I always put the wing together and then put them on the fuselage, which made huge gaps or never seemed to go on right!

You way makes so much more sense and seems easier!

Thanks for the comments.

I wondered if anyone would spot that HarryR! The lower areas of the seat were painted and detailed using photos of seats not fitted to the cockpit. I assume they are demo / instructional units, and so not entirely representative of the seat in service. (This is a cardinal sin for a modeller!) When I spotted my error I decided to leave them for the extra 'character' rather than accurate detail.

Nothing concrete yet. My 'client' (and I) really wanted the 29 Squadron red and gold anniversary scheme but there are no decals. Looking like the D-Day stripes scheme at the moment. (I wanted an Op. Ellamy scheme as I have some great GBUs to put on it, but it's not my model!)

Spent all week going round and round in circles reinstating some panel lines that have disappeared under sanding. Every time I put one back in I slip with the scriber and add an erroneous one that needs filling! Pretty much done now though, and I've started adding the control surfaces. These are a terrible fit, so it is slow going.

Balancing it on my finger it appears that it won't tail sit. (Hardly surprising with that chunk of resin in the cockpit!) But I've added a small amount of lead to the radome. The nose gear is a metal replacement too, so will add a bit more weight.

There are what I believe are stiffeners around the radome which Revell have omitted. So it's out with the good old stretched sprue to add them.



Although the radome fits nicely with no gap, the surface it glues to is too deeply recessed, so there is a terrible step. Some scraps of plastic card make a neat shim to decrease the depth, giving a perfect fit. (I hope!)


With a bit of luck I'll have the airframe complete this week, and under primer. Looking forward to getting some paint on it I must say.

Brilliant!

This is watch maker level of precision, and I'm just in awe.

Dang Goon, did you escape from Skunkworks? Absolutely beautiful!

/subscribes

Fantastic stuff.

Nate

Is it just me or is that kit really poorly made? Looks like some really bad fitting of some parts.

Part of the fun I guess. From what I have seen of your previous work, it will turn out quite well.

It's like it was designed and molded by two different teams who did not communicate, one of which was far more skilled than the other! Some fit is great, some very poor. Some molding is great, some very poor. It will build up in to a nice model though, you just have to take time to get the fit right.

It's always great to see a craftsman ply his trade, very pleasurable, thank you for sharing.

Maybe it's different production runs on different parts of the kit?

It's weird. There seems to be two different sets of sprues. One in a softer plastic, with softer detail and distinct sink marks, and one with harder plastic and finer detail. You can visually see the difference and feel it when you cut it too.

Anyway, I have started paying a little attention to Aires's engines. The detail, like the cockpit, is amazing. I had no idea all these holes were here until I sprayed some Alclad stainless steel over the black primer. It's hard to capture with a phone, and will be almost invisible when complete but wow!

Impressive.

Your painting skills are just amazing!

Wheels

I've got the radome on, and there is only a negligible step, requiring a minor blend in.


My friend has decided on a scheme, and we are going to reproduce the D-Day anniversary scheme shown here (not my photo):



I was hoping this would make life easy as a show scheme would not be armed, but my friend wants to show full armament too!

To that end I have started on the love Enhanced Paveway IIs from AMD Resin.

Three of them in various states of assembly.


They will be complemented by four AMRAAMs and two ASRAAMs from the kit, and a couple of wing tanks. Although not appropriate to the scheme it will show what Typhoon is capable of. (I'm not entirely sure 4 AMRAAMs is feasible in real life. I can only confirm two with the rest of this load during Op. Ellamy, but hey ho, it's not my model!)

I have an 11 day Christmas break coming up, so I'm looking forward to lots of time in the shed to push on with this.

A little bird told me six AMRAAMs is not unheard of.
But what do I know.

Well that's not happening because there's only four in the box! I'm not buying anything more for this kit. There's still decals to buy, I've had to order a Wolfpack Litening pod (can't bring myself to put Paveways on with no means to designate!) and I can't imagine a single tinlet of Xtracolour Barley Grey is going to cover this one, no matter how much I thin it!

Ha, no probs.

^Always these flight simulator pilots with their opinions

I had forgotten komemiute's background with the Eurofighter, was it sim maintenance?

Lots of things done over the last couple of weeks. I've finished the bombs, replacing the 'blind' seeker heads with Little Lenses from Small Cars.







This is a finished drop tank, showing the sort of dirt / weathering I'm looking to achieve.


The Aires jet pipes were an absolute bugger to fit. I think this is a combination of my incompetence and the fact that the starboard engine panels are designed to be open, so don't make a perfect circle when fitted closed. There was a large step which needed some plastic card fillets and Mr. Surfacer and Mr. Dissolved putty to rectify.









It's not perfect, but won't be noticeable under paint and matt coat. (I hope.)

We (client) had a change of mind about load so I had to remove two incorrect pylons with the Dremel. Slightly nerve wracking, but I think I've got away with it.






As you can see the ECM pods are installed and fitted with the Eduard brass additions.

There's a couple of more locations I've added brass to. It seems the formation lights are raised above the surface on the real thing, so these look good.




The masking tape disc is covering the emergency canopy jettison lever window I made from clear plastic and the decal provided. It adds a more 3D feel to it.