Bridlington & Wolds Scale Model Club Forum
Models => Modelling Projects => Topic started by: cph64 on August 02, 2020, 05:14:24 PM
-
This is the vintage Heller offering of the F-84 G and comes complete with free raised panel lines, little internal detail and a see through body!! The kit consists of only 43 grey plastic pieces one of which isn't used in my build, the closed air-brake, and two clear parts for the canopy and four clear for the landing lights. I didn't know until reading the notes that this was the first American jet capable of carrying an atom bomb.
The completed model will join my 'Places what I have been to' collection. As some of you are aware I go to Norway regularly to ring birds on the island of Store Faerder (Stoora Far der) in Oslofjord. To get there I fly into Sanderfjord Torp and on the airfield perimeter is a small collection of aircraft which have been used by the RNoAF including an F-84 G marked up as from the same squadron as the kit decals. Do you now see the connection? The one at Torp is T-FN so I'll have to alter the unit codes.
Once the cockpit tub and intake/front wheel well were in place it was obvious you could see through into the space where the weight would be put to prevent a tail-sitter, I've also put weight at the front of the wingtip tanks to help, so a blanking plate has been fitted. The a/c at Torp is sat with the air-brake open so I've had to open the 72 holes out using a 0.3mm drill.
-
This one looks a labor of love.
Your getting through some kits Chris.
Andy
-
It is Andy. The weather's been shocking up here at times so plenty of opportunity to work through my stash.
-
There is a lot of work going i to this one Chris. A lot of accurate drilling.
-
There is a lot of work going i to this one Chris. A lot of accurate drilling.
A boring experience? (lots of drilling - futile attempt at wit!)
-
In IPMS Magazine 6 2018, Peter Terry in his Golden Oldies article says that for it's age the parts fit is very good and the need for filler minimal making for a good clean and no problem assembly. Mmmm.... I found the locating points for the cockpit tub and intake not precise so lots of dry fitting was done before applying glue and if you look closely at the first photo you'll see how the panel lines match up but the air brake recess and front and rear of the body don't!!! Filler had to be used at the various places to blend things in and the wing tip tanks needed some heavy sanding to remove the join. The things we do for love!!
-
It's all part of the modelling experience, but very frustrating.
-
Having done that amount of drilling Chris I expect you'll survive this one.
-
It will look good when you finish it
-
How many drills did you break? I usually manage to break one putting it in the chuck!
-
I didn't break any Howard, just the main undercarriage off twice, ####. More filler required on the spine and in a few other places and the tail has been undercoated with rattle can white primer then Appliance White, both by Halfords, as part of the tail marking. The blue is going to be interesting as it's supposed to be Cobalt Blue but on the decals it has darkened considerably so it may be a touch of artistic license when I come to mix it.
-
There's nowt wrong with artistic licence. I use it pretty often.
-
There's nowt wrong with artistic licence. I use it pretty often.
you don't even need the licence! Just go for it.
-
Do as you think best and *** the rivet counters.
-
Using the tail decal as a template I masked off the white area and painted the tail markings. As luck would have it I found acrylic pots of Humbrol 25 Red and 60 Blue, which matches Cobalt Blue, in my stash of pots from 'Starter Sets'. Bonus. So the colours will be as near as. I can't use the kit tail decal as it has the wrong number which is also too big. Looks like a dig through my decal stash. The tail area will be tidied up when fully cured with areas of metallic paint. Referring once again to the IPMS article Peter Terry says most Thunderjets were finished in Aero-lack aluminium which gives a dull appearance and he used Tamiya XF-16 Matt Aluminium, as have I. The aft part of the fuselage is yet to be painted once I can mask around the tail. The original air-frame is actually of Dutch origin and as such would have been camouflaged then over painted once it went to Norway. This gives some license again re the finish of the aluminium.
-
It@ coming on well
-
Hi Chris,
Nice work on the masking.
Bigkev
-
Tail masked further so I could complete painting the rear end. The original must have had a couple of re-sprays whilst at Torp as one photo shows natural metal tailpipe and fin tip with large codes on the tail, plus squadron badge, whilst another shows an overall aluminium finish with smaller codes and no badge. The blue on the nose is also complete in one of the photos whilst the olive green extends right to the nose tip on the other. The Aluminium finish has been tidied up, and the nose roughly painted blue, plus all the u/c door edges and bays have been painted Tamiya Yellow Green.
-
Slow progress today, removing masking, touching up then re-applying. The cockpit canopies have been masked using fluid then painted aluminium followed by masking with tape for the white framing. Positioned loosely to ensure decking behind seat sits properly and doesn't interfere when the canopy is fixed permanently. Wing tip lights fitted, with inside both painted red, this is showing on some photos, not the usual red/green for port and starboard. They will be trimmed and masked ready for the Cobalt blue once they have set properly. The green spine is Vallejo 70.893 US Dark Green which is a close match for the paint the Norwegians have used.
-
Coming along nicely
-
Yep.
Nice model.
Andy.
-
Decals applied over two days with the T-FN code made by adapting the F-FN supplied in the kit. The small T on the tail came from the spares box as did the minuscule numbers on the tail which are from various number trees on Airfix decals. Further research shows that the kit fuselage flashes are not correct for T but an online reference says the markings aren't quite right anyway, as in the codes should read FN-T not the other way around, but she's had several resprays so who know? And as expected the decal blue doesn't match the Humbrol colour quoted, something I may revisit in the future. The canopy masking was removed after spraying with Satin acrylic varnish which had caused some frosting even though the weather and can were warm, it may have been because it was the end of the can? So touch ups were required all round.
Not the quick build I thought it could be and it did turn into a labour of love. The biggest fault in the kit is that the starboard trim tab is moulded in completely the wrong place. As I won't be going back to Norway in the foreseeable future this will be a welcome reminder.
-
Good work there.
-
Decals applied over two days with the T-FN code made by adapting the F-FN supplied in the kit. The small T on the tail came from the spares box as did the minuscule numbers on the tail which are from various number trees on Airfix decals. Further research shows that the kit fuselage flashes are not correct for T but an online reference says the markings aren't quite right anyway, as in the codes should read FN-T not the other way around, but she's had several resprays so who know? And as expected the decal blue doesn't match the Humbrol colour quoted, something I may revisit in the future. The canopy masking was removed after spraying with Satin acrylic varnish which had caused some frosting even though the weather and can were warm, it may have been because it was the end of the can? So touch ups were required all round.
Not the quick build I thought it could be and it did turn into a labour of love. The biggest fault in the kit is that the starboard trim tab is moulded in completely the wrong place. As I won't be going back to Norway in the foreseeable future this will be a welcome reminder.
Nice attention to detail Chris,
But no matter what anyone says, it's your model, and if it is what you intended then that's okay.
Bigkev
-
There's truth in that Kev. By the time I get back she could have had another respray, lol!!!
-
Excellent looking model Chris.
-
Looks great!