Things have been proceeding apace now as I've got the interior done and the canopy sewn up. The fit of the kit has been nothing short of exceptional! Simple filing and sanding have been sufficient to blend everything together. I did make problems for myself by using thin cement to join the halves together and it marked the canopy in places. HobbyBoss didn't split the framing in the middle but rather at it's top edge making leaving the canopy unmarked somewhat harder. I've covered a couple of fixes for this in my build log but I'm sure the community here will be able to provide more insight as to other possible or better fixes. Now onto the pics!!

A little more progress to report, the tail cone is on and I've started to mask the canopy by hand. Unfortunately I simply don't have the wherewithal to get the precut masks, I would've liked to provide an idea of how good bad or indifferent the masks were but I'm sure Torsten can provide that info when he builds his kit.

Well progress has been made on the Bv141, masking of the splinter camouflage has been accomplished and the initial paint work has been completed. Engine exhausts have been weathered and attached along with the engine. next up is decaling and weathering.

Looks great, Chris. The splinter camouflage is spot on!

Looking forward to see more

Thanks Jesper! Splinter is reasonably easy to mask it's getting everything in proportion that's the issue.

I've completed the decaling such as it is, just radio codes and national insignia, no stencils as such. But the actual aircraft may well have been relatively stencil free. So here she is so far just weathering and dull coat to go!












I Struck a problem with the decals in that they curled extremely easily which made things a tad difficult. However the decal film is really tough and sustained quite substantial abuse! The only issue is that the ink came off the decal film if handled too much as can be seen in the last pic.

Looks good. Some difficult decalling as many of the decals go over raised details and wheel wells.

Are the decals pre cut or does one have to cut circles around the wheels wells?

The national markings are precut so that at least was a blessing. The radio call signs were not so that was an interesting exercise.

Hi all, I’m currently building the new Tarangus kit of the Viggen JA 37, so it’s perfect for this campaign. Thanks to Michael for the suggestion. There are some impressive builds underway, particularly the Bv 141 by Chris and Jessie’s IL-62. The shape of the Il-62 is stunning, one of the best looking airliners ever.
I did a inbox review of the kit and you can find it here if you are interested. This will be a straight out of the box build; I am not hanging around waiting for aftermarket products. Anyway the detail generally is pretty good.
I am already considering which paint scheme to paint this kit. I really fancy the four colour upper camouflage scheme, but I do like the two tone grey scheme. The grey Viggens seem particularly heavily weathered which I find appealing.

I have started with the fitting of the additional instrumentation that goes onto the cockpit wall. Hopefully the images are clear enough for you to see the fine raised detail. I do like the slightly recessed areas indicating where things like instruments, air inlets and outlets fit. One thing that is immediately apparent is how soft the plastic is. So you need to take great care separating the parts from the sprues. I would suggest using snips rather than using a blade. The holes you can see along the fuselage just behind where the air intake fits is for the fitting of the canards.
I have also glued in place the one piece front under carriage bay.



I joined the two parts that makes up the rear fuselage of the Viggen. From the images the join does not look clean, but this is hidden under the spine attached to the upper front fuselage. I have not glued the most rearward part of this section just yet. I also glued together the two part duct and the bulkhead that fits around the primary compressor. I gave them and the inside of the air intakes a quick spray this morning with aluminium from a Humbrol rattle can. Normally I would use Aclad II paints, but I’m pretty sure you will see very little of the compressor fan once the fuselage is buttoned up. I did use a dark wash over the fans just to give them more of a chance to be seen.




The cockpit goes together pretty well. I dry fitted the tub into the fuselage and fits very snuggly. The seat does look the part; although some filler is needed on the join in the middle of the headrest. The two small control sticks on the left side console look a little large scale wise.

More soon….

Hi all
I spent a little time organising the parts for the jet pipe, rear fairing and reverse thrust. A touch of filler was used on the recessed ejector marks on the thrust reversal petals. I’m not sure how much you will see of the ejector marks, but I would rather play safe.



The cockpit and seat were painted and despite this being an inbox build, I could not resist adding some homemade seat harness.




I took another route assembling the reverse thrust petals to the one suggested in the instructions. Instead of gluing the three petals to part 122, I glued them directly into the rear fairing part 107. You will find in the fairing there are three recesses where the petals sit in flight mode. I think this is a much easier approach. I have placed the petals as arranged with power off. The upper petal has drooped a bit due to the gradual loss of hydraulic pressure. There is a very good image of the arrangement of two of the petals here






To be continued…….

