Scale aviation modeller international

The slats and flaps are intended

to be posed drooped, which is fine

by me; if you want them neutral the

front ones should be OK, but the

rear ones probably not as I don’t

think they would fill the space.

The next stage deals with

the radar. I’m a bit ambivalent

about this sort of detail

but I built it anyway.

Stage 10 fits the rear canopy

part, the radar and nose cone,

the wings, and the horizontal

tails. I fitted the wings (less the

flaps) and rear canopy part but

left the tail parts off for now.

Sanding down the joint along

the chine and the front fuselage

(while looking at pictures) gave

me another prototype/production

problem. The details on the

kit in front of the cockpit and

behind the radome appear to be

correct for production aircraft,

but Black 902 isn’t a production

aircraft. It differs quite a lot:

there are no slime lights and the

dielectric panel is in a different

place, and it also has air data

sensors that aren’t on production

aircraft, which I had to add!

Stage 11 adds some aerials and

the vertical tails (again, I left them

off for now); a couple of intakes on

the upper surface between them;

the canopy parts; the tail cone

(parabrake?); and the refuelling

probe. There’s no option suggested

for having the tail cone closed or

the refuelling probe retracted.

The probe should be pretty easy

to fit closed (so I left it for later)

but the tail cone required a little

more thought. I’ve only seen one

picture of the tail cone open and as

there is no detail supplied for the

insides I don’t really understand the

rationale for posing it the way the

instructions and paint guides would

have it, so I just fitted it closed.

The canopy framing includes

some piping detail, and it’s

nice to see something in this

often- neglected area. Though

18 • SEPTEMBER 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

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