this is my second attempt to get this page up and running, first time there were no contributors I know there are a lot of you building out there and you must all have opinions on the kits you build tips tricks and just general observations are all welcome and will help out the other 1/144 scale enthusiasts
email Paul Gold
Lorenzo de la Fuente
Brian Plescia
Eric Verschuur
Joseph Santiago
Ron Sanctuary
LS F/A-18A Hornet
by Brian Plescia
renegades24@hotmail.com
This is a pretty old kit, but still one of the best 1.144 Hornet kits
around. Though LS went out of business years ago, Hobby craft re-molded
the kit, but the copy wasn t that great. I believe ARII has re-issued
the LS mold - they have the same box as the LS kit did, but I haven t
seen inside it. I can t recommend the DML or LS over the other because
both of them have their high and low points.
One big benefit over the DML kit is the correct shape of the forward
fuselage and nosecone. Canopy front windscreen is also well shaped and
sized, but the main canopy frame is molded into the upper fuselage. This
makes for a very difficult display with the canopy open. You would have
to cut away the canopy frame from the fuselage, and scratchbuild a new
the frame around the canopy. Or, you could cut the main canopy from a
DML, and just attach it open. The open area for the cockpit allows for
a scratchbuild cockpit to be fit, but the thickness of the canopy
prevents a forward coaming, or a seat or pilot to sit up high enough
with the canopy closed.
The overall shape is very good, however the spine is too high and
"sharp". I ve sanded it down and it looks better. The full span ailerons
are accurate to the real Hornet. The wings do have the unique "twist" to
them, but they also have the leading edge sawtooth of the prototype, and
the partial span flaps. I use an X-acto knife and cut away the leading
edge extension and then sand the new edge. I use Zap in the recessed
panel line of the flap, and then scribe a new full span outboard flap.
The flap acuators on the under side of the wing are oversized.
The intakes are fragile, and one is usually covered with flash, while
the other has something of an opening. I would recommend cutting away
and using the splitter plate, and then shaping a new intake (forward ½
centimeter) by heating a styrene strip and curling it around a pen.
There are no body pylons for Sparrow or AIM-120s, but a little trough to
put them in. I recommend cutting a pylon out of styrene, gluing it on,
and then smoothing in the edges to the body. I drew a template on paper,
and then reversed it for the other side. A new tailhook has to be made,
and the exhaust cones are generic. The vertical tails have the upper
rudder braces, but none of the bumps up near the top. Be careful in
establishing the right angle for them to sit, and make sure you use a
strong glue. I would fill in the seams with Zap to add extra strength.
There is no detail in the landing gear bays, and the landing gear and
wheels are very basic. I would use the DML tires at the very least.
There are no weapons pylons; the kit comes with 2 sparrow and 2
sidewinders. There is also no fuel tank. I believe the kit is slightly
oversized, and a bit too long, though I haven t measured it. Holding it
up to the LS Tomcat, they are almost the same size. When compared to the
DML for size, the LS is longer, and has slightly different planform.
Hope this helps someone out there. I ll get to the DML review soon . . .
(About as soon as I get to finishing my resin detail set for it - it is
coming, I promise!) As always please email any and all comments and
questions, criticisms, etc.
check six
Brian Plesica
renegades24@hotmail.com
Building Review of the Me-163B produced by STARR Miniatures/Paul Gold First of all, a big thanks to Paul Gold for producing this kit. It's the only one of its kind out there I believe. The kit: The Me-163 kit is molded in resin (9 pieces), with 2 single piece clear canopies, decals, and building instructions. Also included in the kit is the Scheuch-schlepper (towing/lifting tractor) molded in resin (4 pieces) and white metal (3 pieces). Building: This was the first resin kit that I had built. The first thing I noticed was the resin remained tacky and fingerprints quickly covered the thing. (Paul just wrote me to say that he changed brands so this problem should disappear.) To combat this problem, I sprayed a light coat of gray primer over the entire kit and let it dry for several days. After that, I started cleaning up the edges etc. etc., attached the front half of the fuselage, the wings and vertical tail. To fill in the joints I used Squadron Green putty mixed with Testors liquid cement. I used a fine brush to apply it along the seams thinning it as necessary with additional liquid cement. If you're careful with your application you can reduce the amount of sanding significantly. After sanding all of the seams I cleaned up the landing gear, painted the wheels and undercarriage and attached to the fuselage. Next I detailed the interior. In retrospect I probably over did things a bit here but it sure looks cool! To me that is! Anyway... I built a new seat, shoulder harnesses, control stick, enhanced the side consoles, center instrument panel complete with instrument casings sticking out in front of the panel, gun sight, canopy handles, throttle etc. Much too much time spent on it probably but it was fun. Fitting the canopy: My canopies were very thin and very clear with just a small amount of distortion at the front. The hardest part was actually gluing it into place. I ended up making a small gig that held the plane while I applied white glue to the fuselage then placed the canopy in place. I used tape to hold it while it dried. You need to be careful not to let the glue touch the tape or capillary action takes over and messes everything up! After the white glue dried, I used the Squadron Green putty and Testors liquid cement to fill in the cracks. Next came the antenna, pitot tube, wind generator and wingtip skids. Painting: I used a paint scheme out of a reference book I have. I don't even remember the squadron but I liked the paint scheme. I used Microscale liquid mask to cover the canopy. I also painted a strip of blank decal with the schwartzgrunn then cut them as necessary to make the canopy bows. Decals: I made my own. I could have used the ones that came with the kit but I thought they were too light. After applying the decals I coated the entire kit with dullcoat then used liquid Future on the canopy. Pretty neat. You can easily see all of the details I added to the interior. Scheuch-schlepper: I added railings, steering wheels, hydraulic lines etc. and added a few things of my own. The drawings that came with the kit were helpful which was good because my reference material was very limited. It's one very small kit but I would recommend it to anyone. You may need to push your eyes back into their sockets a couple of times while you're building it but in my opinion it's worth it. I'm very pleased with the final product.
