OK, off & running, officially!
I've started the Mirage F1c before my Heinkel 177. It's a 1/72 kit, and will be doubling up for the African Group Build.
- Raised panel lines & everything looks good shape-wise.
- There is a slight warp to the fuselage halves but nothing that some careful gluing can't fix.
- I'm going to try to use the oob decals (presently hanging in a sunny window to bleach them a little, Microscale decal film waiting!) for a South African Air Force machine. If I can't salvage the originals I'll have to go aftermarket or print my own.
- lots of flash on the landing gear, but I think I managed to mostly clean that up, so I may not have to mount her "in-flight" as I planned.
- I will be deflecting the control surfaces slightly, including the all-flying elevators.
First pics! Only four years younger than me!
Elevator - note the long tab.
I've trimmed the tab in to the pivot point, leaving a little bit to mount with. I won't deflect them too much because I will likely still need to have some surfaces close enough together to glue. Now I need to fill in the gap in the fuselage slots. I may have to attach these before gluing the halves together...
Extended the cabin floor & attached a couple of styrene bits for the "pedals", stretched sprue for the control stick. (I still have some spares to dig through, I might find something better than what I will be scratching for this!)
The ejection seat (I could have sworn I took a before pic ). It actually had a decent shape, but needed some help! Masking tape belts and I used the loop off of a "beading needle" that I found at a local craft store. I know the actual seat has a two-loop gizmo for the "over the head ejection pulls" - I'm thinking I've got it close enough in 1/72!
The "beading needles" - 12 for $1? I can see me using these in more cockpits in the future, loop antennas etc.
Cut a little groove in the top of the seat so the loop looks like it is coming out of the headpiece rather than sitting on top.
All painted up, although I see a couple tiny spots that need a drip of paint:
That's all for now,