The first primer coat is on, revealing that a lot of work still needs to be done.

Excellent work going on here! Don't forget that separate build logs are encouraged to show your work on the new kits to the most people.

I have finally finished my GWH 1/48 F-15D so now it's time to start on the big 'un:



I think I'll have to hit the LHS first and stock up on the necessary paint.

Michael

Oh boy oh boy! Gooooooooo Michael!!!

Thanks Chris!

Taking my own advice, the build log for my Typhoon is here.

First paint color (flat black) is on!

Michael

Looking forward to seeing your build log Michael.

I have glued the wing to the rear fuselage. The join is excellent, I spot welded the seam with liquid glue. The glue flowed superbly along the join. No need for filler there at all I think. I also assembled the nose. This went together well, but seams needed a little light sanding.
The biggest flaw I have found with this release so far is that the seat does not sit in the cockpit properly. It sticks out of the cockpit so much that the canopy cannot be displayed closed. Even if I displayed the canopy open, the seat would look somewhat silly. So the seat is going to require some surgery.




Moving along nicely now. The forward and aft fuselage has now been joined as has the nose, air intakes and vertical tail surface. No real dramas here, the joins all seem very good. I dry fitted the parts together and once happy with the alignment, I applied liquid glue in a few spots. The glue ran around the joins perfectly. No clamping was necessary. I will leave it overnight to set, but at the moment there does not seem to be any need for filler. Well we will see once the glue has set, let’s not get too excited! There is a very slight difference in level around the mid fuselage join and the radome join which may need some sanding. One thing I did try before joining the nose was to see whether the model needed any nose weight. The instructions claim that it does not need it. I’m very happy to confirm that fact.




To be continued……

Hi all

I primed the whole thing and painted the anti-glare shield black before adding the windscreen and HUD. The seat as I mentioned earlier in this build is too large for the cockpit tub. So I had to reduce the width and the height a little. Thankfully without damaging the visible parts of the seat. I then masked the canopy and windscreen ready for painting.






I have painted all the under surfaces with various shades of light grey. Coats have been built up to try to achieve a more weathered and less than pristine finish. The weathering has been achieved by brushing heavily thinning Tamiya matt black paint and then blowing the wet paint with an airbrush. All internal surfaces have been sprayed aluminium and then weathered.







continuing with the upper surface this time. As with the under surface I used a few shades of grey progressing from dark to light. I did mask some of the panels protecting the grey primer for the first two applications of colour. I also used some of the under surface grey to lighten a few panels as well. Heavily thinned Tamiya paint was used throughout.

After everything was dry I applied a few coats of Klear and then I highlighted some of the panel lines with the Tamiya thinner I use to clean my brushes. If you look at any images of the Viggen in the two tone grey, you will quickly see how dirty these beasts can become.

Not too far from finishing.








To be continued……..

Nice work Tim, and everyone else!

A little construction work on the big Typhoon.

Michael

Hi All

I am going to build Trumpeter's Whirlwind.

I can trace my fascination with the Whirlwind back to a holiday when I was 13 and I bought the Battler Britton Holiday Special book with the aircraft on the front and the story False Glory. As you can see I still have the book 39 years later.









Build log is here http://aeroscale.kitmaker.net/forums/232902&page=1#1963769

Welcome Pricklehead! I look forward to seeing this kit built as I've got it in my stash to build. I've always been fascinated with this kit and wanted a 1/48 scale version of it since I built the old Airfix kit when I was a youngster.

I would like to join the party with a non flying object but somehow it has to do with flying ....
Is the brandnew Airfix Bedford MWD good enough for this campaign. Will start today or tomorrow with the build.


Happy modelling!
Torsten

Torsten,

That looks like a Lanc in the background and the vehicle has an RAF roundel on it, so it's good enough for me!

Looks like a nice kit. These new Airfix releases are really excellent.

Michael

The Trumpeter Whirlwind comes without a gun-sight! Any hints or advice on scratch building one?

Here's a Spitfire gunsight. I'd be very surprised if the Whirlwind's sight was much different.

A couple of different diameter plastic rods and a piece of clear acetate should do the trick for you.

Thanks Jessie. I'll have a crack.

Thanks Michael!
Started yesterday evening for about an hour. There's not much to see yet, just steps 1-7. It goes together really nice, no filler is needed yet, just a bit of sanding. And I have already ordered another one at my LHS because Airfix offers 2 versions of the Bedford, early and late. This time I build the late model ....


Torsten