ACADEMY 1/144 P-47D Kit Review Good points: Outline OK Scribing adequate Bad points: Cockpit front slant should be steeper Propeller hub (with blades) should be longer Drop tank tab too long, shackle too thick Main gear doors too thick, no tail gear doors Fuselage fit poor, remove locating pins and sand Wing fit poor, filler needed Horizontal fins fit poor, filler needed Decal subject obscure Summary: Not much choice for a late P-47D, is there? Makes an adequate basis for an early P-47D 'razorback' conversion. Lorenzo S. F. de la Fuente (dfuente@pusit.admu.edu.ph) Whoever said, 'Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.' obviously never tried to learn Ballroom Dancing.
LS F-14 Review by Brian Plescia renegades24@hotmail.com The LS F-14 body with DML parts added and converted to F-14D configuration Okay, I finally am sitting down to write this long promised article. Pictures will follow soon (as soon as they are mailed to Paul, scanned and uploaded). This is a model of a VF-31 F-14D that was part of a det to Miramar in June 97 for a two week BombEx. This particular aircraft made Tomcat history by being the first F-14D to drop 4 Mk84 2000lb bombs at once. Good Points: best airframe of the Tomcat outstanding fit. Only area that needs fit work is intake/body joint fine scribing Bad Points: no chin pods no weapons rails (only has sparrows for under body stations) 1. Basic Construction I have always felt that the LS body is the most accurate on the market. There are a few minor flaws, but compared to DML s unsightly wingsweep problem, and the other older molds from other companies that don t even look like the Tomcat, I can live with them (or fix them) Building the body is straight forward. I decided to paint over the canopy, so I didn t worry about making a cockpit. When attaching the forward fuselage halves, a slight shim is needed at the back so that it fits flush to the main body (and the canopy fits better too). Small puttying and fairing is needed around the intake/body seam and the forward fuselage/main body seam. For the vertical tails, I used a combination of LS and DML parts. I cut the leading edge fairing (the part that blends into the body) off the LS tail; cut off the DML part s mounting stub and glued them together. The shape of the LS tail is more accurate, but the DML one has the rudder braces and are less fragile. I added weapons rails from the DML kit - sparrow and phoenix (front and rear). The rear phoenix pallets came from the F-14 Bombcat kit. I made new bomb racks from strip styrene. I also scratchbuilt new sidewinder rails for the BOL chaff/flare missile rail. These comprised 12 parts. I used a small drill bit mounted in my Dremel tool to drill out the gun port. I filled in the scribed gun vents with Zap and then cut out the triangle shaped NACA vents with an Xacto. I used the DML IRST/TV pod and the ECM bulge tail fairing. I reshaped the nosecone by building up the top of it with Zap and then sanding it to the right curve. On the tail fairing, cut off the top half from the LS body, but leave the lower half on; the DML part is to thin. You could also add the ECM bulge out of strip styrene. I cut off the fuel dump port and added a aluminum wire to replace it. I made the ECM bulges forward of the glove vane from scrap plastic as well. On the F-14D you don t have to worry about the ECM bulges under the glove vane, but on the A and B models, I use strip styrene cut to shape. I find it easiest to glue on a strip of correct length, then cut it to shape after it s attached to the model. I cut off the antennas from the spine, and replaced them with thin styrene. I added thin styrene shims along the glove vane seam down to wing root. This joint is slightly weak, and with repetitive wing sweeping, it cracks. The shim ensures a solid joint. The F-14D (and B) have the GE-F-100 engines, and so the aft end is different from the A. I used the exhausts from an LS F-15. I used putty and an Xacto knife to reshape the fuselage/exhaust fairings. I painted the exhaust area in flat black, and the petals in a dark metallic. 2. Weapons For weapons, I chose a heavy Bombcat role of 4 Mk84s and sparrow and sidewinder. I used a LS sparrow and a scratchbuilt sidewinder, aluminum wire with thinned strip styrene for fins. The Mk84s came from an LS A-10 kit. I sanded down the mold seam lines, turned them on their sides and they make great 2000lbers. I painted them olive drab, then brushed flat yellow on the nose. I used the back on an Xacto blade and gently scrapped away the yellow paint to make the rings. It helped that the bombs were molded in dark green. 