Hobbyboss 1/48 F-111D/E Aardvark

[Coen]

Wow!! Now that's what I call fixed!! She's beautiful Gupp!!
Stunning!

Crap what a stare queen.... My eyes!!

[T3hGuppy]

Wow!! Now that's what I call fixed!! She's beautiful Gupp!!
Stunning!

Crap what a stare queen.... My eyes!!

Cheers buddy finally seems to be going my way on this one lol.

Just masking for the underside.

[Rob]

Well done on the perseverance and a fantastic outcome. That's one mean looking bird - really looking forward to the reveal.

[T3hGuppy]

Thanks for all your comments guys

So more work done today.

Major paintwork is now completed.
And I an pretty please with it.





Next will be working on the landing gear and bay doors.
Then klear and decals which may take awhile.


As always comments and advise welcome.

[Coen]

Wow... That tail decal is going to look amazing with that camo work Gupp!

[Paul]

You should be well happy with that paintwork it looks great mate as coen said that decal is gonna look great .

[T3hGuppy]

Cheers guys much happier with the paint work now.

Now need to get this one finished!!

[DC87]

Camo looks great now, going to look mean with the tail decal.

[longlance67]

very fine work mate

wow that's a lot of decals lol



Shane

[T3hGuppy]

Thanks for all the comments guys.

Unfortunately I wont be using the tiger stripes as I prefer the heart-breaker version with the pin-up nose art.

So a small update for today.

Got all the bay door and landing gear built where possible and ready for paint.


Also got a coat of Klear down on the bird.


Will be working on getting the gear painted tomorrow then on to Decals!!! which will mostly be the rest of the week.
Then a free day Sunday to finish it all up for the end of this GB.

[EasyEight96]

It's coming great can't wait

[T3hGuppy]

Update time.

So I have been working away on this and am confident I will get finished.

The decal-ling is mostly done just the smaller stencilling to go.


Also the gear has been painted and awaiting klear coat.


End is in sight!!!

[Nige201980]

Looking good mate.

[longlance67]

oh thats looks so cool with all decals on it mate

keep up the great work


Shane

[Paul]

Looking good gupster funny how decals suddenly change the look

[JayCub]

Looks fabulous Ben i really like what you have done on this bird, its big and looks the business.
That camo pattern came out great and i like the finer details very nice indeed.

Tom

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

looks smashing mate
Great work!

[T3hGuppy]

Cheers guys.

Its coming together now.

So here she is with final construction done and Klear coated for wash.






So next will be wash then matt coat then adding the clear parts.
Just a tip for anyone building this one add some weight to the nose as its a little back heavy.

So final update will be tomorrow

[T3hGuppy]

So made a good push today and got this one finished.



Will get some better pics up tomorrow in the reveal threads.

Been and interesting build where my ambition outweighed my skill but I'm happy with this.

[chief5437]

That looks amazing! A real beauty, great finish Gupps.

[Nige201980]

Looks fantastic mate no wonder your happy with it lol

[T3hGuppy]

Cheers guys will be doing something smaller next though lol

[Paul]

Damn that looks sharp mate , look forward to the final reveal pics.

[DC87]

NomNomNom... tastes of win Ben - waiting not so patiently for the final reveal

[miguelgala]

Great build...`ve been watching it complete because i`m just going to start an F-111F of Hobbyboss 1/48...and not to criticize...but, why did you use two different shades of brown and just one green....vietnam camos are one brown and two greens...did you notice that..?, great build anyways...congratulations

[KTesh]

Nice Build thread.

I used to occasionally work that particular pig from August 1988 to Aug 1990. I was a weapons load crew member with the 77th AMU.
I'm planning on building this kit, but the weapons configurations that this kit's instructions show are not accurate. During my time there, we never used the hard point pylons for anything. The FB-111's may have, but the E models that we had at RAF Upper Heyford never did. The ECM pod we used (the ALQ-131) at UH was located between the chines on the underside of the fuselage (between the engines, behind the landing gear) (you can see it peeking out from under the aircraft in this model(not mine)):



The satellite navigation panel (that odd bump in front of the canopy) wasn't in place while I worked on that aircraft. When I left UH, we only had one aircraft with one, and that aircraft was just back from being overhauled, and in an all grey paint scheme [EDIT] Just found it was 68-0050 and it was the exclusive F-111E with the AMP upgrade Photos are found here http://www.dstorm.eu/pictures/nose-arts ... 0050_1.jpg, and here http://www.dstorm.eu/pictures/nose-arts ... 0050_2.jpg[/EDIT]. Every other aircraft had the black underside three color camouflage scheme, just like the photo (avf111_05.jpg (which happens to be carrying 4x SUU-21 practice bomb dispensers) found on this page: http://www.airvectors.net/avf111.html (look down into the section describing the F-111E/D/F)

Outside of technical school (Lowery AFB, Colorado), and the occasional TDY aircraft, I never saw a MER or a TER (and those weren't on our F-111A trainer). The F-111s used the BRU-3A exclusively, or the weapon was directly attached to the MAU-12. Slick dumb 500 lb bombs (Mk-82s) were uncommon. More often we used Mk-82 snakeyes and the parachute retarded Mk-82. Cluster bombs (CBUs) were not carried on the inside stations of the BRU-3s loaded on STA4 and STA5, as there was a risk that when the wings were swept back a munition could be pushed into the side of the intake.

Nuclear weapon simulations of the B-61, B-57, or the B-38 drop shape, would be loaded on STA4 and STA5, as well as one in the bay (typically on the right side). External fuel tanks would be loaded on STA3 and STA6. F-111Es never flew with a live nuke while I was in the UK, nor did they ever to my knowledge. Simulations of nuke loading was done in the load barn, on a regular basis, as weapons load crews were kept up to date with their certifications.

My most frequent loading of the F-111 was with the BDU-33 (25lb practice bomb) along with the Mk-106 (5lb practice bomb) using the SUU-21 Practice Bomb Dispenser (typically on STA4 and STA5). Neither munition used the lug to attach it to the SUU, as it had clamps to hold it in place. We NEVER used the SUU-20, and I never saw one outside of technical school. We'd occasionally load Mk-82s, Mk-84s, various CBUs, and an inert AIM-9 for practice, we also would load inert Durandal anti-runway bombs in the barn. Live Durandals would only be loaded for real in a wartime situation (which I never did).



There is an excellent webpage on the F-111 found here: http://www.f-111.net/models/weaponsloads/index.htm

[KTesh]

Oh, I forgot to mention... The pylons were all painted black by the time I was working on them. I never saw a pylon painted green while I was in the UK.

[tk1608]

Hi all
I just wondered if anyone can confirm if the F-111 f's
at Lakenheath had green or black underwing pylons.
From pics I've seen they look like they're painted in the darker green shade..

Thanks in advance
Phil