1/48 Esci S-3A Viking

[pourquoi61]

You are doing great straightening up those wings
Most people would have given up and binned the thing

I was thinking of raiding another kit to find better wings but carrying on has made me feel that I have learned a lot more.
Thanks.

[demarcation]

Great job on the wings. Well done!!

[pourquoi61]

Great job on the wings. Well done!!

Thank you sir.

[alextheblue]

Great work with those wings. You should market and sell that piece of wood, no modeller should be without one!

[RossiM1]

Looking good mate great job and ingenious work on those wings well done

[pourquoi61]

Great work with those wings. You should market and sell that piece of wood, no modeller should be without one!

The trouble is you model makers would make your own.
Thanks and I love your comment.

[pourquoi61]

Looking good mate great job and ingenious work on those wings well done

Thank you but I will have to hide the lows with clever shading.

[pourquoi61]

On with the build and it is time to build the engines.
The intake fans and turbines are painted silver but the compressor fans are painted gun metal.


As per the instructions the rear fan is glued in and the two halves of the engine housing are glued together.

Then the compressor fan is located.

The engine intakes are dry fitted next.


Once the fans are added you can see that a little bit of cleaning up is needed on the fan edges.

Once together the intakes look too big and ejector marks can be seen. I looked around for some tubes to act as intake tunnelling.
I could not find any so I had to make some.
I got out the plastic card and cut a length like so.

I found a top that would fit inside the engine cover to act as a template to bend the card around.


As the plastic card was a little thick I placed it in very hot water to soften.

BUT IS WAS TOO THICK.
It did not fit into the engine intakes.
The intakes are glued together and fixed in place.


Thinner card is found and wrapped around the small pots of paint that you get in Airfix gift sets.


With a small amount of glue and tape the intakes are held in place.
While waiting for the glue to dry the gaps are filled with my glue/filler.

The excess will be removed with a sharp knife.

Then the edges are blended in with sand paper and you can see the difference.


I MADE A BIG MISTAKE ON THE LAST INTAKE. I SHOULD HAVE REMOVED THE TAPE BEFORE GLUING INTO POSITION.
So on the next one it was removed so far down before gluing.

The join was then filled with my glue/filler.

Then left to dry and the excess intake removed and sanded.
My metal undercarriage arrived today.


I was not impressed.
That's all for today, thanks for dropping by.

[InvalidUsername]

Clever idea with the engine inlets, well done

[Twokidsnosleep]

Nice mods,very impressed

[digger303]

Clever idea with the engine inlets, well done

[smokeriderdon]

Have to remember that trick with the intakes. Good call!

[pourquoi61]

Clever idea with the engine inlets, well done

I was forced into it as I was looking for some tubing to fit.
Still had to find the right sized radius paint tin.
Thanks.

[pourquoi61]

Have to remember that trick with the intakes. Good call!

Thank you, learning curve.

[pourquoi61]

Nice mods,very impressed

Thinking of doing the rear out let tubes.
Thank you sir.

[Willem]

I'm loving following this thread. Some ingenious problem solving and sheer determination to get it to where you want it to be.

Great stuff.

[Tomcat64]

Some absolutely superb creativity going on there mate - you really are showing this one who's boss!

Cracking work!

[pourquoi61]

I'm loving following this thread. Some ingenious problem solving and sheer determination to get it to where you want it to be.

Great stuff.

Thank you, I looked at the low part count and my mind went "Nice easy build"
Enjoying the build and I would like a nice aircraft at the end.

[pourquoi61]

Some absolutely superb creativity going on there mate - you really are showing this one who's boss!

Cracking work!

Many thanks, still a way to go yet as the kit decals look interesting!
Thank you.

[pourquoi61]

With both engines now built it was time to glue them on.
The kit has six blade aerials moulded to the body so I have done well not to have knocked them off and with that in mind two Airfix gift paint pots are blu-taced to the undercarriage bays while the engines are glued on.
Some sanding is required to get a nice fit.

