Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 - Build
Kit and aftermarket.
Forgot this on the main picture, Paveway IV's from L'Arsenal.
First step done: removing some of the panel lines.
Tools for the detailwork.
Starboard now on the same level as portside.
Both pieces held together with masking tape.
Preliminary filling of panel lines and re-scribing. Also cut off the elevons and flaps (or are both elevons?) to position them in the powered-down configuration.
Naming them to avoid confusion. I will put them aside for the time being and come back to refining them once the main wings are glued together.
Template for all the riveting with a lot of graphite...
...and after lots of patience this is the result. Like with the main fuselage, there are some raised details that I will add later as well.
Portside wing now on the same level as well.
Preliminarily held together with tape to see how it already looks.
Just like my "role model" from Arcforums, I'm going to lengthen the canopy, as it is rather inaccurate in length and shape of the actual frame. The picture on the bottom is from a kit I build in my humble beginnings - as I didn't do any adjustments, it serves as a nice reference on how the kit originally looks like.
Obligatory first step: sanding down the molded frame of the part. First with 1000 to 1500 grid sandpaper, -sponge, etc...
...going finer in grid...
...after a further 10.000 grid buffer, using Tamiyas polishing compounds, starting with course...
...then fine...
...and finishing with the "finish". The preliminary result already looks quite clear.
Then making the new frame. I decided to try out 0,1 mm aluminum sheet. Using Eduard's masking tape to make a rough first cut out for further processing.
fitting the prototype-frame on to the clear part.
Turns out, that I didn't have much material left on the rear part of the aluminum sheet part, so I used what was left of the actual sheet to make new frames. This time two halves.
After cutting out more stuff from the frame, replacing the rearmost "curve" with another part, stabilizing it with green stuff and another sheet beneath it, putty to smooth out the transition between the rearmost sheet and the two sheets on the sides, and a lot of re-gluing during the process...the result looks like this. A bit dusty, but I think with further polishing and especially Future this will turn out at least okay.
The plastic part for the rear canopy has some wrong details, like the wrong number of struts, and a lot of missing ones. Most notably however significant "tubes" extending from this area to the front of the rear canopy part are completely missing. Lots of scratch-building that is..
(Credit to User bushande from Arcforums for the picture)
(Credit to User bushande from Arcforums for the picture)
I therefore just decided to remove most of the raised detail and replace it with scratch-built.
Detailing on the actual part finished.
Inner frame now finished.
Frame part put into the canopy part - it slightly bends the clear part as it is somewhat wider on the rear end due to the added detail. But it is only minor and won't be noticable much in the end - I think..
The only thing missing is some detail on the rear most end on the underside, which I will add once the frame and actual canopy are merged with each other. I will do this once painting and weathering is done.
Also, some rubber sealing, which I am still thinking about how to replicate it..
Also, some rubber sealing, which I am still thinking about how to replicate it..
As can be seen, due to the elongation of the rear part, the front now protrudes further than it should - the rear part was too short and the front part is too long.
Moreover, the casted frame on the part is wrong in many aspects - and of course it lacks any detail.
Middle picture: older build.
Bottom pictur: current build.
Middle picture: older build.
Bottom pictur: current build.
Therefore I carefully sanded off material from the front. As the casted frame on the clear part vanished, I replaced it together with the whole frame. Now the inaccuracies should be dealt with.
For some raised detail, I tried the Archer Detail Resin Rivet Decals which will be used alot more in this build.
Detailing of the front part almost finished, the only thing missing are the heating elements which I will add after painting.
Riveting and some further raised panels added on the rear part, now it is almost finished as well.
Side-by-side of the two parts.
Some further surface rework around the cockpit area to accomodate for the frame extension of the rear part. As it turns out from reference pics, I also need to remove alot of the inner stuff (more on that later).
Looks much better. Not perfect, but with some putty, sanding and scribing of new panel lines the front part wil sit fine I hope. The rear part will be in the open position anyway, so a perfect fit is not much of a problem here.
This is the kit part. Solid enough, but still quite crude. Since I'm on the way to make this kit as accurate as possible, a lot of rework needs to be done on this. Theoretically I could leave some of the detail, like the raised panel lines, as they are good enough, but removing only certain areas will prove difficult without damaging others, so I just opted for the "clean start" approach and removed just all the detail.
I also cut the inner portion from the fuselage frame, as there are some inaccuracies with it as well as it allows me to better handle and detail the inner part.
As all the previous operations left the part quite fragile and damaged, I repaired it and strengthened it with epoxy putty and a thick styrene sheet and sanded excess material away. Also put on an aluminum sheet as the first part of detailing.
