ChernayaAkula Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 (edited) A Viper in a week? :o I'll try. Considering I didn't finish a kit in years, I'm not sure I'll actually make it in time. Why so late? Because when I assembled my new PC (currently installing the software :wacko:), I found a nice big piece of plexiglass. I had used that a couple of years ago when building a side-window for the PC. There's a fairly large left-over piece. Ideal for making a stand for an in-flight display. When viewed form the side, it's as clear as a sheet of glass. The sides are still opaque from the hacksaw blades. Tried a bit of sanding and polishing yesterday and found out it can be made translucent again. Perfect for an all but invisible stand. Another reason is that I wanted to finish the modelling room in the basement first. Lack of funds have pushed that back a bit, though. Had wanted to take part in the Red Stars and TMOARC GBs, but wanted to finish the modelling room first. The kit I'll use is this one: Kit will be OOB. May even use the supplied decals. I'm really looking forward to this. Given that I haven't completed a build in years, there'll be many firsts. Will break out the airbrush that sits untouched on my desk for months and the compressor that hasn't been used yet. Trying out acrylics. Weathering. Using Future. Making a stand. Edited April 3, 2008 by ChernayaAkula Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ruud Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 Go for it Moritz! Gear up means you don't have to worry about the tail down look of a Hasegawa 1/72 Viper. later Ruud Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted March 24, 2008 Author Share Posted March 24, 2008 Thanks Ruud! This post brought to you by.... the new PC! :wacko: It's alive! Which means I can start building tomorrow and won't have to deal with software installations. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AndrewS Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 Hi Moritz, Congratulations on the new PC, and best wishes for what I hope will be years of faithful (and trouble-free) service. Of course, good luck also for your speed-build; I'm not brave enough to join now (although a rapidly-approaching deadline could potentially lead to my finishing something). If you ever feel like parting with your kit's undercarriage, then please let me know. Cheers, Andrew. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
regevmo Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 Moritz, good luck with the fast build you are planning. Don't waste to much time on the cockpit area as the canopy will be closed and once you will close the fuselage half's and attach the wings everthing will be going fast. Regev Quote Link to post Share on other sites
slick95 Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 Good luck! I can't wait to see more!! SLICK Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor Supporter Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 Clock is ticking..... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted March 27, 2008 Author Share Posted March 27, 2008 (edited) ^ "tic toc tic toc tic toc tic toc tic toc tic toc...." :) Assembled the first pieces today (nothing worth pics, though). As far as you can get without closing the fuselage halves. Currently waiting for the pilot's right arm to "heal". Will then paint and decal the cockpit and pilot. Oh, and it's not strictly out of the box. Actually, it's out of two boxes. ;) Couldn't help using the ejector seat from Revell's Viper kit (got several after-market seats for those). That needed a bit of trimming to fit the Hasegawa cockpit, as the pilot would have touched the canopy with his helmet. It's the one thing apart from the pilot that will remain visible once the canopy is closed, so I'm sure the extra time was well spent. Hope to be able to start painting the outside tomorrow evening. I had almost forgotten how much fun it is to actually build models. :) 4 days to go.... :lol: Edited March 27, 2008 by ChernayaAkula Quote Link to post Share on other sites
slick95 Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 WHAT ARE YOU DOING SITTING AT YOUR COMPUTER TELLING US ABOUT IT!!! GET BACK TO BUILDING -cracks whip- SLICK Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Karl Sander Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted March 27, 2008 Author Share Posted March 27, 2008 Laterr! WHAT ARE YOU DOING SITTING AT YOUR COMPUTER TELLING US ABOUT IT!!! GET BACK TO BUILDING -cracks whip-SLICK Yeah, this post and it's back to painting the cockpit! I promise. Just had to wait for the glue to dry on the pilot's right arm. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mark M. Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 (edited) You're far more ambitious than I am! Most of my build time is on weekends, anyways. If you're doing in-flight, you could try painting the insides of the canopy instead of doing the cockpit. It's a different style that not everybody likes, but it can look good. Can't wait for photos! P.S. Use the kit decals! If you don't have anything special in mind, the kit's tigermeet decals don't look bad :lol: Edited March 27, 2008 by Mark M. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted March 27, 2008 Author Share Posted March 27, 2008 (edited) Here are the first pics.  SD530549 by Motschke, on Flickr  Messed up the pilot's visor. Had it painted in gloss black, but I left a nice fingerprint on his helmet when I made him sit down in the cockpit. He seems to feel rather uncomfortable in his cockpit. He punched out this morning, having me search for him on the floor for half an hour. Carpet monster didn't get him, though.  SD530550 by Motschke, on Flickr  When I wanted to start painting the cockpit and pilot I found out that I have thousands of Viper pics from all over the net, but hardly any pics of pilots. So the outfit is a bit made up. Tan flight-suit, green speed-jeans and olive vest. I'd like to know who Hasegawa wants to pilot their Vipers? Giraffes? :lol: Or maybe that's why they include several pilot figures, one for the joystick and one for the pedals. The ejector set is from the Revell kit and looks a lot etter than the Hasegawa equivalent. Had to chop off 2 mm of the bottom to make it fit. Micro Sol is mean stuff. Used it for the first time on this build. It sucked the side console decals into tiny ejector pin marks that I hadn't seen before. 😮 Now for the in-flight stand.  SD530541 by Motschke, on Flickr  Used a hacksaw and needle files to make that square hole (circled blue), after making a hole with a heated metal rod. The red arrow shows the dummy plexiglass stand. I'll cut a final version later.  