jadefalconguard

Thx for the support in making a choice Viceland. As a go between I'm working on a step by step guide. I look into detail what I did and how a did it. But the next posts will include better pics The Fuselage As with all my fighter kits I start by selecting my desired subassemblies. In case of the Valk it was quite easy as the cockpit area was completely detached from the main body. The legas make up the aft fuselage together with the arms. Because I’m building the Strike version, the tail assembly is folded forwards. This gives an extra subassembly. Assembly guide Step 1 The first step was to straighten out the two wings. The first step in the assembly guide is to make the assembly to sweep the wings back and forth. Piece a6 holds two nuts (pieces A4) that are pressed with an endplate (A7). I used clamps to get a good bond as this assembly is glued inside the topside of the main fuselage (A1). Assembly guide Step 4 Lower fuselage There are two intakes (B13/14) that are equipped with two PE vanes (E18). These vanes are under an angle inside B14. I found out the easiest way to install these are to make 2 incissions with my X-acto knive along the side of B14/13. This way you’ll get an nice grove to bond the PE part with the resin and guides it in the right angle. M18 is recasted onto the lower fuselage half, so don’t search for it. The guides for pieces B14/B13 have some reserves, so make sure you dry fit the two intakes to guid a nice fit with the upper fuselage. Upper fuselage I left off the PE Parts 19 to 25 as these are acessdoors. In order to get the PE parts 55/56 to fit tight I cleaned out the opening with the X-acto knive. Make sure you put them in with the right angle (you should have a small indent towards the straight end). I closed the speedbrake (H9) but it was to small to get it to conform to the curves of the fuselage. Some sheet styrene solved this problem followed by a coat of filler and carefull sanding. The two antennas where added and I decided to use the two airguides N34 instead of the N39/N40 assembly. Mating of the lower and upper fuselage I didn’t take in account that the lower fuselage was a little warped. I had to clamp the two pieces together in order to get a nice fit. This resulted in a fracture in the lower fuselage half. Filling an sanding solved this problem, but gave me a next challenge! You have a clear sight of the back of the wingassembly from the first step. I didn’t clean this to well, so you can see the seem! Take care of this part BEFORE you glue in the wings or you’ll have a hard time cleaning this up. After this mating, you’ll need to fill the seems between L1 and A1. These are minor seems, but ruin the total look of the fuselage. EDIT : I'll try to make a write up up to the point where I am right now. This gives me time to get the reflex pics developed and scanned

After this was done I started on the leg FP. The outer shell was a bit wrapped and smaller then the back part. I was able to get it to conform for 98%..... The main problem is the end part wich doesn't fit as it should. With some sheet styrene I was able to get a better fit. Still need to do the tips. Edit 6/6 new pic

Now, I'm not gonna count the amount of filler I needed to get the exhausts parts on the FP to fit nicely, but just to give you an idea, I have discovered a new model technique : sculpting with filler edit To give you a feel for this, the grayish goo around the exhaust is apr. 2 to 4 mm of filler

Edit 6/6 New Pic, this shot shows off the update with plastic

FP mated with thruster pack..... Edit 6/6 : new pic

Finished up to Fast Pack enhancements and the boostezr enhancements. The left FP is ready to be primed and preshaded. I also beefed up the right FP but as this will be closed you won't see much of it once finished. Ah well, I know it's there Edit :6/6 new pic

last one. This one is the Fast Pack itself. I added two fuel lines to the small thrusters and let them run to the front of the fuel tank. I felt that the 'exhaust' part of the F.P. was way to empty. So I added some sheet styrene to have some structure around there. Edit : forgot the pic again Edit 06/06 : new pic

one more

another one

Finally got some time over to do some things. This time I took on the fast packs. The fastpack with the beamcanon will be closed up, so only minimal adaptions were done. However, I opted to leave the cover from the missile launcher open to display the fuel tank and thruster parts. So various cables will be running around there. I've been woking on this for a few hours and all I got to show fore are 5 wires. So here goes.... BTW the bright colored things are UTP Cat cabling

Thanks a lot. I've got an Hase F-15E kit in 1/48. Have to check if that's sufficient enough.

Cool, If you could do me the pleasure, they would be really appreciated.

As I see a rising intrest in this model, I'll be putting on a full 'how to' on my website. @ the landig gear issue, I think that a hard Resin version will be able to hold the weight of the model. It's a heavy model, but hard resin should be able to hold the weight.

Cool, it isn't installed yet........ I'm still deciding if I'm going to use the inboard ladder or a spare from an F-15 kit. It's kind of need with the F15 stair. Oh well, choices, choises. I spend more time deciding wich option to install or open up then to actually build the model Thhx for the assist HWR Mk II. One day we'll have to make a groupshot

Damned, just took a look at my PE Fret, the nr 17 is a part inside the cockpit and still needs to be installed... Is that the one you are referring to ? I get itchy to think I forgot one......

@ HWR MkII : please do enlighten me I searched like h#ll but I couldn't find what you mean..... Do you mean the truster exit port behind the canopy ?There was an option for a round vanes piece or a truster piece. It thought it looked cooler with the exhaust. But then again, I'm not sure if that's what you mean..... Plesa don't keep me in suspense

I also took a sidewards frontview to show of the head in Fighter mode so you could get a view at the color of the headlasers. I think they came out quit nice

Now how about some view of the Squadron Insignia : VFA86 Sidewinders. I took the markings of a CAG bird and used the logo on the left chest area so the be able to recognize this bird in battloid mode

OMG these are huge another overview

Now I really went out of my way for you guys.... I drove a full 20km to get my father in law's camera and take some decent pics So here goes : overview

Those were in daylight. Just got a crappy camera and I can't decide between a new camera or a Resin kit from an ATLAS battlemech from Armorcast. BUT i also used my old reflex. See if I can scan in some pictures

Now I can straiten out my wrapped pieces in the morning between my two boiled eggs.....

Now for the next step : adding the slats. The first dry runs showed that the copper guides are again to large and they portrude extremely far out. Guess I'll need to scratchbuild some new guides for the slats. Besides this little hick up the slats themselves are extremely wrapped and twisted to all sides so I'll have to straighten them out Once these are all done I'll be painting the insides red as will the inside of the fowler flaps. Till then, please let me know what you guys think so far G.

And ofcourse, the nicest angle to view this bird

Close up of the wing.......be carefull, the dull coat is still wet wich is evident from the white dots you see under the Macross Logo.....once the dull coat dries it's gone edit: forgot the pic