Variable Geometry: the Swing Wing GB

macattack80

I touched up the upper surfaces with more gunship gray to remove all the overspray.  I have to say that I am quite pleased with the results.  As soon as it is dry I will be able to move it around a bit and snap a few photos for y'all.

Good!  Progress is being made.  I have to sympathize with you about the painting.  Don't know how you're doing it, but I made a cradle from the kit box to hold the plane.  Even so, painting required some really awkward angles with the airbrush.  And I only had to deal with a single base color, not the tri-color of your build. 

It's also slow going to paint, then let cure; paint again, cure again.  But I'm looking forward to your next set of pics.

I gave the exhaust cans a coat of Alclad steel and then over-sprayed the insides with Alclad jet exhaust and gave it a quick drybrushing of Tamiya clear blue.  Might do another blue wash and still do some exterior highlighting with Alclad magnesium before attaching the cans to the fuselage.  Plans are to get some serious bench time in this weekend, so photos might be forthcoming by Sunday.

Don

Heres my latest update pics. Not got to much done this week as when i went to prime, i realised i didn't have any gloss black enamel, so that will have to wait till i get back to camp. I did manage to add the wing gloves, i don't know if these would work in the real world, but i like the look of them. I also have the 4 missile pylons added. Seeing as i had to set this to one side, i was able to make a start on my MiG 23, but nothing worth photos yet. And my B-24 is now finished so its full ahead with this GB.

Sorry for the blurred pics. They looked ok on the camera, but when i got them loaded today some didn't look as good.

And here are the 4 X-4 missiles ready fro painting. I am going to do this light blue, as is usual for German ordanance.

Progress Report:

Well I am yet to brake sprue but I have made progress. After studying the manual and and checking it against my refrence materials I have found some errors off the bat. The Aussie F-111's are equipped with black sheep skin seat covers, not the basic seat and cushion so thats one hurdle already, if I fix that (which I will, I already have plans) I then have to scratch my first set of seat belts (Yay!)

Well some kit photos

The BOX

Sprues in bags

A sub box containing more stuff

Thats it so far, I hope to make start either tomorrow or sunday

Andrew

Sheep skin seat covers, now why doesn't that surprise me

Looks an awsome kit.

Thanks bish. I could make a kiwi joke but I wont LOL.

As for the kit, Looks to be great fun and I plan on taking it slow and trying my bestest.

Andrew

Well, what welshman and kiwis do with their sheep is there buisness, right.

Will be nice to see this come together. I have always had a thing for the F-11, i guess that comes from seeing so many of them in the sjys of East Anglia during the 70's and 80's. Alas that is no more.

Here are a few pics of the upper fuselage as promised.  I tried to keep the gray a little blotchy to replicate some paint touch ups.

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The last pic really shows how sleak of aircraft the B-1 is.   Any comments, as always, are welcome.

Nice progress so far Bish.  Keep up the good work.

Konigwolf, That is a nice looking kit.....it should be though with that price tag.  Looking forward to watching your build.

Don, I am painting this beast on the platform she is on now.....a bar stool with a wool blanket covering up the seat cover....an order from my wife.  It is stable enough to support the model but small enough to move around.  Plus, it is at a good height to be able to sit and spray paint at it.

I will probably spray some future on the top to protect the paint before I flip it over and paint the bottom.

thanks, and some great work on the Bone.

I said this in another GB when showing pics of my B-24 and i will say it again. I am glad i stick to 1/72nd scale.

Mac, nice bone buddy, but you are gamer than me balancing a big beast like that where you did for the photos.

As for the price of the F-111, dont know if my LHS got them cheap but it wasnt to bad at $85 for what should end up being a sizeable kit and cheapest I've seen it even on the net (taking ito account delivery)

Andrew

Bish:  nice work on the P.1101.  Looks like it's almost ready for a coat of primer and paint.  Also looks like missile technology has progressed significantly since 1945.  but I bet those X-4s would have caused some concerns to allied pilots.

Starting the Mig--23 also?  Great!  That will be the 2nd Russian swing wing of the GB. 

I can also understand the desire to stay with 1/72 for larger aircraft.  Have to admit though, that the 1/48 Bone looks impressive but we'll see how quickly the novelty wears off once I have to find a place to display it.  And the larger scales are just easier to work with for my aging eyesight. Lots of bitty parts is a recipe for disaster for me.

