1/144 Trumpeter Shenyang F-8II(M)

[Rogi]

Name: Igor
Kit: Trumpeter
Scale: 1/144
Aircraft: I'll be making it as a Shenyang F-IIM (Later model)
Optional items: I'll pose the aircraft nose open, revealing the Type 1471 (KLJ-1, KLJ-1PD) Pulse-Doppler Radar Dome. Which I'll scratch build.
I'll try to scratch some wheel bay details and see where I'll go from there

Decals: I may use the kit decals but I'll try to find some Yellow number codes (the later model F-IIMs all seem to have yellow vs red codes (red is included in the kit for 1 aircraft) I have some other red identification codes from other 1/144 kits, but no yellow Identification numbers.

This is one of my silent auction pick ups and really got me into Chinese aircraft again

HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE Thanks to Wojtek for the save on finding books on the Aircraft in question

The basic kit is the F-8II which has very little differences from the M model (an upgraded version)

This is the Radar I'll try to exhibit (the pictures aren't mine they all belong to a Chinese aircraft radar forum, I am using this for personal info. so I hope no one minds, if they need to be taken down, please let me know)

Type 1471

 

[Wurger]

My pleasure Igor. Good Luck with the project.

 

[Rogi]

So far in the morning I did this:

I've made the ray for the Radar and painted a similar color to the reference photos and cut out the start of the shape of the aircraft's nose so I know the proportions where to fit the radar in.

I have 2 ideas for the Radar itself, 1. either cut out small photo-etch square sections and assemble them to the shape that I have above (the yellow shape) or
2. just leave the radar dome this yellow color (+ add some highlights)


Does anyone have any info. about the shape of any types of Pulse Radar Domes? I know the F-16 photoetch kit has it cut out in a mesh style honeycomb. Would this be a similar style to this one?

 

[Wurger]

Igor here is a couple of shots of a few details I made for my 1/72 scale Polish F-16. The part with P letter is the RADAR antenna. It can be moved up and down and right-left too. As you can see it is enough to shape a such piece quite generally and later paint it with a correct colour. Of course you may add a few wires etc. For smaller scales , there is no need to make a very small details of surfaces because these will appear when painted. For the antenna I used a thin 0.3mm polistyrene plate.

 

[Gnomey]

Good work so far!

 

[aviatik]

Heee. some mini mini scratch build here..!!

 

[Rogi]

So far this is the progress

Even seam lines in a 1/144th kit !

So I'll have to remove this last one (there are about 8 of them in the kit, on the weapons I'm not counting
Tail seam line runs along the entire tail so you have to remove it all

Well I took a picture of the wrong side of the tail so I'll have to update it in the next post

Puttied the upper portion where the tail will fit in. I've started to sand down the wings, the panel lines look a little thick for my taste. So I'll sand them down a little and see where that leads me, I hope I don't have to re-scribe the entire aircraft, mainly because the wings are almost razor thin. I'd probably sand right through them

Some before and after shots:

Maybe just a bit more sanding on the right fuselage section, I'll see how it goes

Radar Dome again, had to sand a "spot" on it so It'll be much better with a touch up "smooth" like the domes should be instead of having a small paint chip on it
I'll add the final 1-2 light coats tomorrow

 

[fubar57]

Nice progress Igor.

Geo

 

[Crimea_River]

Bloody nice man!

 

[Airframes]

I agree.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Wayne Little]

not bad at all Igor....

 

[woody]

Nice start Igor.

 

[Rogi]

Thank you all for the comments

So today I felt lucky and everything was going my way. I tried to cut off a part of the front section so it can resemble the opening to the Radar components here is a picture of the real aircraft with the panel open. I borrowed the picture from the site mentioned on the photo (actually from a Chinese forum borrowing that picture down the line )

It went well, and I thought of stopping here:

but there is a small side section that you can see in the picture, so I had to re-produce this on the model. I cut the panel that I now had:

and attached it to the section in question on the top of the nose:

Some putty during the week and it should look good

I'm really happy at what I was able to get done today

Thank you all for checking in

 

[Wayne Little]

Cool!

 

[Wurger]

However it seems that the small side section , you stuck to the front of the fuselage , is a front wall ( bulkhead ) where is the radar antenna attached. So if I were you I would make the bulkhead from scratch , taking the correct shape of it into consideration and fitting to the fuselage. Because a such made bulkhead has its own thickness ( in fact it is still a kind of plastic plate. ) you would get both the front wall and the small side section... here the idea in a diagram below.

 

[Rogi]

I think I understand which section you mean Wojtek, is it this one? This is taken from the Shenyang's F-IIM Radar at a museum, I've forgotten which type it was but it is the type that the F-IIM uses.

It is the interior in the fuselage.

 

[Wurger]

I sent you PM.

Question ... what does the nose of the kit look like? Could you post a picture?

 

[Rogi]

I've sent you a pm back my friend I'll have to post a picture tomorrow of the nose, but my plan is to leave the nose off

 

[Wurger]

And I tought exactly the same. OK. There is a lot of time.