International Scale Modeller

The construction of this kit has already proceeded a decent way when posting this so this first post will be ULTRA LONG

I have done a very thorough kit review in the review section which can be found HERE so I will not do any reviewing here. I will only show sprue shots and the WIP-shots. This is a prototype aircraft that havent seen service to this day (i think) and most of the development is still top secret. This is why there is so few reference photos out there and I guess that's why the paint callouts in the instructions for the interior is so sparce. Most of the paint scheme in the interior and the landing bays are made up by me since I lack the reference for it. The same goes for the details I suppose. I can't really blame Hobby Boss for this since they couldn't find the reference for these things.

In the review I mention the big issue I had with this kit before I started and that was the scale of the kit. The kit feels like its more 1/60 scale than 1/72 and it just feels too big. I will illustrate this better when I come to the ejection seat with a photo.

I feel obliged to tell you that I bought this kit mainly because of the cool camo-scheme on the box art and because it was a new tool. This is my first jet build in ages and also my very first Hobby Boss build so I was pretty excited to build this. Here it goes

The very cool box art with the very nice camo.


The provided options:








These clear parts are certainly the best looking clear parts I've ever seen on a 1/72 scale. However that might be why, since this is just too big for 1/72


Not sure how to go down with these decals. Do they work with Micro Set/Sol?





Nice colored paint callouts.





The build is already under way and here follows some construction photograps:

Some very mild scratch building here in the forward landing bays. They were completely blank so I just put some styrene in there to make it look more busy.


I went for the photo etched option in the cockpit.


Again, here is the comparison of the two seats (the left one is the seat from my 1/72 Merlin heli) and first is the non constructed comparison.


Here is the comparison with the seat built up. The difference is striking. Can't belive Hobby Boss missed this. Looks more like a 1/48 seat to me.




I'm quite happy with the seat in general. Had no reference photos to paint it from. The belts are made out of masking tape. It was really easy to work with this seat cause of it's large size. It consists of 5 different parts, and that's pretty nice.


The cockpit is primed and base colored ready to be detailed.




The tub painted up.


This instrument panel consists of 7 parts plus decals and that's pretty cool for 1/72. Unfortunately the HUD-arms made out of PE had to go because they would'nt fit under the canopy.


I usually want to build the landing gear last but the construction of this kit prevents me from postponing it.


Got rid of the strange marks.


Gluing the intakes. These had a fairly bad fit, and the worst fit so far in the kit. The fit overall so far is pretty good.


Weighted down the nose. Not sure if it's necessary but Im not the risk taking guy


Assembled the intakes together with the landing bay and the glued it in. The tub is also glued in.


The fusilage glued together.


Some filling done and glued on the pylons.




Jammed in the seat to the tub. The canopy attachement-thing behind the seat is made out of photo etch and plastic.




The seat is just too damn big. You can here see the difference between the stick and the ejection lever. How would one fly like that?


Final cockpit assembly:




Glueing the canopy using Microscale Krystal Klear




The recessed detail in the canopy can be seen here when I painted the inside colour of the canopy.


Painted the inside color of the canopy. Glued the front stabilizer and the base for the vertical stabilizer.


PHEW! This was a long post. Will try and finish this kit pretty fast since the nightfighter SiG has already started and I don't want this hanging about. Until next time,

cheers

nice work there

Looking great so far. That seat really does look huge. Good luck with the rest of your build.

The build proceeds. I started to prime it but my rattle can ran out of juice so it's not entirely primed yet. Until the new primer arrives in the mail, I tried to push on with the rest of the parts in the kit like the tiny sensors on the fusilage, the front landing gear and the exhausts. So hopefully when I can get this primed, it will be a pretty fluid build from there.

The nice OOB exhausts. Looks very crisp for a 1/72 scale.


Painted glossy black.


Painted using "Warplock bronze" from citadel. Very nice to use with the hairy stick.


Glossed up, ready for a wash. Will do that after the final assembly though.


Some painful masking going on.


All stabilizers assembled, ready for priming.


Almost fully primed, if you look closely you can see the rough spots in the priming. So I will have to respray some areas on the fusilage for a smooth finish.


Some really teeny bits glued on.




Until next time,

cheers

Quick update. Had a go at the pitot tube wich consists of 1 styrene tube and 8 ultra small photo-etch parts. I had a go at bending those teeny pieces but I lacked the tools, expertise and patience when it all when to hell. I just replaced the PE with some tiny plasticard. It may look like it was put together by an 8-year old, but I just couldnt take the heat!



Re-primed the surface again, with the tube installed.


Will probably start painting it tonight and then push on tomorrow and maybe finish it this week

cheers

Looking good, great looking aircraft

Paul wrote:Looking good, great looking aircraft

Thanks!

Great job so far, Ludvig!!

I can't wait to see that interesting looking camo scheme painted on her!

