The 50 Shades of Gray Group Build!

Thank you for the tip!

Tomcat. You give it your best shot and you fix the issues in the long run.

lostagain. many thanks, I dont know about fast.

I did some pratice on the engine nosel.

removed seam from canopy..

I have been following this thread with a lot of interest. The talent level and attention to detail is nothing short of outstanding. I will be starting on my "Spark Vark" in a few weeks and I have to say I'm just a little bit intimidated by the all the great work shown here. None the less I will trudge on with my build and only hope to turn in something respectible. I guess time will tell.

Thanks Nick. Your F-16 cockpit is coming along very nicely! I’m surprised to see that the wings are molded separate from the fuselage, as in most F-16 kits.

latest pics.

Theuns. the cockpit dose look great.

Stik. Thanks that X-35 looks real good.

Robert. out standing. thank you

lastest pics.

Theuns and Crown, absolutely!  Welcome abord.  I have added you to the list.

Theuns

Would the bottom speebrake just behnd the wheelwell on the F4b generally be in the open position? 

 

Theuns

 

I think that when they were parked on the ground and hydraulic pressure bled out of the system, those would drop down a bit

Would the bottom speebrake just behnd the wheelwell on the F4b generally be in the open position? 

Theuns

Glamdring

Cockpit is looking great!

Thanks Glam, I just need to get some paint in there now!

Nick, I can’t wait to see that F-16 get going here.

68 and Theuns, your Phantoms are both shaping up very nicely!

Today I skipped ahead a few steps to do something simple 

First up I added the weapons bays and wheel wells to the lower fuselage, as these are molded as separate parts

And then I added the weapons bays doors in the closed position. The X-35 had no weapons bays, so I need to fill and smooth the door lines to fair them into the airframe.

This kit has nice detail but I dont like the tri-colour plastic. There are also some fiddly assembly in the wheelwells.

I dont kno why academy dint mold in throttles or suply a decal for the IP but in this size I think the painting wil be busy enough to look OK.

The seats are nice but I added the belts and chute harnass.

IMG_20200522_115557 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

IMG_20200522_115715 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Theuns

Hi lotts of good builds. I'm in with a haseawa F-16C in 1/48.

Can I come play? I have a 1/48 Academy F-4b in USN scheme I started last night.

Theuns

tempestjohnny

Nice use of gizmology Stik

 

Thanks! If you cant make it, fake it

That’s a good question Glam... it doesn’t worry me either way though...

Today’s update:

I added the last bit of detail to the cockpit rear wall that I was wanting put in, a noticeable pipe or conduit. That was made from an item in my spares bin.

Then I went to work on the IP. Now it at least resembles the real thing. I won’t claim that it replicates the IP...

And test fitting it all together

From the front

From the rear

All ready for paint now... and a harness that I am salvaging from my spares bin...

Very nice guys!  Thanks for keeping up with the build.  The question is, which will get done first, you buildsor the GB badge!?!

I hope the badge!

So my afternoon session at the bench yesterday was spent improving the kit ejection seat and cockpit rear shelf. I was able to track down the actual seat type used on the X-35, a variant of the SJU family, and based my updates to the seat on photos of those. I had to change the shape of the sidewalls, the head rest, and add quite a few little details.

I just need to add a harness now... I also added the prominent “black boxes” visible on the cockpit rear shelf along with some wiring...

And a test fit...

 some adjustments needed, one more item to add, then on to the IP...

So today I spent a good bit of time starting improvements in the cockpit. I have found a few good reference photos, and while by no means all showing, they do reveal that the kit was bit fanciful in some details of the front office. Particularly on the IP and the ejection seat. They also left a big empty shelf on the area behind the seat which I will be filling up with stuff from my spares bins.

Basic seat

Seat (with fictitious side “horns” cut off) and IP

Beginning corrections to seat and IP

Nice start on the F-35 and Phantoms, good to see some activity on this GB. 

I haven't started mine yet, an SBD-1 in gray. The pre-war colors are tempting, so I'm thinking about switching projects for the GB. 

joe

I got started on the Phantom as well and they are box stock Fujimi cockpits.  I figured whats one Phantom is Phantastic then two Phantoms should be Phantabulous!

And I’m in!

So I bought this kit long ago while on deployment overseas. It was on clearance at our base PX.

I have held off building it for one reason or another. But with my recent move and seeing F-35s flyover and near my new home nearly every day I have developed a great fondness for this aircraft, and the urge to build one. I researched this kit and saw that it would be a huge project to make it into the production type. But with some minor tweaks, it is easily corrected into the flight test development prototype. So I raided another kit and obtained the long flight test nose instrumentation boom. And being an old So. Cal. native with personal and family connections to the aerospace industry there, as well as multiple visits to Edwards AFB, this project took root...

So I started this build yesterday, with the added impetus of trying out my recently acquired Micro Weld glue. (shameless self plug to read my review here) I started with the basic cockpit assembly yesterday. But I think that I’m going to dress it up a bit based off what little that I can see in photos of the X-35A and X-35B prototypes. Which are actually the same airframe, but after A flight test was complete, the aircraft was sent back to the plant for modification into the B configuration.

Anyways, here are the photos of my basic cockpit construction

And basic seat, which I’m going to modify

Stay tuned for more eventual updates...

That is exciting!  I love Phantoms.

I'll probably start this one over the weekend so here is the unstarted kit.

Got you added, welcome aboard!

I'm in, just have to remember which I was going to start with.

I can start with a Fujimi F-4D in 1/72 scale.  It's the 906TFG, 89 TFS 30th anniversary one.