colargol Posted December 15, 2024 Share Posted December 15, 2024 Hello, new project for me: building two kits in parallel ... one of them will be the second prototype of the YF-17 (the first one being a twin seater Viggen). The basis of the build will be the Heller F-18 kit. I've build it when a was a teenager, and I remember that it didn't look like a F-18, but more like a YF-17 or a prototype of the F-18 (I had build an Hasegawa before and was able to compare both). I will use the Schiffer book on the subject. I was expecting to have some diagrams and 3-views plans in this book, but it is not the case. So I will use a lot of what I find on the internet (like this galerie) ... some picture are more or less correctly aligned with the axis of the aircraft and will be used as guide. There are A LOT of difference between the F-18 and the YF-17. A LOT ! I think I will discover some of them during the build ... for instance : - the nose is more pointy and looking down. Lucky me, the Heller kit is more or less in line with the YF-17 nose direction. - the LEX are shorter, with bigger gaps - the back spine is different (at first, I thought it would be the biggest part of the build) - the belly, more round on the side - the landing gear bays positions - the landing gears - the wings and their position - the engines exhaust - the "vertical" tails - the "horizontal" tails - the cockpit - the air intake position A LOT !!!! I've started with what I thought was the biggest challenge (because I didn't have noticed at that time that the air intake are not in the same place ...), the back spine. Using a picture at the correct scale, I identified the aera to remove At first, I wanted to keep a part of the upper front, but it was destroyed during a sanding session. I started the sanding of the nose, to have it more pointy (yellow arrows) For the LEX, I've used the pieces from the kit. In the version I've build like 30 years ago (indeed, I was a teenager for a long period of time ...), the gap between the fuselage and the LEX was huge (unlike on a "correct" F-18) but unfortunatelly for me, Heller corrected that and I have to cut the piece to form the gap (1.5 mm wide). On the left, the original piece. On the right, the modified one, with le LEX shorter, rounder (top pink arrow) and with a 1.5 mm gap (yellow-orange arrow). The small vent on the bottom was sanded (bottom pink arrow) Then I modified the main fuselage pieces, suppressed the arresting hook (orange arrow) and sanded the middle of the belly (white arrow). The back spine of the Hornet was suppressed as well as its extension on the airbrake (light green arrow). I have also represented the part of the gap of the LEX on the back piece of the fuselage (clear blue arrows) Then I've started the representation of the upper part of the fuselage that will be below the back spine (yellow arrows) The boundary layer traps are represented using 1.5 mm Evergreen pieces (pink arrows). I will represent the air intake closed with protection, so I don't have to represent the inner part of the air intake (it was a hard choice). I also opened the engine exhaust area (green arrows) It can be noticed that I've closed and cut a part of the kit main landing gear bays, to fit with the YF-17 configuration. Below, this is the internal structure of the main landing gear bay aera. At this time, I thought I would used reinforcement pieces (pink arrows) to fix the main landing gear. A priori, it will not be the case. Below, it is the cockpit aera. I have not totally decided if I will represent the canopy open or not. Open, it is possible to see the work on the cockpit, but I think it is breaking the shape of the plane. Closed, the shape of the plane is conserved ... side consoles (in grey) are from the Academy F-14 kit (spare pieces) I carry on with the top part of the cockpit I haven't start the HUD area because I don't know yet if I would represent one. Indeed, in the first time, the YF-17 had no HUD and a normal two tones scheme. Then, the lips of the air intake were painted in black and some two tones grey rectangle areas were painted on the wings (tricky to paint). Then the HUD was installed. After that, the two tones grey turned to clear grey (easier to represent, but still not very easy). So I don't know yet which version I want to represent ... or represent a totaly crazy what-if with the original two tones scheme AND a HUD. Crazy me !!!! Well, I carry one ... This is more or less the final stage of the cockpit. The throttle was made using the kit stick. The stick itself comes from a Italeri F-15E. The rudder pedals are from a Eduard kit for the Heller Viggen. I will have to replace the landing gear handle (red arrow) Last step (more or less) before the first painting session: the ejection seat. I decided to represent the rail separately, to make the painting process easier. I've used the bottom part of the kit piece, with some modification. The seat is a Stencel SIIIS-3 (more or less a SJU-4) a little bit different from the one the first Harrier. I hope you'd like it 😉 colargol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Thadeus Posted December 15, 2024 Share Posted December 15, 2024 Oh my. This is totally insane. I love it. I don't know if I ever seen or heard anyone attempting to make a YF-17 out of any Hornet kit. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
