DesTROYers Hobby Boss 1/48 VF-1 Wolfpack Tomcat First Cruise

[tor lives]

G'day Troy,
Beautiful work as usual!!!
Your modelling skills and talents really are going from strength to strength and I am grateful that you are sharing them with us on our site. Thanks for the update, you really are an inspiration.
TOR

[DesTROYer]

Thanks Ray.

[hrtpaul]

You're braver than me mate. Bloody nice job so far

[DesTROYer]

Progress report. I'm only bothering to detail the one engine that will be seen. Save the other engine parts for a future project in the spares box.

I added some extra pipes and conduits to the engine and gave it a test fit.




I then got to work fitting the intakes and main landing gear onto the lower fuselage after pre-painting them, before letting them cure over night. I didn't get a pic with the legs on last night, but the look great, though may prove interesting to paint around when painting the fuselage.



The engine is in undercoat now and I will give it a coat of titanium tonight when I get home before spot detailing it, giving it a wash and sealing it away.

With the four day weekend coming up, I should have most of the assembly done and ready to paint by the end of it. Still a lot to do though.

[DesTROYer]

Quite a bit done today, but as I was distracted with a Walking Dead marathon, I forgot to take photos of a lot of the stages.
First up, I decided to open up another panel on the spine on the airframe and show some hydraulic lines and cables and conduits.




I then painted up and detailed the engines before installing them in the body (pictures not included, but it looks great.

Was then able to join the two halves of the body, attach the nose section, clamp it all up and left it to dry.

Finally, I masked up all the panels, intakes and wheel wells and sprayed a coat of undercoat on so I'll be able to better see all the seams I'll need to fill, sand and generally make disappear... somehow.

[hrtpaul]

Looking noice mate

[tor lives]

Your attention to detail is remarkable Troy.....this model is shaping up to be one bad arse example of the mighty Tomcat!!!
TOR

[DesTROYer]

Made some real progress over the four day long weekend with assembly and painting.


The first two colours went down all right, but you really don't get much out of the Mr Hobby jars. One jar of white on the underside and one jar of great on the top side. I have multiple jars of the grey, but had only one of the white. Guess which one I need more of for touch ups.



Masks removed and looking good. I blu-tac'd the doors inlace for painting to get the paint lines to match up, and you can see these are some of the places that will need touching up.


Doors and nose removed exposing the radar, gun and avionics bay. These doors will be fun when it comes time to apply the decals I'm sure. Any advice on how best to do them will be appreciated.


The ventral hatch removed, exposing the hydraulic and power cables.



The engine exposed.


Another problem with Mr Hobby paints that you don't get with life color. There was a mark on the rear flap that i wanted to fix. The jar was empty but had enough for a touch up using a brush. Life color paint would have blended right in when applied via brush, but the properties of the Mr Hobby make that not the case. More is on order, but it will take a week or two to turn up.




Sat the vertical and horizontal stabilisers in place for the photos only, just to see how they look. I'll let the paint cure for a few days before masking up and painting the red active surfaces and tail markings not covered by decals.

[DesTROYer]

Painted the red onto the wings, airbreaks and tail fin tips, before test fitting the wings. Also painted the Radome.





The Slat taped in place temporarily.



Cockpit unmasked. Tomorrow I'll work on the canopy.

[DesTROYer]

Major assembly and painting is mostly complete. The vertical stabilisers, bird slicers and gun access panels won't be attached until the decals are applied. Should get it sealed tomorrow if i can get some last minute touch ups done, so I can start the decals next week.