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- #81
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Making some steady progress, with the jet pipes assembled and fitted, along with a little scratch-built part, and the intakes assembled and fitted, although these still need a little work, and a modification in that area too, as described in the pics captions.
Pic 1. The jet pipes were assembled from three parts, and attached inside the lip of the rear fuselage, after thinning the ends of the pipes, and painting the interiors. Fit at the top, under the drag 'chute housing, is a bit sloppy, so this was modified slightly as shown below. The jet exhausts are rather shallow, as the back end of the engines should be much further forward in the fuselage, but not a lot I could do about that without a lot of work and some major surgery.
Pic 2. A piece of plastic card was cemented over the end of the drag 'chute housing, filed and sanded to shape, and some basic detail added, yet to be cleaned up in this pic.
Pics 3 to 8. Each intake duct consists of two parts, which needed a bit of clean up and sanding around the flanges, but the general fit was better than I expected.. The small gaps can easily be filled, including the slightly wider gaps around the leading edge roots. However, it was at this stage that I realised something didn't look quite right, as explained below.
Pics 9 and 10. This is how the leading edge fillet looks on the model, which I'd assumed was the leading edge root extension or 'LERX'. However, compare this area to the 'LERX' fitted to the Swiss F-5E as shown in the photo at more or less the same angle. The kit has the original shape, whereas the Swiss machines had the longer forward section, with a 'blunter' angle into the side of the intake.
I was a bit dubious about correcting this at first, thinking it might end up in tears., but I've since had a closer look at the 'set up', and I reckon it should be a relatively straightforward modification. The front section can be removed along the line of the underside joint on the wing, and suitable gauge plastic card cut to the basic shape and attached with cement reinforced with CA. Final shaping can then be done, sanding to match the existing 'LERX' section. Once that's done, the intake joints, and those at the 'LERX' roots and the wing underside can be filled and sanded.
I hope to get that done, probably tomorrow, then attach the radome and fin, before attending to those smaller parts which can befitted at this stage.
Pic 1. The jet pipes were assembled from three parts, and attached inside the lip of the rear fuselage, after thinning the ends of the pipes, and painting the interiors. Fit at the top, under the drag 'chute housing, is a bit sloppy, so this was modified slightly as shown below. The jet exhausts are rather shallow, as the back end of the engines should be much further forward in the fuselage, but not a lot I could do about that without a lot of work and some major surgery.
Pic 2. A piece of plastic card was cemented over the end of the drag 'chute housing, filed and sanded to shape, and some basic detail added, yet to be cleaned up in this pic.
Pics 3 to 8. Each intake duct consists of two parts, which needed a bit of clean up and sanding around the flanges, but the general fit was better than I expected.. The small gaps can easily be filled, including the slightly wider gaps around the leading edge roots. However, it was at this stage that I realised something didn't look quite right, as explained below.
Pics 9 and 10. This is how the leading edge fillet looks on the model, which I'd assumed was the leading edge root extension or 'LERX'. However, compare this area to the 'LERX' fitted to the Swiss F-5E as shown in the photo at more or less the same angle. The kit has the original shape, whereas the Swiss machines had the longer forward section, with a 'blunter' angle into the side of the intake.
I was a bit dubious about correcting this at first, thinking it might end up in tears., but I've since had a closer look at the 'set up', and I reckon it should be a relatively straightforward modification. The front section can be removed along the line of the underside joint on the wing, and suitable gauge plastic card cut to the basic shape and attached with cement reinforced with CA. Final shaping can then be done, sanding to match the existing 'LERX' section. Once that's done, the intake joints, and those at the 'LERX' roots and the wing underside can be filled and sanded.
I hope to get that done, probably tomorrow, then attach the radome and fin, before attending to those smaller parts which can befitted at this stage.