flagon21 Posted December 17, 2024 Share Posted December 17, 2024 Amazing job so far Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colargol Posted December 21, 2024 Author Share Posted December 21, 2024 Thanks 😉 I thougth I was going to start the painting process, then I discover that the size of my kit was not correct. Compared to a plan with an actual length scale on it, I see that a 10 m length was represented by 14.1 mm on my plan, whereas it should be 13.88 cm ! By comparing the plan to the correct scale, I saw that the front part was correct in shape and size, the aft part to (including the position of the wings (leading edge) and the "vertical" tails). So I decided to cut 5 mm in the center of the aircraft ... I joined the two part using some reinforcement (black arrow) And that's it before painting (I hope ... top is not glued). I've already prepared the front part for the device to separate air flow. colargol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colargol Posted January 4 Author Share Posted January 4 Hello and happy new year !!! I carry on with the painting. I started with a layer of H77 (tire black from Gunze) diluted with 90° alcool to have a matt finish. I do that because I think it helps for the next layers of color and it turns the styren more opaque, so less toy-ee The next layer is mostly H308 (even if my bottle of H308 seems a little bit too light ... the Gunze color are not very stable between bottles ...) but the rails of the ejection seat are in H338 (light grey). After a light dry brush (Humbrol 147), I finished the painting of the seat using a small brush and Prince August paints (Vallejo Metal Color for the metallic ones) The handles come mostly from a pre-painted Eduard kit for F-14. The big handle on the side is made in Evergreen styren, the black stripes are made with a fine marker. For the cockpit, the process is the same, except that the consoles are painted with the airbrush, after masking. After a dry-brush (Humbrol 147 + 130), I put some colors. The central alerte panel is painted (after the light dry-brush) using Tamiya clear yellow (by brush). The instrument panel is painted in black by air-brush (H77), then the grey is painted using a brush (Prince August 50). Future (Klir in France) is used for the glass, including the vertical fuel indicator on the right side of the panel. small assembly ... And this is it, with the seat and the top aft not glued (blue arrows) à bientôt colargol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phantom Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 Very nice start. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ikon Posted February 27 Share Posted February 27 A lot of work, but it is coming together. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colargol Posted May 11 Author Share Posted May 11 Little update, since my Viggen is now finished 😉 I've glued the rear top part, rescribe the front part and positionned the LEX. A lot of work is required on the area with the red arrows to have a good representation. colargol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colargol Posted June 14 Author Share Posted June 14 Next step: the wings Leading edges of the YF-17 are shorter and their limit should be resribed (green lines). The shape of the wing has also to be adapted by cutting parts (red lines). Moreover, it turns out that YF-17 seemed to have leading edges and flaps down at rest ... I continue the sliding ... Now the backbone of the Cobra ... first, I made a patron in paper to have the right shape of the backbone (horizontal and vertical plan). It will help me to have the correct shape of the different parts. First step, in place (not glued). You can see that I also have put the internal structure of the LEX (green arrows) First step after sanding, I put a layer of 0.25 mm pieces. There are still some gap to fill (magenta arrows) and some part are going to be tricky because the 0.25 mm skin would not resist long to the sanding process ... Ultimate stage ... In place (not glued) with the back piece And after gluing, 1 layer of Mr Hobby surfacer, 2 layers of Tamiya putty (diluted with acetone) and one other layer of Mr Hobby surfacer (especially to fill the gazillions of tiny holes in the Tamiya misretracting putty alson know as "Tamiya putty"), I'm here to be continued ... colargol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colargol Posted June 28 Author Share Posted June 28 Hello I glued the wings. Not easy task because on the first attemps, the diedral angle was'nt correct. I should have used the back of the underbelly (green arrows) as a horizontal reference instead of the central area (red arrows). But I corrected the angle later. I smoothed the area between the wings and the LEX to prepare the air intake work to come. I will correct the pink arrows area later to have a smooth link between the wings and the fuselage. next step, the next step. colargol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colargol Posted July 13 Author Share Posted July 13 Next step is the air intake area. I want to use the air intake pieces from the Academy F/A-18 kit, but they have a wrong shape of the upper air deviation chanel (red arrow). Therefore, it has to be rebuilt (green arrows). The boundary layer plates are made with evergreen of 0.5 mm (purple arrow). In the end, I should look like that colargol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Thadeus Posted July 14 Share Posted July 14 Lovelly. Just lovelly. Pure insanity, but I love it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colargol Posted July 18 Author Share Posted July 18 Thanks. And I am sane. I had a note of the Doctor just before I escaped. But I carry on anyway 😉 The air intake pieces have been closed at the rear side to help positionning the futures potection devices to shut the air intake. I started gently with Evergreen struts and sand them for the side of the air intake. Then at this stage, it is more raw material before sanding (pink arrows). After a layer of Tamiya putty (diluted with acetone) and a sanding session, I am here. colargol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colargol Posted July 25 Author Share Posted July 25 I carry on with the belly The limit between the engine fairing and the center fuselage is more visible on the YF-17 than on the F-18 so I had to improve it (light blue arrows). I have also filled the sparrow position (orange arrows). Next more Evergreen parts ... Then I sanded, I put a lot of Tamiya putty (diluted with acetone), I sanded, several layers of Mr Hobby Surfacer, sanding, correction, sanding and so on ... then I scribed as I could (the reaction of Evergreen styren, Heller plastic, Tamiya putter and Surfacer are different, so the result is not perfect ...) to be continued ... