Moments of Zen

[TheChronicOne]

Exactly how I feel about it!!!  Every day the weather is pure garbage I get all worked up because I know all I'm going to do is work on builds. "It's not cheating, if you have a good excuse!!!!" 

I'm glad you're back because i'm excited about the F-22 but I'm really wanting to see that F-16E done.  The others would have us lined up in front of a firing squad but I'd be happy with an all F-16 GB. 

Complete coincidence that I'm working on those two myself. It's almost like we planned our own mini-GB but uhh.. completely by accident. 

[DogfighterZen]

Hadn't thought of that but you're right, call it a buddy build.

Gonna be working on the F-16E now, got all the bits ready to be assembled in front me as i write...

[DogfighterZen]

Work done so far, nozzle and fuselage assembly, followed by the DSI lump...



The interior face of the engine was the kit's part, and while googling for pics of the F135 engine, i've found that the part provided in the Hasegawa F-16 kits is more like the F-14 Tomcat's TF30 engines, nothing like the F-16's P&W F100 or GE's F110 aft end.
That was already painted and just had to finish the interior of the nozzle part itself, with a black section on the inside.

The lump was just a matter of spreading some UHU thin CA and placing the part as if it came off one of the kit's sprues. Again, perfect fit, and i mean PERFECT! No gaps, not even a single hair of a gap, perfect fit on the kit, zero work.
So glad i've bought these sets, sure beats sculpting one out of putty or even styrene.
So now, the intake exterior part has to be masked and the nozzle exterior has to be painted and masked, then both will be glued in place.
Not sure if it'll happen tonight, though...

[DogfighterZen]

Ok, so i wanted to make this nozzle look more like General Electrics' LOAN nozzle, which was the nozzle studied by GE for the JSF engine, tested on the F-16, just like the DSI intake. Next step is to mask the turkey feathers to spray a dark grey on the edges, then add a couple of other details. When that's done, next is a gloss coat, then a wash, then gloss and finally, mask before i glue it on the nozzle... 



The AVEN was only a thrust vectoring control nozzle and the LOAN was that mixed with stealth characteristics, like on the F-35's LON.
Now, my thing with TVC nozzles on my latest builds is not because i believe that it's something essential in a good fighter, i actually think it's a bit overrated. In real dogfights, it might not be such a great idea to dance around losing speed/energy, making yourself a sitting duck but still, i also believe that anything is possible in a WVR battle so, i think it still is a good thing to have the level of agility TVC provides, if the situation requires it and is a pilot's only way of escaping death in battle. Better safe than sorry right?
Then again, i also believe that large control surfaces and sufficient engine thrust can be almost as effective during post stall speed maneuvering so, that would probably be a better choice when designing and building a new fighter, especially when thinking of future maintenance costs.
Maybe that's one of the reason why the F-35 didn't get LOAN nozzles...

[DogfighterZen]

Got some more work done on the nozzle today, added a couple of stripes to add some interest to it, glued on the F-16E specific tail vents.
The intake has been glued in place, too but, the main modification on this build has been started, the different wings have to be blended into the fuselage just like the original ones are. Shouldn't be too hard, it will be similar to how i did on the Israeli F/A-16W so, no big issues there.
Besides that, it's all pretty much straight forward build.

Work is coming along well with the F-16 but i've been putting off the decision on what to do to the F-22 because, even though i'd like to try to scratchbuild the EOTS lens from clear sheet styrene, not sure it'll be any good to use on the model. I've done one out of a bit of sprue but it just didn't come out much of a representation of the real deal so, i'll just let it sit around a bit more... who knows, maybe i muster up the patience to try it out of clear styrene and it comes out half decent...

[DogfighterZen]

Been doing slow but steady work on the F-16...



No other work has been done, lots of other things to take care of...

[DogfighterZen]

Well, after a few weeks of a lot of real world affairs to attend to, i don't have much to show but i have been slowly working on the F-16E's wing transplant and it's almost done, just a last sanding session on the wingroots and a few panel lines will be rescribed after that is done. As you can see, the intake has also been glued on, and like with the "lump" bit, no issues, just applied glue on the edges and kit surfaces and attached it in place, no gaps or fit issues of any sort.