Konigwolf: Can't believe that Hobby Boss didn't include scale sheepskin covers    I'm watching to see what you come up with.  Agree with Kevin that it looks like a really nice kit.  A fitting tribute to their service in the Aussie AF.  Let us know how the fit and finish is once you get started. 

Kevin:  painting look top notch. Keep up the great work. 

Don

Thanks Don. Yep, as soon as i get back to camp it will get a coat of Black Enamel Primer, followed a couple of days later by the Alclad, probably 3 thin coats. Then it will get a red noise and an anti glare panel. 

For those who have never heard of the X-4, they were a wire guided air to air missile under development by the Germans at the end of the war. There were some built, but i am not sure if they were ever tested in flight. I was trained on the MILAN wire guided AT missile, that was bad enough laying on the ground guideing that onto a target. I can't imagine how the pilot of a single engine fighter would have copped having to guide the missile, fly the plan and try not to get bounced all at the same time.

I can well believe it about a 48th Bone looking impressive. A number of years ago i started on the Monogram 72nd kit. That was impressive enough.That was badly damaged when i had to store all my stuff for several years, so now i have the revell kit, which i assume is the same.

Konigwolf13

Mac, nice bone buddy, but you are gamer than me balancing a big beast like that where you did for the photos.

As for the price of the F-111, dont know if my LHS got them cheap but it wasnt to bad at $85 for what should end up being a sizeable kit and cheapest I've seen it even on the net (taking ito account delivery)

Andrew

Thanks Andrew.  The model is pretty well balanced and I think the camera was a little crooked when I took the photo.  Or my head was......It doesn't look that keeled over in person.

$85 is a good price.  I saw that kit for $110 online somewhere.  HobbyBoss kits seem to be a little pricey anyway.  I have a few of their kits in the pile but I haven't built one yet. 

Bish

thanks, and some great work on the Bone.

I said this in another GB when showing pics of my B-24 and i will say it again. I am glad i stick to 1/72nd scale.

Thanks Bish.  I kinda wish this was a 1/72nd scale kit at times.  But I will be able to say, soon enough, that I have a 1/48 scale Lancer in the collection, along with high blood pressure due to the same.

pordoi

Kevin:  painting look top notch. Keep up the great work. 

 

Don

Thanks Don.  Looking forward to seeing more photos of your build.  Your approach to painting the burner cans sounds awesome.  The detail on the kit exhaust, as you know, is non existent.  I'm not gonna try and polish that terd.

Then may i proscribe a nice easy kit to lower it. I have found my P.1101 a nice refreashing change. My first OOB for years and goes together very well, its been really nice not to have the hassle or pressure of getting everything right.

Bish

Then may i proscribe a nice easy kit to lower it. I have found my P.1101 a nice refreashing change. My first OOB for years and goes together very well, its been really nice not to have the hassle or pressure of getting everything right.

Thanks for the advise Bish.  I believe all the drama with this kit is over.  I have a few kits in line that appear to be much easier builds.  Just what I will need to fully recover.  Your P.1101 does look like a nice kit.  I will probably buy one as soon as I get some extra cash together.  I usually only build US subjects but I feel I should expand my horizons a bit anyway.

Its not a bad kit. Dragon did two of them, the one i am building and a nightfighter. I was lucky enough to get one of each from the same seller on E-bay. Huma also does one that i thikn is still in production. When it come to aircraft, i build mostly WW2 German, but along with my Norfolk Airfields project, i have a good selection of Modern US and Russian aircraft. Keeps it varied enough.

An easy 1/72nd scale kit seems to be what the doctor ordered.   I have signed up for the Hornet's Nest GB with 2 of Hasegawa's 1/72nd F/A-18F Super  Hornets.  From what I read they go together quite well.  Gonna keep the 1101 on the wish list though.

Well Finally broke sprue today....

and promptly stalled

For some reason HB went against adding ejection handles on this kit so after spending a couple of hours bodging up a set I was never going to be happy with and getting more frustrated the missus told be to order an AM set as an early christmas pressie. So I have, kit is on hold until parts arrive in about 2 weeks.

I do have some shots though (well 2 to be exact)

First is the box on my modeling bench, takes up some space huh? (or is my bench just tiny).

And this is where I got to, not far huh LOL, might go on and do some of the other sub assemblies (nose, undercarriage, bomb bayetc)

Andrew

Tough break with the handles.  Which AM set are you looking at?  And don't forget to order some resin sheepskin. 

Good plan to work on other sub-assemblies while you wait.  I'll be watching.

Don

Andrew, WooHoo and BooHoo at the same time.  Too bad about those handles.  At least you got the blessing to order more stuff.

