Page 52 - Model Airplane International - Issue 175 (February 2020)

KIT BUILD

online, I noticed that there is a signifi cant
amount of wiring in this front section, I imagine
this wiring is the cannon controls. I drilled out
three holes in both the cannons and some
black boxes that are mounted on the bulkhead This shows the paint fi nish after darker
which appear to be electrical boxes for the base tones were added and then the
whole effect was blended back with a
cannons. I added three from each cannon
thin layer of the original base tone. It is a
to the black boxes on the bulkhead. All the very subtle effect.
references I have seen show these wires
coloured yellow. I went with the references as
it added a nice detail to the nose, it also added
some more visual interest.
I cannot express the importance of test-
fi tting before committing to gluing parts
together, multiple times I had to test fi t the
cannon section to the fuselage as it seemed
to be sitting proud one on side and a gap The decals have
been applied and
the weathering has
begun. Here you can
see the effects that
the Artool template
gives to the surface.
Unfortunately, you
can also see how
thick the decals are.

on the other side. Just checking for those The Engines fi ne electrical wiring and thicker plumbing and
small imperfections in the plastic such as the These are another excellent feature of this kit. cabling was glue in using Zap medium CA glue
smallest bit of fl ash can really save you a lot You get two fully detailed jet engines that you and cleaned up with ZAP de-bonder. When I
of trouble. Apart from some mine elements can show with nacelle panels removed, or you was fi nally happy with the amount of details
of fl ash here and there, the fi t of the cockpit can completely cover them up for a cleaner, that I added it was time to add some base
and nose section was sublime. I never felt streamlined appearance. Having these colours to the engine itself. The front engine
that I had to force any of the parts together, options, I decided to do one engine open, and section was painted with Alclad aluminium
everything was a breeze. The upper and lower one engine fully closed. Unfortunately, I closed and the ring behind that was painted
wing assembly was as simple as Revell could up the wrong engine, I originally wanted to with Alclad dark aluminium to
have made it. Due to its large wingspan, the have the left engine on show as looking at add some variation. The
lower wing section comes in three sections, references, the left hand side of the engine rear of the engine
including a central belly plate that has has more wiring and plumbing details which was painted
interlocking pin joins that are perfectly placed. would have been more interesting to look at with
The joints are on the engine mounts which from the left engine. Sadly, I closed this up
means that you can glue the wings together before taking all that into account! Regardless,
and not have to worry about a perfect join line, work began on building the right engine...
no clean-up being needed as the engine will The kit does include enough detail to
be mounted onto this section. The top wings build up a very nice engine that would be
sandwich the landing gear walls in place. You very pleasing to the eye, but once again,
also have the choice to have the leading-edge when looking at the references there was
slats fi xed or deployed, the default is deployed, far too much detail missing for me to ignore.
and you can just cut of the arms if you want to I added a lot of plumbing and wiring using
have them fi xed in their retracted position. different diameters of lead wire. Some very

52 MODEL AIRPLANE INTERNATIONAL - February 2020