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Academy 1:48 F-111F Aardvark


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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.

Wow; Really?!!

Will definitely note that for future reference as well. Thanks for sharing.

Which model and what were the discrepancies? dimensions? Shape(s)?

Your thread is really becoming an awesome source for 'Vark tech 271.gif !

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Which model and what were the discrepancies? dimensions? Shape(s)?

The Hobbyboss cradle and bay doors are basically fanfiction, discard if you care a weeee bit about accuracy.

This is the template u used for the weapons bay sidewalls. Their taken from an F-111 T.O.

Nimrod, Excellent looking F-111C :)/> Ever think of producing resin set of that bomb bay, pave tack cradle, and bay doors? I would have been interested :)/> BTW, which Pave tack pod did you use? I was thinking about cutting the kit pod and turning it 90 degrees.

Edited by Benner
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The Hobbyboss cradle and bay doors are basically fanfiction, discard if you care a weeee bit about accuracy.

Does that mean my Eduard PE set for the weapons bay area is also fanfiction BANGHEAD2.jpg ?!!

Is the exterior dimensions of the weapons bay doors accurate?

If I want to have the weapons bay doors open (And not worry about interior bay details/accuracy), will I still have to scratch-build said doors? This concerns me because many of my reference pics of the SAC 'Vark shows the weapons bay doors wide open.

Man; I'll have to pull my HB out of the stash along with my 'Vark references and start going over the weapons bay.

Is the Scaledown wings a more accurate representation of the real deal?

My plan for the HB FB-111A is to build the a/c parked with wings in take off mode (Everything hanging out) with the starboard side of the fuselage having many panels open including WSO's canopy and FOD cover on. In contrast the port side of the fuselage will be all buttoned up. The SAC 'Vark will also have four drop tanks mounted as well.

Basically, I'll be building two dioramas: One side being worked on and inspected while the other side will be buttoned up and look like a 'Vark! I'll have one side of the diorama facing forward, and when I want a different view I'll just turn the diorama 90* and I'll have the opposite side of said 'Vark face forward.

I plan on using Scaledown FB-111A drop tanks, heavy wheels set, afterburner cans, and pylons. With your wing flap accuracy tip, I may end up picking up their long span wings set as well.

Thanks for providing more insight to the 'Vark's model issues.

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Nimrod77,

Most impressive scratch building of the weapons bay, and wheel wells. I'm taking notes, and saving pictures as needed for my sooner then later build of a early F-111. For starters, I'll be using the Academy kit and not the Hobby Boss kit.

Joel

Edited by Joel_W
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I'm glad that the references are helping you all. I worked on F-111s for many years so accuracy was important to me.

The pod I used was from flightpath in the UK. It's lovely and gem like BUT it is slightly over scale. It comes with some etch to give you a starting point to create a cradle as well.

I used the scale down wings in my build and the are much more accurate than the HB wings BUT are exspencive. You can get them from OZ MODS here in Australia. Don't bother looking at the Oz Mods Pavetack pod. It's rubbish.

The scale down wheels are OK. I used them but the resin art wheels are better detailed. The scale down nose wheels are slightly over scale too.

I don't have a HB kit to check the weapons bay doors sorry. Of you have a picture I could tell you.

I didn't cast all the parts I made but a friend did cast the weapons bay it self...

IMAG2029_zpsdnscmdqv.jpg

Edited by nimrod77
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Does that mean my Eduard PE set for the weapons bay area is also fanfiction BANGHEAD2.jpg ?!!

Is the exterior dimensions of the weapons bay doors accurate?

If I want to have the weapons bay doors open (And not worry about interior bay details/accuracy), will I still have to scratch-build said doors?

Is the Scaledown wings a more accurate representation of the real deal?

I haven't seen the Eduard PE for the weapons bay so I can't comment on that either. Keep in mind my comments are towards a F-111 with a PaveTack.

looking at the Flightpath PE, PT2 shows you what the cradle should look like from below. The Hobbyboss one is shaped wrong, and therefore the doors are shaped wrong too.

If you're building a F-111 without a cradle, the doors just need some minor work to be accurate.

As far as I know, if you want the regular doors, you have to cut the doors roughly in half down the length and kinda fold them together slightly. Like what is shown here http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/albums/F-111-A8-271/F_111_A8_271_Bomb_Bay_Open.sized.jpg

I'll defer to Nimrod about the Scaledown wings :)

Looking good so far. Shame you aren't doing the flaps and slats as they look great on a Vark.

I've built two of them with the flaps and slats out so I decided to do something different. Also, most of my reference pictures of F-111Fs in Saudi Arabia show them parked with wings partially swept.

IMG_2490_zps5aca64a2.jpg

IMG_3110_zps3e6b9d14.jpg

The scale down wheels are OK. I used them but the resin art wheels are better detailed. The scale down nose wheels are slightly over scale too.

That is surprising about the Scaledown wheels. I have them and the Resin Art wheels. Originally I was going to use the Resin Art wheels on my Raven but I found the nose wheels to interfere with my nose gear so I went with Scaledown which had a shorter vertical height. So, I ended setting those wheels aside for the Scaledown set.

