[MarkW]

Began working one of the two external shape bugaboos of the Academy kit--the nose and the vertical tails. The nose looked easiest, so I started there.

Here's the nasal profile of the uncorrected kit. Note the "chin" on the underside.

And now the refined, more beaky profile:

And finally, truth (note the view angle is a little off, but close enough):


All it entailed was filling the bottom nose with epoxy putty, then grinding off the chin and back a bit to get the right profile. A bit of effort was needed to refining the curves when viewed from the front, as taking the chin off leaves an ugly flat spot and actually goes through the fuselage a bit (hence the epoxy putty backing).

Still a little more work to do to make it sharp--the tip is still too rounded, but definitely getting there.

[MarkW]

Finished up the pit. Here it is with a summary of the big changes.



Again, closed tinted canopy should help with the appearance.

C&C welcome.

[electric_indigo]

The improvements on the seat work well. I just think that the comm line sticks out a bit too much. Maybe a human hair would work better.

[MarkW]

The comm line is a tad too thick--unfortunately I had a paint adhesion issue.

[MarkW]

More detailing work done, this time some really basic stuff on the AIM-9 weapons bay. First, the players--the kit bay with the blank back wall cut out, a new back wall blank, and strip styrene for ribs. Looking at the bay, I already added a couple stringers to the front end:

Using numerous photos (and a sneak for confirmation purposes at the Hase instruction sheet), the webbing went up. Not as bad as I thought, but wish I had my Chopper II in hand already. Yep, tiny.

Installed on the bay back, and a peek at the kit look:


I think once the rail is in place with a missile on board, and painted up, it should look OK. The ribs are probably a little out of scale, but otherwise OK--the match the rest of the bay, which helps. The rail gave me more trouble than I thought, even so the Academy rail is surprisingly decent. Fortunately, I have a spare set in case it continues to vex me. I'm pretty psyched by the bay--once painted and decaled, it should look pretty good. Not perfect, but pretty good.

I've also decided to scratch build the weapon bay doors. The Academy ones have OK detail, but it could be better. Most importantly, the exterior is kind of rough in a almost sink hole sort of way. Too friggin much trouble to fix something I can scratch myself.

OK, let's see if I eat those words down the road. :whistle:

This post has been edited by MarkW: 30 January 2010 - 01:25 PM

[xPLAN303Ex]

Looking good!!

[MarkW]

OK, next big thing--the inlets. For some mind boggling reason, the Academy kit has very clearly visible engine faces. Heck, you can get a better shot of the fan face than most people have of their wedding pictures. While you can wimp out and get inlet covers, this tends to not be an option for in flight. So, here is my solution, giving the transition form the irregular 4 sided polygon to a true tube towards the back. I was unable to get a shot down the inlet, but I can assure you from the Mk I eyeball view they are nearly perfect. I need to adjust the outboard wall curvature to achieve complete blockage, which should be relatively painless. Most importantly, the curve is very realistically gradual--with this internal volume to work with, this might be fairly close to the real ducting.


I only went to this trouble since I have two of these kits.

Some further refinement of the display hood/coaming. Added a few rivets and panel lines, while marginally correcting the sahpe near the back.

That's all for now...

[electric_indigo]

Hasegawa has now a page for their Raptor:

http://www.hasegawa-...p/PT45/PT45.htm

Where's the fun in 1/48 if you have only those stealthy, plain surfaces?

[Amaterasu]

I've wanted a Chopper II for some time now -- I just can't justify the costs of getting one.

This is why scale modeling scares the bajesus out of me; I know that I'd go through and nit pick everything to get it right, thereby never finishing anything. 

I am horrified and taken in awe, Markie.

[MarkW]

I was surprised that Hasegawa missed some cockpit detail given they have an overall better pit. The Chopper II came out to abotu $36 US, or $345B Canadian, I think. I'm really waiting on that to do the new open weapons bay doors--I think the kit version is near unsalvageable.

Still working on the extended inlets--they areOK lookng so far from the outside, but scary ugly with the bird open.

I just need to clean them up and pint them before showing them off again.

I will say the Hase bird looks less like a cheese grater in gray than it does in the idol scheme, but it still looks terrible to my 5th gen eye.

[-Hasaki-]

Looking really good so far, nice attention on the cockpit and gauges.

[MarkW]

Thanks-- that was a lot of fun. Next kit will get the Aires pit, though.

OK, back in the saddle--rough month at home for kit building. First, further progress on the side weapons bay. Thanks to CW, I was able to get the Pepto pink Hasegawa part he didn't need. I modified the Academy bay by cutting out the sections between ribs that either had the Academy missile rail mount points or had the kind of wimpy Academy detail that I couldn't just cover with the better Has parts. Here is a comparison shot between the Academy and Has rails. After studying photos for a few months now, Has clearly nailed it, even it the rivet detail is a bit much:

Note the two have different attachment points--more on that later. Also note the Academy part has been chopped a bit--I was trying to adjust that "box" thing on the underside of the rail near the rail. The rails are really only a mm or so lengthwise different. The Academy rail just looks shorter due to the exhaust deflector being left off.
Now the technicolor yawn of the old, new, and rebuilt bay parts:


You can see where the bays between ribs are numbered--this was to help me match up the Academy bays with the right Has detail parts. It also was vital to mounting the Has rail. The Academy rail attaches about 4mm too far back, but since the rail supports are also too far back on the rail, it works out the rail end up extended in the right place. Mounting the Has rail at the Acad points has the Has rail hitting the back of the bay! So, using reference photos again, and counting the bays, the right location was found. The rail already has it neo super magnet installed. I'm debating adding any piping detail because of what a pain it would be, and how hard it is to see around an AIM-9 and the rail...

Next up, let's see how Pepto pink does with primer!

[MarkW]

Here are the Hasegawa doors. There is a small white extension so they fit the Academy kit properly along the hinge. I filed that ridiculous raised edge off the outside of the door, then thinned them even more. I am of the opinion that PE doors are simply too thin, and properly thinned plastic (especially with that internal frame) can look better if done right.

And, how does Pepto pink take primer? Like a champ.

Did I mention I trashed the starboard lower leading edge of the wing?

Well, time to get on that (like I don't have enough to do. Sheet styrene and filler made from the kit sprue shavings and Tamiya extra thin cement. First time I tried the glue/kit plastic filler trick, we'll see how it goes. I can already tell it will take a while to set up solid.

[cwmodels]

Glad to see you're make a good use outta those useless parts for me.

BTW, after starting on my Hasegawa F-22, I enjoyed working on it so much I decided I want to get a second kit and ordered another one yesterday.

AmiAmi current has some of the idolmaster kits at 35% discount. And with the half price shipping the price is just too hard to resist.

http://www.amiami.co.../e_display.html

[MarkW]

Thanks! Here's the update on the inlets. This is after one coat of household latex. I think I may want to do a second or even third coat to really kill the seams. While not perfect, it is better than the stock kit. I've learned a lot from this set--I expect the next one will be much better. The latex bit is really messy, a fact made worse by having to have the inlets installed in the kit to do this...


The white is too bright. I think once I get the final coat down, I'll hit it with a touch of off white, and a little flat to tone it down.