"/127mm outward from the fuselage for a total of about a 12"/305mm gap (Between fuselage and inner intake wall). From the vertical side of the fuselage starting at the intake and moving back to the front of the horizontal stab., there should be a deep half 'coke bottle' curve caused by the engineers moving the intakes out almost 5". I only have a few reference pictures that clearly shows this. My son and I visited March AFB this past Summer specifically so I could see the FB-111A on display there. Seeing it in person and close up, that half coke bottle curve/shape REALLY sticks out! What I failed to do was measure how far our the outer intake fuselage wall was from the fuselage wall just in front of the HS . The Academy and HB F-111D/E/F/G/FB-111A, as well as the DMold intakes, doesn't accurately represent the 12" (Or in 1/48th scale: .250") boundary layer space between the fuselage and intake. I think I can safely assume, if the intake lips are dimensionally accurate, if you move the intakes outward for proper gap dimension the half coke bottle curve/intake sticking out would be accurate as well. In summary; The half coke bottle curve/intakes sticking out is a really prominent feature on the later F-111s. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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