Construction, maybe more creation

Łukasz Gliński
Hey, that's a full cockpit once you compare it to Heller's one 😄 Following

Slavo Hazucha
I like looking at Italeri kits in the store... they really have very nice box-art & packaging design..!😉

I am sure this fight will lead to something - did you check the clear parts & inside visibility?

Palo M
In this case, the kit came in a cardboard box without any box-are, so I lose even on that potential benefit 🙂
Clear parts are definitely in the box, can comment on quality just yet.

Łukasz Gliński
Consider adding the driver mate, he may cover the cockpit deficiencies 🙂

Donald Dickson II
Better than the Esci pit, believe me.

Palo M
Donald, I'm so sorry to hear that 🙂 🙂 🙂

Donald Dickson II
Palo, I trashed it it was so awful. There wasnt even enough to justify trying to improve it. The revell and Hasegawa kits are much better. Molar Marauder Dual build ALL DONE! | Album by smokeriderdon (1:48)

Slavo Hazucha
@Donald - a nice couple you got there... 👍 I remember in the 90'ies (my first model-building "career"😢, I considered Hasegawa to be really good brand... Haven't got my hands on any main model from them (but I use their pilot set) now though... I am spoiled by all the nice modern kits coming from the People's Republic...

Palo M
@Donald, that's beautifully done!

Palo M
The cockpit is done. Next, I will complain about the main body as well about details in the exhaust and fit of wings.

Donald Dickson II
Palo, thank you sir. 🙂

You did a great job making that plain jane cockpit look good!

Palo M
Thank you Donald! Let's see how the rest of the kit goes. I consider this to be the dry run for a 1:32 I already have in stash. It looks too intimidating to start with that one, so struggling here first 🙂

Donald Dickson II
Sweet! Is it the Trumpeter kit?

Palo M
Yes. I got some extra Aires resin, not too much. See my stash for details.

Slavo Hazucha
AFAIK Donald has an on-hold open affair with a 32-scale A-6... You could team-up & do a "little" tribute to the NAVY!😉

Palo M
Awesome, need to look it up, as my 1:32 A-6 is waiting impatiently in its box.

Donald Dickson II
You just had to bring that one up didnt you??? LOL

Palo M
A few more photos added. Progress on engine, but much more to still do.

Łukasz Gliński
Hm, have you considered just painting black vertical lines inside the exhaust?
And a plastic drinking straw for the exhaust pipe itself?

Palo M
I did, but this is fun 🙂
I'll thin it considerably, this is still early in progress.

Palo M
Plastic straw! Didn't think of that.

Łukasz Gliński
I use it sometimes for the exhausts, when the diameter is similar, e.g. in my SR-53

Slavo Hazucha
Quickly secure your supplies, the plastic straw is an item bound to leave our world soon..! 🙂

Łukasz Gliński
I know and I'm ready - having a full box stocked, it should cover few meters in overall length 😄

Nikolaos Kouzinis
Hello Palo M. I had the same problem with broken pipe without chance of repair. So I used a wire plug as
[img1] and if you go to my album you will see the pipe of A-7 1/72

Nikolaos Kouzinis
Chose only the diameter

Palo M
oooh, nice. So many good ideas; also from Marek Swiderski outside of this thread. Should have asked before putting epoxy there 🙂 . Lots of inspiration I'll look at after the engine is complete - thanks everyone!

Reader1
I have this kit in stash, nice to know what kind of project is waiting in that box. Good work in the cockpit area, looks very good.

Palo M
Thanks! I spent a lot of time on sanding and rescribing panel lines, but it's not as good as I'd like. Let's see how it turns out after painting.
Just finished masking the landing gear and hook slot, going for slightly yellow-tinted white for the lower side next.

Palo M
One warning, making the engine intake open proved too much for me. I blame a misplaced weight 🙁

Slavo Hazucha
Keep soldiering on & adding layers upon layers, it will eventually turn white...

Also, you have some Starfighting to do next, so shipping this one should go smoothly... 🙂

Patrick Hagelstein
I'm curious about your MRP troubles though. I almost only use MRP and had only one incident when I didn't shake the bottle very well that the airbrush spit out chunks of binder. Other than that, it basically covers in just one go....

Palo M
Patrick - had the same experience until this time. White over grey primer just didn't cover.

Patrick Hagelstein
Hmmmm.... Very odd..... 🙁

Slavo Hazucha
Generally in my experience white MRP does have a more diva-esque behavior and takes time & nerve to apply properly, but it does not behave diametrically different than the rest of the range.

