ghodges Posted September 6, 2010 Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 (edited) I'm building the F-21A Kfir just because it's such a COOL looking jet, and I still occasionally see one in the air over Jax (ATAC aggressor bird). This is the 1/48 ESCI kit with some ISRACAST resin parts grafted on for detail and correction purposes. Mine will be in USN markings (Isracast decals) The next one is the 1/48 CollectAire resin T-45C Goshawk. I'm building it for the resin group build on Hyperscale. This is a very nice kit with pe and white metal parts as well as resin. The only complication so far is the leading edge slats, which were molded separate but "solid". I had to use a motor tool to give them their airfoil shape and build up the under-slat area with strip plastic and Milliput (which is drying in this pic). Note that the cockpit area is so open that all of the painting and detailing can be done later! The main gear well fit very nicely and only needed a little detailing with strip plastic gussets and solder for hoses. There's still much to be done of course! The markings will be in the brand new USN Aviation "100th anniversary" scheme rolled out a few weeks ago; that is: white fuselage with a black nose and tail, and CHROME YELLOW wings with black chevrons! It'll be pretty, if nothing else! Comments, questions, and critiques welcome as always! Cheers! GIL Edited December 28, 2010 by ghodges Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Aldrich Posted September 7, 2010 Report Share Posted September 7, 2010 Can't wait to see the Kfir in colors!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Heck Posted September 7, 2010 Report Share Posted September 7, 2010 I'm building the F-21A Kfir just because it's such a COOL looking jet, and I still occasionally see one in the air over Jax (ATAC aggressor bird). This is the 1/48 ESCI kit with some ISRACAST resin parts grafted on for detail and correction purposes. Mine will be in USN markings (Isracast decals) The next one is the 1/48 CollectAire resin T-45C Goshawk. I'm building it for the resin group build on Hyperscale. This is a very nice kit with pe and white metal parts as well as resin. The only complication so far is the leading edge slats, which were molded separate but "solid". I had to use a motor tool to give them their airfoil shape and build up the under-slat area with strip plastic and Milliput (which is drying in this pic). Note that the cockpit area is so open that all of the painting and detailing can be done later! The main gear well fit very nicely and only needed a little detailing with strip plastic gussets and solder for hoses. There's still much to be done of course! The markings will be in the brand new USN Aviation "100th anniversary" scheme rolled out a few weeks ago; that is: white fuselage with a black nose and tail, and CHROME YELLOW wings with black chevrons! It'll be pretty, if nothing else! Comments, questions, and critiques welcome as always! Cheers! GIL Nice work, Gil. I've always liked your Collect-Aire builds like your XF10F. It would be great to see some of them in some sort of club modeling magazine! ;o) John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Aldrich Posted September 7, 2010 Report Share Posted September 7, 2010 Oh John, THAT FELT LIKE A BIG HINT!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted September 8, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2010 Yea, it's been a year or two since my last contribution, so it's probably about time......I'll see what I can come up with the next few months! GIL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weedeater Posted September 9, 2010 Report Share Posted September 9, 2010 As usual Gil, these are lookin pretty cool so far. I'll give you credit for starting with the ESCI Kfir. It's got more rough spots than many straight Mirage kits. But....you have managed to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse, once again. Looking forward to seeing the progress. Thanks for posting your creations again. Model on, Brother of the Sprue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMoore Posted September 9, 2010 Report Share Posted September 9, 2010 Looks good Gil. I'm with Mark....That Kfir is going to look good in color! Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Aldrich Posted September 9, 2010 Report Share Posted September 9, 2010 Looks good Gil. I'm with Mark....That Kfir is going to look good in color! Mike Mike is right, I keep forgetting that other countries use it (hence colors vs color). Gil who's Air Force do you plan to color it in? Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VonL Posted September 9, 2010 Report Share Posted September 9, 2010 Lookin' sharp. Maybe I need to step to the edge, and try a full resin kit... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted September 9, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2010 Thanks for the kind wrods guys! Mark: The Kfir will be a US Navy Agressor F-21A which was used in the 80's. The Goshawk will be in the new Yellow Wing scheme just rolled out to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Naval Aviation in 2011. GIL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregWise Posted September 12, 2010 Report Share Posted September 12, 2010 will they make Orlando? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted September 12, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2010 Maybe...but I'm not going to rush either build just to do so. Got the gear assembled (but not detailed) for the Esci Kfir. They are NOT well engineered and took a lot of fiddling and the addition of "pins" to position them and check the sit of the model (4+hrs of work just for that). I'll post more pics when I make some significant progress! GIL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted September 23, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2010 (edited) This shows how the flaps fit to their actuator fairings, as well as the botom of the leading edge slats after grinding them to shape. You can just see the thin wire "pins" I'm using to position the parts. This top view shows how the flaps fit up under their fairing slats (ala the F-18), as well as the position of the leading edge slats. There's still quite a bit of filling/sanding needed on the leading edges. The camo is on the Kfir! I really like my Talon airbrush. It made controlling the