Further detailing. Raised panel lines as 3d decals from Archer. Also adjustments on the rearmost portion.
Rear area finished in terms of detailing.
All the detailing should be finished. Put on some raised rivets from Archer as well for further details. Also "recycled" some of the kit details as bases for the boxes, as seen on the front area (the grey plastic indicates kit parts).
Many of the details are oversized and thus, some others are missing as they wouldn't fit otherwise. But overall I am quite happy with the result.
Many of the details are oversized and thus, some others are missing as they wouldn't fit otherwise. But overall I am quite happy with the result.
Eduards photoetch set provides two small parts for detailing. I used one of them, seen on the lower picture, on the left side: the small trapezial box on the front area (eduards photoetch color should be well familiar).
As per request, here a direct comparison of the kit part and my improvement.
The CPU part for the intrument panels is molded in with the fuselage, but for manipulations/modifications I have to cut it out.
I glued the two halves together individually that way and further strengthened the hollow inside with some plastic sheet such that it doesn't accidentally break while sanding and such.
Glued the instrument panel part and cut out more areas for the detailing. Also sanded the part to a more correct shape. Removed many details of the instrument panels as well for Eduards coloured photo etch.
Put on plastic sheet parts as the individual panels, many of them bended to fit the shape.
Some more detailing, now including some scratch built aluminum parts and one part of Eduard's photo etch set making the lower part of the HUD.
Basically finished. Some rased and recessed rivets as a last step. The only things missing are the actual HUD display, which is a clear part and will therefore be added after painting, and furthermore some parts for the anti-icing system for the windshield canopy part.
Again, for anyone interested.
Canopy now has the correct, ligthly-smoke'ish tint. This is actually my second try, as during the first one I somehow did an oopsie and opaque areas formed which I tried to remove using Tamiyas paint remover. This didn't help that much and to make things worse also attacked the putty on the outer frame area. As a result I needed to recreate that area, this time using green stuff, and also polished the clear parts to remove the opaque areas. During all this the crack in the rear part became even more significant, but I just choose to not care about that 😄 . With the wellness-Future bath I gave the parts for the third time, it looks quite good again.
Spiced up the ejection seat a bit. Most of the missing detail is a) so tiny, that I couldn't replicate it anyhow (like miniscule raised rivets) and it won't be visible that much anyway, and b) many of it is on the lower part which wont't be visible once inside the tub.
Everything primed and the cockpit tub color on as well.
Inspired by Bernhard, I decided to try Anyz' toggles & co. as well. Quite a few were lost during the detailing, but the effort was still worth it, as can be seen in the later pictures.
Rear canopy frame finished. Not much colour variation here.
Again, some missing stuff on the rearmost area, but I need a break from this detailing for now, or else I get crazy 😄
I will probably add the part during the final assembly anyway, so no rush..
I will probably add the part during the final assembly anyway, so no rush..
The much more colourful avionics cover area. Due to the lighting, the rearmost white area is practically invisible here.
CPU-cover and front instrument panels. For the HUD-projector and the HUD itself I used some holofoil, which looks very convincing imo.
Ejection seat finished. Among the grey wash I added to all the other parts I also dry brushed it with a dark metallic paint mix. The cushion area was further processed via the addition of oil paints, a dark dirt wash and lastly a matte varnish to differentiate the different surface texture to the metallic seat frame.
Cockpit tub with the joystick part dryfitted in.
Both canopy parts were subjected to the grey wash as well to see if the rivets are visible. The result is okay'ish, some are barely visible. Though they are hardy visible on the real thing anyway and I want to reduce work on the canopy parts to absolute minimum from now.
Everything dryfitted and held in place with masking tape inside the fuselage. There are some gaps and misalignments, but nothing too serious I think. And everything is pretty good visible, which further justifies all the detailing, lol.
The detail on the aft section of the Typhoon is quite spare as well. There is for example this interesting mesh making up a part of the engine facing. The Revell part has just a blank area, so I opted for a rework...
...by cutting the area out...
...using unused photoetch parts to make the mesh myself...
...and making the parts individually. For now it fits quite well, I will finish all up later when I'm assembling the fuselage.
Spine also riveted.
Engine nozzles by Olimp resing are not too bad, though it was quite some work to sand some stuff down for fitting. But the detail is great, can't wait to see how it looks after paint comes on.
The vertical stabilizer has a noticeable raised area on the sides...
...so I added it with the help of some green stuff as support and riveted pices of aluminum sheet for the final part. There is some detail left to do, but again I will add once final fuselage assembly commences.