3. Paint, Decals and Weathering I painted the plane overall with half light ghost gray and light gray. I then painted the top part of the TPS scheme with half light ghost gray and half dark ghost gray, mixed with a few drops of flanker medium blue. I painted the canopy with dark blue. The leading edges of the wing, gun port panel was painted metallizer steel, and the tip of the IRST/TV pod was painted gloss black. For decals, I photocopied a Hasegawa sheet down to 1.144 scale and then had it printed on blank decal stock. I applied all the decals with the standard gloss coat, decal, flat coat way using decal solution with a drop of white glue to help adhesion. For the tail markings, I used the Felix silhouettes for the drop tanks from the Hasegawa 1.48 sheet. I hand painted the face in gray. The NK and S on the inner tail came misc lettering from another sheet, and the 103 modex on the nose came from individual numbers from an LS decal sheet. I weathered my plane by penciling the panel lines with a thin pencil, and smearing it back along the airframe. It is subtle, but in this scale very effective. For display, I had a triangular acrylic base made, and put on a zap sticker from the squadron. I used an aluminum rod to mount the bird to the base. I had the mounting rod on the plane glued in place of the tailhook so that I am able to remove the plane from the base. That s the quick, dirty look at this model. I welcome any suggestions or questions. Hope this helps someone out there! If you need more details on my projects, LMK and I d be happy to expound further! I am building aftermarket sets for the LS Tomcat (that will also fit the DML with a little modifying) that will have full cockpit, seats for A/B/D, gear bays, tires, exhausts for A/B/D. These should be ready later in the summer. After the Tomcat, I ll work on F/A-18, A-6E sets. check six bp
MODEL: YF-22 Lightning II RELEASED BY: Revell Germany (kit nr 4016) PATTERNS BY: ACE, Korea. SCALE: 1/144 RELEASE DATE: may 94; PARTS COUNT: 30 in light grey and 1 clear canopy; NR VERSIONS: 1: 2nd prototype; SCALE ACCURACY: Very good: span lacks 2mm, rest almost spot-on; LIKENESS: good, apart from the main intake shape which has been a bit simplyfied, canopy shape is a bit too flat in side view and the small ridge over the IFR hatch is missing. Apart from that, the complex shape is very well captured. DETAILLING: Very good: cockpit with separate ejection seat, stick and instrument panel. The back and head rest of the seat are a bit skinny which may cause the seat to be positioned too far back. Very well detailed landing gear and accurate missile launch trapezes. Wheel wells and main missile bay have raised details inside. FIT: between fair and good: fuselage halves fit is fair (lower right wing halve needs trimming) tail fins (15 and 16) and main landing gear fit is a bit loose. The notched edges of the missile bay doors fit very well though. INSTRUCTION SHEET: Note: tail fins 13 and 14 and main wheel doors 22 and 23 have been swapped left to right ! (fin 13 and door 22 should be on the righthand side of the model). PAINTING INSTRUCTIONS: Ok. Fed.Std. codes: C=36118, L=36270, K=36375. Better paint the forward edges of the wheel bays (7 and 8) that are visible through the intakes flat black. DECALS: nice, well printed set, 6 colors. Only the white 'skunk works' badges for the tail fins are missing, the remaining badges are well represented. There's a choice of either civil or military registrations, both for 2nd prototype. Note: decals nr.18 are indicated as nr.22 on the instructions. Make sure to apply these decals over a very glossy coat of paint or else these will 'silver' (trap air) like mad. REMARKS: This is actually a scaled down Italeri 1/72 kit made by korean ACE for Revell Germany. The fuselage needs some work to get it to fit properly: first the wings need some trimming, then the fuselage halves need to be cemented in steps, working from the rear to the nose. Keep an eye on the angle between the nose section and the fuselage (droop), there's some room for variation there. The AMRAAM bays can be positioned open, however the missile trapezes come fully extended only, which is only right for in-flight mode. So either remodel these launch rails or fit the missile bay doors shut. The inner side walls of the air intakes need to be reduced in thickness and the corners of the intakes need to be rounded a bit to enhance looks. The notched cover plate over the leading edge of the canopy is split and moulded partly on the fuselage and partly on the clear canopy, this ought to be a single plate so the seam needs to be filled and sanded flush completely. Note the proper angle of the main landing gear: slanted both outwards and forwards slightly. REFERENCE: Fine Scale Modeller Febr '94 pg.40-43; World Air Power Journal Vol.6 pg.34-45; The ATF Contenders, Concord Publications, ISBN 962-361-020-3; CONCLUDING: This kit is just as good as the 1/72 Italeri original. Well detailed, good likeness, great kit. Eric Verschuur.