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Really? Well I'll be. The impression I had from all was that the Resin Art wheels were bang on. I stand corrected. The scale down wheels were good FWIW. The main wheels make a big improvement. I guess I'm used to aftermarket details to be top notch now.... I think in there age of 3D printing we ask get a bit spoilt 😌

For instance the Black bird wheels from fisher models are amazing. Even the text on the tyres can be read!

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This is what comes with the flight path Pavetack pod

DSC04617.jpg

Something else to be aware of is the kids gear is moulded as if there was no air in the strut making the noise of the aircraft sit low. You can fix this by cutting the gear at the point shown here..

13copy.jpg

That's what I did amongst other things here in my build..

IMG_2413.jpg

I hope you don't mind me coming in here Benner... I'll stop if you want me to 👍😁

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As a personal note, having the slats and flaps in the open position does add that "little something extra" to the finished model one usually doesn't see. I did the same on my A-6E build.

Joel

Edited by Joel_W
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Nice build! Watching this one! Don't forget about the 4 vents in front of the mlg door. I believe the F and EF varients were the only ones to have these. Not sure where to get these though? Does anybody cast these? I would be interested in buying a couple of sets! Keep up the great work!!!

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Nice build! Watching this one! Don't forget about the 4 vents in front of the mlg door. I believe the F and EF varients were the only ones to have these. Not sure where to get these though? Does anybody cast these? I would be interested in buying a couple of sets! Keep up the great work!!!

The EF-111 vents are included in the kit, unfortunately, for the F-111F they have to be scratch built.

Just about ready to close the front fuselage. The cockpit still needs another part but I can still add that later. The box in front of the Black Box cockpit is the old nose landing gear bay filled with fishing weights.

28ti3on.jpg

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Really? Well I'll be. The impression I had from all was that the Resin Art wheels were bang on. I stand corrected. The scale down wheels were good FWIW. The main wheels make a big improvement. I guess I'm used to aftermarket details to be top notch now.... I think in there age of 3D printing we ask get a bit spoilt 😌

For instance the Black bird wheels from fisher models are amazing. Even the text on the tyres can be read!

To be honest, I don't know which wheel set is more accurate. Although I knew about the problem with the nose landing gear, I choose not to fix it, partially because I was using the SAC metal landing gear. The problem with the Resin Art nose wheel was that it is slightly larger than the Scaledown wheel and was touching the gear parts above the wheel. The Resin Art nose wheels are nicer though.

Here's a pic of all the wheels together. First, the original kit wheel. The next two are the wheels in the F-111C boxing; two types are provided. The nice part about these wheels is that the hub is molded separately so painting them would be easy. Next on the second row is the Resin Art wheel, followed by the Scaledown wheel. I noticed the center of the wheel hub on each is a different size.

34i4eqc.jpg

I hope you don't mind me coming in here Benner... I'll stop if you want me to 👍😁

It's useful F-111 stuff so you're all good ;)

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Thanks for the pic Benner.

The most accurate hub for an F-111C/FB-111A/F-111G is actually the new tool Academy wheels (top row, second from the left), followed by the scale down wheels. The only thing I can see that might be wrong in the Aca wheels is the diameter of the hub might be to small.

The resin art wheels look right for an F-111A/D/E/F so for your build I would go with them IMHO.

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Benner,

just to confuse you totally: Have you seen the Northstar wheels (link)? They certainly look fantastic. Northstar offers 2 different sets: single piece units and multi-part sets so you can paint the hubs separately.

Looking forward to watching this build of one of my favorite planes. :thumbsup:/>

Cheers,

Joerg

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Benner,

just to confuse you totally: Have you seen the Northstar wheels (link)? They certainly look fantastic. Northstar offers 2 different sets: single piece units and multi-part sets so you can paint the hubs separately.

Looking forward to watching this build of one of my favorite planes. :thumbsup:/>/>

Cheers,

Joerg

Oh they DO look nice :)

Too bad they don't do a heavy duty wheels or I would grab a set for my F-111G....

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.... 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....

Very interesting but what do you mean?

Can you elaborate on the accuracy of the flap vanes?

Edited by galfa
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Very interesting but what do you mean?

Can you elaborate on the accuracy of the flap vanes?

compare this http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/f111indetailjr_3_files/image006.jpg

with the Hobbyboss kit flap vanes (at the very bottom) http://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/kits/hb/images/hb_80348_parts03.jpg

you can see that the actual flap vanes are larger closer to the fuselage and get smaller further out on the wing.

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Benner,

just to confuse you totally: Have you seen the Northstar wheels (link)? They certainly look fantastic. Northstar offers 2 different sets: single piece units and multi-part sets so you can paint the hubs separately.

Looking forward to watching this build of one of my favorite planes. :thumbsup:/>/>/>

Cheers,

Joerg

very nice, I didn't know about them. If I build another f-111 in the future I would definitely consider them. :)/> Unfortunately, I am kinda lacking room for models these days.

So here's is how my model looks now:

2h2i05t.jpg

just about ready to glue the two fuselage halves together. You can see three new pieces in the F-111C boxing not included in the original, the KB-18 strike camera and compass sail atenna on the underside of the nose (there are more antenna parts I will glue later), and the fuselage pylon which I think looks better than the Verlinden resin offering. I've also applied putty along the fuselage and section the stabilzers attach to in order to represent a smooth join. At the front of the rear half, I have styrene strip acting as a beam to stretch the fuselage so there isn't a horrible step between the rear and front halves.

Edited by Benner
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