FredK's ongoing projects

[iggie]

That looks really effective! Great work!

[Dan_McCarthy]

Loving he Ferrari! Looks like something a certain Liverpool number 45 would wear. Sounds strange saying number 45 for a striker...!

[ShaunW]

A trio of excellent models Fred. The cam on the Macchi is very nicely done and "Big Beautiful Doll" is one of my favourite schemes on the P-51D. And the Fezza - that is great, very imaginative and the scheme really suits it.

[skypirate]

No disasters to be seen on this desk!
Very interesting variety!

cheers,

David

[fredk]

Thanks for the nice comments chaps.

Another late finisher. From the Iron Curtain GB last year.

Avia L-39 Albatros

[shangos70]

That's really nice, lovely finish.

[TobyC]

Odd to see an F40 with no rear wing. I do like the Macchi and the camou is excellent.

[ShaunW]

That looks great Fred, another excellent finish.

[skypirate]

Very attractive L-39.
Which kit is that from?

cheers,

David

[fredk]

Very attractive L-39.
Which kit is that from?

Its so long since I've checked in here I missed this question. Its the KP [aka Kopro] kit.

Just finished this one this evening;
I knocked this one up after seeing pictures of the Battle of Britain Commemorative scheme on one. The kit got some detail improvements and the decals came from the files;













Not perfect, I know, but close enough for government work.

[ShaunW]

Nice one Fred. I think the BoB scheme suits the Eurofighter and certainly makes a change to the usual greys.

[Stevehnz]

Fred, I do like that just so much. You've done a really great job of this, & afaik, you're the first cab off the rank as far as doing a Typhoon in these colours is concerned. Well done.
Steve.

[mjatx]

The BoB scheme looks great!

[Stuart]

It's not a bad kit is it Fred - Yours looks great in those markings!

[fredk]

Thanks for the nice words chaps.

The Airfix isn't too bad but its basic and needs some updating [New tool please Airfix]

The improvements & changes I made were;
Intake splitter, Airfix has it extending below the intake lip, so it was trimmed flush.
The sensor on the port nose, wrong shape & wrong place, new one carved out of sprue.
No inflight refueling boom cover on starboard nose, a bit of plastic card cut to shape and sanded/filled to shape.
Added the two intakes aft of the main undercarriage, made from plastic U channel.
Arrestor hook, added an Aeroclub one.
Centre line pylon/hardpoint added, no option for one there in kit.
The two outer wing hardpoints have some sort of fitting [chaff?] which had to be cut off to get to the bare mounting rail as seen on the photos.
Auxiliary fuel tank, might be from a Harrier - came from spares box 'RAF drop tanks'.
Drilled out oval hole on fuselage just forward of port wing.
Wing pods, slightly re-profiled and some bumps added, strbrd one cut at rear and a bump added.
Extended the square tail cone and V shape from it to rear of fuselage, each side.
Added landing parachute cover and fuel dump pipe [?] on tail cone.
Engine exhausts, replaced kit ones with others, don't know what from but they have a tube of depth with detail further in, meant carving away at the back end of the kit.
In cockpit; added boxes and wiring/tubes to parcel shelf - kit was bare, added a sight of some sort to top of instrument panel. Found good detail photo of i/p, printed it at scale size and stuck it on, kit i/p was bare. A little bit of reshaping and some straps to bang seat.
It doesn't really show but the canopy is tinted. I used Tamiya 'Smoke' in Future/Klear and kept dipping the canopy parts to build the tint up.
One rather major problem with this kit is the intake unit. The lower section, a U shape, is about 1.5mm too deep. If it is used oob there is then a 1.5mm step across the bottom of the fuselage, just about the centre of the front wheel, across the missile recesses. Cut the excess from the side walls of the U and trim to fit - step gone, and the splitter only needed a slight trim as it was just about the right size.
Because of the above work it took me longer than expected to build it.
This kit can be bought fairly cheap but at the regular price there are better ones out there for the same-ish money.
I have at least one more of these in the stash which will get another commemorative scheme on it.