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colargol Posted August 5 Author Share Posted August 5 Vertical tails part ... or diagonal tails part ... Some parts have to be removed by sanding (red arrows), some filled (orange arrow), some rescribed (yellow arrow) The YF-17 tails seems higher than the F/A-18 ones and the top is different Everything is in place before gluing ... ... and after gluing. It will require some work (pink arrow) but I have already represented the struct for the airbrake articulation (light green arrows) colargol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colargol Posted August 10 Author Share Posted August 10 Tiny update. I let you find the 7 differences. colargol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colargol Posted August 23 Author Share Posted August 23 7 new differences to spot. And a green arrow. The flap actuator mecanism is represented using pieces of 1.5 mm x 1.5 mm strut. Pieces were shaped to fit correspond to walkaround pictures. colargol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colargol Posted September 7 Author Share Posted September 7 I carry on (still funny in French) For the horizontal tail, I've chosen to use the kit pieces, with some modification. First I cut ... then I added some material to increase wingspan (tailspan ?) and I sanded it in shape. This is how it looks (temporary gluing using Kristal Klear) And now, I'm starting the canopy build ... the YF-17 canopy is different from the F-18 one, s o I cut some pieces of the canopy and glued them to the fuselage (yellow arrows) Then I worked on the canopy by itself. I had to fill some ejector pins with black styren (red arrows). I also modified the articulation struts (pink arrows) and the rear part structure (yellow arrow). Sides of the canopy are represented with black styren sheet. I've used an old Verlinden F-14 kit to have hook for the canopy. On this view, the white arrows are showing the representation of the air conditionning subsystem colargol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colargol Posted September 14 Author Share Posted September 14 I carry on with the main landing gears. I've read from time to time that the YF-17 landing gears were the same as the ones from the F-5 ... indeed, the wheels are looking identical, but that's all. In fact, the landing gears are very different. I've used a Fujimi A-4 main landing gear piece as a base, and parts of Academy F-14 too. The remaining part are from Evergreen to be continued ... colargol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted September 15 Share Posted September 15 Lovely detail Colargol. You are certainly diving deep with the research and your work is exceptional Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colargol Posted October 2 Author Share Posted October 2 Thanks 😉 Next comes the front gear. I'v used an X-32A from Italeri front gear with some modification. The wheels are F-5E/F/N wheels from Res Kit. Gluing is temporary (using Kristal Klear) especially for the small part with the pink arrow. It is not perfect, especially because the fixation strut of the front wheel should be finer and closer to the wheel ... This is the landing gear in place (glued with Kristal Klear) to check the fitting. to be continued ... colargol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colargol Posted October 19 Author Share Posted October 19 Hello Here are the jet exhaust, using the Fujimi F/A-18C ones The doors of landing bay (in aluminium) And the nose probe using copper tubes slanted junctions are made with cyano glue, sanded. I also drilled the gun vent (on the 2nd prototype, they were filled after a little time, but at the beginning of tests, they were openned - pink arrows) I also added some structural devices (green arrows) I added the Sidewinder rails, and I am now ready for painting ! colargol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colargol Posted December 7 Author Share Posted December 7 Hello, I haven't post since a long time on this subjet, even if I'm quite at the end of it ... I've started painting (black sublayer to reduce the inhomogeneity between colors), then Tamiya medium grey sublayer. The clear color is a mix of H338 and a lot of white (an some drop of cream) ... For the dark color, as I am doing a beginning of life representation, it seems the grey was darker. It'as a mix of several colors to come up with something usable. I've started with the LEX The the rest ... Some areas have to be reworked ... This is the result I've painted the articulations of slats/flaps by brush, using Vallejo Metal Color dark alu and steel colors. I've also removed the small mask representing small vents at the rear (pink arrows). This are the detailed parts (alu color by brush using Metal Cote old jars) For the decals, I've used ones from the spare box, and also the ones of actual unstarted kits ... I though I could use insigna from an Hasegawa F-A-18F kit, but it turns out they were unusable. Quite the end ! colargol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Thadeus Posted December 7 Share Posted December 7 Paintjob looks very nice. Quite livelly. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted December 7 Share Posted December 7 Lovely work, great progress colargol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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