Hobby Boss 1/48 A-7E Corsair II Sidewinders - Work in progress

Post by **Nikola** » Thu Jun 22, 2023 4:19 pm

Hi gents,

Parallel to my favourite subjects and scale, 1/32 WWII, I like to have a 1/48 jet project on the side in case I need a slight change of scenery from time to time.

Hence my work on Hobby Boss' Corsair II.
For the extras I am using Aires resin cockpit set with PE included.
I am doing the "Sidewinders" livery.

So far no trouble. The fit is very nice, especially the wings (dry fit tested).

Best,
Nikola

Box art and refs:

And some work pics:

Post by **Nikola** » Sun Jul 09, 2023 7:27 pm

Well, enter putty, from head to toe, top and bottom. It was a must, at least for me.
And some minor play with exhaust weathering just to give it a bit of life.

Best,
Nikola

Post by **digger303** » Mon Jul 10, 2023 1:46 am

Lovely burnt look to the exhaust.
That's a lot of filla to be going on with. Really for a newish kit it should fit like a glove yet I shouldn't be surprised because Hobby Boss/ Trumpeter can be like that. Despite the kit looking great.

Post by **Nikola** » Mon Jul 10, 2023 9:24 am

digger303 wrote: Mon Jul 10, 2023 1:46 am Lovely burnt look to the exhaust.
That's a lot of filla to be going on with. Really for a newish kit it should fit like a glove yet I shouldn't be surprised because Hobby Boss/ Trumpeter can be like that. Despite the kit looking great.

I think it's of my own doing because of the resin cockpit fitting and adjustment.

Post by **Nikola** » Mon Jul 10, 2023 11:32 am

A bit of filling and levelling with Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500:

Post by **Nikola** » Mon Jul 10, 2023 11:43 am

Now, here is a problem which is a bit more challenging - The inner side of the intake "ring" is much narrower than the inside of the intake tube.
I think that I can't sand it because the ring is a hollow shape so I might lose all the material of the inside part of the ring, and also make the intake much narrower.
The only feasible solution which I can think of for now is to fill in the step and make a gradual taper towards the back of the tube.

Don't know. Any suggestions?

Best,
Nikola

Post by **Nikola** » Tue Jul 11, 2023 2:23 pm

Does anyone know the colour of the FLIR "eye"?

Post by **digger303** » Wed Jul 12, 2023 12:45 am

Sorry not a aircraft guy. I'm not even half decent modeller let alone solving problems with jet engine intakes.
However that does seem to be one solution, but sanding it will be a nightmare I would think.
Perhaps adding thin layers of putty section by section and smoothing with a paint brush might be another way. It would have to be a non shrink type to save problems later.
Sorry that's all I could think of.

Post by **smokeriderdon** » Wed Jul 12, 2023 1:11 am

Sand as far as you can, then try fixing the step with putty.

Its probably too late to get the seamless intake. So you could always go with an intake cover.

Post by **Parker** » Wed Jul 12, 2023 2:40 am

could you fudge it by making an air intake cover?

Post by **Parker** » Wed Jul 12, 2023 2:42 am

smokeriderdon wrote: Wed Jul 12, 2023 1:11 am Its probably too late to get the seamless intake. So you could always go with an intake cover.

^^^ that.

Post by **Nikola** » Sat Jul 15, 2023 1:17 pm

smokeriderdon wrote: Wed Jul 12, 2023 1:11 am Sand as far as you can, then try fixing the step with putty.

Its probably too late to get the seamless intake. So you could always go with an intake cover.

Parker wrote: Wed Jul 12, 2023 2:40 am could you fudge it by making an air intake cover?

Thanks guys, great idea. Cover it is.

Best,
Nikola

Post by **Nikola** » Sat Jul 15, 2023 1:18 pm

Pre-shading done:

Post by **digger303** » Sun Jul 16, 2023 2:32 am

Post by **Nikola** » Thu Jul 20, 2023 1:38 pm

Well, I managed to f' it up. Switched the FS numbers and instead of Light Gull Grey I used Ghost Grey for the low vis scheme. I saw that something was off but didn't do anything about it during painting. After I checked it was too late.

Three options available - mask and paint again losing all subtle pre-shading, mask and correct with a filter or leave as it is...

Post by **ForeverPlasticKits** » Thu Jul 20, 2023 11:46 pm

A beautiful build, this kit is really amazing (even if the Corsair II isn't my favorite plane), you do a great job on it!

Post by **Nikola** » Fri Jul 21, 2023 5:07 pm

Here it is corrected.
I decided that the easiest thing to do is just go over it with the correct colour to make sure I got it right this time and then later modulate with post-shading/tinting and filters.
This way I avoid having too many coats and ruining the surface detail if I don't get it correct right away which would most probably have happened.

Best,
Nikola

Post by **digger303** » Sat Jul 22, 2023 5:11 am

Well it still looks good.

Post by **Nikola** » Fri Aug 18, 2023 7:25 pm

After tedious masking here are the electronics bays painted in base colours. Some cleanup and corrections are required prior to washes, dry brushing and details.

Post by **Nikola** » Fri Aug 18, 2023 7:25 pm

Now, this is a b%$ch! I assume that Aires just relabeled the parts to say for Hobby Boss while it is actually for Hase, Academy, Trumpy, whatever... The AM part is significantly shorter than the kit part so there is a big gap.

