This model has its
issues such as the silly engine buildup with the multitude of photo etch
compressor and turbine blades disappearing into the dark innards of the engine
(never to be seen again !), nasty ejector marks on inside of the afterburner
can, lack of detail in the exhaust region and long intake with seam as well as
inaccurate nose shape. The latter can be cured by using the MDC intake, which I
didn’t as I found out about it too late. Not to mention the rivets that
everyone complains about. However, the finished model looks like a Super Sabre
and I for one am thankful that Trumpeter is giving us this fantastic selection
of 32nd scale aircraft, warts and all !
Click on
images below to see larger images
For the intake
I glued the upper and lower halves, added Milliput along as much of the
seam as I could. Once the Milliput had hardened I took a paint brush and
rolled a piece of sandpaper up and stuck it to the end of a long
paintbrush using Prestic. This was then used to sand the seam. However, it
requires several applications of Milliput and is a really time consuming
but necessary part of the build up. After three applications of Milliput,
I sprayed Tamiya filler and did a final sand using the brush technique. No
more unsightly seam !
I used the Aires cockpit and undercarriage bay sets to improve the overall
level of detail. The main undercarriage bay is a marvel of detail and took
several hours to paint all the little details. Well worth the while. Quite
a bit of removal of excess plastic from the upper and lower wing halves is
required using a dremel tool to allow the bays to fit.
The fuselage itself had to be sanded in certain areas to remove what I
think are mould seam marks. The upper nose access hatch posed the greatest
fit problems on the kit. I decided to leave the one gun bay open and added
some hose details. The guns, once installed do not line up with the gun
ports on the underside of the aircraft. I cut the barrels short so that
they protruded into the nose area from the gun bay. The off cut pieces of
barrel were then inserted from outside into the gun openings. I did not
leave the ammunition drum hatches open as the detail provided in the kit
inserts is incorrect and too shallow.
I equipped the
aircraft for a typical Vietnam strike mission – two napalm tanks, two Mk117
750lb bombs with “daisy-cutters” and two drop tanks. Flaps and slats were
dropped.
Painting was mostly straightforward using the
Xtracolour gloss Vietnam colours. The biggest challenge on the model I thought I
would have was to replicate the distinctive heat staining on the rear fuselage.
This was actually quite easy to achieve using an airbrush – I was initially
going to apply separate layers of different colour metallic paint and then
lightly sand the heat stained areas – I tried this on my trusty F-16 test
model but was unsuccessful. I decided to apply the layers free hand using my
airbrush. The first layer was applied using a mix of gunmetal, silver and red,
followed by the lighter heat stained areas using a mix of aluminium and metallic
blue (with hindsight, I should have applied a lot more blue to impart that burnt
look). The final discolouration was achieved using pastels. I think it turned
out OK. The rest of the model was weathered using pastels after the decals had
been applied (which were frustratingly a little out of register). Final matt
varnish coat and fitting of the fiddly bits and an impressive scale replica of
the real thing emerged.
Thanks Trumpeter – please keep them coming.
Malcolm
Reid
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