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Coming along nicely. I always assemble the airframe in full before painting, only things I leave off are undercarriage, wing pylons(unless the overall colour scheme extends onto them) and small antennas etc etc.......

 

I had a look through the spare decals last and I have relatively few decals left over, I’ve been gradually using then over the years. I need to stock back up myself. If you find that you need anything specific give me a shout and I might be able to help.

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On 4/28/2020 at 11:57 AM, scotthldr said:

Coming along nicely. I always assemble the airframe in full before painting, only things I leave off are undercarriage, wing pylons(unless the overall colour scheme extends onto them) and small antennas etc etc.......

 

I had a look through the spare decals last and I have relatively few decals left over, I’ve been gradually using then over the years. I need to stock back up myself. If you find that you need anything specific give me a shout and I might be able to help.

 

Thank you very much!

I have started building the airframe. These days I had limited time, so I decided to prepare the Spitfires for priming, in order to test my skills there and not on the F 16.

But tomorrow I am planning finishing preparing the F 16, doing some sanding and gluing the flaps and the slats.

But I have some questions regarding the marked part of the aircraft 

For the red-marked parts: should I cover it with putty and make it flat or should I just cover only the connection (I will not cover the hole for the horizontal stablizers)? 

For the blue-marked part: should I cover all gaps between CFTs and fuselage before or after prinming?

 

 

 rsz_11inkeddsc_0496_li.jpg.9a652993e5e12cd0e1fe9f48be1d9029.jpg

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From memory I had the same problem areas  when I built mine. I filled all the gaps and sanded smooth before painting. The best way is to tape either side of where you want the putty to go and using a craft knife apply the putty by  pressing it into the gap, then run the back of the knife along the entire length of the seam to flatten it off.Remove the tape before the filler dries, then sand to shape and you'll have a perfectly smooth join.

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So today I finished the most of the sanding (Ifixed some large gaps on the CFTS and the parts mentioned in the previous post), but still there is a lot word to do, especially in the nose section. Also I tried the fitment of almost every part of the fuselage and repaired some problems caused by the molds.

 

 1448585076_DSC_0499(1).jpg.1726e9042eea11741a1df7e06553090a.jpg1279026879_DSC_0498(1).jpg.826e80f31b74cd9d1fe1eefcabb0652d.jpg

 

For the side nose parts I used some blu tack in order to adjust them, I haven't glued them since I am not sure if I must fix the nose first. (just to be sure I will add some bolts as counter-weight).

 

818761226_DSC_0501(1).jpg.2a350ac0196c4f6ff047484dd8d8dcce.jpg453803251_DSC_0500(1).jpg.c90f5f3f1b6c0a90030394f0f07a7c4e.jpg

 

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Hi

 

Today I started the assembly of the nose section. For me it was the section with the biggest fitting issues. But I manage to solve them using blu tack and a lot of putty.

 

 

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Unfortunately some rivets were filled with putty or sanded down, I would like to ask if you have some refernce pictures in order to re open them?

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  • 2 weeks later...

So I haven't posted for a while. I was working on the two Spitfires, in the next two days they will be finished. I finished working on the F 16 Nose, it looks very nice. Now I must glue the flaps, the slats and the vertical stabilizer, before that I would like to ask which is their correct position during parking?

I found that I can't solve the problem with the exhaust nozzle, so I ordered a resin nozzle (Aires 4427), unfortunately I will receive it in a month. 

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I’ll get some photos up later today showing flaps/stab positions, but basically they can be either up or down.

Edited by scotthldr
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Trailing edge and rear stabs can be found either up or down, depending on where the pilot left the stick. I think they remain in that position due to it being fly by wire and won't bleed off  and droop over time?

 

44160336430_05392bdd73_c.jpg

 

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note that the leading edge flaps are just slightly raised above the fuselage LERX

 

45252274604_d8cc90405e_c.jpg

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  • 7 months later...

Hello and happy new year!!!

 

Hope you are safe during these very difficult circumstances. Unfortunately last months were difficult for me and my time was limited, that's why I haven't posted for a while. 

 

During Christmas holidays I was able to buy the camo colours and continue my project, by finishing the new resin (Aires) PW F100 Nozzle (Maybe I will add some weathering). I purchased because the stock nose had a huge gap, that couldn't get fixed, but turned to be a very nice upgrade. 

 

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DSC00201.jpg

 

I used AK Xtreme Metal Jet Aluminum and Jet Exhaust for the exterior and a Combination of AK 3rd gen White and Grimy Grey for the interior's ceramic coating. Finally I weathered it using Raw Umber oil colour.

 

But from now on I call this project as a double build, because I got as a present the Kinetic F 16 C/D Block 52+ Polish Air Force Tiger Meet kit (48076), alongside with some decals and resin partse (nozzle and seats). So as the F 16C is almost ready for priming and painting, I decided to start the second one and paint them together. The second kit will eventually become a 335sq F 16D Block 52+adv, caring the (Spoiler ALERT) 023 serial number. I found out that the most parts needed for the conversion are included in the kit and with some minor modifications will look like a Greek F 16 Block 52+adv.

 

The second build is until now really straight forward, as I now the kit's problematic parts and the progress during a few hours is huge. Until now the biggest task was to find clear pictures and modify the dorsal spine. I started by sanding down the small outlet on the starboard side of the spine. Then I glued the correct inlets, outlets and antennas. Finally I placed the flair dispensers and filled some gaps with putty.

 

 

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When I opened the second kit I was surpised be the differently coloured upper back fuselage part. I don't know why Kinetic made this change for this kit, but the connection between the front and the rear fuselage parts seems much better than the one in the first kit.

 

My work on the F 16D continued with the cockpit. During it' painting I experimented with different types of colours. I used acrylic Tamiya XF 1 as a base and XF 19 as interior colour, I found that airbrushing with Tamiya acrylics was really easy and the result much better, than the first cockpit in which I used AK's 3rd gen acrylics. But I had problems, while painting with a brush, Tamiya XF 1 dried really fast and when I used thinner the coverage was low, so I ended using AK's 3rd gen Intense Black colour, which offered much better coverage and drying time. I painted the cockpit details using various enamel and arcylic colours, as well as some really good referense pictures. Finally I used a new technique to make the displays more realistic, after I painted them Black I used Tamiya X 19 smoke, which made the black colour more vivid and offered a glossy finish, Tamiya X 22 was used in the other instrument gauges.

 

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The current progress on both vipers.

 

20210110_213126

 

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