I need to think of the way to remedy this.

Post by **Nikola** » Fri Aug 18, 2023 7:26 pm

I also started making the intake cover. Luckily, there are two intake "mouths" provided so I used the other one as a template:

Post by **Nikola** » Fri Aug 18, 2023 7:26 pm

Also, again after tedious masking, the cockpit base colours and a gloss coat are done:

Post by **RangerNeil** » Fri Aug 18, 2023 9:02 pm

Looking good!! Well done.

Post by **digger303** » Sat Aug 19, 2023 12:52 am

The time spent masking well pays dividends.

Post by **Nikola** » Wed Sep 27, 2023 9:37 am

The Corsair slowly advances... My phone sincerely apologizes for the photo quality.

Post by **digger303** » Wed Sep 27, 2023 11:18 am

Phone pic's are fine. I spy some very good work.

Post by **aur0ra145** » Wed Sep 27, 2023 8:03 pm

Very nice work! You don't see a lot of people paint up the avionics bays anymore.

Post by **Garion77** » Sat Oct 14, 2023 8:45 pm

Very nice job as always ! the pics are awesome so imagine if it wasn't with your iPhone

Post by **Nikola** » Sun Oct 29, 2023 6:50 pm

Decals in place.

Left to do - canopy, "beast mode" ordnance, ejection seat details, control stick and canopy mechanism installment, all bay doors installment, intake cover, some minor paint corrections and some more weathering with oils and pencils...

Best,
Nikola

Post by **BigWall** » Sun Oct 29, 2023 7:58 pm

It's really looking nice!

Post by **digger303** » Sun Oct 29, 2023 10:44 pm

Excellent work.

Post by **Parker** » Mon Oct 30, 2023 6:19 am

Brilliant as always, Nikola.

Post by **RangerNeil** » Mon Oct 30, 2023 12:15 pm

Excellent job - well done!

Post by **Nikola** » Thu Nov 23, 2023 2:04 pm

Thank you very much guys! Appreciated!

Post by **Nikola** » Thu Nov 23, 2023 2:05 pm

Almost to the finish line.

A few teasers won't hurt...

Best,
Nikola

Post by **Tomcat64** » Thu Nov 23, 2023 3:36 pm

Just caught up with this build and that's absolutely stunning work.

The cockpit and avionics bays really pop, but the whole thing looks fabulous - looking forward to seeing the reveal photos

Post by **Nikola** » Thu Nov 23, 2023 4:45 pm

Tomcat64 wrote: Thu Nov 23, 2023 3:36 pm Just caught up with this build and that's absolutely stunning work.

The cockpit and avionics bays really pop, but the whole thing looks fabulous - looking forward to seeing the reveal photos

Thank you Neil! Appreciated.
I hope that I won't disappoint in the end.

Best,
Nikola

Post by **Garion77** » Thu Nov 30, 2023 5:44 pm

Just caught up with the last few posts I've missed. Really great.
Love that you aren't afraid of close up pictures ! The cockpit, the seat and avionics bays are amazing. Lovely paint job. Since you're close to the finish line, what do you think in the end of the kit ? One I'm tempted to buy

Post by **Nikola** » Fri Dec 01, 2023 10:05 am

Garion77 wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 5:44 pm Just caught up with the last few posts I've missed. Really great.
Love that you aren't afraid of close up pictures ! The cockpit, the seat and avionics bays are amazing. Lovely paint job. Since you're close to the finish line, what do you think in the end of the kit ? One I'm tempted to buy

Thanks Francis. Glad you like it so far.

As for the kit, the overall fit is relatively good but there is a big problem with the jet intake as it is the wrong shape (much more oval than on the real thing) and the fit of it is bad, hence the intake cover which I had to build form scratch. Also, the canopy part is too wide at the "hinges" so I had to insert additional plastic and sand it to correct width and shape.

The level of detail is mediocre in general.

I would go with some other kit if you ask me.

Best,
Nikola

Post by **Garion77** » Fri Dec 01, 2023 12:50 pm

Nikola wrote: Fri Dec 01, 2023 10:05 am
Garion77 wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 5:44 pm Just caught up with the last few posts I've missed. Really great.
Love that you aren't afraid of close up pictures ! The cockpit, the seat and avionics bays are amazing. Lovely paint job. Since you're close to the finish line, what do you think in the end of the kit ? One I'm tempted to buy
Thanks Francis. Glad you like it so far.

As for the kit, the overall fit is relatively good but there is a big problem with the jet intake as it is the wrong shape (much more oval than on the real thing) and the fit of it is bad, hence the intake cover which I had to build form scratch. Also, the canopy part is too wide at the "hinges" so I had to insert additional plastic and sand it to correct width and shape.

The level of detail is mediocre in general.

I would go with some other kit if you ask me.

Best,
Nikola

Thanks for the input ! indeed major problems ! I'm currently building Airfix Javelin and I'm having also all sorts of major fit issues.

Post by **ulvdemon** » Fri Dec 01, 2023 6:07 pm

Pretty awesome build. Enjoying watching the process.

Post by **aur0ra145** » Sat Dec 02, 2023 6:28 pm

Great looking winder jet!