**FINISHED** X/JT-47 "Valon" NASA

[Captain Canada]

Wow ! Who knew it would be that slick and easy ! Great idea.

[DogfighterZen]

That's looking surprisingly good! Looking forward to see this finished.

[TheChronicOne]

The stuff meshes together so well.... yes, quite surprising! In my mind's eye I could sort of envision it but as far as how it would ultimately look and how easy it would be to blend... well....   that was a bit of a grey area. I took precaution to plan, measure, check and re-check during the cutting process and recently gained knowledge of kitbashing has helped but I got damned lucky that this stuff fits together so well. Won't have to use any styrene or anything and the only two gaps are itty bitty! How fortunate! I'll use sprue glue to get everything smoothed together and a wee bit of Miliput to stuff into the little holes and then it's just a matter of sanding it smooth.

I toyed with the idea of going the other direction and putting the remnants of the F-16 cockpit onto the remnants of the T-38 body but it would seem this is a one-way street and it would take serious amounts of "fixing" to creat a weird little stubby Viper-nosed Talon. 

[AeroplaneDriver]

Well that just works perfectly. 

[comrade harps]

Snazzy 

[Flyer]

Looking good, and in a roundabout way gave me a random thought that almost makes me want to get F-16 too, how about a Viper painted up to look like it is covered in scale's and arm it with Sidewinder's and Snakeye bombs (they are the two snake named weapon's I immediately thought of, are there any others?)...

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks, fellers!   

That sounds interesting......  solid even.... Solid Snake. You could even put snake-eyes on it. I have a sheet of transfers I was looking at just recently that have eyes that would be perfect for it so I know they're out there! Scalemates MiG-21 sheet I do believe. Scales, eyes, snake weapons............. some sort of "S" or "SN" or "SSSSSss" tail code..... 

More work done on this. I've tidied up the joins. Didn't even need any Miliput! How about that? I still need to get it smoothly blended but as far as structure and completeness is concerned, we're in pretty good shape.

I've glued some more things together and cleaned up small parts. Primed some stuff. Dipped the canopy in Future. Probably some other things I'm forgetting....    anyway, it's moving ahead nicely.

[Old Wombat]

....    anyway, it's moving ahead nicely.

Always a good thing! Especially so with this build, I want to see the finished product!

[Tophe]

I have tried to draw the profile view of TheChronicOne's model (completing it with nose and canopy from a web's profile of T-38) but... the front (T-38) part is much bigger on the model than in profiles (counting length F-16=15m, T-38=14m), so this is just a provisional drawing of mine below, not matching the model but the profiles only.

Maybe the T-38 model is 1/65 or something like that, getting the perfect fit (with 1/72 Falcon) would have been a chance!

[TheChronicOne]

Fascinating! Could it be the Hasegawa kit was oversized (Starfix basically cloned the Hasegawa kit from what I've ascertained)?

Anyway... I masked the canopy yesterday and applied some sprue-goo to it. I was venting well but I had the project close to myself and I got RIPPED from the fumes. This is apparent in that one side of the model is nice and clean and the other is messy as hell. In fact, I sort of gave up at that point lest I screw it up further.    This isn't something I can't fix and will be fine but I'll have a wee bit more sanding and PSR to do on the starboard side than the port side. 

[Tophe]

Could it be the Hasegawa kit was oversized (Starfix basically cloned the Hasegawa kit from what I've ascertained)?

I am not completely sure yet, as there may be a conical effect if your view was more slanting than genuine profile. The nose being closer to the photographer would be a little oversized/lengthened. We will see later with a true profile photograph of yours. (no hurry, it could be on the final result, painted and all, do as you want)

[Snowtrooper]

This is a touch of genius. On paper one would never assume that the two kits would go together at all, but in 3D they go together like they were meant to be. Thinking now how would the F-5B/"T-38"cockpit section go together with a F-16XL fuselage and the avionics spine from a F-16I/Block 52+ ?

