Jump to content

Recommended Posts

The rear bulkhead of the cockpit is done too. The two hydraulics moving the canopy are in their imaginary position. I decided to go the easy way - with holes in the bulkhead where the hydraulics will slide in when the canopy is closed. I tried but I can't make them retractable realistically. At least it's a solution this way too. This is (almost) the kit part:

 

IMG-20191018-135647.jpg

 

IMG-20191018-135734.jpg

 

And the ready bulkhead:

 

IMG-20191019-120334.jpg

 

IMG-20191019-120429-002.jpg

 

IMG-20191019-120357.jpg

 

Now I'm making thorough modifications of the side frames of the cockpit and more on that soon. 🙂 cheers!

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Next up - the cockpit side frames. This is how thin they were oob - the first pic is zoomed to see what exact part of the side frame I mean:

 

IMG-20191018-135513.jpg

 

IMG-20191018-135534.jpg

 

And these is how thick they are indeed - a couple of pics of the real thing:

 

Untitled.jpg

 

Untitled11.jpg

 

So, I glued a stripe of plastic underneath the frames, then sanded them smooth on the sides toward the pilot, then shaped them as in the pic or at least I tried to be as close as possible. Then I added the tubes for the cooling air that come out of the rear bulkhead. They should have red stripes insulation but I'll add them easly after the painting. The canopy handle is also not added... well the frames are done and ready for painting. 🙂 Way better than before.

 

IMG-20191026-105004.jpg

 

IMG-20191026-105046.jpg

 

IMG-20191026-105103.jpg

 

IMG-20191026-104931.jpg

 

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 months later...

The original canopy frame was quite thin... so I added 1mm plastic sheet under the front edge and the angular frames + detailing and the hidraulics for the movement. The first pic is the original frame, and then - after the thickening:

 

IMG-20191019-120632.jpg

 

IMG-20200119-143109.jpg

 

IMG-20200119-143057.jpg

 

IMG-20200119-143213.jpg

 

IMG-20200119-143140.jpg

 

 

Edited by my favs are F`s
Link to post
Share on other sites

Secondly, the zig-zag pattern along the front edge is... 🙂 out of scale... quite thick! And they had some random indentations from the cutting of the sprue I guess. So the best way was to replace the zig-zag pattern with PE pieces. I had enough leftover PE to cut the required pieces and I tried to sand and make em as close as possible to the original pattern, in three pieces. See how thick was the original zig-zag RAM:

 

IMG-20200104-130832.jpg

 

IMG-20200104-130942.jpg

 

IMG-20200104-130926.jpg

 

and those are the three PE pieces still not installed:

 

IMG-20200104-131120.jpg

 

But first - I have to glue the caopy to the frame and then to "change" the zig zag pattern. Up: shortly. 🙂

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...

The modifications of the canopy side frames: I had to put the canoppy up a little bit, in order to "align the facets". So the tiny gaps along the sides had to be filled. The first two pics show the gaps, and the next two - the tiny plastic edges that were added:

 

IMG-20200201-132849.jpg

 

IMG-20200201-132816.jpg

 

IMG-20200202-121441.jpg

 

IMG-20200202-121455.jpg

 

And that's the frame, painted, detailed, weathered... ready for gluing:

 

IMG-20200202-153758.jpg

 

IMG-20200202-153742.jpg

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Canopy and frame - merged. 🙂 Finally. Those are a bit darker photos but the seamlines are important, except for the front edge (which will be covered by the zig-zag rams). The "soiled" spots along the edges are from the glue, which is visible through the canopy. It went just beautifully. Only 1 of the smallest magnets keep the entire canopy closed, which makes it quite easy and smooth for opening. Check it out....

 

IMG-20200204-203918.jpg

 

IMG-20200204-203612.jpg

 

IMG-20200204-204354.jpg

 

IMG-20200204-204609.jpg

 

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 3 weeks later...

That's something. Do You ever build them just out of the box? Come to think of that, I wouldn't with a skill like that. Amaizing work. It will be flying and dropping GBU's in no time. Just hope You are not making them explode.