I've recently made a bit of liquid sprue putty with some styrene bits dropped in a bottle of TET, which contained around 2 or 3ml of glue left in there.
Cut up some old sprue into it, left it overnight and the next day i had a fairly thick, light grey mix that i've been using for small gaps and i have to say, it's a very good filler for small gaps. I find it very good for this type of work, but the two other putty types i've tried before, Tamiya grey and Dragon white putty, are obviously better for heavier work.



I guess most of you already knew about this type of homemade filler, i've read about it somewhere, a long time ago and i remembered it when i cracked open a new jar of glue and realized that i could use the dirty bit of glue left in the old jar to finally try it out and, i'm very glad i did, will be keeping a jar of this mix in the future.

Still no progress on the Raptor, maybe during the next weekend...

[Rick Lowe]

The great thing with that gloopy mix is that you can keep adding the component parts as you use it up, and there's really no 'right or wrong' mix ratio.
And any mix you're not happy with can simply be addressed by adding the other part.

[zenrat]

AKA Sprue Goo.

[DogfighterZen]

AKA Sprue Goo.

Perfect name indeed.

The great thing with that gloopy mix is that you can keep adding the component parts as you use it up, and there's really no 'right or wrong' mix ratio.
And any mix you're not happy with can simply be addressed by adding the other part.

Indeed, there's no right or wrong ratio, it's just a matter of mixing it till you get the desired thickness. I'd call it an almost perfect "finishing" filler, it's made of styrene so it sands exactly like the kit's plastic, barely shrinks, super easy to clean with a cotton bud or your finger after applying, and doesn't dry up with air bubbles in it that, when sanded, leave a bunch of holes and make you go back for a second(or third) round of PSR... I was thinking of buying the famous Perfect Plastic Putty for this kind of use but i may have found my cheaper alternative for that. I can get TET for less than 5€ at my LHS at any time, they always have it in stock, and the styrene stash is a shoebox full of sprues from the kits i've built. The cheapest PPP bottle i've found selling in Portuguese shops or on ebay is around 13/15€ each so, i won't be buying it anytime soon, this has been working just fine.

[TheChronicOne]

Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in!! 

[DogfighterZen]

Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in!! 

i've been very busy with some family and band issues but i've been checking in regularly to see what y'all been up to...
I think i'll be able to do something on both the Raptor and the F-16 tonight, rehearsal nights have been rearranged so i'll be having a bit more time during week nights.
I've also just decided what's being done on the Raptor, i'm gonna try to make the EOTS out of clear sheet styrene. I'll cut out and glue each section in pairs to get the same shape on both sides. I'll use the Testors clear parts glue to hold it together but, if the first method proves to be too hard to get a good result, i may try something else cause it's becoming a strange feeling to just build anything OOB...

[DogfighterZen]

Had the whole afternoon off work due to rain so, besides working on the F-16, i did some research and now i need to make a confession...

I've been remembering one of my main objectives in modelling and that was to build a bunch of real world replicas and, with what if models it was to have all of my favorite planes with PoAF markings... I know that this may sound too patriotic but i do love my country and on top of that, i really like the PoAF's markings... I now have quite a few PoAF whifs in my display and i feel like i've only just begun, out of 23 whifs, 17 are PoAF.

Re the scheme for both of these, being the boring modeller that i am, a boring scheme is in order so it's metallic dark gunship gray for both. The reason will be included in the back story and, is that the grey tones would have to be different from the USAF Raptor's scheme so Portuguese went with a solid F-35 type finish, using the metallic gunship gray used on their modern F-16's...

I know that this is boring for most of you guys but it's something i want to do and i won't hold it back any longer. Not saying that there won't be other builds with colorful schemes and markings of some air force other than of the few i've done so far, but i already have an F-4F that will wear a SEA camo, like the F-4E had. The PoAF wanted to buy the F-4E during the 60s but they'd be happy to have the F instead...

[Old Wombat]

Patriotism is a GOOD thing!

Most of my builds are Royal Australian Marines, & that service doesn't even exist!

What colour you paint your builds is the same as how you build your builds; entirely up to you!

[zenrat]

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and you government when it deserves it.
Mark Twain

The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.
Thomas Paine

Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
Samuel Johnson