Here is Part II of my progress report. I decided to forego any more scratch building and buttoned up the office. I still have not decided whether to use the seats kit came with or get a set of 1/32 resin seats but, I am leaning toward getting the resin seats anyway. The foreward section of the fusalage went to together without much hassle which for a Revell kit is rare. The fit was very good and seams lined up without to many gaps. Next comes putty, sanding and rescribing sanded away panel lines.
I did however notice there is a rather large warp in top half of the aft fusalge that I hope will correct itself when I glue it to the bottom half. I test fitted fusalege halves and it does seem the warping will not noticable when its all glued down tight. Other than that. the kit is going together really well and I dont anticipate to many problems. Another thing is the canopy (UGG!). Its is not fitting as it should, the section over pilots seat is wider than it should be and doesnt properly align so I may have to build it with canopy open. Not a bad idea either since I went NUTS on scratch detailing it.
Progress Hounds sound Off! Here are some more pictures of my progress.
The office looks great so far… But can I say somtin?? The interior looks a little to clean fer me but again, thats just my opinion… I like the “used” look.
I concour w/ you, I would use the resin seats as well… Since you are doing some scratching, they would compliment what you are doing…
Besides that you are off to a good start my friend. Rand, have you thought about putting the back section in warm to hot water and re warping it? Just a thought!!
Have you decided on what Squadron she will be from?? I have the Hasegawa quater scale 14 and I am leaning towards VF-154 the “Black Knights” Pretty sweet lookin
I’d also vote for a set of aftermarket resin seats -the kit seats are not accurate at all. Later releases of the kit had seats that were scaled up from the 1:48 Monogram kit and although they were more accurate and better detailed, they didn’t fit quite right into the cockpit.
I don’t like to weather my models too heavily, but IMHO some very light dry brushing in the cockpit might look good and help to accentuate some the detail. Go slow, it’s easy to overdo it.
Another caution is the stabilator mounting. It has a bar that connects the two stabilators so they can move together. The ends where the shafts come throught the fuselage are very weak, sag, and are easily broken. I’d suggest using some telescoping brass tubing, which would not only be infinitely stronger would also allow you to leave off the stabilators until after assembling and painting the rear fuselage.
Thanks for your kind advice. I agree with weathering the Office a little bit, I too dont like them to clean. I decided to go with VF-41 “Gulf of Sidra Incident” Black Aces. I am still looking for the correct decals. I originally wanted to have it as a VF-32 Swordsmen Mig Killer from the second Gulf of Sidra Incident so I could build for my GB but no one makes the decals anymore in 1/32 scale.
I also agree resin seats would be much better than the kit seats. It’s cutting them their resin blocks and sanding them I hate. [8D]
