GusMac Posted March 20, 2021 Share Posted March 20, 2021 Made a start on this as I'm looking forward to trying this and the quality of the conversion looks excellent. 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. 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. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaireckstadt Posted March 20, 2021 Share Posted March 20, 2021 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. 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. 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. Very good start and when I think of the livery you plan it will be a stunner! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 Will be following with great interest ... Keep ‘em comin Peter 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GusMac Posted April 29, 2021 Author Share Posted April 29, 2021 Just realised I hadn't updated this. Been too busy having fun with the conversion. So the current status..... 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. Main gear bays assembled, painted and weathered. 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! 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. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harv Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 Now that I've seen this, I will be following !.....harv 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlrwestSiR Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 Nice progress on this. I'm still waiting for the D conversion to come out. Carl 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GusMac Posted April 29, 2021 Author Share Posted April 29, 2021 Thanks chaps. Can certainly recommend the quality of the conversions Carl and John is a good guy to deal with. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 Nice work on the office. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 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 ? 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 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaireckstadt Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 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 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GusMac Posted April 30, 2021 Author Share Posted April 30, 2021 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! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GusMac Posted May 1, 2021 Author Share Posted May 1, 2021 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! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaireckstadt Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 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! 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! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 Gus Awesome work on the front office - looking real good. Keep 'em comin Peter 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomber_County Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 This slipped me by Gus. Nice looking pit and as Rob said a bit maso for me as well. Looking forward to the next update.... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GusMac Posted May 2, 2021 Author Share Posted May 2, 2021 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. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GusMac Posted May 9, 2021 Author Share Posted May 9, 2021 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. I'm happy with where the intakes are at now. Just some extra rescribing and should be ready for primer. 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. So next job is the rescribing and getting this attached.... Hopefully shouldn't be too bad as so far John's conversion resin has fitted better than the kit parts! 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!! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaireckstadt Posted May 9, 2021 Share Posted May 9, 2021 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! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlrwestSiR Posted May 9, 2021 Share Posted May 9, 2021 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 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GusMac Posted May 9, 2021 Author Share Posted May 9, 2021 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! 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaireckstadt Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 All AM parts fit better than the kit parts... 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... 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GusMac Posted May 10, 2021 Author Share Posted May 10, 2021 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. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaireckstadt Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 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)... 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted May 12, 2021 Share Posted May 12, 2021 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 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted May 13, 2021 Share Posted May 13, 2021 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 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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