Apollyon "The Destroyer"
is the Greek name for the fallen angel of the abyss in Revelations 9:11... seems
like a fitting name for one of the most capable Viper variants flying
the skies today for the Elliniki Polemiki Aeroporia, otherwise known at the
Hellenic Air Force (HAF).
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I
initially started off this kit as an experiment to see if Conformal Fuel Tanks (CFT's)
could be accomplished in 1/72 scale, since no main-stream or after-market
manufacturers have ponied up to the table for these in this scale yet. I
hadn't planned to finish the kit when I started the CFT's, but as I got into
it... I decided I did want to finish it and wanted to do it in operational or
near operational configuration. An HAF bird seemed the way to go since I
have not quite figured out how I want to tackle one of the new Israeli Sufa's or
one of the UAE's F-models just yet.
Scotch
brand cellophane tape was taped down to the upper fuselage of the the Hasegawa
kit to create a barrier between the kit plastic and the two-part epoxy putty I
was going to use to attempt these. The basic outline of the CFT's was
sketched onto the tape and then the two-part putty was applied, rough shaped and
allowed to dry. After a couple of days of drying, I pulled the tape up,
carefully popping them loose and took a Dremel tool to them to finalize the
shape a bit more before wet-sanding. Once I was happy with the shape, I
moulded them in RTV rubber and cast them in resin. The resin copies were
then carefully super-glued to the upper fuselage piece of the Hasegawa kit.
I tried to get them to fit as flush as possible without having to fill and sand
them, but it was not possible, so I broke out the 3M Acryl-Blue Glazing
Putty and had at it.
Here's
a link to some "in-progress" photos: http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?act=ST&f=3&t=11980
Once
I was happy with the CFT's, I moved on to some of the other mods required to
turn this kit into a Block 52 Peace Xenia III Viper.
The four IFF strakes in front of the canopy were scratch-built from some
Evergreen plastic strip and carefully matched to the proportions of the ones
that come with the Revell of Germany F-16 kit. The extended para-brake
housing came from the ROG Viper kit and was spliced onto the Hasegawa vertical
stab. The RWR antenna on the right side of the para-housing and the "beer-cans"
on the wings were scratch-built from sections of Evergreen rod and
attached.
The
kit came with both exhaust burner section options which was a good thing since
the HAF Block 52's are employing the F100-PW-229.
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The
colors used on the HAF Vipers is what makes them so interesting in my
humble opinion, as they are a nice departure from the standard grays of the USAF
and are similar to some aggressor schemes but are intended for operational
purposes. The main colors I used on my kit were mostly Modelmaster acrylic
paints and consisted of Medium Gray (FS 35237), Light Sea Gray (FS 36307)
and Pollyscale U.S. Dark Gull Gray (FS 36231). Modelmaster Neutral Gray
(FS 36270) was used on the radome and RWR's on the sides of the nose and Light
Ghost Gray (FS 36375) was used on the wing-tip missile rails. The burner
can was done in Metalizer Exhaust with a Chrome Silver ring at
the front of the burner. The forward part of the canopy was tinted with
Tamiya acrylic clear Smoke.
Decals
were from Mike Grant and went on very well. Kudos to Mike for changing
the individual aircraft number (per my request) on my sheet for this
project! I also used kit decals for some of the stencils and munitions
block on the underside of the airframe.
I
did not intend to load this model with underwing tanks or weapons as I decided I
wanted to do this one in a clean configuration, but was in a quandry over
whether I wanted to load AIM-9's or AIM-120's on the wing-tips. The
decision was easy when I found out about the BGT IRIS-T missiles that the HAF is
scheduled to start fielding later this year... so wanting to replicate this
aircraft in a most up-to-date configuration, I set out to scratch-build a
pair of these since they do not exist in kit form that I am aware of yet.
Evergreen plastic rod and strip styrene were used again. I tried to get
them as close as possible to available references that I was able to find on the
IRIS-T, but since they are not operational yet (that I know of) I'm not positive
if this is what the final configuration will look like, but it should be close.
When
attaching the landing gear, I was not happy with the nose-high stance of the
model as Hasegawa molded the nose gear strut a little too long... so I started
hacking sections off the attachment point and test fitting them until I was
satisfied with it.
Once
all the detail painting was finished and all the small bits attached, the model
was finished and I'm very proud of the way in which this "experiment"
turned out. The CFT's are not as good as I would've hoped, but with no
other alternative on the horizon, they'll have to do.
Now,
to finish my Israeli Block 40 D-model Viper!
J.C.
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