nice to see modellers having fun     and good to hear that youve a wide set of interests as well,

Quote from: Steel Penguin on April 23, 2023, 02:42:08 AMnice to see modellers having fun    and good to hear that youve a wide set of interests as well,

Thanks, mate.    I think everyone had fun and it was cool to see so many different types of models. I'll try to get a few pics from the group on FB to put up here for you guys to see.
There were 10 of us and a bunch of different types of models: 1 Class 214 submarine, 1 1920s fire truck, 1 cold war Soviet tank, 1 small vignette of a police woman directing traffic, a platoon of small soldier figures for war gaming, the paper planes, 1 vacform XP-54 Swoose goose, a Skyraider and my Hunter.
I'd say that it's quite a good diversity of model types for a small group of people so i think we're on a good path. And we also have quite a few who couldn't make it to the meeting yesterday who build railways and trains, ships, bikes, cars, busts, you name it and there's at least one of the group who does it.

Well, well... so much has happened here since the last post... Too much to mention everything but there's even one model shown in the middle, the one my "local" modelling club organizes yearly.
I took 19 models to the show and did get quite a few reactions to some of my whiffs, especially the PoAF F-4F, F-5F and the most recent addition to the family, the Hawker Hunter Mk. 58P.
Some others were mentioned like the F-16 Whiff family and the "Asas de Portugal" aerobatic display team Gnat T.1.
Unfortunately, i was the only one with Whiffs there... 

Anyway, so now, after a few months and some finished stuff this year, i've lost my mojo during the one week build and stopped everything i was doing because i wanted to be doing something else...
After i got my head around that issue, the mojo has been coming back slowly but steadily so i've been doing some stuff...

Started the 1/48 Kinetic F-16A MLU, the old tool kit and this one will be a real world PoAF Viper. Besides that, i hate leaving unfinished builds behind so i got the Airfix 1/72 P-40 back on the bench and will be doing work on it when i need to clear my mind from the Viper.

Good to hear (read?) that the mojo's on the mend! Remember to just enjoy yourself!  

What the Gentleman said! 

Quote from: Pellson on August 09, 2023, 02:42:23 AMWhat the Gentleman said! 

Absolutely 

Most of us need to take a break every now and then

Right, it's been two months since the last post and stuff has happened on my bench. Had to put the P-40 back in it's box because i don't wanna waste time and effort with something that isn't keeping me interested.
Still, i have been doing things and the Kinetic F-16 has been the priority.
The kit's nose and some other areas confirm it's bad reputation but i got around it and learned my lessons for the other Kinetic Vipers in my stash.
I did spend some time trying to decide if this would be a real world PoAF bird or if it should be a what-if PoAF bird but decided this one is gonna be real world as it was intended to be since i bought the kit. I'll just have to use one of the other 30 Viper kits in the stash for that whiff in mind... either that or i'll have to buy the new Kinetic F-16A MLU kit...
Still, it's almost ready for paint so lately, the Viper is not all that's on my mind...
I've always liked the look of most of the AMD Mirage fighters and, having 2 Kfir C.10 kits in my stash, one being the Wingman models edition with lots of extras, i decided to use the extras on the Kinetic C.10 box and use the one in the WM box to build a whiff i've had on my mind for some time now.
The IAI Nammer is going to be the base for this build but it will not be exactly how the drawings available on the web show...

Good to see progress being made 

And to prove it's true... 



And i'm still feeling very tempted to finish this one as a whiff... i have all the decals needed... i have to make up my mind! 

Whiff it.  No question.

 

Well, i have made a decision... and you're right as always, Fred... 
It's not that i don't wanna build real world stuff but the whiffs are always way more appealing to me... Besides, i already have one exactly like what i was going to do with this kit but in 1/72 so, i can wait longer to have a better build of it in 1/48.

So what will i do to this kit, you may ask?
The thought has been in mind for at least a couple of years and while reading a Portuguese defense forum about the PoAF front line fighter for the future, it's obvious that the PoAF will keep the Vipers flying for as long as they can and the most likely scenario is that they will be upgraded to F-16V standards and kept flying till 2040., which will cost ten times less than a fleet of new fighters in 2030.

There's a small detail that will be missing in case i take this route and that's the instrument panel, which will be very different from the one on AM/MLU Vipers. I don't think it's a big deal and there's not much i can do about it at this stage of the build so, i won't think about it too much. Other than the cockpit, i haven't seen any exterior changes or new antennas on recently upgraded Greek F-16Vs so that means there's only a couple of things left to think about and those are the weapons load and scheme.
Regarding weapons it's easy, i believe we'll see them with modern versions of AIM-9Xs and -120Ds but the scheme... will they change it or keep the original three tone? That question arose when i thought about the Danish F-16s that have been getting the Have Glass V paint with toned down markings. I don't have toned down markings for PoAF Vipers but i do have the full Lo-Vis scheme used by one PoAF Viper that participated in the Red Flag exercise back in 2000, so...
Last night i started painting the nozzle but only sprayed the white in the interior so, today i'll be going through reference pics to choose the colors for the exterior.

Regarding the modernized Kfir project, i've already marked the kit where the surgery will take place and i'm waiting for the Ge-404 nozzle that's been ordered last week.
I used a nozzle from the Revell 1/48 F/A-18E kit for some measurements and after some more research i found that the one that would match what i need is the Def Models 1/48 KAI T-50 Golden Eagle's nozzle. That should be delivered sometime next week.
There are still a few details to decide but it's almost time to literally start cutting plastic...

BTW, coming with the nozzle is a DN models set of canopy, wheels and EOTS sensor masks for the 1/48 Kitty Hawk F-35C. It's not something to be used anytime soon but it's an OOP kit so these will probably be discontinued when i least expect it so, might as well get them on discount now. And today, another addition has been delivered for the same kit, it's the Red Fox 3D cockpit decal set.
First 3D set i got and i wanna see them first hand so i can decide if it's worth the investment. I know they will surely look way better than anything i will ever be able to achieve but if i think about how much i'd spend to get these sets, even if it's just for most kits in my 1/48 stash...
Lots of kits have nice decals to put over nicely detailed cockpits and i can always paint the ones that don't have them so, if the detail on these doesn't seem worth it, maybe i'll try a couple of different brands to see if they're any better. But most of these sets are very pricey and i still think that a good resin cockpit set by Aires and similar have lots of detail that i don't think the 3D sets will surpass.

Well, that's enough rambling from me for the next week...

It's good to read your ramblings, mate, it means the mojo's there & things are happening!  

What the gentleman said! 

Thanks for putting up with my rambles! 
Although i don't say much most of the time, i still come around to keep up with everyone blog's and builds, it always give's me motivation to keep on going with my builds.

And that's exactly what i've been doing... today i sprayed a few test shots on my paint mule and went ahead with the chosen sequence of colors for the P&W F100 nozzle.
I'd already painted and assembled the afterburner ring and chamber, and also the interior of the nozzle with XF-2 flat white, so both just needed some burnt jet engine pigments from AK interactive and i think they're good for the next stage.




The exterior of the nozzle was sprayed with X-32 Titanium and after that, i sprayed several thin coats of X-19 till i got the tone i was after. The tips of the exterior nozzle were hand painted with some XF-69.



Tomorrow i'll try to spray the metal colors on the inner rings of the exhaust and then a gloss varnish on everything. When that's dry, i'll use some wash to finish the weathering on the exhaust area so it can be masked and assembled on the fuselage so i can move on with the build.

That looks good! As I start building more jets I'll have to try to get up to your standard.