Time to put the Kitech kit out of its misery

[grayman]

Bought this kit ages ago. Time for it to be gone from the stash...

Not sure exactly what it will be yet. Perhaps some kind of revived/modded pig RAN service. Here is progress so far:


Probably need good sunglasses to work in this cockpit

[GTX]

 

Regards,

Comrade Gregorski (Commissar of all F-111 GB things)

[grayman]

It may not seem so, but progress has been made...at the expense of much (cheapo) filler...a sneak peek of the bench.


Still a long way to go...

[Taiidantomcat]

Nice

[GTX]

Comrade,

That looks suspiciously like a covert photo taken surreptitiously inside a design  bureau - not one of ours I hope!

Regards,

Comrade Gregorski (Commissar of all F-111 GB things)

[Modelling_Mushi]

Grayman it looks good  but no matter how it ends up, HUGE kudos for even taking on a Kitech Kit  - I took on their Mig 31 and it nearly made me take up knitting

[grayman]

I must be a sucker for punishment...I have a dusty old Kitech MiG-31 as well. At least it said MiG-31 on the tin

The Kitech kit looks like they took the Academy sprues, held them under a blowtorch and then created the master  detail is not, shall we say, crisp.

For $10, I got a lot of plastic in the box, but the parts fit where they touch and the beast is something of a filler-pig (pun intended). And I gotta say, even with the trying fit and strange plastic, I am enjoying this build.

In my infinite lack of wisdom I decided to scratch-build the front landing gear. Any tips for soldering or securing tiny bits of brass tube gratefully received!

[Andrew Gorman]

Cheapo filler?  What are you using?  Cheap is good.

[PR19_Kit]

In my infinite lack of wisdom I decided to scratch-build the front landing gear. Any tips for soldering or securing tiny bits of brass tube gratefully received!

So long as you're sliding bits of tube together super-glue works a treat so long as you clean the brass down thoroughly. Get the lengths right and just touch the glue pen, dispenser or whatever to the joint, capillary action does the rest. If you're mating tubes together at angles to each other I've found the best way is to file the end of the angled tube as close to the right angle as you can, clean the parts and jig the bits together with Blu Tack and use 5 min epoxy to glue the joint.

Soldering on a multi-part assembly can be very frustrating as the parts you've just soldered on will insist on falling off again when you're working on the next bit. 

[grayman]

Soldering on a multi-part assembly can be very frustrating as the parts you've just soldered on will insist on falling off again when you're working on the next bit. 

I appreciate the advice. I think I am getting somewhere with superglue and that acrylic stuff used for fake nails. +1 to your point about multiple solder joints...I had exactly the same experience....

Andrew, as far as filler goes, I am mainly using blade putty from here (http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/3M-Blade-Putty-150g.aspx?pid=220335#details, from memory the 150g tubes run to AUD$8-9 or so).

I like the stuff 'cos it sands very easily, seems to feather ok, it can be built it up into rather complex shapes and you can get a fairly smooth finish. The downside is that it is quite "hot" and tends to soften styrene (so more setting time is needed and there is more of a wait before sanding) and it tends to capture air bubbles (leading to more PSR).

[buzzbomb]

In my infinite lack of wisdom I decided to scratch-build the front landing gear. Any tips for soldering or securing tiny bits of brass tube gratefully received!

Soldering on a multi-part assembly can be very frustrating as the parts you've just soldered on will insist on falling off again when you're working on the next bit. 

Possibly the best solution is  to use alligator clips or similar as heat sinks between the part you are soldering now and the part you just finished.
I found these at Radio Shack when I was last in the USA..... great things for heat sinks as well as holding parts

[Andrew Gorman]

AHA!  That's spot putty or glazing putty in the US- I use it all the time.  Great stuff, and cheap!

[grayman]

Ok...the beast is finished. I honestly did not think I would make the deadline.

Firstly I wanted to re-think some elements of the F-111...Vigilante-style intakes and two tails. Both courtesy of a trashed Flanker...


Secondly, in an age of stealth, different exhaust configuration and reprofiling the spine and belly (hence the predilection of this kit for filler):


Coming together after much (and not enough PSR):


The custom "Phoenix" decal:


Post-painting...the canopy was nice and thin, but too small. TIme was short so I did not bother with shimming are any other tricks:


And the final results:




Looking forward to your comments and critique 

...and glad it is done!

[McColm]

Well done,
I'm not too sure of the canoe faring topside, maybe needs extending down as far as the parachute housing to create a spine.