Moar progress, the bird's got his wings... 



Finally finished sanding down the sprue goo and everything is now smooth. Also started adding smaller details and i carved out these scoops, vents...





And added a brake chute bag from a Revell F-16 MLU kit, sanded down to a more similar shape like the one on real Ginas...



Seems like the worst is done on this build...

Neat. 

Big Butt Gina.  A mate of mine at uni went out with her 😉

Quote from: DogfighterZen on December 03, 2023, 11:33:13 PMSeems like the worst is done on this build...

Cross fingers and touch wood when saying that 

Quote from: kitbasher on December 04, 2023, 01:54:25 AMBig Butt Gina.  A mate of mine at uni went out with her 😉

I bet he had a good time... 

Quote from: NARSES2 on December 04, 2023, 07:13:06 AM

Quote from: DogfighterZen on December 03, 2023, 11:33:13 PMSeems like the worst is done on this build...

Cross fingers and touch wood when saying that 

Well, i did knock on my bench when writing that...
I guess i said that cause the fit of the fuselage halves that were a bit warped at the tail area, engine exhaust part didn't sit properly because of the fuselage halves, intake and wings were not very promising during dry fit tests so i was holding my breath till i got that done and dusted. Only thing that can mess that up now is a freak accident like dropping the model or something crushing it...
I did drop models before during the main build stage and had to fix stuff so, that is always a possibility but, other than that, it would have to be something really out of the ordinary.

So, work for the night, first i'll sand the sprue goo beads applied around the canopy deck to close the space between the bottom frame of the canopy and the deck. After that, i want to see what i can do to the IP coaming, see if there's anything i can do to improve that area. As you can see, i removed the seat and pilot to prevent damage before everything is ready to glue the canopy on.



That shouldn't take too long so after that, i'll drill the holes for the cannon barrels and lastly fill the gaps on the wing roots and elevators...



Those gaps will take some filler so that will be left to dry overnight so it's all cured when i get to sanding again...
That's why i'm glad i engraved the panel lines. With all the PSR this kit needs, i'm sure i'd destroy all the raised detail in no time and by having it all engraved, it's much easier to recover the detail if i sand too much.
And i have to admit i felt the urge to look up some plans of the real thing to see if i could add more detail like rivets, access hatches and panels and stuff but, first, i don't have any scribing templates with these shapes and i'd probably screw something up and get frustrated with the whole thing... second, if i wanted to really "super detail" this kit, which is something i don't have the skills for, there so much more i'd have to do to make it reasonably accurate cause there's just so much missing or wrong.
Things like the wings being 2mm short, elevators 3mm too long, try to correct the canopy's shape or separate the windshield from the canopy to display the cockpit detail, the windows for the nose cameras, intake duct length, U/C bays, maybe new wheels... and so much more in the cockpit and exhausts,,, it would make this an even longer build than originally planned so i'm gonna stick to the original plan to finish this before the end of the year and call it good enough for this one.

Time for an update on this one...
Since the last post, the BB Gina had some PPP applied to the wing roots and also on the gaps on the tail planes' roots too.
As you can see in the pic below, the canopy has been masked but before putting the pilot and bang seat in, i cut off the styrene chunk that represented the gunsight and with small styrene scrap bits cut to sixe and shape, i tried to represent the most noticeable features and after some Nato Black was applied on the IP's coaming, i added a small bit of clear sprue flash cut to shape as the gunsight's reflector glass and finally, put the seat and pilot back in and glue the canopy on.







As can be seen in the last pic, there's still some work to do around the canopy's framing so that will be done tomorrow if the sudden flu i caught let's me do anything at all...

Gina's looking very nice. Good work!

Good luck with the 'flu!

Quote from: Old Wombat on December 18, 2023, 01:11:34 AMGood luck with the 'flu!

Indeed, take care 

Everybody is catching something this fall. Now my wife has bronchitis that she probably got from me. I'll take a pass on ever repeating the month of November myself. I lost 10 pounds the hard way. Get well soon!

Quote from: kerick on December 18, 2023, 08:39:37 AMEverybody is catching something this fall. Now my wife has bronchitis that she probably got from me. I'll take a pass on ever repeating the month of November myself. I lost 10 pounds the hard way. Get well soon!

Our best wishes for a speedy recovery to Mrs Kerick.

Quote from: Rheged on December 18, 2023, 08:43:36 AM

Quote from: kerick on December 18, 2023, 08:39:37 AMEverybody is catching something this fall. Now my wife has bronchitis that she probably got from me. I'll take a pass on ever repeating the month of November myself. I lost 10 pounds the hard way. Get well soon!

Our best wishes for a speedy recovery to Mrs Kerick.

She's on antibiotics now after several people told her to go to the Dr. She can be stubborn at times.
I'll forward your wishes!

Thanks, gents! And i too wish a speedy recovery for Mrs. Kerick!
Yup, seems like it is one of those years... no masks so, seems like we're back to the pre-covid general seasonal sickness... regarding that, i think i caught it by being in the same car as one of my co-workers last Friday and today, another one of my coworkers also had it and i had to ride with him... at least we're both sick so i don't think it'll get any worse from that.
It's just worse because we're working outside with temps going down to -2ºC during the early morning, made even worse with the fact that we're mostly under shade till 10 am... at least it's hard labour so it doesn't take too long to warm up...   

Yes she's getting there ! Nice work.

Quote from: Captain Canada on December 18, 2023, 02:09:25 PMYes she's getting there ! Nice work.

Thanks, Cap'n! 
She's ready for her dress...  



Got the area around the canopy as good as i'll ever be able to so it's finally time for some paint...

Now that I can see her in her entirety, Lolo looks good - very good!