Israel's Young Lion: The IAI Lavi

[Overkiller]

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[Taiidantomcat]

Excellent!! 

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

You good..... oh yes, you good !



Ian

[NARSES2]

You good..... oh yes, you good !



Ian

Told you that at Cosford. Well done Dunc

Chris

[sotoolslinger]

Purty

[nev]

Keep up with the WMDs Dunc

[ChernayaAkula]

Noiiiice! 

[arkon]

very nice lavi , another one that should have been. as far as the masking canopy, ihave had very good results from black electricians tape. it stretches a little to conform to the shape and burnishes down quite nicely , it can be a little hard to trim though.       keep em coming

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Mmmm, masking canopies, now there's a 'can-of-worms'.

Well since you asked:

Let's make the assumption that for arguments' sake there is no Eduard (or other) pre cut canopy masking set. I dip the canopies in Johnsons Kleer for a few seconds, holding them by one corner in a pair of tweezers. Gently shake off the excess and allow them to dry on a piece of clean kitchen towel for around 30mins.

I lay on an oversize piece of Tamiya masking tape so that it obscures all the framing and gently prees & smooth it into all the ridges - to help this, I sometimes use an old toothpick/cocktail stick to burnish the tape into the detail. With the ridges showing through the tape, using a (straight from the pack) angled blade in my X-Acto knife, I carefully score through the tape one edge at a time until I can lift the excess leaving the frames 'exposed and the 'glasss masked.

With that done, I glue the canopies in place with either dilute white glue or, if the canopy is going to be permanently closed as most of mine are, with liquid poly run into the join with a fine brush allowing the cappiliery action to make a firm joint.

I leave this to 'go-off' for at least twelve hours (overnight) then spray the interior colour, followed by the external camouflage. Have a look at the progress pics for my recent Scorpion and Rafale, it may give an idea how I do it.

HTH

Ian
(Superb build, Duncan  - now stop beating-y'self-up over trivial details like pylons and canopies, it will come, trust me on this. Go build/paint something simple and fun - like the new Airfix MiG-15 or re-issued Buccaneer, it'll make you feel all fuzzy and warm  )

[Shasper]

Sweeeet!

[anthonyp]

That's a fun kit to build, love how yours turned out!

[Weaver]

It looks cracking - well done!

Canopy-wise, I mask and paint each frame separately, or a couple at a time if the design allows, using Tamiya tape and Humbrol enamels. This avoids doing any cutting on the canopy itself. You can get "bumps" where the paint on a vertical overlaps the sill, but with a bit of practice you can paint up to existing paint rather than over it. The technique falls down a bit on internal curves, but you can usually touch those in afterwards with baited breath....

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Ahhh the ultra-low-level-instant-sunshine-delivery-system. Going to need that yellow sand/dk green wraparound scheme you've been promising y'self !

Ian

[GTX]

Very nicely done sir!

Regards,

Greg

[Captain Canada]

Very nice. I really like the weapons fit as well.