In progress

Mathieu
Got the tail done, just to commit on the conversion work.
Big trouble ahead with the wings and cockpit conversion.
The early navy Rhino is just too sexy not to try out.

Spanjaard
looking good. what are you using to cut those masks?

Mathieu
Hi Spanjaard, its cut in oramask 810 using a silouhette cameo4.
Cheers.

Spanjaard
thanks, being thinking on getting one of those silouhette for a while 😉

Mathieu
Been cutting some plastic lately. In order to get a decent F-4B, the wing has to be modified. The hump on the surface around the undercarriage has to be removed and replaced by a flush surface. Cameo was again of great help. A mask was designed to cover the surface to remove. Then from this mask, a new panel was cut in thin plastic card. Surface detail was added to ease the engraving to come. Think it worked out not bad.

Clifford Keesler
How did I miss this one? Watching, looking good.

Mathieu
Hi Clifford, Thank you! still a lot ahead..

Mathieu
Lot of surfacer and sanding on the wing, mating the 2 parrallel surfaces into one.
I also corrected my early attempt at panel lines. they were incorrect for the thin wing.
And i'm now studying the cockpit parts I have at hand: Tamiya C cockpit, Aires J cockpit, C Eduard PE, Aires Mk7 Seats, AMS Mk5 Seats.

RIO Front and left panels will need modding, right panel is kinda ok.
Pilot office is almost identical to the C version.

AMS seats are less defined than the aires MK7, so i'll try to backdate the aires seat to mk5 standard with the AMS as reference.

Cheers
Mathieu

Daniel
👀Fantastic work so far👌🏻👌🏻

Spanjaard
those wings look like if you never cut anything. fantastic

Slavo Hazucha
Wow, looks like a great project, I'll better follow here!

The tail already looks top notch, fascinating effort with the conversions 👍

Clifford Keesler
Looking great so far.

Mathieu
Hi Daniel, Spanjaard, Slavo & Clifford, thanks for popping in and for your nice comments.

Mathieu
Been working on the seats, not finished yet, but I think it's leading somewhere.
I have cut the upper cushion part on the Aires seat, and cleaned it up back to the structure, then I cut a plastic part with the cameo, using the ams seat as a reference.
Once bend, cleaned and riveted, it's getting more mk5. Still need to add some stuff on the top, and add the seatbelts. Cheers

Patrick Hagelstein
Phantastic conversion! Amazing craftsmanship so far! 👍

Mathieu
Hi Patrick, thanks for your kind words.
Following on the mk5 seats, they were primed silver, then black mixed with soot. A slight sponge sand to highlight the rivits, and the cushions were painted in different colors. I will put meat on it, so I won't go too much on the lower parts
Cheers

Clifford Keesler
Seats are looking good.

Rui S
Looking good 👍

Mathieu
Hi Clifford and Rui, thank you friends for your kind words.

Mathieu
The follow up on the thin wing modification. I've drawn the individual panels in the silouhette, and made them fit into an un modified wing. Once the shape was good, I've cut the bulged parts and assembled the panels into a big surface that fit the hole. One the surface slotted into the wing, I've cut it again in plastic card, including the panel delimitation. I will display the air brake closed, so no need to separate it from the other panels
Cheers.

Clifford Keesler
Nice work.

Mathieu
Short update on this one, as I have essentially been woorking virtual.
Cockpit mods are being designed in fusion360 in order to be 3D printed using my Elegoo Saturn. The later has been sleeping in the attic for some month in prevision of this.
I intend to craft this left and front cockpit to the Aires stock, using the right side almost unchanged.
cheers.

Spanjaard
that 3D Cockpit detail is looking really nice.

Konrad -
Spectacular 👍!

Daniel
Wow, thats awesome!
The day aires&co become redundant draws nearer I'd say...

