I have built two
versions of the kit already and when Cutting edge decals came out with "fancy
girls" I thought I'd start another model for them. The kit is an easy build
and as far as I know pretty accurate, the only thing I recommend is the
replacement of the long stalky under carriage legs with metal ones from Aeroclub
which are so much stronger. Firstly I tried rescribing the panel lines for
as nice as this kit is it is many years old and the tooling for recessed lines
wasn't in use then. Rescribing this kit is quite complicated and can get
boring but I did a bit at a time and eventually it paid off.
Upon reflection I chickened out from
using one of the girls, as my models go to many shows, and I didn't want to
cause an offence to any of the lady viewers passing by, So I decided to take up
the challenge to make an early "D"
This involved
removing the antennas around the nose and then removing the stiffener plates on
the wings which were a post Vietnam thing, this particular machine did have the
late model "D" spine.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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When I was half way through
decaling I realised that there should be no afterburner cooling inlets on the
rear fuselage so it was out with the sanding block and get rid of them and the
extra panels where they were mounted. Next I found the top of the fin needed
altering, just filing away the ECM bits on the fin cap.
This was becoming a
whole bunch of mistakes on my part but I was easily able to patch things up as I
was using humbrol "polished aluminium" to represent the aluminium
finish on the real aircraft, these were not a natural metal finish they had a
protective coat containing aluminium.
Eventually I think I got all the mods right and the decals were finally finished
then sealed with a coat of Johnsons Klear (future). I think now, looking at the
model, that it was all worth while and I am very pleased with it.
Ted
Drop by Ted's
Website to see more of his models. Ted
Taylor's Modelworks
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