MRP's in general need somevigorous mixing before going into the airbrush - in "normal colors" you can see a white sediment after a time, this needs to be completely dissolved & mixed into the color - in white, for obvious reasons, this is not visible, so I mix it really long as a rule. I think I got it too thin/undissolved once and it performed poorly - 0/100 mode of bad coverage or drowning the surface in liquid...

If the bottle has been at rest for a long time, it can take a minute+ of workout to mix everything ready for use... Throwing in glass balls helps a lot too...

Palo M
Weird, this project disappeared, no idea what's going on.

Palo M
Created and attached to a new project. Seems the previous comments there are lost 🙁

Łukasz Gliński
Phew, good we commented in the album itself😉

Slavo Hazucha
Pedantic masking often pays off in the result, with some dividends on top 👍 looking good indeed - but what does the green remind me of...😉

Palo M
Looking for advice: the big red flash with yellow circle decal got torn on one side. What are good options to get a replacement? Buying a new kit seems excessive (even though it would allow me to replace the ugly canopy too).

Palo M
And I call it done. Hanging the ammunition was a bit annoying, had trouble with superglue, so I decided to use cement, even at the cost of small blemishes - Mr Cement S removes oils, varnish as well as paint (MRP). I decided not to try my luck with fixing it and call it a weather phenomenon.

Thanks, everyone for watching and commenting!

Slavo Hazucha
There you go! 👍

Although I imagine the experience of buying & building an Italeri kit (most of them, at least) a bit like the Monty Python "Argument" sketch, you wrestled well, put the punches where they count and came on top in the end!😉 From the additional pics I saw from you I did not always expected it to end this well - good job there! Happy to hear you found your way to Oils - they are like good beer - they simply improve almost every imaginable situation...

Finally you can move to the much more amicable Hasegawa-in-Eduard-disguise affair! 🙂

Palo M
@Slavo: I certainly moved closer to get heavily involved with the Eduard kit! Only 3 in-progress kits now and one of them is already that one! 🙂

Andy Ball
I like the commentary, and how you've wrestled this one from basic to artistic: an A-star for perseverance!!

Palo M
Thank you Andy! Sounds a bit like when I heard the teacher of my son in Australia at school say "don't worry, everyone will get a star, for example for being a good friend", but I take it!

Donald Dickson II
Great job! Turned out well even with the issues! 🙂

Tom M

very nice plane 👍

Palo M
Thanks Donald and Tom! You might notice careful camera placement to avoid showing the side with the destroyed decal 🙂 . This is now the only completed jet with weapons under it's wings in my collection. I'm also happy to observe that the number of unbuilt Italeri kits in my stash is down to 0! There is this one and a Panzerjäger IB among completed pieces and I'd like to keep it that way for many years to come.

There is one scary Revell Eurofighter thst I need to complete, so I'm still not out of the woods when it comes to terrible plastic.

Łukasz Gliński
Very good finish, respect for perseverance. Hint for the superglue affair - try the accelerator. I used to have similar issues and it comes in handy. And helps in friggin' rigging too!😉

Slavo Hazucha
When the Italeri or Revell stash reaches zero, it's time to start looking for a 48-scale C130 or B-1B..!😉

I would really like to have a good Eurofighter model at some point. Best one of the current series with new Captor radar and some frisky Meteor missiles under the belly...

Stephan H.
Looks great. If you are in mood for an easier A-7 in the future, I can recommend the Hobby Boss Kit.

Palo M
Thanks, Stephan. I actually do have one more A-7 on the stash, the Trumper 1:32. I'm scared of that one!

Palo M
@Lukasz, funny mention the accelerator: was in a store with @Slavo once and the shopkeeper tried to sell us one. We both thought it's pretty much a scam 🙂 will look up how it helps.

Gerald
I like it 👍

Łukasz Gliński
Accelerator is handy thing, but you have to remember two things while using it:
- it's quick and I mean really quick!
- the glue itself becomes gooey for a second and sometimes milky or white, not transparent anymore

Palo M
Thanks Lukas! Maybe I'll try wood glue first, sounds a bit safer 🙂

Thomas Kolb
This is such an attractive little aircraft and you managed to do it justice. I feel your pain with the panel-liner, it is always my fear to trip and fall on the finishing line. But you managed to rescue it nicely!

Palo M
Thank you, Thomas! I was despairing while rescribing-sanding-priming-rescribing many times over, I was afraid it all holds together on putty only. But I'm glad oils made it look good in the end. Of course a long way to go until I got something like your MiG-15Uti, but that's why I'm here, to learn!