Scratch-built 1/72 Fenrir (from Ace Combat series)

[Magic]

Hello fellow modelers.

This project was inspired by one of the super planes from the Ace Combat video game series. The Fenrir first appeared in AC X (2006, the only game of the series that I own) and was also designated XFA-33 later. This one is my highly modified, "enhanced stealth" variant.

I'll try to avoid using someone else's pictures, but here is a link to Acepedia of the Fenrir from the game.

https://images.app.goo.gl/ysePyYMZ4pmQQTrh7

 

I started this in 2017, but made slow progress and had long breaks until this year. So I'll try to bring you up to speed in this first part.

 

It all started with research, but good images of drawings weren't easy to come buy. Next I made 1/72 drawings and started with a ABS plate I bought specifically for this. Other materials will include old packaging (PET, PP) and resin (a type of glue I use).

Edited October 19, 2024 by Magic

[Magic]

The underside features three engine nacelles. I first did the outer engines. They also contain the main gear wells. I decided to add an open side weapons bay to one of the nacelles.

[Magic]

When I proceeded with the center engine nacelle, I wasn't even sure how to do it. This picture shows my first attempt: 

 

 

This was abandoned real quick. The second attempt:

 

 

 

 

This is where I stalled for multiple years because I didn't know how to continue in a clever way. My resources are limited, and I tried to figure out a way to build this in an efficient way, avoiding the brute force approach (e. g. shaping the fuselage from a big block of resin).

[A-10 LOADER]

WOW, this is quite the project you decided to tackle, kudos to you. She looks pretty good so far.

Steve

[Magic]

Thank you Steve.

 

I've waited for a good idea to come to my mind, how to build the dreaded difficult parts of the fuselage (curved parts of the upper side, connection to the underside pod etc.) - but it never did. 🙁

Eventually I decided that I had to finish this one way or another and picked this up again about eight months ago. And this time I was determined to finish this model.

 

This is the forward fuselage:

 

The entire upper side:

 

As you can imagine, it took endless sessions of filling and sanding.

 

 

Underside of the forward fuselage:

 

Many times I had to go back and correct things because they were slightly off,  or just wrong. Maybe your first time scratch-building felt this difficult? It does for me. I'm looking forward to building Tamiya's F-35, building models like a human being again. 😅

 

Here you can compare the shape of the model to a modified drawing I found on the net, it's original version is credited to a person called Copperhead YSF23. The shape is close but not quite there yet. And remember, this variant will be different from the original (plus, the drawing isn't 100 % accurate either).

 

 

The first sawtooth pattern is already visible. Other changes from the original include different engine nacelle cross sections and intakes.

 

Danny.

Edited October 20, 2024 by Magic

[Major Walt]

Amazing!!

[Magic]

Rear fuselage where the three engines will be.

 

Starting the pod with an internal skeleton. The rectangular cutout is where the front wheel well is going to be.

 

Danny.

Edited October 22, 2024 by Magic

[Thadeus]

Very nice, very ambitious project. I've seen some people doing what You do and they sometimes use a filler (or a foam?) inside the skeleton. This way the outer layer has something to hold on to. Sort of like building paper models with a frame? Don't know if that makes sense. Perhaps that would help a bit with the sanding part?

[Magic]

7 hours ago, Thadeus said:

Very nice, very ambitious project. I've seen some people doing what You do and they sometimes use a filler (or a foam?) inside the skeleton. This way the outer layer has something to hold on to. Sort of like building paper models with a frame? Don't know if that makes sense. Perhaps that would help a bit with the sanding part?

Yes, it does make sense. Although, since I don't have a suitable foam, I'll be going for a shell-type solution: internal frame, then outer plate or sheet, then filler. Only small parts will be entirely made out of filler.

 

Danny.

[Magic]

Some progress:

 

This view shows some of the materials that are used.

 

Danny.

[Sebastijan]

Awesome build! Looking forward for further progress reports!

[Magic]

On 10/25/2024 at 11:13 AM, Sebastijan said:

Awesome build! Looking forward for further progress reports!

 

Glad to know you find this interesting. Thanks!

 

The Fenrir after lots of filling and sanding. Not even the worst fitting kit could require this amount of it 😵‍💫

 

 

Also, had to go back and forth on some shapes to get them right. Trial and error.

 

Danny. 

[Magic]

Starting the canopy with a frame in situ.

