Model Airplane International - June 2018

Issue 155 - http://www.modelairplaneinternational.com 59

the engine intakes. The Colombian scheme

features a dark grey section around the intake

cone. I sprayed the intake white, fi rst of all

using Hataka Orange Line lacquer Traffi c

White. Once this had cured I masked the dark

grey section using the Maketar masks nose

cone set and painted the area in using Hataka

FS36118 Gunship Gray paint.

Before fi nishing the intakes off, I set about

gluing the large delta wing section together.

The fi t was not great and I had to use quite a

few clamps to keep the two mating sections

fi rmly in place whilst the glue set. The fi t of the

wing to the fuselage was almost perfect and

did not require any fi ller. I fi nished painting the

rest of the intakes and glued them in place.

Again, these had to be held in place with a

large clamp to ensure it dried fl ush. I went

around all the joints with Milliput Superfi ne

putty before using a moist Tamiya cotton bud

to remove the excess. I added the included

Master turned metal nose tip and etched

strakes to the nose.

As I said previously, the construction steps

I used in this model were different from any

previous project I’ve undertaken in that I did

not work at all on the cockpit until well into

the build. I decided at this stage to paint the

cockpit and the resin instrument panels and

get the windshield into place before I could

start priming the airframe ready for paint. I

primed the two panels in Mr Surfacer Black

1500 ready to add the details. I used Hataka

Blue Line acrylics for this; looking at the close

up photos it appears quite messy but is very

effective when viewed at normal size. At this

stage I decided to approach the one aspect

of the build I was truly dreading: the vac-form

canopies. This was my fi rst experience using

these and I did not enjoy it! I found the details

in the clear parts to be very soft and not that

easy to sculpt into place. However, using

two Swann Morton scalpels — fi tted with 10a

and 11 blades — I was able to get the two

pieces trimmed. When I test-fi tted the front

windscreen against the fuselage the fi t was

dreadful and I realised I was going to have to

do quite a bit of work to blend this part in. For

this I used Milliput which was sanded when

it dried. There were still some imperfections

but I was able to use Alclad Grey Primer and

Microfi ller to smooth these over.

I masked the screen with the supplied

masks and went about priming the aircraft. For

this I used the Alclad Grey Primer once again.

I painted the airframe using Hataka Orange

Line Gunship Gray, but upon inspecting it and

consulting with the editor, we decided the paint

was too dark. Once the initial paint had cured I

used Mr Hobby H305 Gunship Gray to go over

this and it proved to be a much better colour

match.

I masked the top of the vertical stabiliser off

and sprayed it Yellow, and then masked the

demarcation lines off along the front and rear

fuselage for the bottom colour, Tamiya XF-19

Sky Grey being used for this. The masks were

removed to reveal a nice smooth paint job. I

then coated the airframe in several coats of

The horrible vacform canopies Using 2 different scalpel blades to trim the canopies from the

canopies from their vacform surround

Windshield successfully trimmed awayWindshield successfully trimmed away Main canopy part- this promised to be much more awkward to trimMain canopy part- this promised to be much more awkward to trim

Issue 155 - http://www.modelairplaneinternational.com

Blue Line acrylics for this; looking at the close

up photos it appears quite messy but is very

effective when viewed at normal size. At this

stage I decided to approach the one aspect

of the build I was truly dreading: the vac-form

canopies. This was my fi rst experience using

these and I did not enjoy it! I found the details

in the clear parts to be very soft and not that

easy to sculpt into place. However, using

two Swann Morton scalpels — fi tted with 10a

and 11 blades — I was able to get the two

pieces trimmed. When I test-fi tted the front

windscreen against the fuselage the fi t was

dreadful and I realised I was going to have to

do quite a bit of work to blend this part in. For

this I used Milliput which was sanded when

it dried. There were still some imperfections

but I was able to use Alclad Grey Primer and

Microfi ller to smooth these over.

I masked the screen with the supplied

masks and went about priming the aircraft. For

this I used the Alclad Grey Primer once again.

I painted the airframe using Hataka Orange

Line Gunship Gray, but upon inspecting it and

consulting with the editor, we decided the paint

was too dark. Once the initial paint had cured I

used Mr Hobby H305 Gunship Gray to go over

this and it proved to be a much better colour

match.

I masked the top of the vertical stabiliser off

and sprayed it Yellow, and then masked the

demarcation lines off along the front and rear

fuselage for the bottom colour, Tamiya XF-19

Sky Grey being used for this. The masks were

removed to reveal a nice smooth paint job. I

then coated the airframe in several coats of

Martin Baker Mk4 ejector

seat painted. I used Hataka

acrylics and Oil Brushers to

achieve this.

Front view of the ejector

seat. I really love the way the

oils blend

BIG CAT.indd 59 04/05/2018 16:33