That is a big ol' box there sir.

I will hopefully be painting the Euro I Gray on the underside of the Bone tonight after work.  That will wrap up the major painting too.  I am inching my way closer to finishing this thing. 

How is your Lancer coming along Don?

macattack80

I am inching my way closer to finishing this thing. 

How is your Lancer coming along Don?

Hey Kevin,  good to hear things are progressing with the painting.

Well, I did get some time to work this weekend.  Painting is mostly done, enough so that I removed the bomb bay and landing gear doors.  They have been acting as masks to protect the bays for so long that I forgot that each door has six ejector scars to clean, all of the landing gear doors, ditto.  And the 24 bomb bay door retractor arms have flash and a small ejector scar that needs sanding.  My Sunday afternoon was spent with a sanding stick.  In the evening, I did some touch up on the outer sides of the doors with gunship gray and painted the interior in gloss white.  Have to do a bit of detail painting on the landing doors and give everything some washes to dirty them up.  So a fair amount of work that didn't produce much of photographic interest. 

I'll get the landing gear installed soon and post some photos.  I'm concerned about the flimsy attachment of the main landing gear doors.  They are fairly large and seem to be glued onto a narrow ledge without locating pins or anything else to shore them up.  Doesn't look like the sturdiest attachment to me.  Have you dry fitted these parts yet?

I might look at my refs to see how the doors operate on the 1:1

Oh, and I did get the exhaust cans installed and gave them some touch up paint.  Lookin' good.  I like the detail of this resin set.  Really a shame that Cutting Edge went out of business.

Don

Just a little GB update:

We're a bit more than halfway through.  We've had some very nice WIPs documented and the results are shown on the first page.  If you haven't checked them out recently, go back and have a look.  Nice stuff.  There are also several builds in progress, and one or two are from members that have just started.    Looking forward to seeing them progress!  But I also must admit that one of the ongoing builds is mine   Started on day 1 and still going; but nearing completion.  In my defense, the Revell 1/48 B-1B is a kit that demands alot of time.  It has the potential to produce a really nice model but there are times where it fights you all the way.  I think that Kevin will agree.  But in the end, we will have three of these monsters completed in this GB!

More importantly, I've been in contact with other GB members.  Several are still planning to contribute.  However, we lost Wirraway.  A shame, but that happens.  I haven't heard back from Grimmo or Morefirejules08.  So let me ask a favor.  If anybody knows these members, maybe an email to inquire if they still aere planning to contribute.  Bish, you know morefirejules, yes?

Don

pordoi

 I like the detail of this resin set.  Really a shame that Cutting Edge went out of business.

 

Don

 

Don, Glad to hear your build is coming along nicely too.   Nicely being relative to this particular kit    I had a look at the actuator arms for the gear doors the other day and noticed all the pin marks and promptly put it back down.  I will tackle that mess while the paint dries.

Regarding Cutting Edge, a shame is right.  I never got a chance to buy any of their products but from what I have read about their stuff was quite nice.   They had some nice decal sheets for this B-1 kit too   

The curse of the Bone took out 2 aftermarket businesses....Cutting Edge and Fox One.

pordoi

 It has the potential to produce a really nice model but there are times where it fights you all the way.  I think that Kevin will agree. 

Agreed! 

More importantly, I've been in contact with other GB members.  Several are still planning to contribute.  

Nice   

Don

 

 

purdoi and mac, no great deal, takes the stress off me and this isnt the no AM GB anyways right. I got the eduard interior detail set and also grabbed the seatbelts while I was at it. Since it was all her suggestion I'm happy (might have something to do with the BIG stack of scrapping papers I told her to buy last week)

Andrew

Guys I have a small start on my build the F-14A Tomcat nothing worth showing yet but it has started. I need to add some screening and a few other addons then I will have pictures before I close her up.

I know he posted a few days ago. But apart from that i ahven't seen him on here that much. I will send him a message, poinbt him in this direction.

I have only been away from camp a few days and missing the bench already. Always the bloody same, i just get into full flow and have to leave it.

Ok.  Apparently I can't follow intructions.  I sprayed Euro I Gray where the Gunship Gray was supposed to go and vice versa.  Oops.  The paining instructions seemed straight forward.  I just got the FS numbers reversed.  So I got to repaint the gray on the upper fuselage....again and redo the entire lower fuselage.  Oh well.  Only gonna add a day to two to the already 5 month long build.  I put this much effort into this I want to make it right.