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Playing in the Sandbox Group Build Sept 1, 2024 - Jn 1, 2025

Atlas Cheetah E Scaleworx Conversion


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Made a start on this as I'm looking forward to trying this and the quality of the conversion looks excellent.

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There are 2 builds of this on TOS which I'm relying on for a lot of the info about this one. One is by John Wiedeman (Renegade) himself, who produces the conversion, and the other is by Malcolm Reid (Mistral). They have both done a stunning job with it and if I can half as good a job, I'll be well pleased.

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First work is adding some wiring to the rear cockpit bulkhead from the conversion. Placement is based on photos but it's really just to busy things up a bit. The resin is very nice to work with and comes in a nice funky blue colour. :D

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14 minutes ago, GusMac said:

Made a start on this as I'm looking forward to trying this and the quality of the conversion looks excellent.

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There are 2 builds of this on TOS which I'm relying on for a lot of the info about this one. One is by John Wiedeman (Renegade) himself, who produces the conversion, and the other is by Malcolm Reid (Mistral). They have both done a stunning job with it and if I can half as good a job, I'll be well pleased.

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First work is adding some wiring to the rear cockpit bulkhead from the conversion. Placement is based on photos but it's really just to busy things up a bit. The resin is very nice to work with and comes in a nice funky blue colour. :D

Very good start and when I think of the livery you plan it will be a stunner! 

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  • 1 month later...

Just realised I hadn't updated this. Been too busy having fun with the conversion.

So the current status.....

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Cockpit all painted and weathered and attached to the front wheel bay. All the resin bits fitted nicely but the kit decals for the instruments were poor.

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Main gear bays assembled, painted and weathered.

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Engine painted and assembled. The resin burner can has been primed but still needs painting, Just attached it here to check the fit - perfect as all the conversion parts seem to be!

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First scary bit done! Chopped out original leading edges and added the big dogtooths. Also filled the gaps  in board and will add the plates where the wing fences go from .5mm plasticard. All sanded and rescribed, so next job is to attach these to the lower fuselage part.

Will try and post more regular updates from here. Looking at Kai and Alberto's excellent builds, there's still lots of cuss factor to come. :D

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Great work Gus, the pit looks nice and busy. I haven't noticed until yet, that LSM is transforming to a maso-club, seeing the third Italeri Mirage been build at the same time. Is it cult thing or a kind of initiation rite :D? Earnestly, I can understand your will to suffer, it's a nice plane, with so many interesting derivates and schemes, that even attracts to me, being more of a non jet guy, luckily. Keep the fire burning.

Cheers Rob

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Stunning cockpit Gus! So you are the third here to struggle with this kit.

And it seems you are going the way by sticking to the instructions?

l‘m curious how the fit of your wings to the fuselage and wheel wells and also the vertical stabilizer will be.

How is the fit of the cockpit tub and the upper fuselage? 

Will follow your build closely. Beautiful work so far!

Kai

 

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Thanks guys.

Rob, I think I was lulled into a false sense of how hard this kit is by the work of Mistral on LSP who's built 5 or 6 of these and seems to know exactly how to solve all it's issues.

Kai, I'm kind of following the steps that the conversion requires you to take. The dogtooth inserts really need the wing halves joined first but they're only glued along the leading edge to allow a little flexibility for the fuselage join. I've just glued the wings to the lower fuselage tonight and fit was okay, although needed a bit of trimming round the wheel wells. Joining the upper fuselage halves and test fitting the tub is this weekend's task. I'll let you know how it goes but looking at yours I suspect, 'not well' will be the answer!

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On 4/30/2021 at 11:10 AM, Kaireckstadt said:

Stunning cockpit Gus! So you are the third here to struggle with this kit.

And it seems you are going the way by sticking to the instructions?

l‘m curious how the fit of your wings to the fuselage and wheel wells and also the vertical stabilizer will be.

How is the fit of the cockpit tub and the upper fuselage? 

Will follow your build closely. Beautiful work so far!

Kai

 

Well Kai, I've glued the rear sections to each upper fuselage half and joined these. On a quick dry fit it looks like the rear and wing areas will join nicely with the bottom with little or no filler. BUT the front doesn't look so clever. I've trimmed the sides of the tub and I think it'll glue up okay if done slowly, section by section. May have to adjust the sidewalls as well but hard to tell until one side is glued but that's tomorrow's entertainment! :lol:

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3 hours ago, GusMac said:

Well Kai, I've glued the rear sections to each upper fuselage half and joined these. On a quick dry fit it looks like the rear and wing areas will join nicely with the bottom with little or no filler. BUT the front doesn't look so clever. I've trimmed the sides of the tub and I think it'll glue up okay if done slowly, section by section. May have to adjust the sidewalls as well but hard to tell until one side is glued but that's tomorrow's entertainment! :lol:

Gus, 

I can clearly understand that with the necessary conversion of the wings there is no chance to glue them separately to the fuselage.

