Marcel111 Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 (edited) Hi guys, I have started the Growler! I really should be continuing with the F-4J I started, considering all the work already done on those rocket pods, but I need a break from Phantoms. I generally like doing models of aircraft exactly as they were used on an actual mission. The Growler will be in the brown camo tail livery of VAQ-132, as worn during Operation Oddyssey Dawn: Pic There are no decals available for the build so I will be custom printing these. If any of the aftermarket guys come out with these in the interim, that would be really awesome :pray:/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/> There are plenty of references and both Hasegawa and Afterburner Decals have produced sheets in 1/48. The Trumpeter kit is generally very nice, the surface detail is a massive improvement over the Flanker, which is the only other Trumpeter kit I have built. Aircraft shape also looks very convincing to my eye, which is not to be taken for granted with Trumpeter. There has been an aftermarket spine correction kit but the spine looks fine to me. On the other hand, the kit does require substantial finetuning here and there and many of the external lumps and bumps are missing from the kit. But hey, that's what Jake produced a wonderful reference book for. Here are some starting pics. First off, I replaced the kit ECS vents with those from Quickboost. Notice how the ECS vent panel really is raised. However, I wil be spending a lot of time sanding these dwon so that the edges are almost flush, as is the case on the real thing. On almost all kits I see, the transition to the raised ECS panel is far too harsh when using the Quickboost part, imo. I had to do something about these, they look absolutely horrible: Before I started working on the area, I took a trace of the serrated trailing edge to ensure I am able to reconstruct them nicely from thin plastic card later on: Then, I carefully laid down Dymo tape according to the cut: And voila, the nasty trailing edge has been removed: Before gluing in the replacement thin edges as cut from thin plastic card, I built up the lower area leading edge... Jake's book is a must-have here: That looks pretty nasty right now but will all good with some filling and sanding. Coming soon: mesh, mesh and more mesh. :cheers:/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/>/> Marcel Edited February 26, 2016 by Marcel111 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rom Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 halo Marcel!! i'll stick around for a while.. :D have fun! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Finn Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Here is another pic of the a/c: http://www.northeastspotter.eu/photodb/albums/userpics/10002/166894_24-05-11_AVB.jpg Jari Quote Link to post Share on other sites
daywalker Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Looking forward to this one, have never seen the Trumpeter Growler built before! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dadeo911 Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 (edited) Hi guys, I have started the Growler! I really should be continuing with the F-4J I started, considering all the work already done on those rocket pods, but I need a break from Phantoms. I generally like doing models of aircraft exactly as they were used on an actual mission. The Growler will be in the brown camo tail livery of VAQ-132, as worn during Operation Oddyssey Dawn: Pic There are no decals available for the build so I will be custom printing these. If any of the aftermarket guys come out with these in the interim, that would be really awesome :pray:/>/>/> There are plenty of references and both Hasegawa and Afterburner Decals have produced sheets in 1/48. The Trumpeter kit is generally very nice, the surface detail is a massive improvement over the Flanker, which is the only other Trumpeter kit I have built. Aircraft shape also looks very convincing to my eye, which is not to be taken for granted with Trumpeter. There has been an aftermarket spine correction kit but the spine looks fine to me. On the other hand, the kit does require substantial finetuning here and there and many of the external lumps and bumps are missing from the kit. But hey, that's what Jake produced a wonderful reference book for. Here are some starting pics. First off, I replaced the kit ECS vents with those from Quickboost. Notice how the ECS vent panel really is raised. However, I wil be spending a lot of time sanding these dwon so that the edges are almost flush, as is the case on the real thing. On almost all kits I see, the transition to the raised ECS panel is far too harsh when using the Quickboost part, imo. I had to do something about these, they look absolutely horrible: Before I started working on the area, I took a trace of the serrated trailing edge to ensure I am able to reconstruct them nicely from thin plastic card later on: Then, I carefully laid down Dymo tape according to the cut: And voila, the nasty trailing edge has been removed: Before gluing in the replacement thin edges as cut from thin plastic card, I built up the lower area leading edge... Jake's book is a must-have here: That looks pretty nasty right now but will all good with some filling and sanding. Coming soon: mesh, mesh and more mesh. :cheers:/>/>/> Marcel Hi Marcel, Great start. I am very interested in the Growler. I look forward to your progress with this kit. I do have a question for you from the above quote: Which one is "Jake's book"? Chris Edit: Never mind I found out which book you are referring to. The one I already have. Edited December 10, 2014 by Dadeo911 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Count me in for the ride. You are a VERY brave man to go ahead with this subject without decals! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kike Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 I'm gonna be following this build too! lots of stuff to learn! and a wonderful plane! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AnthonyWan Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 This one is on my "to build" list too... Except I have a plan for the markings ;) Looking forward to see what you come up with. -AW Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Youngtiger1 Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Cool projects Marcel. :thumbsup:/> Can't wait to see what will do with this :woot.gif:/> Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
