Assembly:
Here's quick, short little update.
This time, I got to work on the engines themselves. The kit supplies some rudimentary afterburners to put inside the tail exhaust tubes. They're simple 2-piece affairs and are pretty much garbage as far as accuracy is concerned and have absolutely no detail at all. I decided to find some aftermarket exhaust nozzles for whatever jet that looks reasonably like a J-75, which powered Arrow 204. I asked at my local hobby shop, Air Support Books in Kitchener, ON, (maybe they'll give me a discount for the free advertising?) and I wound up with some surplus F-14D nozzles and afterburners courtesy of a generous stranger and his spares box. So I got out my rotary tool and cut open the tail and popped the burners in and sealed the gaps with some Bondo (switched from Squadron Green for pricing reasons).
Next I got the nozzles ready, which are decent stand-ins for the J-75. I painted them with overall Alclad II jet exhaust, with pale burnt metal in the "petals".
The other thing I did was paint the main landing gear that I'd finished building last update. I sprayed them first with Alclad gloss black base. Once that had cured for a few days, I sprayed just the oleos polished aluminum, then masked that and sprayed the rest in aluminum.
Next, after the photos, I topped them off with a black sludge wash, and did the same to the tires I'd painted last update.
Next steps will be to finish the body work, attach the tail cones, vertical stabilizer and canopy parts and get started on the gear doors.
HOME | BLOG | I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NOT UGANDA | BACON FORTRESS