Looking good, and in a roundabout way gave me a random thought that almost makes me want to get F-16 too, how about a Viper painted up to look like it is covered in scale's and arm it with Sidewinder's and Snakeye bombs (they are the two snake named weapon's I immediately thought of, are there any others?)...

That sounds interesting......  solid even.... Solid Snake. You could even put snake-eyes on it. I have a sheet of transfers I was looking at just recently that have eyes that would be perfect for it so I know they're out there! Scalemates MiG-21 sheet I do believe. Scales, eyes, snake weapons............. some sort of "S" or "SN" or "SSSSSss" tail code..... 

COBRA markings, maybe? After all, the planes in GI Joe did look kitbashed...

I have tried to draw the profile view of TheChronicOne's model (completing it with nose and canopy from a web's profile of T-38) but... the front (T-38) part is much bigger on the model than in profiles (counting length F-16=15m, T-38=14m), so this is just a provisional drawing of mine below, not matching the model but the profiles only.

The T-38 nose on the model seems to sit a lot further front than in your drawing: the rear cabin window ends at about the front end of the jet intake, and there should be a noticeable gap between the end of the cockpit "hump" and the front edge of the vertical stabilizer. The rest might be up to perspective (the nose looking more massive because it sits almost completely forward of the fuselage).

[Tophe]

The T-38 nose on the model seems to sit a lot further front than in your drawing: the rear cabin window ends at about the front end of the jet intake, and there should be a noticeable gap between the end of the cockpit "hump" and the front edge of the vertical stabilizer. The rest might be up to perspective (the nose looking more massive because it sits almost completely forward of the fuselage).

You are right, I imagined the T-16 should have the same length as the T-38 but this is not sure at all, and no need to have the jet exhausts at the same position when superimposed.
Well, this was just a first try. I will draw another version when a "very" profile photograph will be available.
Thanks again.

[TheChronicOne]

One thing that may have went wonky is half of the pics I took were with the intake and half with it removed so that might have caused alignment confusion. It's not immediately apparent that it's missing on the ones with it not mocked up.

This is a touch of genius. On paper one would never assume that the two kits would go together at all, but in 3D they go together like they were meant to be. Thinking now how would the F-5B/"T-38"cockpit section go together with a F-16XL fuselage and the avionics spine from a F-16I/Block 52+ ?

First... thank you!   Second.... that sounds wild... and.. AWESOME..... do it!

[TheChronicOne]

Getting the smalls worked on. I plan to be done with them this evening.... you know, the pilots, wheels and gear, gear doors, cockpit stuff....     

I have two options for the paint scheme. The Talons (of the era) were all white but the Tweets also flying at the time had this cool dark blue stuff going on down low and I think what I'd like to do is use the Tweet scheme on this thing rather than the Talon scheme. BUT, if I paint it and it looks stupid, I can go back and re-spray it all white and we'll be no worse for the wear. I really think the two-tone could look sharp though, so I hope it works. Speaking in general, I'm going to try my best to make this thing look pristine... a well maintained training aircraft, perhaps new even.

Contenders for paint scheme:



Other things tonight to do are to work on getting some transfers for this. I have various things from other kits of the Talon and the stuff that came with the Starfix kit but they're probably not the best quality. Regardless, I'll have a look at them... I have a PM kit and ... I think... maybe a couple other that might have what I need but I doubt it. I not only need good quality and condition, but the right markings... I need Shepard AFB (or possibly Vance) for plausibility and because those are my two "home" air bases. When I saw Talons and Tweets over Lawton they're either Shepard or Vance birds and I don't know about Vance but Shepard is definitely a stepping stone to Viper driving so if any place a weird Talon/Viper would be located, it would be Shepard. If anything has the right markings, it'll be my Sword kit of the Talon. Pobably going to have to order some though, because if the Sword kit only has one set for Shepard then I'll be saving it for building an actual RW Talon.

Once all this mess is sorted, it'll be time to wet sand my work and get a coat of primer on to see what further PSR I need to do. It would be nice to reach this stage this evening if my motivation holds out.

Finally, I think I have a name. "Valon." I don't think it means anything but sounds decent enough.