karl h Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 (edited) the book he talks about is from Jake Melampy:http://www.reidairpublishing.com/ - and its an absolute must for this build the ip coaming of the E kit is totally misshapen, the ip too narrow and the pit has lots of problems. no complete resin pit availible. i assume its the same on the G kit i am doing a build on LSP at the moment and have tried to correct it. Edited December 12, 2014 by karl h Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Check Six Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 In! I'll be following this build for sure ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nimrod77 Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Looks good. Keep the pics coming👍 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DYMOSupport Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Hi Marcel, It is a very interesting project you got going on there and I think the way you include the DYMO tape is very clever and a nice different type of use for our product. I wish you all the best with the project and we will all follow it here in the office! With best regards, Jesper K DYMOSupport Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted December 12, 2014 Author Share Posted December 12, 2014 (edited) Guys, thanks for all the encouragement coming out of the gate and Jari, thx for posting that link. You are a VERY brave man to go ahead with this subject without decals! Yeah, somewhat risky but creating the decals is part of the project, plus I have a few options on how to create the decals I want. Absolute worst case would be to use the kit Shadowhawks decals, which are quite nice also.Except I have a plan for the markings ;)/> Whoever said I don't have a plan <_</> the ip coaming of the E kit is totally misshapen, the ip too narrow and the pit has lots of problems. no complete resin pit availible. i assume its the same on the G kit i am doing a build on LSP at the moment and have tried to correct it I'll have a look at what you did... but I'm not losing any sleep over the cockpit, my emphasis will be on making it look a lot more real than the kit cockpit, but things may be a little inaccurate here and there. As far as I know the Growler cockpit is still largely classified anyway. It is a very interesting project you got going on there and I think the way you include the DYMO tape is very clever and a nice different type of use for our product. I wish you all the best with the project and we will all follow it here in the office! Thx Jesper... I'd say this is a fairly classic use of Dymo tape for us modellers... whatever you guys do, don't discontinue your "classic" range :D/> Below are some pics showing all of the cut-outs I have done to accommodate the very finely done mesh provided by Eduard. Getting that mesh glued on and sanded down so that transitions are smooth, without clogging up all the tiny holes of the mesh, will be a challenge. Fortunately, the screen panels on the real deal really do seem to be slightly raised, but it's a very smooth transition to the panel. I have started work on those little intakes on the lower aft section of the fuselarge. The leading edge of these stands proud of the fuselarge, this isn't really represented on the kit. Apologies for the poor picture quality: :cheers:/> Marcel Edited December 12, 2014 by Marcel111 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AnthonyWan Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 the book he talks about is from Jake Melampy:http://www.reidairpublishing.com/ - and its an absolute must for this build the ip coaming of the E kit is totally misshapen, the ip too narrow and the pit has lots of problems. no complete resin pit availible. i assume its the same on the G kit i am doing a build on LSP at the moment and have tried to correct it. got a link for your build sir? :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
karl h Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 sure, but not comparable to Marcels work: http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=52737&hl= Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Finn Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 Hi Marcel, here is another pic: http://globalaviationreport.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/110709-n-zk021-008.jpg?w=2100 Jari Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted December 13, 2014 Author Share Posted December 13, 2014 sure, but not comparable to Marcels work:http://forum.largesc...topic=52737&hl= Karl, I had a look at your E, really good work and I have taken plenty of notes. Will need to take a careful look at the IP. Jari, thanks for that pic, didn't have that in my library. Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted December 13, 2014 Author Share Posted December 13, 2014 (edited) The Growler features a large bump on the spine to accommodate a satellite communications antenna (unique to the Growler). Here's how far I have gotten with that: The intake bypass vent is done in a very basic way on the kit: I have scribed out plastic to provide the vent with depth, I'll add the inside detail when I am further along with assembly on the intakes. :cheers:/> Marcel Edited December 14, 2014 by Marcel111 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nimrod77 Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 Awesome. Your getting the details all straight. I'd love to get my hands on one of these.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted December 21, 2014 Author Share Posted December 21, 2014 Thx Nimrod! I wonder if anyone out there could help with the intake bypass vents. The little spacers on the trailing edge of the vent seem to have a taper on them as seen in Jake's book, which is how I started making them, but I wonder if that is just shadow and they really just go straight down? Below should clarify what I am talking about. Apologies for the poor picture quality. Cheers, Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Youngtiger1 Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Looking great buddy. I wish I could answer the vent question. Most of the photos I have don't show that part very well, but I'm sure someone here has a pic or info of what you need. Keep up the good work Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kurnass77 Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Check your PM'box my friend. Spectacular start!! Gianni Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JohnS Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 (edited) Nice work so far Marcel. You've got a good eye questioning the vent shadow. It looks like the vent piece you're questioning is straight down. Here are links to a couple of photos; http://www.vaq136.com/lacrosse4/AJ502-058b.jpg http://www.vaq136.com/lacrosse4/AJ502-059b.jpg These photos are part of a detailed series of walk around pic's @ http://www.vaq136.com/lacrosse4/ea18g.html John Edited December 21, 2014 by JohnS Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted December 21, 2014 Author Share Posted December 21, 2014 Thx Mike, thx Gianni, thx John! John, those links really help. Looks like I have some rework to do. Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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