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Looking great!  Love ground pounding aircraft.  I actually have three of these in the stash.  Your progress is urging me to break out all three and do a mini group build with them.

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Greetings.

I finished decaling the plane. The sheet I use Eagle Strike 48-118 does not provide stencils so I had to resort to my spare box. Research showed A7Es do not have standardized stencil system because each plane is totally different from each other. Some have small ejection seat warning signs, some larger size and  some none. Some have circular red warnings on the side fuse and some don't and some in between. I was unable to locate an image of the actual plane on the Net so I did the best I could. Next will be final clear coat then weathering! Dai 

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18 hours ago, dekon70 said:

Looking great!  Love ground pounding aircraft.  I actually have three of these in the stash.  Your progress is urging me to break out all three and do a mini group build with them.

Go and build one. I have bunch of OOP decals if you need them. If you are into 80's high vis scheme, there are not many. The current high vis Print Scale decals are impossible to work with and the company needs to do something. Once off the backing sheet, the decal is way to soft and starts to fold everywhere making it un-usable.  It even folds when on the plane. The high vis scheme currently available are from CAM Pro, Zotz and Print Scale (not usable unless coated with Liquid Decal Film as advised on Hyperscale forum ). If you use OOP sheets, make sure you coat with Microscale Liquid Decal Film first. Dai  

 

PS: If you want a really good high vis scheme decal in 1/48, Ultracast in Canada has one from Aeromaster ( I think they are the best decal company but OOP) for 70 USD !!! 

Edited by dai phan
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Looking forward to the finished product.  Very tempted to try one in the markings of one of the birds that took part in the strikes in Lebanon back in 1983 but wanting to nail down some specifics before diving in.

 

BW

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7 minutes ago, BuNo02100 said:

Looking forward to the finished product.  Very tempted to try one in the markings of one of the birds that took part in the strikes in Lebanon back in 1983 but wanting to nail down some specifics before diving in.

 

BW

I just ordered a macro lens for my Canon T6 EOS Rebel so I can take some close up detailed photos. Dai 

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Based on this series of photos, especially the last one, you have the necessary camera and lens for "close-up" photos. Other than a somewhat distracting background (and that may be part of the "build photos") there is nothing wrong with any of these!! Good work all around. Those photos are better than a lot of photos I've seen on this site.

 

Bob

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Greetings...

Started to do some weathering... As of now I had to remove some decals and place new ones as the diagram on the Eagle Strike is inaccurate.  Dai 

 

U2mjx3A.jpg

 

HvrTGwK.jpg

 

1ZsG9L2.jpg

 

vlIrDTN.jpg

Edited by dai phan
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47 minutes ago, dekon70 said:

Hi dai phan, quick question, how did you do the yellow sealant around the front wind screen?  It looks really good.

Greetings, 

That is the Furball Aero Design 48-107 A7 canopy framing. Unfortunately it is way over scale, should be 1/2 as thick. I do not know if this is intentional to keep the strength of the decal but surely not accurate. I am contemplating if I need to remove it and use tape instead. Dai 

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Happy Tuesday everyone...

Now the final assembly begins. I will have to order after market Sidewinders because I found it very hard to get satisfactory results when painting the fins due to poor molding. I wonder if there is anything else I can install on the missile's rails? Dai 

 

Q0MYIGa.jpg

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The only thing besides Sidewinders we put on the Sidewinder launchers was a TACTS Pod and we only put one on the aircraft.

 

Here's an idea, if you're having problems with the wing's and fins cut them off, paint the missile body blue (FS 35109), seeker head metallic, exhaust plug dull silver and put them on.

 

Inert Sidewinders back then did not have wings/fins so you would have inert Sidewinders loaded instead of live ones. Plus, VA-174 was the RAG (Replacement Air Group) A-7 squadron for the east coast so they were in charge of training new pilots/maintenance crews, they rarely ever flew live missiles so having inert Sidewinders would be more fitting.

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6 hours ago, GW8345 said:

The only thing besides Sidewinders we put on the Sidewinder launchers was a TACTS Pod and we only put one on the aircraft.

 

Here's an idea, if you're having problems with the wing's and fins cut them off, paint the missile body blue (FS 35109), seeker head metallic, exhaust plug dull silver and put them on.

 

Inert Sidewinders back then did not have wings/fins so you would have inert Sidewinders loaded instead of live ones. Plus, VA-174 was the RAG (Replacement Air Group) A-7 squadron for the east coast so they were in charge of training new pilots/maintenance crews, they rarely ever flew live missiles so having inert Sidewinders would be more fitting.

Great ideas because I cannot get good results with the fins. Do you have a photo of the inert Sidewinder? I rather have the source from the master rather than on my own. Dai 

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2 minutes ago, dai phan said:

Thank you so much but not so attractive :). How about the TACTS pods? I have to see if I can get after market for this. Dai 

TACTS Pod would work but only one pod loaded on the plane.

 

You could put an Inert Sidewinder on one side and a TACTS Pod on the other, we did that a few times.

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19 minutes ago, GW8345 said:

TACTS Pod would work but only one pod loaded on the plane.

 

You could put an Inert Sidewinder on one side and a TACTS Pod on the other, we did that a few times.

Yes that is what I will do and I will search on the Net for after market item. Thank YOU ! Dai 

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Happy Sunday everyone...

A little more progress. Next will be installing the landing gear and avionic bays cover along with other small items. Waiting for the GBU-12 and the TACTS pod to be installed on the fuselage. Dai 

 

WdhYFlo.jpg

Edited by dai phan
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On 5/13/2020 at 10:32 AM, GW8345 said:

The only thing besides Sidewinders we put on the Sidewinder launchers was a TACTS Pod and we only put one on the aircraft.

 

Here's an idea, if you're having problems with the wing's and fins cut them off, paint the missile body blue (FS 35109), seeker head metallic, exhaust plug dull silver and put them on.

 

Inert Sidewinders back then did not have wings/fins so you would have inert Sidewinders loaded instead of live ones. Plus, VA-174 was the RAG (Replacement Air Group) A-7 squadron for the east coast so they were in charge of training new pilots/maintenance crews, they rarely ever flew live missiles so having inert Sidewinders would be more fitting.

Which side of the fuse does the TACTS pod go to? Thanks ! Dai

Edited by dai phan
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5 hours ago, dai phan said:

Which side of the fuse does the TACTS pod go to? Thanks ! Dai

Sidewinder on the left, TACTS Pod on the right.

 

If you are only doing the TACTS Pod (one), the pod will be on the left.

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