The METEORS provided by Revell are like the rest of the kit: corect in shape, but poor in detail.
There are quite some animated pictures on the net showing different riveted areas and such, so I used a combination of them and my own imagination - real life references are rare and not very good for surface rework.
After some riveting, panel line scribing and adding aluminum sheet pieces to better accentuate the RAM inlet opening, it looks like this.
I actually made all four directly, but I will use only two for the Typhoon. The other two are probably going to be used on the Gripen, when I turn to it.
The underside surface is quite poor and required rework as well - more than I imagined actually.
Very poorly detailed in particular are the suspensions for the long-range AA missiles - there are no details whatsoever. Here you can see me cutting out plastic to make some detailwork later.
The result after quite a lot of re-scribing and re-riveting.
Also a bit of surface rework on other areas of the plane - getting almost finished.
The engine area also received some attention - though the rivets on the outermost panels on the right should actually be raised, but that is easily fixed.
Here are the finished areas for the rear suspensions - there the METEORS will be fitted, so no real detailwork here.
The forward suspensions will be free, so here I need to show the detail present on the real aircraft. Not much, and some detail will be added in the end else it would be destroyed before, but good enough so far.
The outermost pylons with the chaff/flare dispenser for the ASRAAM needed some riveting, but mostly they were quite good already.
The second outermost pylons with the elevon-acutators on the other hand needed some more rework. There I added some scratch-built parts, and cut out stuff from the underside to detail it more - also the suspension was too thick and was replaced with much thinner styrene sheet.
The ASRAAMS here are probably the easiest part of the entire build - only the four fins needed to be glued on, as well as the infra-red glas piece that will be added after painting.
The fuel tanks were mostly good as well...
...but again I added some more detail.
The inner underwing pylons by Two-Mikes Resin are quite good in shape, but a bit poor in detail..
...since good pics showing the areas do not really exist, I added stuff based on the other pylons from my own imagination.
The part requiring the most work of the weaponry assembly was the middle pylon - Revell does not provide one...
...so I picked one of the big middle pylons I didn't need and cut some stuff out...
...added some stuff and filled in areas with epoxy glue and granulate...
...and after some surface work and scratch-build parts it also is finished.
The LITENING pod from Hasegawas weapons set E.
An etched parts from Eduards resin LITENING. I couldn't use that one since RAF uses a different one, thats mirrored.
Brimstones with rack - the forward fins especially were quite fiddly to attach.
Paveway IVs from L'arsenal - there were some shape issues, so I had to fill in some stuff. Not the best quality I expected to be honest, but now they look okay and will probably look quite good under paint.
The front landing gear bay is mostly accurate in shape. It is too deep however in the middle, which is easily solved though by adding styrene sheet there. Much more difficult to replace is the sheer lack of any detailing, that is raised rivets and wires...
...so I started at first with the raised rivets. I used the 0.1 mm aluminum sheet for this: using a riveter tool and punching hard creates recessed rivets on the one side, but raised on the other. This way I created small sheets with raised rivets and glued them on to the plastic, thus adding the raised riveting.
Forward area finished.
The full area finished, the back area behind the very thick seperating plate required a bit more of surface rework.
Forward landing gear bay completely finished. Lots of wiring with several sizes and some other details.
Together with Eduards PE and again my own scratch-built aluminum parts I replaced the rough and thick detail on the front wheel bay door with something more delicate and scale-sized.
The forward landing gear itself required extensive wiring as well, as other details.
Preliminary dry fit to assess the final look.
Now it's time for the last major detailing work: the main landing gear and bay. Let us start with the landing gear itself first.
The main part is sturdy with good locating points for assembly, and has also a good shape - it is not that detailed on the real thing anyway, safe for the wiring.
The main gear part with its suspension hinges glued - I drilled a hole in those, as it was missing.
The actuator however misses quite some pieces. Its not that bad, it would be well enough, but some areas can be improved. For example the suspension, which is very crude, and can easily be replaced with something scratch-built.
Now that looks better.
When putting both pieces of the landing gear together one can see that there is a gap where a hinge should be. I removed some plastic on the main part and then glued a small scratch-built piece to the parts - it is also significantly more sturdier now, as it is held together in this area as well.
The finished part with the resin wheels dry fitted.
I drilled holes in the landing gear and the wheel to put a cut out part of a thin needle as reinforcement.
The wheel bay doors are also good, but especially the outer ones lack any riveting detail whatsoever.
Here Eduard is to thank with its excellent PE parts. Though I added some of my own detail as well.