Spanjaard
well, not everybody will make everything in 3D by themselves....so I hope Aires will stay there for a long time (i love their products)
otherwise, Tamiya, Hasegawa and all the others will follow them into oblivion....(what stops anybody from doing complete kits in 3D?)

Daniel
I think the future will be 3d printers being widely distributed among modelers&co and the companies wont sell kits but data files for you to print out at home.
And maybe there will be the "Tamiya Printer" or the "Mr.Printer" 😄
But more of a far future than a near one I guess...but things develop rapidly nowadays...

Mathieu
I join you on that one, Anyz producer already stepped forward by proposing to download his products and printing them by yourself.
I think it might evolve this way if there is a way of protecting the content. aka, once you have bought it, what does stop you to print the files yourself and sell the copies, or sending the files to your friends for free.
Anyway, after all, 3D modeling isnt that difficult after having watched a few youtube videos.
Only about 16hours spent on this cockpit model, and started from zero xp.
cheers

Spanjaard
Well, maybe a tamiya printer will be the only that can print files downloaded from the bet, and also work only online, so can send a message to the manufacturer so the file will not be printed again.... who knows. Very tempted to get a 3D printer myself.....

Spanjaard
What software are u using , Mathieu?

Mark Broughton
It's Autodesk fusion 360, I use it for my 3d printing as well. Its super easy to use, you can go from 2d sketch to 3d object really simply. It is free to use for hobbyists. Love your work so far Mathieu.

Clifford Keesler
I would not have a clue on how to do anything like that. I still have problems up loading photo's.

Mathieu
Hi Spanjaard, yes its Fusion360. as Mark said, its very intuitive and friendly. I can not recommend to try yourself more !
Mark, just had a look at your Sabre engine... Oh my god ! I can just hope getting to this level one day.. Wonderful!
Clifford, one thing you dont have problem with, is getting the job done on the bench! Impressive serie of jets lately ! Cheers.

Mark Broughton
Cheers Mathieu thats very kind of you to say. Just starting on modelling a xc-142a in Fusion.

Spanjaard
thanks Mathieu

Clifford Keesler
Thank you Mathieu. I think it's time for me to try my hand at some prop. things.

Mathieu
Hi guys, long overdue, but here is some progress at last.

My self designed Left aft cockpit part is being worked to fit the Aires J cockpit. It's a failed print, but whatever dimensions remains. More essays are in the printer right now. The position is not right yet, as it's too high and forward.

In the mean time, I have printed Jumpei Tema's amazing exhaust cans. He made them at 1/48 scale, but the details did not suffered from the 150% enlargement.

Still have to fine tune my printing parameters, but I'm getting something to work with, so I'm positive!

Cheers

Spanjaard
those cans look really good

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Very interesting, watching 👀
The printed parts are looking nice.

Clifford Keesler
Those can's look great.

Mathieu
Thanks you Spanjaard, WhiteGlint and Clifford for the encouragements!
One step at a time, I am taming the printer and getting usable parts. 3D model has to be modified as well to emphasise the smaller details and get them visible on the final product.
Last to emerge out of the resin goo is the Rear panel. Will throw some paint at it to see what comes out.
Cheers

Mathieu
Nothing visually entertaining on this update I'm afraid.
But a great step forward in my view.
I designed new intakes on fusion and printed them. I spare you all the unsuccessful attempts and skip directly to the finished parts.
The idea is to reuse the kit parts as much as possible. The outside part for the intake, the turbine faces, pitot tubes.
I replace the multi parts intake with a one piece with better fitting. The only place that should need putty is where the front lips meet the fuselage. This being an easy access area, it should be a like a walk in the park to smooth it out.

Would you give this part a try, it's downloadable for free on my cult page :
cults3d.com/en/3d-mo..ownload_notification

Hope this will ease life for phantom phreaks.
Cheers

Sergej I
awesome project!

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Wow, that's a cool way to overcome some problems with a kit. 👍

Spanjaard
nice seamless intake