I've eventually managed to make some visible progress, in between dashing around trying to get all the domestic chores done, send off stuff to my daughters, replying to e-mails, forgetting to send Christmas cards, shopping for groceries and so on. This weekend has just vanished in a blur, and I was supposed to be going out for a late lunch this afternoon, but just didn't have the energy !
The sooner this mad holiday period is over, the better !
Anyway, after getting the fuselage and joints smoother than one of Jan's chat-up lines, and further polishing to remove tiny abrasions that would show-up under silver paint, attention could be directed towards fitting the bits and pieces up to the point to be ready for paint preparation.
PICS 1 to 3. The air brakes are rarely, if ever, in the open position on parked Starfighters, so the kit parts had to be modified, as they are designed to be in the open position only. The 'hinges' were removed, and the inner faces filed down to allow the brakes to fit into the fuselage recess, before cementing in place. Fit isn't perfect, but with careful painting of the brake surface and the various metal tones of the surrounding area, they should look acceptable.
PICS 4 and 5. A center line stores pylon was required, so one of the kit's 'Sidewinder' pylons was adapted, after first removing yet more, rather large, ejector pin marks. The pylon was cut, trimmed and sanded to shape, retaining part of the original locating pins, which would be fitted into holes drilled in the under side of the fuselage. The second shot shows the finished pylon, with a little added surface detail, in comparison to the kit part. It's not 100% accurate but, partly hidden under the fuselage, it'll be good enough for me.
PICS 6 and 7. A slot has been cut under the nose, ready to fit a blade antenna later, and a small hole drilled in the port fuselage side, where a Angle of Attack probe will be made and fitted after painting the model.
PIC 8. Yet another large ejector pin had to be removed from the tail plane, before this was cemented in place. Checking and maintaining alignment was a bit tricky, due to the minimal mating surfaces.
PICS 9 and 10. A lot of attention was given to the joints in the wing-tip tanks, as these will also be 'bare metal', and hardly hidden from view, stuck out on the ends of the short wings. The joints were first carefully scraped and 'shaved' with the scalpel, and then gently filed with a fine jeweler's file, then wet-sanded with worn, very fine grit wet ' dry, before long and vigorous polishing with the 'T-Cut' car body colour restorer.
The first pic shows the tanks in stages of preparation, whilst the second pic shows the final result.
I anticipated big problems in fitting these to the wing tips, after attaching the remaining fins, as the jointing surfaces are minimal, they had a tendency to 'sag', and the angle, in relation to the wing, had to be precisely aligned. But, they went on without a hitch, with the aid of a small spot of CA to prevent 'sag', and will only require a tiny amount of PVA to seal around the aperture at the wing joint itself.
PIC 11. The ventral fin and modified stores pylon in place, and again, a small amount of PVA should fill the tiny gaps between the fin and the fuselage.
PICS 12 and 13 show how the model looks to date, at last starting to look like the 'Missile with a Man in It'.
Next step is to check and clean all joints as required, before a general rub down with a damp cloth, in preparation for masking for the first stage of painting. This will entail painting the dielectric panels, the grey panel on the fin, the radome and anti-dazzle panel, and priming the wings and tail plane, ready for the application of the gloss white and light grey. I might have to fit the turned-brass pitot before commencing, in order to ensure a clean joint, and blend it into the sharp profile of the nose, although I'd prefer to fit this later if possible.
The 'bare metal' finish, and the various contrasting metal areas, will be done once I've completed some comparison tests with five different metallic paints, some of which will also be altered with small additions of gloss black or white. Given I find some spare time, I might get the initial painting done tomorrow.
Thanks again for your interest and kind comments, and I hope to have another up-date soon - there's sod-all else to do over Christmas !