I
am not going to describe the Tamyia 1/32 kit here, Ted Taylor gave us an
exhaustive description of the main difficulties in his article (see Ted's
article).
In
order to keep the ball rolling and also to give some added value to Ted's
article, I have installed a BlackBox cockpit in my release (see
also my
article)
and added some cables, wires and details on landing gears.
I
will start with modifications you have to make before installing the
BlackBox cockpit inside the lower fuselage (B4) and on the upper fuselage (B28).
First of all you need to cut the three original fixations on the lower fuselage
(noted 1, 2 and 3 on my photo below).
Then
you will need do deploy some more skills in order to cut the upper fuselage properly. Be
careful.....there is no chance for a second attempt. Basically the wisest way
is leaving 1 or 2 mm for the sanding phase. Then start sanding, then test fit to
see if the cockpit fits into the fuselage, then sand again, then test
again, then sand one more, then...you deserve a cup of coffee and some
rest.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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Above
photos will give you an idea of the necessary amount of the original upper fuselage
that needs to be cut off before installing the new cockpit, as the cockpit is
already painted we can easily have a look on the black part
behind the seat that needs to be installed in the grey fuselage.
We
can now spend some hours improving the landing gear areas.
You will need different sections of copper or lead wires in order to reproduce
flexible pipes, connection and electric wires inside the main and the nose
landing gear, reference photos are available on www.F16.net.
www.F16.net.
I
would like to take the opportunity in this article to give a simple tip to remove the
mould line down the center of the canopy: just sand
it like any other part and when it is finished you just need to polish it
with Car Polish available in any DIY (hardware store) during 1 or 2 minutes. That's all.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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After
painting in a two tone grey scheme, I weathered the kit with artist oil
paint mixed with thinner. For
decals I went on the Fox One web site, even if there
is a big choice of aftermarket decals on the Internet I have a little
preference for this splendid Oklahoma Air National Guard 138 FW release
with its gorgeous Native American Chief head on the vertical fin.
Jean-Luc
Click on
images below to see larger images
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