Top Falcon, Eduard 1:48, Skullfish

[Skullfish]

ok, second go at my first intro post on this build. Stupid me got half way thro last night and quit the page accidentally without saving


My second ever GB/SIG, as the title reflects is going to be Eduards Limited Edition Top Falcon in 1:48 scale.


side of box showing the 4 different schemes to choose from, i'm unsure at the moment.


a sneeky peak at the additional goodies Eduard add to the standard Kinetic kit.


This will be my first go at using all the added gubbins, i promise to post all my frackups along side all my achievements. Believe me, getting thro one kit is normally a big achievement for me.
Lee has already posted his review of this kit, he has reposted it in his current build thread for anyone who hasnt watched it.
on to the contents of the big and sturdy box, one big bag full of other bags!


one very glossy colour instruction manual, wish they all looked like this.


I wont bore you with every page so heres the first two pages and then the 4 colour schemes.





still don't know which scheme to choose, they all look the dogs wotsits. Heres the extras, the brassin parts, the PE, the Cartograf decals and the masks. All that gives me the willies.


Sprue shots next, there is quite a few so hang tight. Sprue A...sitty bit.


oh yeah forgot to mention, this is my first modern jet build. so don't expect any technical mumbo ge-wizardly proper names for things.
flip side of Sprue A reveals the ejector pin flash that Lee mentions.


some parts look a little soft round the edges with some flash here and there. next Sprue BB

and yes more ejector flash on the back, tho no sink marks on the front.


Sprue C

oops, more of those ejector flash, this time on the back of the wheel bays???


Sprue D, 2 No Off.

right the question is, how the hell am i ment to fix these little, tiny, wee bits??? no, no, a better question is 'how am i ment to build and paint this thing without Me breaking these little, tiny, wee, tiny ickle bits off?

closeup

oh and a bit of flash on the sprue and a few parts, i am getting the feeling there will be a few seam issues along the way.


Sprue E. oh Miss, Miss, me, me me...Pylons Miss, they are called Pylons...maybe.

and yup, you've won a toy! (not included) more ejector flash.


Sprue G

Now, at this point im starting to notice that the sprue gates are encroaching on the parts and its getting difficult to tell where to snip. best study the diagrams carefully before each cut.


Sprue GG


Sprue II


Sprue J. Lots of flash on hard to reach bits, thankfully some of this is replaced with resin.

these can get recycled in the spares box.


these will need some work.




Sprue M 2 No Off, pretty certain these blow yer face clean off!


Sprue P


Sprue Z, some clear bits.


Canopy Glass, scuffed with a big seam down the middle....really, whats that all about? its not like its a really tricky shape. Any tips on how to fix this one??





Nose cone, theres that seam down the middle again.




Belly of the Beast

a few ejector pin flash to remove, tho no sign on the outside where it would matter thankfully


Upper mid and rear section


I dont know anything about PE but heres some shots anyway.



An odd bit of clear acetate type stuff.


and lastly, the resin, starting with the seat parts.



Wheels and engine doodads.

the detail inside there is cool

and inside and outside the exhaust nozzley doofer

closeup with light shining thro the resin...funky!


ok sorry for the long winded way of saying 'i want to play' and for the profusion of photographs, but hey if i dont practice i aint gonna get any better. I hope to start this puppy as soon as i can.

Happy modelling all.
Jase

[Avgas]

Good luck Jase!

[Homerlovesbeer]

Woa that's a lot of flash. I'm interested to see this build come together.

[MarkVerploeg]

Looks like a pretty nice kit
but i think i am unable to give a fair opinion as i really like the Eduard limited editions
so i will be following this build as i maybe NEED one of these in the stash
have fun with the build

[Skullfish]

Update:
im finding it hard to know what to feel about this kit/build. Ill try and explain it anyways. First off, i am really, really enjoying it, but i was right to say i may have bitten off more than i could chew. If youve watched the January news show even Lee says this is not a kit for beginners and i have got to agree wholeheartedly. I am a beginner and i am not going to do this kit justice. That being said i decided to not let any setback/carpetmonster attack/broken piece/miss-aligned pe upset my mojo. And its with that attitude ive relaxed into the build and started having fun with it. The kit itself doesnt want to go together nicely as i suspected, lots of clamping, filling, trying to understand the inadequate instructions, you get the idea. By that last statement i mean, a picture of each completed assembly would be nice not just a jumble of parts with arrows pointing everywhere. im sure thats a grumble we all share every now and again.

anyways ill stop grumbling and show you some pictures.

a while back i bought the Paragrafix hold and fold tool alongside some pe for the battlestar galactica kits, having not gotten round to those yet i dugit out the stash.

basically its a gizmo made out of stainless steel photo etch used to bend photo etch.

5" long and hand held, you can use a bulldog clip to secure things while bending if needed. It works pretty well.


i started with the cockpit tub and a couple of bits of pe, also freed up the seat from its pouring stub.


had to remove the original seat locating points to get the resin in.


like a glove.



more pe for the side walls of the cockpit



while i was at it i ran thro some of the next steps in the manual to free up the first pieces to need some paint. Cockpit grey and undercarraige bays white.


next i fiddled the rest of the pe into position, damn thats crazy stuff. thankfully there are spares of all the really tiny bits. But, i did give up on a couple of the really really tiny bits, was just going to spoil what i had already done.


liberated the intake fans from their pouring stubs.



comparison, new resin to original part. i know your not going to see them unless you take a torch and go look for them but what a difference.


test fitting showed the need to remove some resin from the circumference of the inner fan.


looks good when installed. they were painted with the new Vallejo metallic paints, gloss black primer, duraluminium base with a dusting of jet exhaust to darken them up.



air brakes to get separated from the main fuselage pieces. i marked them to know where they belong later on.


all this was 3 evenings work and looks like i stopped to check where i was as evidenced by these photos. it also must be said i didnt exactly follow each step and then move onto the next one. What i ended up doing is working from start to finish doing a piece from each step and then returning to the start before starting again. Why? call it my inexperience, but it allowed me to gain a better understanding of where i was headed, what i needed to paint first that kind of thing.






this seems to be my only picture of clamping things together, it was a real pain in the bahookie.


taking shape.


exhaust resin and pe. vallejo jet exhaust but left the pe glossy black for a bit of contrast.



one missed callout to note was the piece at the top of the tail.



found it as being either C23 or C24, hard to find cause there is a lot of parts this shape.


ill close this one out with a few shots of how she sits at the moment. Ive ordered a brass pitot tube and angle of attack indicators for the nose cone just to add that wee bitty extra. I'll paint up the seat and apply the last of pe while i wait, oh and figure out how to get rid of the seam on the canopy glass.






thanks for stopping by.

Jase

[Avgas]

Looking great so far. Like the pit. I do canopy seams with a Ultimate buffer. One side is very slightly rough, use that to take off the seam and then use the other side to polish. Seems to work OK.

[Skullfish]

All i can say is that this kit is killing my mojo, that is all

exhaust built up and painted.


nosecone filled with lead fishing weights, secured with PVA


some additional electrostatic dischargers for the one that broke off in the box.


ended up using the kit PE as well.




makes a nice difference me thinks.


im calling these airbrake actuators.




more PE for the resin Wheels, brake detail


i knew this kit was pushing it.

Jase

[HIghAltitudeScale]

Looks like you've been making good progress, I have this kit and will be following along with your build to see what I'm in for.

[Skullfish]

is it just me or are half the pictures not loading properly?