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

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Rogi

Master Sergeant
2,293
36
Aug 1, 2011
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 :D

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)
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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
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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.
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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?
 
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.

radar.jpg


radar_.jpg


radar2.jpg


radar1.jpg


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So far this is the progress :D

Even seam lines in a 1/144th kit ! :D

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

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 :D

Some before and after shots:
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Maybe just a bit more sanding on the right fuselage section, I'll see how it goes :)
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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 :D
I'll add the final 1-2 light coats tomorrow :)

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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 :D)
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It went well, and I thought of stopping here:
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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:
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and attached it to the section in question on the top of the nose:
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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 :)
 
:thumbright:

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.

bulkhead.jpg
 
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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 :D but it is the type that the F-IIM uses.

It is the interior in the fuselage.
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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 :)
 
And I tought exactly the same. OK. There is a lot of time.
 

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