Whilst these are drying I glue in the cockpit overhead panel.

The "torps" are glued and painted.

The missiles are glued and some more paint added to the torpedoes.

The (FLIR) dome is cover up and I can see some more filling and sanding will be required later on.

After a small amount of cleaning up to the metal undercarriage is complete they are super glued in place.

The torpedo carriers are then added and a coat of Tamiya XF-2 White is sprayed on.

The torpedoes are glued in and the bomb bay doors are closed.
They are a poor fit, more sanding and filling.


Thanks for dropping by.

[demarcation]

You're doing a great job with this kit. Well done so far!!

[pourquoi61]

You're doing a great job with this kit. Well done so far!!

Thank you kind sir.

[Fridgy]

No option to have the doors open displaying the torpedos?

Coming along nicely

[pourquoi61]

No option to have the doors open displaying the torpedos?

Coming along nicely

Yes you can have them open,but I have not done enough work on them to show the torpedoes and I like to see the aircraft's smooth lines.
Thank you for your comments.
Cheers.

[pourquoi61]

So the wheel wells look very spartan and as they will be open I thought that I would dress them up a bit.
Thin strips of plastic card are roughly cut to fit the wheel wells.

The spares box is raided for two odd looking things to fill the compartment.
Wire and stretched sprue are also used. Holes are drilled for the wires to enter and return into the space.
You end up with this.

While the glue is drying I paint the wheels.

I then spray the wheel wells with a can of Halfords Appliance White.
So it looks like this.



It adds a little interest to the model, the wheel well doors are also sprayed at the same time.
That's all for today folks,
Thanks for dropping by.

[gaz45]

Looking good there mate

[pourquoi61]

Looking good there mate

Thank you.

[pourquoi61]

Not done a lot on this one for a while due to heavy work load and two other models on the go.
So all that I have done is glued the cockpit glass on and sprayed the panel lines before I start painting.



That's all folks,
Thanks for dropping by.

[digger303]

I'm curious to see what this will look like then it is all painted up.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Excellent, I love the wheel well modifications
Your scratch stuff from the parts bin looks better than the moulded in stuff
Nice work

[Tomcat64]

Can't believe I missed the last update on this one - the scratch building you've put in there is absolutely stunning.

Really looking forward to seeing it all painted up now

[pourquoi61]

I'm curious to see what this will look like then it is all painted up.

So am I, so am I.

[pourquoi61]

Excellent, I love the wheel well modifications
Your scratch stuff from the parts bin looks better than the moulded in stuff
Nice work

Thank you sir.

[pourquoi61]

Can't believe I missed the last update on this one - the scratch building you've put in there is absolutely stunning.

Really looking forward to seeing it all painted up now

Thank you but they are just random bits and bobs glue and white paint.

[Twokidsnosleep]

One month left in the bomber sig
viewtopic.php?f=660&t=25285

[pourquoi61]

One month left in the bomber sig
viewtopic.php?f=660&t=25285

Sorry that I have left this one on the back burner for so long but I will complete this one before the end of the due date.

[Twokidsnosleep]

One month left in the bomber sig
viewtopic.php?f=660&t=25285

Sorry that I have left this one on the back burner for so long but I will complete this one before the end of the due date.

No worries, I saw you were busy
Keep at her

[pourquoi61]

One month left in the bomber sig
viewtopic.php?f=660&t=25285

Sorry that I have left this one on the back burner for so long but I will complete this one before the end of the due date.

No worries, I saw you were busy
Keep at her

Will do.

[pourquoi61]

Well I am back on the old kit now, my last post was June 20 and I have been busy on other projects.
With just over a week to go I will have to pull the stops out now.
First job is to mask the canopy with strips of Tamiya masking tape.

To make an easy and quick mask for the engines I used my hole template to measure the engine hole size then held it over some thin foam and sprayed it with a can of car paint.

