Hobbyboss 1/48 F-111D/E Aardvark

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Sat Sep 14, 2013 12:43 pm

Right so here is my entry for the group build.

So first a little history for the aircraft type

The General Dynamics F-111 "Aardvark" was a medium-range interdictor and tactical strike aircraft that also filled the roles of strategic bomber, reconnaissance, and electronic warfare in its various versions. Developed in the 1960s by General Dynamics, it first entered service in 1967 with the United States Air Force. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) also ordered the type and began operating F-111Cs in 1973.
The F-111 pioneered several technologies for production aircraft, including variable-sweep wings, afterburning turbofan engines, and automated terrain-following radar for low-level, high-speed flight. Its design influenced later variable-sweep wing aircraft, and some of its advanced features have since become commonplace. The F-111 suffered a variety of problems during initial development and several of its intended roles, such as naval interception, with the F-111B, failed to materialize.
USAF F-111 variants were retired in the 1990s, with the F-111Fs in 1996 and EF-111s in 1998. The F-111 has been replaced in USAF service by the F-15E Strike Eagle for medium-range precision strike missions, while the supersonic bomber role has been assumed by the B-1B Lancer. The RAAF was the last operator of the F-111, with its aircraft serving until December 2010.

Now the reason I chose this aircraft is I didn't know anything about it and it looks pretty cool.

The part count on this one is really high more than anything Ive done so far. And the size of her will be nice when finished.

So what I want to do with this build is show the aircraft on a hardstanding with cockpit and inspection panels open to really show off the beautful detail this kit has.

This will be a out of the box build unless I have any major issues or boo boos

So my firsts for this build will be.

My first Jet
First cockpit open
first time scratch building a hard standing for her base.

Right so on with the pics sorry for the amount but theirs alot of sprue's with this one.

So the box art is really nice and it is jam packed to the brim.

Sprue shots.

Nice box inside for the fuselage halves and the clear parts also has rubber type tires which is new to me too.

x2 of both these sprue

Both engines are complete which is really nice.

Nice shot of the wings with measurements for scale.

The detail on this is awesome all the panels and rivets look great and no flash found so far.

Next on to the decals soooo many

This being a Hobbyboss kit a nice full colour painting guide is included this one is A3
2 schemes are available an this is the one I have chosen.

The instruction are good but strangely ordered on the two double sided pieces of paper.

One thing I really like is this table and diagram for where all the bombs and missiles etc. go.

And lastly what I plan to use for the base.

Really looking forward to starting this but need to tie up a couple of other projects first.

As always comments, feedback suggestions and criticism welcome and encouraged.

Post by **Nige201980** » Sat Sep 14, 2013 12:49 pm

What a great looking kit mate how big will it be when finished?

Post by **VarianWryn** » Sat Sep 14, 2013 12:49 pm

This is gonna be awesome!!!

Think i may drop round in abit to have a looksie

Post by **5Craven** » Sat Sep 14, 2013 12:52 pm

Really looking forward to this one. Remember seeing these taking off from Lakenheath back in the day. Might have to buy one of these kits one day.

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Sat Sep 14, 2013 12:53 pm

Nige201980 wrote:What a great looking kit mate how big will it be when finished?

483mm long and either 400mm or 203mm depending on if the swing wings are in or out.

Not sure which yet need to look into how they are when on a pan.

VarianWryn wrote:This is gonna be awesome!!!

Think i may drop round in abit to have a looksie

Sure thing dude will be in all day.

5Craven wrote:Really looking forward to this one. Remember seeing these taking off from Lakenheath back in the day. Might have to buy one of these kits one day.

Ill keep you informed on any issue but I'm not expecting any.

Post by **VarianWryn** » Sat Sep 14, 2013 12:59 pm

Ill be round in a bit, have this bad bo ready.

Ill also bring my Bf109 canopy

Post by **Paul** » Sat Sep 14, 2013 1:18 pm

Nice,guppy, that's gonna look cool with that Camo pattern.

Post by **Nige201980** » Sat Sep 14, 2013 2:14 pm

Thats going to be a nice size mate i think now a days most swing wing aircraft can be built so they have moveable wings. So you could have it either way and then change it.

Post by **Lee** » Sat Sep 14, 2013 2:49 pm

Looking forward to this, the F111 is a pretty aircraft....imo

Post by **UKscalemodeller** » Sat Sep 14, 2013 3:31 pm

T3hGuppy wrote:
483mm long and either 400mm or 203mm depending on if the swing wings are in or out.

I always swing wings look better out, dont know why.

