


and other artistic stuff
Next up is the landing gears and some other small stuff that needs to be done. The landing gear and parts to the bay have small ejector pin marks that needs to be taken care of. Some not so easy as they sit in areas that are hard to reach with sanders, or even hard to scrape with a blade. A bit annoying that the front wheel have marks too.
Front landing gear assembled.
I also assembled the fin and prepared the stabilizers and flapperons. Here together with the parts for the landing gears and bay.
All the landing gear parts was painted white.
Some of them need to be turned over and painted on the other side.
When that is done I’ll paint details and add decals. I also intend to add some plumbing to the landing gears.
First I painted the exhaust parts black. The afterburner ring was handpainted with chrome and gun metal. The inside of the can was dry brushed lightly with white.
The outside was painted with a mix of black and chrome, then I used a Molotov chrome pen to paint the rim.
The turkey feathers was painted in steel, and then masked of for the next colour.
After painting a mix of black and chrome on the inner feathers, I removed the masking.
Then I did a simple dry fit.
The inside of the feathers was dry brushed with an off white.
Quite happy with that. Now I only need to assemble it. I think I’ll give parts of it a black pin wash to enhance some details. I might also use sooth pigment from the Tamiya set.
The cockpit panels was painted black and then dry brushed with the cockpit colour and then a slightly lighter shade.
Then the cockpit and wheel bay/intake was glued to the lower fuselage.
Then the upper fuselage was painted black around the cokpit frame and then glued to the lower fuselage. The upper fuselage consists of two pieces and even if the fit was nice, I had problems with getting the two halves level, so some sanding might be needed.
Now it starts looking like a plane, but still there’s a lot of small parts that needs to be done.
Next will be the engine where I’ve started painting everything black as a base for the metal colours.
To fit the pilot to the handles in the cockpit, I had to assemble the seat and place everything in the cockpit.
I painted the main gear bay and surroundings in white.
Then I painted the cockpit tub in ocean grey and the small tank in silver. the intake fan is painted in gun metal.
The seat also got some ocean grey. Forgot to add it to the previous picture.
The front part of the intake goes together quite nicely. Here the fuselage parts are just test fitted as the rod should be fitted first. But before that the seams needs to be taken care of and the inside of the intake painted white.
It’s quite a bit of pieces that needs to be sorted before I can start assembly the fuselage. Then I guess the whole build will gain speed and start to look like a plane pretty quick.
Finally done with the tank and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out!
The tank commander got some dry brushing with tropical tan, and some details painted. I also added a wire to his mic.
The tank itself got some more dust and sand. I used both pigments and diluted sand colour. Need to practice more to get it look like sand entered every nook and cranny.
I’ll check it over and then I’ll take some better pics for the final reveal.
When I was about to put the flatbed in place, I realised that I’ve put the towbar and hooks upside down. Using ethyl acetate and minor violenced, I managed to pry the parts away. And after some cleaning up I could put the parts back as they should.
I’ve also sorted a few of the things that is supposed to lay in the flatbed compartment. But first they need some paint.
The MG and rifle was missing, and I’m guessing the former owner of the kit have taken them along with the driver, who also is missing.
Perhaps I can find a rifle and a MG that I can use, from my spares box.
The frame is done and ready for the other parts like hood, cabin and flatbed.
The exhaust pipe looks a tad bit red. Something I need to adjust with some weathering later.
The flatbed was first painted dark grey and then I added some thinned dark brown in an attempt to make it look like worn wooden planks.
I will do some dry brushing with different shades of grey and the seats will be painted in khaki.
I started assembling the rear compartment/flatbed, which was quite straightforward. A few pieces left to glue when the pic was taken.
Exhaust pipes and front wheel suspension was assembled.
From the start I intended to build as much as possible before painting, but I realised I had to paint some parts in different colors to be able to assemble it without having to try and paint details where it’s hard to reach. So on with some dark grey.
Next I’ll paint some more, and hopefully also start assembling.