Workbench report

[SebastianP]

I got some work done on pretty much the entire collection this week, minus those kits that just need decals, since my bowl is currently occupied.

The kickstart was when I opened my YF-23, bought at the same time as the Gripen twinseater, and rapidly figured out that I couldn't close it up without installing some serious weight up front. With no local source of lead pellets available, I had to think outside the box - again. I headed down to the local bicycle repair shop, and asked for some small steel screws. What I ended up getting, was ten screws (which I had to pay for), and three worn-out bearings (which I got for free).

Thus armed, I attacked the project of the YF-23 - which now has two screws providing weight over the nosegear. Since the center of gravity is far enough forward that the kit will right itself completely even without the seat, canopy and weapons bay interior, I think this was plenty. (this is with the tails installed).

Fifteen minutes of holding the thing together later, I set it aside and tackled four more projects which have been stalled due to balance issues: the F-2A got a screw in the radome and one behind the cockpit; my AH-1W got a large ball bearing and a screw underneath its cockpit; the Tornado GR.1 got three screws jammed into where the avionics bay would be, before the nosecone went on; and the final two screws and some more ball bearings were installed in the engine compartment of my CH-146 - it's pretty much the only place to put weights, and I'm just lucky it's forward of the rear end of the skids...

All of the above now stand properly, which is a great relief. To celebrate this, I cranked open my tin of gunship gray and drowned the YF-23 in it, and then I went to bed.

The next day was landing gear day, and I spent the entire morning painting white. I hate white paint with every fiber of my being, mostly because it's either too thick or too thin, or *shudder* yellowing. I left no gearwell nor weapons bay, nor wheel or gearleg unpainted, and in the end, I finally managed to get them all white. The afternoon was then spent painting black - seats, panel shrouds, and tires  I also managed to paint a bunch of oleos gunmetal.

Sometime near midnight, I CAed the lot of them into place, and now everything in my collection was standing on its own legs, rather than crawling on their bellies. (with some exceptions - the Mig 29 gear is so crude I don't want to use it, and the Su 27 gear is...complex, since it originally comes from a completely different kit...)

Oh, and while I was waiting on the white to dry so I could start on the black, I drowned the YF-23 in Gunship Gray again, so now it looks like a proper YF-23...

On the third day, I got fed up with looking at the drone/booster thingy that goes on top of the Macross fighter - it's supposed to be Luftwaffe Black Gray, according to the instructions. I wasn't about to cross town just to buy a tin of that shade, so instead I went to the local burger joint and stole a dozen paper cups - the small ones you get ketchup in. Ten drops of Gunship Gray, five drops of Flat Black, and thin to taste. Very nice color, which I'll have to remember for later... Had to redo the mix that night for the second coat, since the paint had dried up, but it was a pretty easy mix so it was OK.

Then my one real handicap came back to bite me - some of the ordnance for the kit is supposed to be painted in Gunze H119. Since the kit is a domestic Japanese release, it doesn't say what color that is in English - except for giving an RLM code. (that code is on a different sheet from the instruction where the paint is used). I couldn't find the sheet with the RLM code, and I couldn't find a match in the list using the Gunze number, so I looked at the box-top to decide which color to use, after which I mixed about equal parts Matt Light Olive and Lemon Yellow and commenced painting.

Gunze H119 equals RLM 79, common name Lederbraun....

The rocket pods are, and will remain, green.

Having run out of stuff to build, and stuff to paint (ordnance doesn't count - got a ton of that, and it's *boring*!), I took a small breather. Then, yesterday afternoon, I got fed up with not having anything to do, and broke out the Revell Typhoon which I was saving for a rainy day. (Weather almost qualified - it was snowing, but the temperature was just over freezing...)

I'll tell you this - despite it being a pretty well-detailed kit, assembly can be done in two sittings... I messed up just a little by assuming I could build it the way I usually do, which involves installing the engines after the fuselage is assembled - as a result of my ignoring the instructions, there is now a tiny hole between the engines which would have been covered otherwise. Well, you live and learn, I suppose. Presently, it's well on track to being either a German or Spanish production machine, since I've painted it Dark Ghost Gray overall. I haven't decided precisely which it'll be, yet.

As I was cleaning up after the last bout of painting that thing, I bumped over one of the boxes that were stacked on my desk - thankfully not the paint box! - and in the mess that resulted, I found one of my old mechanical pencils. Brainwave time!

I normaly never weather my models - in fact, I never have, up 'til now. I've just never had any confidence that I'd get it right... Still, I figure tracing the panel lines with a pencil is pretty much the safest way of doing it, so why not. Consequently, the Gripen now has nicely drawn-in panel lines, and lots of smudging underneath the engine (like the real thing!). It turned out so nice that I started doing the same on the Macross fighter - until I ran out of lead, that is. I know I've got more lead, and at least several more pencils, in a case somewhere. I just don't know which box that case is in...

So that's where it stands - yet another pair of unfinished models added to the growing pile, and several years worth of tedious decalling ahead of me. (sometimes I'm thankful for Italeri's miniscule decal sheets...)

SP

[Shasper]

Post pics when you get there mate.

What YF-23 kit are you building?




ShasB)

[SebastianP]

The Italeri 1/72 one. I'm actually thinking about getting a second kit and building the other protoype from it, since you need two sheets to get a full set of serials for one aircraft. I really have to get some shelves first, though - the ATF candidates were no small aircraft...

