This
was going to be a quick out of the box build until I discovered that it does not
contain the MSID intake that is required, or the LAU-128 launcher rails as shown
on the box top, or the LE RHAW receivers.
Luckily all the missing bits were available in that modeller must have,
the spare parts bin.
The LE RHAWs and the LAU-128s came from the moulds that I had made of the
bits from another Hasegawa model just for this purpose.
In progress pictures can be seen at
http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=46396&st=0.
This
build has taken two years due to work pressure and a death in the family in
2005.
While
these kits are reasonably easy to build, there were a few areas of concern
around the intake and near the finish the rear turbine part decided to
dislocate itself from the rest of the exhaust part, necessitating removal
of the exhaust and some remedial action then gluing the exhaust back on
to the aircraft without leaving too much of a gap to fill, especially as
all the paintwork was finished and it would result in different tonings.
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images below to see larger images
I
have used Gunze paints for all except the exhaust metallics, which are
Model Master’s Metal range. The
tail was sprayed flat white then the red was layered on to get the rich
red colouring required. I
used the second set of decals in the kit that provided only the markings
and not the complete red tail with markings.
This
is the first model I have used what is commonly referred to as a GSD
(Green Suited D*&K) in the RAAF by the groundies, or Pilot for the
politically correct people out there. He is painted in Gunze using Radome
Tan for the skin colouring, Metallic Blue for the steely eyed killer look
and a few different shades of green for his zoom suit.
The seat belts, which I now believe are a bit too wide is made from
painted Tamiya masking tape.
I
hope you all enjoy the model, I’m quite happy about how it has turned out. Now
I need to finish the Montana ANG F-16B that I started about two weeks after this
one.
Phil
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images below to see larger images
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