Post by **bullgill67** » Sat Sep 14, 2013 8:20 pm

looks a good un !- good luck!

michael

Post by **Coen** » Sun Sep 15, 2013 10:25 am

Freaking fantastic choice Gupp!
This will certainly fill some shelf space.
I agree, that camo is going to look spectacular.
Sooo many parts... soooo many decals.
In armour the most you'll see is 4 or 5... and we complain about that haha
silly armourers.

Post by **Paul** » Sun Sep 15, 2013 10:28 am

Wow that thing is bigger than my 1/32 f16

Post by **Scruffy** » Sun Sep 15, 2013 11:01 am

Nice choice!! Love the 'Vark. Really should be an FB from the 509th BW though

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Sun Sep 15, 2013 12:57 pm

Yeah looking forward to getting this one started.

But promised myself id get the panzer built and the paint done on the enterprise first though.

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Sun Sep 15, 2013 9:29 pm

Right so as I said I wouldn't start this kit till I had some other things tied up.

So I didn't remove the seat parts and build them

Then I didn't build the cockpit.

(Four different istrumant panels nice touch)

This is the one I didn't remove and add to the cockpit.

Then I didn't add the controls and test fit is at all together.

Anyway so I have no will power and had to get started on this.
Really nice fit on the parts not too keen on the engraved seatbelts so my have to get some etch ones.
The detail as you can see is great SOOOOO many buttons!!

And no ejector seats on this aircraft the entire cockpit can be ejected on rockets and used as a survival pod. (Cool feature if you ask me)

While be getting some primer down on this and the interior colour sprayed.

As always comments, feedback and criticism welcome.

Post by **Nige201980** » Sun Sep 15, 2013 9:53 pm

Cracking start that you've not made there mate lol

Post by **5Craven** » Sun Sep 15, 2013 10:26 pm

Think what you haven't done, doesn't look fantastic. Not looking forward to more stuff you haven't done yet!

Post by **DC87** » Sun Sep 15, 2013 10:29 pm

Didn't see anything Guppy

However what I saw in an alternate universe blew my mind

Can't wait for more quality work

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Sun Sep 15, 2013 11:26 pm

Cheers guys

I plan not to do any more to this tomorrow.

Post by **Paul** » Sun Sep 15, 2013 11:33 pm

T3hGuppy wrote:Cheers guys

I plan not to do any more to this tomorrow.

Lol I hope you don't get anything done then

Post by **Coen** » Mon Sep 16, 2013 12:20 am

What are you all on about..??
Nothing to see here... move along... nothing to see...
Nope. No awesome aircraft building or great shots of the construction here...
Move along...
Oh look... someone dropped these...

Post by **schweinhund227** » Mon Sep 16, 2013 8:31 pm

Nice bird ! but one sad note !

after reviewing your Sprue pictures... I failed to find the gears that should have been built in the wings...
so your AMMO and Fuel Pods rotates with the wings pulling back!

The older Academy kit came that way !!! and was quite the sight when you moved the wings backward and all the
LOAD kept in line..... now.. yours on the other hand... might not be ... pleasing to the eye

its a nice plane but I Think they should have added this feature into the wings...

Oh well...

Looking forward to your build either way !

its a new tooling so it will look superb !!!

good luck with it my friend !

Post by **good2us1** » Mon Sep 16, 2013 8:42 pm

Nice kit, perfect for the GB! I know you'll have fun building this one!

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Mon Sep 16, 2013 9:05 pm

schweinhund227 wrote:Nice bird ! but one sad note !

after reviewing your Sprue pictures... I failed to find the gears that should have been built in the wings...
so your AMMO and Fuel Pods rotates with the wings pulling back!

The older Academy kit came that way !!! and was quite the sight when you moved the wings backward and all the
LOAD kept in line..... now.. yours on the other hand... might not be ... pleasing to the eye

its a nice plane but I Think they should have added this feature into the wings...

Oh well...

Looking forward to your build either way !

its a new tooling so it will look superb !!!

good luck with it my friend !

Yeah your right dude no cool moving bits on this one but decided to have the wings out as this seems like it will be more imposing with all its stores on the wing hardpoints.

Anyway guys update later with more of kit.

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Mon Sep 16, 2013 9:52 pm

Right so a small update.
Bit tired so didn't want do too much.

The radar assembly.

So first bit of flash on the dish and really large sprue gates on the same part. grrr.

Its a fiddly little assembly but has great detail and should look great painted up .

And look at this kit I think the exposed inner workings should look the part and not too sparse and simplified.

Post by **DC87** » Mon Sep 16, 2013 9:55 pm

Very nice - nothing screams Cold War like a nice radar dish/ array

Excuse my ignorance Guppy but does this mean the nose can be built open/ hinged in some way?