 

After giving this some thought, I decided to redo the center engine nacelle on the underside. The old part was carefully torn off and this is the next attempt.

 

 

I like this more than the previous iteration. The inlet ended up a little too large (vertically) though. As far as I can discern, the Fenrir in the original design had a "thin belly" (with certainly less space for payload), while the later design shows a "full belly". I'll be going for a compromise, something in between the two, in order to obtain space and maintain sleek looks.

 

Danny.

 

[southwestforests]

19 hours ago, Magic said:

After giving this some thought, I decided to redo the center engine nacelle on the underside.

 

Likely result is that you will be happier with the model in the end. 🙂

[Magic]

That's right, already am. Never was very happy with the previous result.

 

Danny.

[Magic]

Center engine nacelle almost done. The pod will later be attached to the inlet, and this could be a challenge to do properly.

 

 

 

Danny.

[Magic]

Test fitting the major parts plus some control surfaces made of cardboard.

 

 

Danny.

[Thadeus]

It's looking quite out of this world. In a positive sense. Nice work.

[Magic]

14 hours ago, Thadeus said:

It's looking quite out of this world. In a positive sense. Nice work.

 

Thank you very much. It means a lot coming from such a skilled modeler. 🙂

 

Danny.

[Magic]

Time too build the booms. They run along the top and bottom of the fuselage and will later support the stabilizers.

It turned out that they are more difficult to make than I expected because they have a twist about the longitudinal axis: they are horizontal in the front (aligned with the wings), but towards the rear the outer edges (where the stabilizers will be) twist up so that they align with the v-tail.

Each boom is made out of two strips of ABS on top and bottom of the fuselage plate, respectively.

 

As usual, lots of filling and sanding was required. I'll make the booms slightly different than they are in the original, these will be more blended and less boxy.

 

Looks OK for now. Later, the boom/stabilizer transition needs to be refined.

 

Danny.

[Magic]

In the game, the Fenrir has thrust vector control (TVC) for yaw only. I like the idea of having full 3D TVC, so I'll give it pitch on top of that.

 

All petals will need to blend into the nacelles (which have a different cross-section than the original) properly. You can see the two edges that run along the sides of each nacelle in the picture, they are located at different heights, making the inner and outer petals non-symmetrical (and everything more difficult 😵‍💫).

 

As for the landing gear, a fitting set has been taken from an old Su-34. Here it is after cleaning in oven cleaner. 

 

Danny. 

[Magic]

Finally, the engine nacelles are in place, filled, and sanded, although not finished. 

 

The center engine nozzle will be different from the other two, more like a F-35 nozzle. In the game, it can swivel down to give the Fenrir STOL capabilities. The two forward exhaust openings appear to be permanently open in the game, but will be closed in my model. They will only open when in use. You can see them as the two elongated bumps near the center intake.

 

Danny.

[Magic]

Did some refinement and "cleaning up", there's always plenty of that.

 

Next are the control surfaces. The canards, stabilizers, and wing tips look like this:

 

Stabilizer: filled and fairing added.

 

One half (the upper half) of each wing tip was originally already part of the wing, as you can see in some previous images. Those tips were not supposed to come off. But after repeated handling, touching, bending, etc. they eventually did. Now they are back on, correctly aligned and very lightly blended.

 

Danny.

[Drifterdon]

Pretty amazing work.   I had to do a google search to see what a Fenrir was.   You're hitting it pretty on the mark.   Following along to see how this turns out.   

[Magic]

20 hours ago, Drifterdon said:

Pretty amazing work.   I had to do a google search to see what a Fenrir was.   You're hitting it pretty on the mark.   Following along to see how this turns out.   

 

Tanks. I probably should have made a better introduction to this build. 😅

 

This is the short description from the game Ace Combat X, where the Fenrir first appeared:

 

The category is "multirole". She is the last playable aircraft to unlock, and huge in size (larger than a MiG-31). Despite her size, she's very agile and by far the fastest in the game (more than 4200 km/h in sustained level flight, arcade game physics, of course).

In ACX, the Fenrir was developed by the enemy of the player. The player has to battle the Fenrir late in the story, and the enemy version has additional capabilities that the player version lacks, which instead has a shock wave missile. 

As described earlier, my version will be different, with an emphasis on more stealth as we know it. Also, the main landing gear will be more massive. In the original design, the main gear looks rather small, the nose gear has an unusual "strut forward" design, which I dislike. So mine will get a conventional nose gear.

 

Danny.