F-111 Aardvark

[172 Squadron]

Hi all, firstly thanks to AMI and the mods for the add to the website. I have been perusing the models on here, and I am a little intimidated by what I have seen. You guys and gals really are so talented and hopefully with time my mediocre skills will slowly improve to at least a fraction of the models on here. My desire is to build up a squadron of at least one of each type of aircraft that have been flown by the RAAF RAN and RA Army from WW1 to modern times. Of course depending if a model is available to make. Should make quite a collection and take along time to complete.

This will be the first model that I have constructed. An old MPC F-111 Aardvark item: 1-4309. It is marked as being manufactured in 1983, so may not be up to everybody's standards especially with todays mouldings, but it is the first kit I have so it is going to be built (read butchered) by me, apart from the Novascale decals the kit will be built out of the box.

Thanks for reading and I hope you join along and answer any questions and please give advice and constructive criticism as required, I will not take it as a personal attack more a learning tool to improve my modelling.

box art

1 - box art.JPG (154.51 KiB) Viewed 796 times

2 - decals.JPG (114.32 KiB) Viewed 796 times

I will be depicting A8-144 at Amberley in 1990

3 - contents.JPG (157.12 KiB) Viewed 796 times

sprues and packaging in general leave a lot to be desired

4 - sprues.JPG (171.66 KiB) Viewed 796 times

very basic instructions compared to some modern kit instructions I've seen

5 - instructions 1.JPG (155.5 KiB) Viewed 796 times

6 - instructions 2.JPG (148.41 KiB) Viewed 796 times

7 - instructions 3.JPG (162.8 KiB) Viewed 796 times

the only clear part in the box. I've dipped it in pledge and now it is drying in an air tight box to prevent dust

8 - clear part.JPG (113.87 KiB) Viewed 796 times

Kind regards Jason.

[rodenlee]

Hiya Jason

Welcome to the tribe!

Don't worry about being intimidated posting your work. There are some pretty amazing modelers at AMI but everyone is very friendly and approachable.

Looking forward to watching your build(s) progress!!

Cheers
Shaun

[172 Squadron]

Hi all, just a quick question for the learned collective. What colour would the inside of the glass be? I’m thinking black but just need a little clarification as it gets fitted in step 1 and I want to mask up and put a layer of paint down and forget about it before my big hoofs put fingerprints all over it.

Thanks in advance, Jason.

[bell209]

Looked at the one in Fighterworld this afternoon - it's black.

[RayS]

Welcome to the forum Jason,

I have the same kit (in the original Airfix boxing to build eventually). You should find it straightforward, you might find an issue when you add the crew model to the rest of the fuselage. Sometimes this can be an ugly join. Test fitting and filing the mating surfaces will help reduce the joint issues.

Also, the Airfix kit is an 'E' model, ours were 'A' models (4 replacements before being modified to Cs) 'C' models and 'G' models. The most obvious difference between the E and C (which you have decals for) are longer wings on the C and the intake splitter plate on the C.

Being your first model, I am not sure if you are fussed by the accuracy issues. I thought I would point out the differences for future info.

Good luck with the build and I look forward to seeing your progress.

As for your final aim, good luck there. I am sure it will be an impressive collection when you get it done. I am aiming to get all the Series 3 aircraft in 1/72, at the moment the KC-30A will be the hardest to source since there are no kits available. I have most of the others in the stash but not built.

[172 Squadron]

Hi all, thanks for the comments and advice, it is much appreciated.

The cockpit area is now complete. The kit supplied cockpit is very minimal to say the least, moulded in seats and not a joystick to be seen anywhere. There isn't even a decal to apply to indicate dials etc, I even looked on the Novascale decals but none there either. It looked so sparse even after trying to apply a little paint to brighten things up a bit. I know my hand paint skills need to improve but it is better than nothing and I don't think too much will be seen once completed anyway. But some details would have been nice.

Masking up the clear parts wasn't as daunting as it seemed at first. A lot of utube videos were perused to at least have half an idea what I was doing. I think it came out alright, undercoated in black as advised, but time will tell as it won't come off until the final layer of lacquer is applied.

Anyway I have attached some pictures to show what I have completed so far, now onto the wings and fuselage sections.

9 - cockpit parts.JPG (151.21 KiB) Viewed 678 times

10 - cockpit paint.JPG (101.8 KiB) Viewed 678 times

11- masking.JPG (125.01 KiB) Viewed 678 times

12 - completed.JPG (116.76 KiB) Viewed 678 times

Kind regards, Jason.

[Battletweety]

Hi Jason, welcome to the forum. You've come to the right place if you want tips and help. Great subject for your first build. All the best with it. Post regularly so we can see how its going.

cheers

BT

[enfield38]

Hello Jason, just a thought... I know you said you weren't going for 100% accuracy but with those short wings you could always do A8-113 with the plain blue 6SQN lightning bolt. The four ex USAF A Models (109, 112, 113 & 114) kept their short wings for a while after we procured them. http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/F ... derton_001 Keep posting your work here, things are looking great so far!

[172 Squadron]

Bang and just like that a bold of lightning hit (pardon the pun) and A8-113 was born. Thank you so much Rod. What is the ordnance carried under the port wing and is there one available? At least now I have a picture to reference from.

That's why I joined here, to get a wealth of knowledge from the collective and try and model something that resembled an actual aircraft if I was able to. Now she won't look like an orphan when she is in the hangar with her future sisters.

Kind regards Jason.

[enfield38]

Jason, it's a SUU-20 practice bomb unit. OzMods make a pair http://www.ozmods-kits.com/ozmods-conve ... sories-172 and there's also two in Hasegawa Weapons Set III X72-3 if you can find it. These units were used on a number of RAAF jets.