SPA Modeler

Thanks guys! Weekend's over and the fishing can again take a back seat to the modeling!

Before I forget, I wanted to show the instrument panel and how I shaved down the thickness of the side shrouds.


Still working on the bang seats for the Tomcat as the harnesses and other small bits need to be added. Here's a comparison between the yellow/black pull handles from the Quinta set and the Eduard photoetch. Not a clear winner in my book. The Quinta handles are nice in that they have the rounded profile on the top half (but flat on the bottom) AND the color is printed on both sides. However, I feel that the thickness is a bit overscale. The Eduard handles are finer but they are flat and are comprised of two halves to get the color on both sides of the piece.


I went ahead and used the Quinta handles on the seats as well as the Quinta harnesses, which I think look much better than the Eduard photoetch. There were some smaller handles and knobs from the Eduard PE set that were added as well as couple of wiring pieces specified in the Eduard instructions.




The cockpit components have been glued together but the seats have not yet been glued in. I need to verify that the canopy clears the seat tops.

Wonderful work so far John and so special to see you building:

a) a more modern jet this time
b) 1/48 scale
c) using the latest of the lates aftermarket products

Exciting !!

- Kati

That is an amazing looking cockpit John!

I had to wipe off a bit of saliva.

..........

tempestjohnny wrote:..........

Looks really amazing! I would have also went with the quinta pull handles.

Man that all looks awesome!

Stunningly speechless on your work.

Thanks guys! The aftermarket additions really increases the detail level on this build . Although everything is much smaller, the level of detail is on par with most of my 1/32 scale builds.

The side walls of the cockpit have been added but as you can see, they really aren't going to be visible due to their angle.



Now to dry fit the cockpit assembly into the forward fuselage section. The cockpit tub rests upon the nose wheel well box, which is then sandwiched between the forward fuselage halves using multiple attachment points... very positive fit.




The clear parts are then test-fitted, primarily to check the clearance of the ejection seats. Looks A-OK at this point. The long canopy, although very clear and well molded, comes with a faint molding ridge along the centerline. This will need to be sanded and polished off when the time comes.