SD530542 by Motschke, on Flickr  A square piece of clear polystyrene is used as the abutment. The lightly scribed line shows where the plexiglass stand will fit through. It's off-set to the front and slightly to the right to give the completed build a climbing and banking attitude.  SD530543 by Motschke, on Flickr  The clear polystyrene sheet has a height of 2.5mm, making it fit the rear fuselage of the Viper perfectly.  SD530547 by Motschke, on Flickr  Tester! The climb and bank are now obvious.  SD530548 by Motschke, on Flickr  Close-up of the abutment (or should I use counterfort, thrust bearing or skewback? :unsure:) and dummy stand. I'd rather prefer to use Gary Wickham's METHOD of in-flight displays (I just love that Crusader build! :)), but the height of the clear styrene make it a lot easier in this case. Now I'll grab a bite to eat and surf ARC. More later! Stay tuned! :lol: Edited May 14, 2018 by ChernayaAkula Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aarzee Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 Keep up the good work ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted March 28, 2008 Author Share Posted March 28, 2008 (edited) More pics.  SD530553 by Motschke, on Flickr  Secured the abutment with some discs cut from sprue and a bit of plastic sheet.  SD530555 by Motschke, on Flickr  Starting to look like a Viper now, isn't it? Note how the stand is all but invisible (well, the lighting helps! ;)). Almost ready to paint. Just have to apply some Mr. Dissolved Putty to some seams, especially on the nose, the tanks and some weapons (some mean ejector marks). Not to forget attaching the canopy. Then it's pre-shading and camouflage painting tomorrow morning. Four days to go... 😉 Edited May 14, 2018 by ChernayaAkula Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Karl Sander Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 For not having any reference for the pilot, that's not too bad. For future reference, the mask and hose are gray (and the hose actually goes off to the right side of the body, but of course that's probably more 'surgery' than it's worth - will probably be hard to see once the canopy is closed). Gloves can be either sage green or desert tan - unless he works a trade with the RAF guys who have these sweet looking whitish/grayish leather ones I like the inflight stand!! :P Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AndrewS Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 Good on you Moritz. Great progress and excellent idea for getting your Viper into the air. Keep it up and looking forward to seeing more when you get the chance. Andrew. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
volzj Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 Moritz, Good luck. I built a Hasegawa Viper in four days once, so it's more than doable. Lookin' good. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted March 29, 2008 Author Share Posted March 29, 2008 (edited) Thanks guys! Didn't get much done today. Got bogged down with lots of other stuff, beside oversleeping. But the Viper's about ready for painting. Just need to sand some seam and around the pitot tube. And had to replace the sensor on the starboard side just below the AOA sensor after the original part and a replacement from another Hasegawa kit took off from the tweezers never to be seen again.  SD530557 by Motschke, on Flickr  "Futured" a canopy for the first time. Decanted some of the German equivalent named Glänzer (roughly: Shiner) and just dipped the canopy. Worked like a charm. The canopy was in pretty ad shape before.  SD530558 by Motschke, on Flickr  Oh, I did make some progress by finding THIS WALK-AROUND on the ARC main page. I now know this Viper carried the two-tone scheme. That's eliminating one (fairly large, I reckon) step from the masking and painting process. 🙂 Two Three days to go! 😮 tic toc tic toc tic toc tic toc tic toc tic toc... Edited May 14, 2018 by ChernayaAkula Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mmaker Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 Keep going!!! I'm trying too,to find some time to finish mine! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Iron Eagle Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 Unfortunately, the decals in the kit are for 94-0047, not 91-0379, the famous 79FS boss bird. 94-0047 and 91-0379 are almost identically painted, except for the difference in 2 tone and 3 tone and the location of the "curve" under the canopy. 91-0379 has the curve behind the canopy while 94-0047 has it under. Also, 94-0047 is 3 tone. Photos for comparison: 94-0047 http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Air/L...16CJ/0374192/L/ http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Air/L...16CJ/1184869/L/ http://www.f-16.net/f-16_fighting_falcon_airframe-4335.html 91-0379 http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Air/L...ting/0354128/L/ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted March 29, 2008 Author Share Posted March 29, 2008 (edited) Good thing I checked the thread again, then. That's what I get for just looking at the pics and only briefly cross-reading the text. :lol: Thanks for the heads-up! Three-tone it is! George, your's was the "Spitfire" Viper, no? IIRC that was pretty far along, wasn't it? EDIT: Just noticed the GB doesn't end on Sunday, but on Monday! :) Edited March 29, 2008 by ChernayaAkula Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Karl Sander Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 Good thing I checked the thread again, then. That's what I get for just looking at the pics and only briefly cross-reading the text. :lol: Thanks for the heads-up! :o Three-tone it is!George, your's was the "Spitfire" Viper, no? IIRC that was pretty far along, wasn't it? EDIT: Just noticed the GB doesn't end on Sunday, but on Monday! Yeah but monday arrives sooner for you, so best get back to work! :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted March 30, 2008 Author Share Posted March 30, 2008 Yeah, but that's Monday evening 11:59 EST, innit? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Karl Sander Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 Yeah, but that's Monday evening 11:59 EST, innit? Meh - I don't know. I figured to be in the middle of a move by now, so while I've been watching the group build, I didn't really pay attention to the rules :) For your sake, let's hope so ;) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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