Cheers,

Martin

Very cool model. Well done buddy

Phe, it's finally painted and unmasked. This camo was a real pain to mask up for me as a rookie. Truth to be told, this was the first EVER camoflauged vehicle I ever made. I can only say that I have the utmost respect for you camo-guys out there, truly amazing. The masking was the most painful part of the build, no doubt. A bit annoyed over the bleed I got around the masking tape, gonna have to do a major clean-up before it will look respectable. But I guess that's just another disadvantage you have when you're brush painting. With that said, I learned a great deal and it was fun, even thou it was tough at times.

One thing thats astonished me is the fragility of the Vallejo model colors. As soon as you touch the paint, it peels. This makes even unmasking a tough job. But the paints are very good to work with paint-wise.

Bleh, masking


Masking the second color was the most time consuming and hard.




Did some other painting during drying times.


Something really happens to a model when it gets some paint on it.


Last session of the painful masking.








Landing gear rises from the grave. The first thing that I made for this model, sees daylight for the first time in some months.


Heres some modelling wisdom for you folks






Now, let's clean up all those cock-ups and the paint-bleeding, gonna be great "fun".

cheers

Ludvig - That's a sharp-looking aircraft and love the camo. You say it's brush-painted? I couldn't see that, so you've done an excellent job. As for Vallejo paints, I use them extensively and find them very fragile. It's a heart in mouth moment when de-masking and it often lifts paint, no matter how long I've let it dry.

Prop72 wrote:Ludvig - That's a sharp-looking aircraft and love the camo. You say it's brush-painted? I couldn't see that, so you've done an excellent job. As for Vallejo paints, I use them extensively and find them very fragile. It's a heart in mouth moment when de-masking and it often lifts paint, no matter how long I've let it dry.

First of all, thank you! As for the paints. Earlier in my modelling career when I didnt prime the models I had the same issue with the paint peeling off when you remove the masking tape. When I started priming, im using Tamiya rattlecan, I stopped having this problem. Recently Ive been starting to use Vallejo Matte medium wich im enjoying very much. Feels like it has a small strengthening ability aswell.

cheers

Pushing on with this build. And as I stated in the previous post, it really does come alive when it gets painted and even more when its decaled. I started by varnishing the body with future clear and let it dry over night. During drying times I painted some other parts thats not yet attached.

Glossed up


Mildly weathered the landing bay doors and the huge back wheels.


Painting the engines with Citadel "Warplock Bronze" mixed with "Leadbelcher". This stuff is so nice to brush. Especially thinned and with a couple of drops of Vallejo's Matte Medium.


Glued on the exhausts and gave them a wash (Citadel's) to make them more dark and flat look like the ones in the reference photos.


The decals are alright. They react very nicely to Micro Set'N'Sol. The carrier film might be a little thick, but I think that is solved when the Sol is completely dry and you varnish it once more. One negative is that they screwed up printing the decals. One is missing and they printed two extra of another decal(If you look on the picture in the beginning of the thread, you can see that there is 2x 17 when there is 3 on the marking sheet. Clearly someone was drunk when these were designed. Can only hope they fix it in a rebox. Didnt let this stop me and used one of the extras. With some fine adjustment, you proably cant tell the difference anyway. Let the decaling begin!

You can hint the carrier film if you reflect it with some light. Lets see how it looks tomorrow.








Decaling went smooth with no issues during applicance. Letting the decals rest until tomorrow and Ill put on some gloss coat and make it ready for some slight weathering.

cheers

Looks great, I have barely started mine. This is good motivation t get started again,

Turning into the final corner and towards the finishing line. Today it was weathering time. I used a combination of Florymodels black wash and Vallejos model color wash. At first I was decisive that the weathering should be kept to a minimum since this is a pretty new aircraft. However, my artistic side got the better of me and decided to weather it some more. I like to separate weathering from ageing and what Ive done here is some slight weathering. This specific specimen has got a couple of years to it now, so it should show some signs of wear.

First I used Vallejos model wash and did it slowly not to overdo it. Then I decided to put some speed into the process so I went like this:



Im pretty happy with the result of the weathering except that the majority of the panel lines and riveting detail is too shallow to hold a wash. Thats a pity because this kit has alot of fine surface detail that would love a good dark wash. Youll have to wait for the complete result of the weathering til next time when I have varnished the model for the last time.

Finally, the gears are attached and the landing bay doors aswell. The rear doors proved to be tricky to attach since they dont have a clear fit. The nose landing gear is very nice detailed and im really happy with it.







Next update will come tomorrow when the model is finished. Until then,

cheers

Ok, so its all finished. I will give you a link to the Gallery-section where I will post all of the pics. Have also written down a final conclusion. See you there!

http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=6838

Brilliant... Looks like a great kit, and the end result is beautiful..

Nice looking job. I just wish my eyes and nerves could handle 1/72.

Great job, mate!