SPA Modeler

Hi All,

So whilst I've been messing about with some armour builds, I'm still very much in an aircraft mindset and having mooched around the stash yesterday I pulled this out. I've not built a late Cold War jet for a while so this should be fun.



I'd actually started this a few years ago (I can't remember when - I think I'd started a Monogram EF-111A as well) because I'd actually built up the cockpit and joined the nose section. I'm not sure what past me was thinking with that cockpit, and why he didn't feel the need to paint the PE panels, but present me might try and fix it.





When I got back into the hobby in 2010, my main area of interest was old British kits. I noticed at the time that there was a kind of reverse snobbery in thosecircles, with Tamiya and Hasegawa looked upon as awful 'shake and bake' kits that you just threw together - I've since learned, as far as Hasegawa goes, that that statement is total BS. This kit is NOT a shake and bake - if you''ve ever built it you'll know what I mean. The fuselage is very complicated to put together, and whilst the fit is ok-ish, it's very fragile as it goes together as the engineering is very poor - and I have had to put a couple of shim's in place as I had a couple of large gaps.

I know the nature of swing wing aircraft generally causes headaches in fuselage construction, but this was something else. Annoyingly you can't even swing the wings, as they're fixed in the 'everything out' configuration.





This is the main problem area, in the join around the main u/C bay - itself a very vague fit). It's not until the splitter mounts go on does it start to strengthen up.



I'm pleased to have got this far, and am in the process of sorting out the seams before I go any further. I think the poor fuselage construction was what halted me in this build anyway, as I found it rather intimidating. I think however, that now it's together it might be a nice looking model. I don't have a huge amount of experience with Hasegawa (the only other kit of theirs I've built is the F-117A, which I need to build again at some point) but I think I might get some more in the future. I STILL need to find a good F-15A in 1/72.

A note on decals, the ones in the kit are shot and besides I wanted to built an aircraft from RAF Upper Heyford, as I used to live near it, and there's something about F-111's from UH that just says 'Cold War' to me. I managed to pick up this old sheet for some Lybian Raiders.



Anyway - onwards and upwards, sorry for the long intro-post.

Cheers!

Agree Stuart. I have never had a shake and bake Hasegawa kit -- except perhaps their 1/48 109 series, which still had some issues, albeit minor, with the nose gun cover fit. Now I know they have improved since the 90's, but that has been my experience.

Hopefully you have passed the major hurdles in the build. I Never had the Hasegawa 111. Everyone says it's the best available aardvark in the scale though. I had the ESCI kit in my stash a while back. I remember it looked great in the box -- never seen one built though? It fell victim to one of my Stash reduction sales. I also had and still have he Airfix version. It looks buildable and is shaped like a F-111 and paint should stick to it just fine I may have to build it up one day as I feel I need at least 1 of any USAF aircraft in my collection that wore the tan/green/green TAC scheme.

Coming along splendidly!

If you get too beat down, I know a guy with a. Floating dry dock……

Nice project Stuart! I do love seeing an F-111 build. Such a brute of a strike aircraft. Quite large when seen in person. You’re off to a fine beginning here. I’m curious as to why Microscale chose to add Upper Heyford F-111Es on a Libya Raiders sheet. All the strike aircraft on that mission were Lakenheath F-111F’s aside from a flight of Heyford based EF-111A’s.

Very cool Stuart! I have the Academy 1/48 EF-111 in the stash.

Cool subject. Sad to admit, I've never done an F-111

cbaltrin wrote: ↑Sun Apr 12, 2026 5:08 am Agree Stuart. I have never had a shake and bake Hasegawa kit -- except perhaps their 1/48 109 series, which still had some issues, albeit minor, with the nose gun cover fit. Now I know they have improved since the 90's, but that has been my experience.

Hopefully you have passed the major hurdles in the build. I Never had the Hasegawa 111. Everyone says it's the best available aardvark in the scale though. I had the ESCI kit in my stash a while back. I remember it looked great in the box -- never seen one built though? It fell victim to one of my Stash reduction sales. I also had and still have he Airfix version. It looks buildable and is shaped like a F-111 and paint should stick to it just fine I may have to build it up one day as I feel I need at least 1 of any USAF aircraft in my collection that wore the tan/green/green TAC scheme.

Yep, you definitely need to have an aircraft in the TAC scheme Chris!

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who thinks that with Hasegawa - from what I've seen they're nice kits on the whole, but can be a bugger to build. I'd like to have a go at a few more.

I've never seen an ESCI F-111, but I have seen (and built) the Airfix kit. It's one of the few kits I remember building as a kid - it certainly looked like an Aardvark.

LyleW wrote: ↑Sun Apr 12, 2026 5:52 am Coming along splendidly!

If you get too beat down, I know a guy with a. Floating dry dock……

Yeah, please tell him from me I think he's mad LOL, but looking forward to seeing his build.

Thanks Lyle!

Oh and a joke for you. What do you call an Aardvark that beats up other Aardvarks? A well-Ard-vark.

Stikpusher wrote: ↑Sun Apr 12, 2026 9:38 am Nice project Stuart! I do love seeing an F-111 build. Such a brute of a strike aircraft. Quite large when seen in person. You’re off to a fine beginning here. I’m curious as to why Microscale chose to add Upper Heyford F-111Es on a Libya Raiders sheet. All the strike aircraft on that mission were Lakenheath F-111F’s aside from a flight of Heyford based EF-111A’s.

They're great looking aircraft I agree Carlos, one of my favourites,

In regards to the markings the only thing I can think is that they're are aircraft from another operation. The sheet does say 'Libyan Raiders' I guess and not 'El Dorado Canyon' ? I have a few books on the F-111/USAFE and I've been reading up on the op and you're 100% right, the only assets from UH were the Ravens.

Medicman71 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 12, 2026 1:32 pm Very cool Stuart! I have the Academy 1/48 EF-111 in the stash.

Thanks Mike - a 1/48 F-111 must be huge!

BlackSheep214 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 12, 2026 3:22 pm Cool subject. Sad to admit, I've never done an F-111

It's not a subject I've seen built much at all to be honest Tom, so I don't think you're on your own there.

Aside from the flight of EF-111As that flew on the El Dorado Canyon Libya raid, the rest of the 20th TFW would not see combat for almost 5 years in Desert Storm, flying out of Incirlik in Turkey.

I've no idea then to be honest Carlos - it does seem a bit strange I grant you. Maybe when I get the sheet it might explain itself a bit more. It's not really a problem though, it was the Upper Heyford markings that I wanted the sheet for, rather than the Libyan connection.

Maybe Microscale just needed to pad out the sheet LOL!

Stuart wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2026 3:33 am Maybe Microscale just needed to pad out the sheet LOL!

That would be my guess. All the aircraft on the sheet are command birds, flown by squadron or wing commanders.

Well I just found this article… apparently the Upper Heyford F-111s flew a rehearsal version of the strike to test the mission profile. So they were tangentially involved.

https://theaviationist.com/2020/04/15/o ... ng-moment/