And the problems you are now going through can really only be solved as you write by gluing section by section. 
Hope that it won’t cause too much rework.

I wish you good luck and I‘m curious to see your progress tomorrow!

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Thanks guys. Didn't get anything done today as I got an SOS from my parents to help with a couple of DIY tasks that are now beyond them (they're both 80+) so couple of hours driving and a good few hours of labour instead.

As Phil mentions it's a Bank Holiday in the UK tomorrow so hopefully I'll get some peace then. ;)

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Meant to post an update quicker on this but once I kind of got into a rhythm with joining everything up it slipped my mind.

Anyway main fuselage joints are done and the conversion intakes are on with lots of plasticard, filler, sanding and bad language!

This is the first Italeri aircraft kit I've bit and I'm in no rush to try another. You wonder if they ever test fit anything - the fit at the shoulder of the intakes is farcical. The gap must be 3mm if you line everything up correctly elsewhere which leaves you looking to see if you've missed something but no, it's just crap execution. :wallbash:

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I'm happy with where the intakes are at now. Just some extra rescribing and should be ready for primer.

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The rear end also needed some plasticard shims to get everything lined up but it's looking okay now. There are a couple of nice big resin pieces to go on here which should take the eye away from anything else, I hope. :lol:

So next job is the rescribing and getting this attached....

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Hopefully shouldn't be too bad as so far John's conversion resin has fitted better than the kit parts! :blink: Main casting block is removed but will need some careful trimming to remove the rest especially around the thin section around the base of the rudder. Thank god for razor saws!

Kai and Alberto you have my deepest sympathy for trying to do this straight from the box. At least I knew there was going to be lots of fettling because of the conversion but you thought you were just going to build a nice simple kit. Ha!! :spam:

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That really looks awesome! 
I admire your work because fitting a conversion set to this kit is a nightmare. None of the tricks I used can be used (wing-attachment, vertical fin attachment...)for your build!

I can imagine the vocabulary you used during all the necessary rework. But it really paid off so far!!

Will turn into a great looking Cheetah!

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Man, to see the challenges you guys are having with the base kit is kind of disappointing. I've built their earlier F-104 kit and didn't have these sort of issues with it. Unless I did and they were so bad that I've blotted it from my memory. 

I'm still planning to get the Cheetah D conversion so I wonder if going to a 2 seater will be better or worse...

Carl

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Thanks Kai. l'm fairly happy with where it's at and looking forward to adding all the resin extras.

Carl, l reckon the D should be easier as you get an entire resin front section so the intake join should be a lot better. John's bits fit better than the kit parts!

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All AM parts fit better than the kit parts...:lol:

To be honest: I also build 2 F-104G and a friend of mine already 2 Tornados. The 104s had some minor issues and the Tornado seems to go together very smooth and has really nice detail.

I think that Italeri saved money with the injection molds. I can’t imagine any other reason for the bad injection quality. Regarding engineering: this kit wasn’t designed by someone who builds models when I look at the parts breakdown.

Nevetheless my next model will be the Italeri Tonka with build in electronics and I will build a special livery from 617 Sqn. Then I will see...

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Glad to hear the Tonka is better. I quite fancy one to build as one based at Leuchars beside where I grew up but I'd prefer a Spey Phantom so I'm holding off in case that EVER appears. 

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I‘m waiting for this for years too. 
Why does no kit manufacturer make a new 32nd Scale F-4 family? Would have been much better from Tamiya if they started their new F-4 family with a 32nd Scale F-4B...and then later on with a Spey Phantom...(and an F-4F)...

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Gus

Fantastic progress on the Mirage and dealing with the now infamous Italeri fit issues.

I've never heard that AM resin parts fit better then the kit parts and a first for sure. My Mirage is still in the box, unopened and most likely that's where it will stay unless I sell it with the AM I bought.

Keep 'em comin

Peter

 

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Great work at the intakes Gus, they blend in smoothly now. With all the heavy resin and tons of filler, you might not have to think about producing a tailsitter. On the other hand, maybe a stronger undercarriage is needed.

Cheers Rob

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