Link to post
Share on other sites

🙂 Thx buddy. Btw this is a rather recent style of mine - for about 4 now - my first "tramsformable" model was the F-35B in 1/48 ( this is a facebook album in  an "open" config: https://www.facebook.com/milan.mitev.7/media_set?set=a.1007288912640750&type=3) ... considering that I'm "in the hobby" from some 15-20 years perhaps. 🙂 

Whilst for the GBUs - oh yeah, the bigger ones 🙂

Edited by my favs are F`s
Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

In the making of the suction relief doors... actually they are done, I made them with hinges and magnets as well,

 

IMG-20200319-134201.jpg

 

IMG-20200319-134139.jpg

 

and here is a clip of the closing/opening:

 

 

This is how the door looks like from inside:

 

IMG-20200319-134239.jpg

 

IMG-20200319-134307.jpg

 

And the required holes are traced on to the trunks, ready to be drilled and fine tuned for a perfect fit to the fuselage:

 

IMG-20200319-134425.jpg

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

The holes include basically the entire top sides of the intake trunks 🙂 But I walled off the provisions to fit seamlessly with the relief doors. The struts of the engine faces are thined down too and I made them "transparent". 

 

IMG-20200324-143259.jpg

 

IMG-20200324-143312.jpg

 

And here is what I plan to do with the thin delicate PE screen mesh for the intakes. I'll just add thick solid transaprent acryllic pieces underneath. So far it works and looks good.

 

IMG-20200325-120718.jpg

 

IMG-20200325-120753.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

So, after a lot of test fits, I ended up painting the acrylic parts black from the inner sides so to make them not transparent at all. Otherwise, they were really way too transparent, it was just surreal to see the engine faces clearly through the mesh screen. So, here is a test fit only of one of the screens over the not transparent acrylic parts. And please, stay home make models because the situation requires it!

 

IMG-20200328-180148.jpg

 

IMG-20200328-180216.jpg

 

IMG-20200328-180300.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

Exhaust mods:

 

1.jpg

 

IMG-20200329-164615.jpg

 

2.jpg

 

IMG-20200329-165056.jpg

 

IMG-20200329-165045.jpg

 

As you can see from the pictures of the real plane, the entire exhausts in the model are a little bit on the thicker side. The guide vanes need thinning, canting ans overall reshaping with an airfoil, and shortening too. I plan to tackle them low and slow. 🙂

 

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

🙂 10x SERNAK 👍

 

A little bit of updates from the making: the vanes got a new arrangement according to a picture of the original plane:

 

IMG-20200405-183713.jpg

 

While the exhaust was thinned down slightly overall too:

 

IMG-20200405-183713.jpg

 

Then here is the change of the new vanes by contrast to the original ones from the kit:

 

IMG-20200405-175619.jpg

 

IMG-20200405-175600.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 4 weeks later...

The baffles are painted and ready, but first, I'll have to make the ruddervaters. These baffles are only half a milimeter thick so I would like to avoid more chances of touching this delicate rear area of the fuselage... where... the ruddervaters have to fit right inbetween. 🙂 and I'd like to make them moveable.

 

IMG-20200420-140401.jpg

 

IMG-20200420-140307.jpg

 

IMG-20200426-221456.jpg

 

IMG-20200426-221626.jpg

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

There is a slightly delicate issue to fix though. The thickness of the ruddervators in their top areas is way too much, which is due to their central facets that run throughout the entire pieces, which is wrong. The tips of the fins should end up in a romboid shape and not like that with kinks and bumps:

 

IMG-20200504-102644.jpg

 

IMG-20200504-102703.jpg

 

A couple of references:

 

2222.jpg

 

1111.jpg

 

I'll definitely keep the central edge but I'll try to smoothen out the transition of the facets between the bottom and top sides of the ruddervators by trying to create the needed romboid shapes at the top. This will be quite a challenge I think....

 

IMG-20200504-102830.jpg

 

IMG-20200504-102633.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...