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The Building
Maybe you remember my first article about the very
first part of the building of this kit, with the Cutting Edge cockpit. From
the cockpit I started the Electronics bay and the battery bay...all coming
from the VERLINDEN set. As seen here, both are not yet finished, still
lots of wires to add! For most of the wires, I drill holes all around;
add copper wires or plastics ones and then add some super glue to secure
them. They were painted in grey. I simulate some markings with the
use of a black pen.
As I was a bit bored of this area....I've started
the right wing...just for a change of pace and to avoid burning myself out on
this project.
RIGHT WING:
Well, the first problem is that there is
nothing inside the wings to "end" the flaps...I never found pics
showing this area...so I decide to "close" the area with plastic
card....sure it is not real...but at least with with that you can't see
through the wing.
About the flaps, just be careful with the
edge, because it's an area that you'll see when they are lowered. TRUMPETER
made them as for a toy...maybe some want to play with this big
model......but I prefer gluing them in the lowered position.
When gluing the wing, you'll have to take care
to glue "part by part".....this is the worst part........the
fitting. With lots of dry fitting, you could notice all the bad areas
before gluing. One of the most difficult areas is around the wheel well
nose....you couldn't avoid the putty.....last difficult area is the end of
the wing....very difficult to sand in that tiny curved area on the underside
of the wing tip.
Most of the time I use TAMIYA liquid glue, but
it seems that the TRUMPETER plastic dislikes this glue .....making
"marks" on the plastic of "distording" it....as I'm
used to building strong joints.........I'll have to take care.
On the ailerons, I've add some of the activators
pieces, with plasticards....just for the look. At the bottom, you could
notice that I've also add the small piece at the trailing edge...don't know
how to name it...looks like a "balance weight"....sorry but I'm
French speaking.
WHEEL WELL:
There is nothing inside them......pretty bad for
1/32 scale don't you think? So, with all the pics I found, I decided to
add some plastic detail inside it. Still, there is nothing very close to
reality....but it gives some good detail if you look in there.
Again, nothing very difficult to add detail, take some plasticard and add
pieces...one after another...trying to follow the reference pictures.
Copper wires where also added. The end of the wheel well was provided by
Cutting Edge, and you really need this piece !
Back of the fuselage:
Second time I was bored....and made a change of
area.....after the right wing was completed, I started the end of the
fuselage. First with the add of the resin pieces for the APU, at both side,
coming again from the CE detail. You could notice that the APAU is at
the wrong place on the fuselage......but I didn't want to move it.
Gluing the two halves of the fuselage is still a difficult job....as there are
all those damm rivets all around! You couldn't avoid sanding them
after...so, no more after! The next try is to simulate those rivets,
maybe with fine points of white glue ??? I'll try that after.
Covering the rivets with masking tape during the sanding process limits the
number of rivets that are sanded away.
A bad area, as seen in the pictures, is the bottom
of the fuselage, in this place you have to sand just inside a forest of
rivets....still didn't decide how to do it properly ! The back end is very
difficult too. When adding the tail, I've did some dryfitting too, sand
the place before gluing, but at the end there is still a ridge....sanding it
or not sanding it is the question!
ENGINE NACELLES
Another difficult area. I want to show the
left engine opened....looks like there are some problems to do it clearly?
- First, on most of the pics, it shows two doors
on the necelle, TRUMPETER just made one !
- The pieces (hinges) are made for toys....and are
pretty big !
- this damn transparent piece is going vertically
in my trash.....take a look at what it looks when assemble as following the
instruction? Next problem, the resin engine looks a bit small inside the
nacelle, am I right? And the front part (compressor) is too large
too...I'm trying to find a solution for that too. Normally I didn't have to
used the plastic "cocoon", just using the compressor transparent
pieces, the center of the resin engine, and the back from the CE set. We
shall see how it looks after all that!!
The right engine nacelle is going to be closed,
with nothing inside, just be on display with a cover over the ends....like
I've made with my Monogram at 1/48.
Well, I'll stop work here on the rear part of the
fuselage for now...and return to the front part of the fuselage.
CANOPY:
Another point of view, I've read somewhere on
the Net is that the front windscreen was bad in shape.....the first time I
heard this it had me smiling....but I "re"opened my box and placed
the canopy on the fuselage and yes, it's too large and too high!! This
gives a strange look to the bird....which is strange enough as it
is. So I decided to sand the bottom part of the front canopy, trying to
reduce this effect. That made it look better, not perfect, but good
enough. Second thing is trying to simulate the frame of the canopy with
Tamiya tape, so you could widened the frame around. That's just a try, I'll
still have to sand this area carefully and then glue light plasticard in place
of the old frames....next time !
FRONT WHEEL WELL:
Actually working on, adding frames in plasicard,
wires from plastics...there still plenty stuff to add in this area, but it's
pretty small inside! This all comes to life when painted !
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Ok, that's not a lot actually....I've still got to
start the left wing.....yep another time. Finishing the different bays
and finding a solution so I can show a part of the gun inside the fuselage!!!
Lot's of jobs for the future.........
This bird is going to wear the clothes of the 23
TFW....with a great Sharksmonth....and European One scheme......
As I told you, I'm working on it "on and
off", but it's progressing in a good way! You could say that I'm a
"hair cutter", it's just that I want to have the best replica of
this wondrfull jet I can produce. I was so impressed when building my
Monogram A-10....and this is 1/32 kit is sooooo huge !!
I've got a dio project for it...with a truck and
personnel around......my god!!
CONCLUSION:
Hope all those small bits could help you to start
your project, remember that you don't have to be a "sharp shooter"
to build this model, just take your time and make it with fun......if nobody
smiles because you didn't detail the wheel well or correct another problem
area, fear not.....you are building for you and only you! Maybe guys
like me are boring by always complicating the building process.....but that's
my way of building. Just try to detail items for your skill level and
enjoy the building process.....then show us when you're done
Thanks to Steve Bamford for clearing up my English
in this article.
Patrick
IPMS BELGIUM
ANS MODELISME
http://www.ansmodelisme.com
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