overspray a snap! I also like schemes like this that require little to no masking. You can also still just see a little of the preshading in the lightest gray color. The bottom view shows that I still need to repaint the gear wells, but at least the hard painting is done! It's getting close to the gloss/decalling stage, and there's a LOT of decals on a Kfir (even an American one)! Comments, questions, and critiques welcome as always! GIL Edited September 24, 2010 by ghodges Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted October 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 (edited) Decaling progress... The first decaling session: 2.5 hours for 65 decals, and one side and one wing is done! The Isracast decals (printed by Microscale) are marvelous, going on with no problems outside of my own creation. The only mistake is a "danger saction" on one of the small intake stencils. I dare ya to find it! Thank God for ballgames....it makes the long decalling sessions tolerable! Questions, comments, and critiques welcome as always. Cheers! GIL Edited October 4, 2010 by ghodges Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted October 4, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2010 Sorry, no pics...but after another 2.5hrs of work all of the decals are on! Just over 130 of the little suckers in all, and I left about 25 stencils off of the bottom. Got to watch all of "Die Hard with a Vengeance" though...... GIL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Aldrich Posted October 5, 2010 Report Share Posted October 5, 2010 Looks GREAT to me!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VonL Posted October 5, 2010 Report Share Posted October 5, 2010 Good stuff - love that Kfir camo. Did not realize the Aggressors were still flying them. Is that a Navy unit, or a contractor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted October 5, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2010 I'm doing a Navy unit from the 80's. However, ATAC (private) is still flying a few and I ocasionally see them overhead here in Jacksonville! GIL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewahl Posted October 5, 2010 Report Share Posted October 5, 2010 Hi, Gil, I am impressed! Your rate of applying 130 decals in 4 hours is fantastic. 240 minutes divided by 130 decals equals a decal placed every 1:52 (one minute fifty-two seconds) on average. If I tried to accomplish that speed, I'd have half the decals stuck to my fingers because I'd be accidentally touching fresh markings that had not fully dried. Decals always stick better to skin than to models (as does Bare Metal foil). I am looking forward to seeing the final pictures. Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted October 5, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2010 Wow, that actually makes me feel better! All I can say is that Microscale prints GREAT decals (for Isracast and everyone else. It didn't take more than 30secs for any decal to loosen on the paper once it was wet. They also laid down easily (little to no silvering) so that I lost no extra time in "babying" them. For you "youngsters" out there, we old folks can remember when Microscale was almost the ONLY aftermarket decal maker (at least in the US). My understanding is that when the company slpit apart in the late 70's, one guy got the art work (Scalemaster) and one guy got to keep the "technology" (Microscale). Ther IS a difference in the quality between the two! GIL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted October 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2010 (edited) Two steps forward..... Got the gear built for the T-45 Goshawk. Had to add some details from the spares box, as well as swap out the kit metal tires because they were too hard to drill an axle hole into! All that's left is brake lines and landing lights after painting. This pic shows most of the cockpit parts and the nose gear doors with their hinges. These will all be painted and added much later in the build process! And one step back! When I unmasked the windscreen on the Kfir I found that glue had run up under the inside edges on both sides near the front. This happened because the resin windshield coaming was too tight a fit, touching the inside edges of the windshield, causing the glue to wick up underneath. I cut the windshield off to see if I could sand/polish the inside and remove the glue; but no joy! I've since used it to vac a new windscreen which is now drying after being dipped in Future. The final challenge will be to attach it, blend it in, and paint it with as little damage as possible to the nearly finished model! Oh well....some days you get da bear and some days he chews on you! Cheers! GIL Edited October 11, 2010 by ghodges Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Aldrich Posted October 12, 2010 Report Share Posted October 12, 2010 GIL, Ahhhhh...the joys of model building!!!!!!!!! NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best of luck! Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted October 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2010 The F-21A Kfir is done: See more pics in the other thread! Now, on to finishing the Goshawk! GIL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted October 27, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2010 (edited) Finally made some important progress on the stinkin' kit canopy.... On the clear sheet above you can see the kit supplied vac canopies that are intended to be put into the metal canopy frame individually. I test fit one of them; NO WAY!! So I filled the kit metal frame with plumbers epoxy putty and sanded it to shape to make a master for a one-piece canopy. The result is on the right, with the addition of some strip plastic to establish the frame interior. This took several attempts as the part maxes out the area on my old Mattel vac machine. Now I just have to find a way to do the det-cord........Questions, comments, and critiques welcome! Cheers! Edited October 27, 2010 by ghodges Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weedeater Posted October 28, 2010 Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 (edited) That's a lot of hard work, with some excellent results. Can't wait to see more of the Goshawk. Edited October 28, 2010 by Weedeater Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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