General Dynamics F-111A; Academy/Minicraft #4420 Parts Quality- injection molded in olive drab with minimal flash. Fit is so-so; the nose section is one subassembly that fits into the rest of the fuselage- and it's not pretty. The fit, the nose section, and the cockpit transparency, that is. Woefully inaccurate- the nose section droops about 5 degrees, it's too square in cross-section, and the cockpit transparency is too blocky. Wings can be built to sweep back and forth, but don't bet on them being synchronized. The intakes are too square in cross-section and pretty much amount to holes in to lower fuselage section. Level of Detail- the panel lines appear haphazardly placed. No cockpit detail is provided. Panel Lines- lightly raised throughout. Weapons Fit- the only external stores provided are two drop tanks whose tailfins are too thick. Decals- generic Vietnam-era USAF decals, but very basic. Overall Impressions- One of the low points of the Academy/Minicraft line. It might be tolerable if the nose section didn't butcher the characteristically slick "snout" of the Aardvark. Save your money and look for the ARII F-111E kit. JPSantiago jpandmel@pol.net =============================================================== General Dynamics F-111E; ARII #23012-300 (#12) Parts Quality- injection molded in white wiith minimal to no flash. Fit is good throughout, but a little filling and sanding will be needed to join the nose section subassembly to the rest of the fuselage. Having purchased this kit after Academy/Minicraft's F-111, the nose section was wonderfully done, nicely preserving the slick lines of the 'Vark. The intakes came up a bit short, but at least were rounded and the intake centerbody spike is a separate piece rather than being crudely molded as part of the fuselage. With a little basic work, the intakes can be made to look even better. The wings can be built to sweep back and forth, but there is no internal feature to synchronize the sweep angle. Best built in the sweep angle of your liking. Level of Detail- no cockpit detail, but the major panel lines and control surfaces are present. Panel Lines- nicely engraved and appropriate. Weapons Fit- the only external stores provided are two drop tanks whose tailfins are too thick. A better solution might be to scratch-build new fins out of sheet styrene. Decals- USAF decals and while tailcodes for an Upper Heyford (USAFE)-based aircraft. Insignia are those prior to the adaptation of the black low-viz insignia. The blue is a bit too light and the red bars were too high. Basic service/warning markings (eg. red ejection seat triangles). Overall Impressions- Other than the misaligned insignia and intakes, this is a great kit with potential. I converted mine into an EF-111A Raven. JPSantiago jpandmel@pol.net
North American P-51D Mustang; Academy/Minicraft #4417 Parts Quality- injection-molded in silver with minimal flash- fit is pretty good except at the wing-body junction on the underside (wing is one-piece). You will need to do some filling and sanding here. Landing gear can be built up or down, but the main struts and wheels are molded one-piece with the gear doors. The main gear doors are separate pieces. Level of Detail- No cockpit detail is provided- some scratchbuilding will be required. Although the main struts and wheels are molded to the gear doors, the wheels do have spokes and there is an acceptable level of detail in the struts themselves. The exhaust stacks are nicely done. Panel Lines- somewhat heavy on the engraving but acceptable for most modelers- the control surfaces are delineated well. Weapons Fit- The six wing guns are visible but no other external stores are provided. Decals- generic USAAF insignia, color is close to accurate. I could not figure out what unit this kit's decals were depicting, though. They may just be generic P-51 markings. No letter codes but a tail serial number is provided. Overall Impressions- Aside from the heavy panel lines and generic insignia, it's probably one of Academy/Minicraft's best kits of WWII aircraft prior to the release of the Super 144 line in 1996. Hopefully this will get all the other members of the "Cockroach Air Force" out in droves! JPSantiago jpandmel@pol.net
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