SP

[elmayerle]

The Italeri 1/72 one. I'm actually thinking about getting a second kit and building the other protoype from it, since you need two sheets to get a full set of serials for one aircraft. I really have to get some shelves first, though - the ATF candidates were no small aircraft...

From everything I know, that one, and its reboxing for Testors and Revell-Germany, is the most accurate one out there.  The DML blows on accuracy and the more subtle contours.

[Shasper]

Exactly why I'm bashing mine for a Israeli ATF aircraft (eventualy   )



Shas B)  

[SebastianP]

Did some painting today - applied some Light Ghost Gray to my previously unpainted AH-1W, and to a bunch of old missiles from the spares box. Italeri makes really, really bad ordnance, but sometimes they're the only ones to even try - I've amassed quite the collection of Italeri anti-ship missiles in 1/72, and some of them are actually decent! (specifically the Exocet and Kormoran missiles).

I also found my pencil case, and discovered three well-loaded mechanical pencils, with the result that I've now finished drawing in the panel lines on the Macross fighter. I also CA'ed the ordnance into place - with the drone on top, it looks pretty awesome, and it pretty much dwarfs my Bombcat which is parked next to it.

From my reference article (the one in the ARC gallery with the pair of Turkish-built kits), it seems that some corrections should be made to the intakes of the YF-23, but I'm not going to bother. I'm not crazy enough to try and get the sides symmetrical with only a knife, not with that plastic.

I'll see what I can do about pictures, soon - I'm going to very carefully open my camera and look inside it. But first, ice cream!

SP

[SebastianP]

Found the glitch in the camera! It was the memory card that wasn't sitting precisely right. Adjusted it a little, and the camera hasn't glitched out on me yet. I finally managed to get the camera to work long enough to set the quality down to a more manageable size, so I don't have to crop the images manually (they look like poo-poo when I do). Here's the best of the first batch of pics...

SP

[SebastianP]

Remember the Su-27 I'd done up in something resembling Hill/Hill2? It's been on hold for a while since I couldn't figure out a way to arrange US decals on it (no way of placing the two aft roundels so they'd both be on a gunship gray background *and* visible from the sides). It struck me suddenly that I still had leftovers from an old, old Italeri 1/48 F-16, though - which is about the same size. And on that sheet was one nation which puts the national insignia on the tailfin:

[John Howling Mouse]

Thanks for the pics: very impressive workload you've got there!

[SebastianP]

Thanks for the pics: very impressive workload you've got there!

I currently have thirty kits "under construction" - though this ranges from "just a few more stencils" to "held together with tape". A couple of them are total write-offs, like the F-22 whose landing gear is mostly CA by now since I've had to replace them so often, but most of the others *will* be finished. Eventually...

Anyways, I've decided on a scheme for the Fulcrum-C: Swedish! I've got some spare hi-viz roundels, though sadly not the huge orange numbers for the wings...

SP

[Patrick H]

some real cool projects you've got on your hand there. Especialy the Su 27 in Belgian markings. Can't wait to see that baby finished.

And if you want some Swedish decals, I got a real old little sheet of a Draken in the spare box yellow/orangy like numbers and the old style blue/yellow roundels. But, there's always a but isn't there, when I say old I do mean old as I don't even remember where it came from. Don't know how the decals will hold up when using them regarding yellowed clear parts and silvering but if you send me your adress you can have them.



Patrick

[SebastianP]

I have both hi- and lo-viz roundels in enough quantity for this project left over from previous projects, but thanks anyway... And the big orange numbers were painted over near the end of the Viggen's service, and haven't been installed on the Gripen, so I can do without...

If the numbers are "47", the sheet may be from the Airfix JA-37 "Jaktviggen". There was also a Revell Draken in 1/72.

SP

[Patrick H]

No problem, said you could have them just in case  
Don't think they are Revell decals tough. Been thinkinbg about it and came to the conclusion that they are Airfix ones. Numbers are 10 and 28 and there's a yellow checkerboard for the tail and some long checkerboards, 3 squares wide and 8 long.
The more I think of it, the more I think it was an Airfix Draken they came from.



Patrick

[SebastianP]

I've never built a Draken, myself - and if I ever do, it'll be a Hasegawa one, since they're most likely a lot easier on my nerves than the old Airfix/Heller/Revell stuff..

Come to think of it, I've only ever built three different Swedish jets - the Gripen (I'm on my fourth right now); the Viggen (tossed my one attempt when I moved - I'm getting another one of these days); and the Lansen (way back in the old days when the only thing I considered neccesary for building a kit was glue - no paint, no decals...)

Progress made today: I dug out another bowl from my stack of dirty dishes, and washed it out. Proceeded to decal the Rafale C, using the kit decals. While it's not a big deal on the C-01, I'm a little miffed at Italeri for not including half of the hardpoints - I'd like to be able to hang a centerline tank on it, and some missiles on the outboard stations that they forgot about... Anyway, since the kit only has about a dozen decals all told, it wasn't all that hard. Now all I need to do is fix the red and green "lights", and put an empty seat in it, and it'll be done.


Managed to break the pivot pin on one of the canards for the Typhoon while I was masking the leading edge stripe, and when I tore the tape off, the old paint came with it. I was not happy. I've now superglued the canards to the model, unpainted - I'll get around to that soon, since I still have a pair of MiG-29 stabs to paint in the same color. I may just freehand that strip, since masking in place will be a chore. ..


SP