This
is the Hobbycraft 1/48 scale "Military" Tutor, finished as an
RMAF Tebuan using the kit's excellent decals.
The
kit builds up quite ok, but lacks many details and panel lines. I did add
some Tebuan specific parts which were either scratchbuilt or taken from
other kits. Pilot figures are Hasegawa, put in place to help cover the
sparseness of the kit cockpit.
The
green is Gunze water-based Olive Green, don't know the code as the label
on the bottle has long vanished. The underside was painted with Testor
Model Master FS36622 Camouflage Grey.
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images below to see larger images
Work
Done:
Pilots:
My
references show our pilots equipped with life jackets which I added using
epoxy putty (Bondite). The details were cut in while the putty was still
soft. I wanted to add some shoulder patches but I can't paint it nicely
enough so I ditched the idea.
FOD
guards :
This
area was badly damaged last week and I had to remove everything - splitter
plates and screen - on both sides. If I do rebuild it this year, I'll
probably just use the kit splitter plates.
Chin
Radom
:
This
is where the most distinctive feature of the Tebuan is located - the chin
radome. Bondite was used for the radome and bulged main gear doors. My
reference for all this work was the 70-odd pics I took over 2 trips to the
Sg Besi Museum.
Fuel
Dump Vent:
Some
detail work and the fuel dump vent . The fuel dump vent was a modified 1/72 Sea
King tail rotor... good thing is that you get 6 blades in every box! I got the
angle by visually comparing the model to an almost 1/48-ish picture I printed
earlier.
Windscreen
Blowers:
I
re-shaped the windscreen blowers as the kit parts were too squarish. The wing
lights were filled with putty as the kit transparencies did not fit at all. I
did add some lenses inside and tried to use several different materials for the
cover, but wasn't satisfied with the outcome so out came the putty... I didn't
worry though as the lights were painted black on top anyway
landing
Gears:
The
landing gears received some hydraulic lines/details made of 32 gauge steel wire.
The kit main gears were also lacking the scissor/torque(?) links which I added
using strip styrene and bits of stretched sprue.
I
hope this will be helpful for those
wishing to build a better Tebuan. I can't claim to have been very accurate but I
think I got most of the more obvious features of the Tebuan covered.
Aidy
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images below to see larger images
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