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Mon Sep 16, 2013 10:45 pm

Yeah can be posed open or closed.

Will be open on mine.

Post by **Coen** » Mon Sep 16, 2013 11:50 pm

Good choice Gupp.
That's going to look freaking cool dude.

Post by **fly1ngdutchm4n** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 6:20 am

Great looking kit!
Looking forward to see this one build

Post by **VarianWryn** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 3:46 pm

Guppy, Here is a link to the "Dump and Burn" i mentioned.

http://www.military.com/video/aircraft/ ... 828600001/

As a child i saw these planes a few times doing this move to signal the end of the fireworks display

.

The Brisbane fireworks displays are some of the best i have seen, Dey got Planes in em!!

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 9:05 pm

VarianWryn wrote:Guppy, Here is a link to the "Dump and Burn" i mentioned.

http://www.military.com/video/aircraft/ ... 828600001/

As a child i saw these planes a few times doing this move to signal the end of the fireworks display .

The Brisbane fireworks displays are some of the best i have seen, Dey got Planes in em!!

Cool stuff dude,

Post by **Lee** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 9:16 pm

What an awesome cockpit that is...!!!

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 9:36 pm

Lee wrote:What an awesome cockpit that is...!!!

An awesome PRIMED cockpit!!!!

DUN DUN DUNNNNN!!! lol.

So primed the first bits.

Once this has cured I can spray the base grey for the interior. Need to look this up first so a bit of reading for my tonight.

Post by **Coen** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 11:40 pm

Whoa... that's more detail then I expected. Nice work so far.
That's going to look really cool with that cone open.

Post by **Lee** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 12:09 am

Is it going together well gups?

I think I may just invest in one of these!

Post by **UKscalemodeller** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 1:02 am

Amazing ammount of detail to work on.

This is a big build, and I don't just mean size wise, the number of parts and the details to pick out too.

Good luck on the rest.

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 7:42 am

Lee wrote:Is it going together well gups?

I think I may just invest in one of these!

Yeah not issue to report so far the radar assembly was a bit fiddly.

Will make sure to advise on any issues I have.

UKscalemodeller wrote:Amazing ammount of detail to work on.

This is a big build, and I don't just mean size wise, the number of parts and the details to pick out too.

Good luck on the rest.

Yeah more complex than I've done before but fun kit and instructions are good ones which helps.

Post by **good2us1** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 9:27 am

looks like she coming along fine, nice work on the cockpit!!!

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 10:51 pm

Right update time.

So the cockpit painting is underway.

Someone asked me how I paint my cockpits on a previous build so I will document all the steps as I do them.

First I got the grey interior colour down I did this in thin layers leaving some of the black showing through to create shadow.

Next is the first dry brush for this I used a very light grey and picked out all the edges and raised detail

And then I started picking out the control panels in black and also painted the seat cushions.

I used a few reference pics for this step and also a bit of artistic license to make sure the tub is as intresting to look at as the canopy will be open.

The last step took awhile so thats all for tonight.

And for anyone interested here a documentary about the F111 with great cheesy music too!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZhMVG2 ... 3E3A7CD1FE

I wont embed the video as its not mine.

As always comment criticism and feedback welcome and encouraged.

Post by **Paul** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 10:53 pm

Great progress that cockpit is gonna look great

Post by **Coen** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 1:01 am

That is some smokin detail.
Nice job bringing it out.

Why do all these helpful cockpit threads come up after I've finished and buttoned up mine. Sigh.

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 7:45 am

Coen wrote:That is some smokin detail.
Nice job bringing it out.

Why do all these helpful cockpit threads come up after I've finished and buttoned up mine. Sigh.

Sorry dude work keeps getting in the way gawd damn it!!!!

Post by **fly1ngdutchm4n** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 11:57 am

awesome build!

Post by **Tonygol** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 12:10 pm

Wow. Cracking job so far.

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 2:14 pm

Cheers guys should get plenty more done tonight

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 10:38 pm

Right so update time!!!

First a dry brush of natural steel on the black to pick out the dial rims and edges.

Then pick out all the details buttons and dials.

and where it currently stands dials have been given a coat of gloss.

Next step will be a black wash but not till tomorrow as my eyes don't want to focus

Post by **Paul** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 10:48 pm

Great work, that's looking smart

Post by **Coen** » Fri Sep 20, 2013 1:31 am

I love it. Great job calling out all that detail. Really striking use of colours too.
Nicely done.

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Fri Sep 20, 2013 7:52 am

Cheers guys used the decals for a reference as they looked more interesting than the real thing lol.