The foam circle was cut out and placed in the engine intake.

Canopy masked.

On the decals I have for the kit, the colour call-out asked for Light Ghost Grey FS 36375 and Dark Gull Grey FS 36231.
So here is the first colour.

Voila!

I then mix Tamiya XF-18 Medium Blue with some of the original grey.

The mix % is not important as it is only to represent a little bit of respray work on the plane.


Once dry Dark Sea Grey is mixed very thinly 70% Isopropyl Alcohol 30% paint.
YOU MUST WEAR A GOOD MASK WHEN SPRAYING THIS STUFF.

This mix is sprayed over panel lines and in small random patches around the aircraft.


Once dry I mask off the tail using thin Tamiya masking tape to define the edge of the tail paint job and the rest of the plane.
Sandwich film is used to protect the plane from over-spray.

Very thin coats of Tamiya X-1 gloss black is used to paint the tail.

I then use Tamiya XF-18 Medium Blue for the cockpit framing.
I used it because I like the colour.



That's all for today folks, more to follow soon
Thanks for dropping by.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Looking good, nice progress
Things will fly along now the paint is put down...soon comes decals and then you will be all revved up to finish as it comes to life
Love this stage of a build, just not all the little stupid things to get it fully complete

[pourquoi61]

Looking good, nice progress
Things will fly along now the paint is put down...soon comes decals and then you will be all revved up to finish as it comes to life
Love this stage of a build, just not all the little stupid things to get it fully complete

Yes I love the painting stage but I worry that I will bugger it up sticking some of the smaller parts on.
Thank you.
Been a fun and a good learning curve too.

[TommyKillander]

Great work going on here... it looks fantastic!


Tommy

[pourquoi61]

Great work going on here... it looks fantastic!


Tommy

Thanks but my next blog is not so good.

[pourquoi61]

Not so good this time as things conspire against me in my quest to complete the build.
Here is the decal that I have to use on this kit.

On she goes, but even with all the effort she still does not conform to the plane.

Then my Aero Master decals start to break up in the water and the lightning's point folds over and breaks off.

Then the jet intake warning decals start to break.

Left with no other option at this late stage, the Esci decals have to go on.

They go on but look a little stiff, like a sticker.
So what do I do with the tail?
I go off looking for a substitute decal, SORRY F/A-18 FANS.

Yes I know it is all wrong but that is how she will stay.

I move on and make the missiles, then give them some white paint from a car paint rattle-can.

To add a little weathering to the wings and control surfaces I add a little white spirit to a container, then some Burnt Sienna oil paint in another section.

Small dots are positioned randomly across the control flap hinges, then with a flat brush they are dampened with white spirit. The brush is dragged over the oil paint following the direction of air flow over the plane.
Then a very weak oil paint mix is dotted into the panel lines, allowing capillary action to take the paint down the lines.


For some mad reason I want to dirty the undercarriage and bay area so Citadel Devlin Mud wash is painted over these parts.




Yes I know that I have overdone it, so my next move is to put it right.
Thanks for dropping by.

[pourquoi61]

Running out of time now and it feels like I have so much to do, part of me wants to give up but I said that I would build a model for this Non-SIG and that is what I am going to do.
A little bit of a tone-down on the undercarriage with some white paint.

Sorry for the poor photo. Both doors are on.

This decal has to come off as it did not settle down well enough.

I mask around the decal and then start to lift off the decal using a sharp blade.


I did not get it all off as I will find out later.

I spray on Dark Gull Grey and once dry, remove the masking.

Not very good but I can hear the clock taunting me.
I place a decal on the missiles from the ESCI kit.

I glue them on and do a few touch-up paint jobs around the plane.

That's all and thanks for dropping by.

[Tomcat64]

That's a real shame that the decals are just not behaving themselves

I love all the weathering you've done on this - especially the pin washes into the panel lines, it really makes the detail pop out.

Keep on it - you've nearly knocked it into submission!