1/48 MiG-23M Flogger B - The Jet Age.
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- Thread starter
- #82
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
Thanks guys! This has been a slow and intense build for me. I've piled on the aftermarket goodies but each of the resin detail sets are like little individual models and that has significantly increased the build time of the kit overall. It's daunting to have three or so piles of resin, each needing to be sawed off casting blocks, trimmed, cleaned and then painted. Luckily, I haven't succumbed into the temptation of rushing things and have simply walked out of my modeling room when I wasn't feeling motivated. Slow and steady has its rewards and with the completion of the Eduard wheel wells, the majority of the resin improvements have been done.
The one thing I REALLY REALLY like about the Eduard wheel wells is the drop-in fit. ZERO modifications to the kit parts. Simply cut the casting blocks off and drop em in place. I don't have the Aires counterpart to compare with but the detail on this set is VERY good. Details were painted per the instructions and per reference photos of the wells... lots of time looking under the magnifier the past few days!
Next step... dry fitting all of these components into the fuselage!
The one thing I REALLY REALLY like about the Eduard wheel wells is the drop-in fit. ZERO modifications to the kit parts. Simply cut the casting blocks off and drop em in place. I don't have the Aires counterpart to compare with but the detail on this set is VERY good. Details were painted per the instructions and per reference photos of the wells... lots of time looking under the magnifier the past few days!
Next step... dry fitting all of these components into the fuselage!
Catch22
Major
Great job on those John, you have more patience than I.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Nice !
fubar57
General
Wow, lots of detail. Looks great.
Geo
Geo
- Thread starter
- #87
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
Thanks fellas! Enjoying this build alot since it is a change of pace from my normal WWII stuff. One thing that is giving me pause is the main landing gear. It's a complex assembly with lots of struts and doors. The main gear is bent into a funky non-planar "L" shape so what goes where isn't an intuitive thing. Some of the attachments are via delicate photoetched struts which really gives me the shivers.
Add to the fact that I am mixing injection plastic, resin and brass parts ALL THE WHILE trying to line up the flat spot on the tires! The instructions on the Eduard wheel wells would have me attach the main gear struts into the wells PRIOR to insertion of wells into the fuselage sides but I've already waved that play off and have decided to try and attach the gear legs at the end.
Add to the fact that I am mixing injection plastic, resin and brass parts ALL THE WHILE trying to line up the flat spot on the tires! The instructions on the Eduard wheel wells would have me attach the main gear struts into the wells PRIOR to insertion of wells into the fuselage sides but I've already waved that play off and have decided to try and attach the gear legs at the end.
Catch22
Major
I don't envy you here John.
C'mon....piece of cake.....
Crimea_River
Marshal
Stunning work on those wells John.
Donivanp
Captain
Good lord almighty, John those wheel wells are incredible.
- Thread starter
- #93
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
Thanks guys! Those wheel wells ARE super-detailed aren't they? I was a bit overwhelmed just looking at them after that first coat of gray... where the heck do I start??? So they sat for a few days while I mustered up the courage to start picking out the details. What really helped was the purchase of some new paint brushes. My selection of usable paint brushes was ashamedly piss poor. My two detail brushes were so old and balding that I was down to literally 2-3 working bristles on em. With such few bristles, the paint would dry before I could get the brush from the paint to the model! I don't know how I managed like that for so long but I finally picked up a cheap little set of three fine brushes and it's like I've discovered brush painting for the first time! So I used that little momentum to finish up the painting in the cockpit and the wheel wells.
What seals the deal on the wheel wells is the pastel wash. I will often apply my wash straight onto paint if I've given it enough time to cure but I took the extra step of sealing my paint with a clear gloss coat before I applied my wash to the wells. A good pastel wash will do a couple of things: (1) highlight the detail and (2) help mask painting imperfections. So the wash here really helped complete the look of the wells.
I was away for the weekend but will hopefully jump back onto the Flogger build soon!
What seals the deal on the wheel wells is the pastel wash. I will often apply my wash straight onto paint if I've given it enough time to cure but I took the extra step of sealing my paint with a clear gloss coat before I applied my wash to the wells. A good pastel wash will do a couple of things: (1) highlight the detail and (2) help mask painting imperfections. So the wash here really helped complete the look of the wells.
I was away for the weekend but will hopefully jump back onto the Flogger build soon!
Great job on the wheel wells, and that landing gear looks as complicated and fiddly as Eduards Fw 190 engine !
- Thread starter
- #95
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
Here's a bit of work that I did before I left for the weekend. Now that the main subassemblies were complete, I wanted to check of all of the components before gluing the fuselage halves together. The cockpit needed the most work. I did a fair amount of shaving/grinding/sanding to the inside of the fuselage halves as well as the Aires cockpit parts themselves but it still didn't quite fit. The main problem was the cockpit side panels... they were too high. I had to slice off a couple mm's off the bottom of the panels to get it to fit properly.
The engine exhaust assembly didn't seem to need any more adjustments than I had already performed.
The wheel wells were a great fit. Kudos to Eduard for their engineering.
Once I was satisfied with the fit of the sub components, it was time to glue the fuselage together. The cockpit tub and wheel wells were secured using CA glue. I left the exhaust tube free floating and will secure it with CA glue AFTER the fuselage halves are cemented together and dried. Using Tamiya liquid cement to fuse small sections at a time, I started from the nose, making sure the cockpit was in the correct position and trying to butt the fuselage halves perfectly to minimize the glue seam. The fit between the fuselage halves is very good and I should be able clean up the seam without losing too much detail.
My last aftermarket item arrived last week... a metal pitot tube from Dream Models...
The engine exhaust assembly didn't seem to need any more adjustments than I had already performed.
The wheel wells were a great fit. Kudos to Eduard for their engineering.
Once I was satisfied with the fit of the sub components, it was time to glue the fuselage together. The cockpit tub and wheel wells were secured using CA glue. I left the exhaust tube free floating and will secure it with CA glue AFTER the fuselage halves are cemented together and dried. Using Tamiya liquid cement to fuse small sections at a time, I started from the nose, making sure the cockpit was in the correct position and trying to butt the fuselage halves perfectly to minimize the glue seam. The fit between the fuselage halves is very good and I should be able clean up the seam without losing too much detail.
My last aftermarket item arrived last week... a metal pitot tube from Dream Models...
Catch22
Major
Looks good John!
Damn nice John...
Crimea_River
Marshal
Damn right Wayne.
Donivanp
Captain
Sweet work John, maybe I'll send you mine.
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