The main landing gear bay is as everything before, good in shape, but poor in detail. There is *a lot* of wiring that is present on the real thing, as well as some raised riveting detail.
The assembly by Revell is also rather complex. The whole wheel bay is formed by three parts: 1) the two upper wings for the outermost areas and the landing gear locating holes, 2) a small area formed by the upper fuselage parts, and then 3) the actual individual pieces for the inner fuselage part of the landing gear bay.
The surface rework done, with the same technique as used in the forward wheel bay for creating the raised rivets. Also some parts from other kits that were left over (the darker grey plastic) - you may never now if something might prove useful for a later build.
The outermost areas, with one landing gear part dry fitted.
The main area - you can see what I meant with *a lot*.
A comparison with the original kit parts
Wheel bays primed and painted.
Weapons painted.
Wing part finished.
The forward and main landing gear bay. Quite a lot of colours in this "cable salad" as we say in german. The forward landing gear bay is shown to have some yellow parts - perhaps the same anti-corrosion paint as in some older cold-war era jets?
Landing gear bay doors.
Landing gear. Also several colours for all the wires, especially on the main part.
Putting weight into the front. Didn't count how much gram, but hopefully enough to prevent this bird from being a tail sitter. The quite heavy rear canopy will probably also help in this regard.
Some more detailing. For the hole on the left I added some aluminum sheet pieces to simulate a grid.
Work-in-progress snapshot of the construction. Some heavy equipment.
Not yet finished, but we get there. Several "problem areas":
1) the cockpit canopy front part. There was a considerable gap between the canopy part and the fuselage. I filled it with Milliput, but there is still some clean-up and smoothing to do via Tamiya putty. Also, you can see the smoke-ish tint I added very clearly.
2) This areay was finished rather quickly. Just some putty and sanding. Though, some rescribing is required.
3) Lessened the gaps between airbrake and fuselage. Looks okay in my opinion.
Surprsisingly, there is no gap between fuselage and wing - only on the left front area, though I'll see after some initial primer application if it is worth cleaning up.
4) The underside of the front fusealge needed a lot of putty. I basically need to rescribe and re-rivet the whole area.
On the rest on the underside you can see a lot of small patches where I did small mistakes during the scribing of the panellines. Now they need clean up as well.
5) The aft area where I will put the scratch-built engine cover needed some material to be added again. Some of the milliput fell of on the portside during sanding, so I have to repeat it there...
A bit of last riveting for the air intakes. There will be a lot of putty for the fit later on as well..
Some riveting on the DASS pods, as well as Eduard PE and making the bulge on the starboard pod via UV glue.
MBDA METEOR, BVRAAM guided missile. I used decals from the AIM-120 of the Typhoon kit and some from other kits to make it more detailed based on reference pics.
Paveway IV satellite-infrared guided gliding bomb. The infrared seeker head was created via UV glue and painted orange. The yellow explosive marking on the warhead was painted, not a decal - I found this better than adjusting it to the modified warhead section due to the reinforcement plate on top.
The decals come from the Syhart set for the Rafale with the armament markings - I used decals for the GBU-49, which is mostly the same.
The decals come from the Syhart set for the Rafale with the armament markings - I used decals for the GBU-49, which is mostly the same.
LITENING III pod, left-hand sided - a unique version different to the default one for the RAF as it seems.
AIM-132 ASRAAM, short range guided missile. Not much to say here, excellent quality by Eduard as always.
The triple racks for the Brimstones
BRIMSTONE II dual mode version - satellite and infrared guided. Yeah, this little pos uses quite a lot of decals for such a small area. But well worth it.
I created the central "spire" (?) inside the seeker heads just by drilling a bit into the part. Then painting it with metal paint. Looks quite convincing, if you ask me.
After a lot of clean-up of the aforementioned problem areas (and some others..), this is the (hopefully) final result before the main paintjob. Next are some additional details that I added.
The static dischargers on the radome are replicated with Archer Fine Transfer 3D decals (as raised panel lines so to say).
I removed the previous attempt at the reinforcement plate and replaced it with one made out of thin plastic sheet. Recessed and raised rivets were added there as well as on the tail rudder.
It seems that the resolution is not that big sadly, so I have to retry it for the final photo shoot - but essentially, this part of the tail light and the emergency fuel exhaust below it.
The area between the engine nozzles also received some love: The Praetorian system part was glued (the tube on the top), aluminum sheet was used to detail the lower area (barely visible due to reflection) and I used some Eduard and scratch-built parts to create an open brake-chute housing.
The wings were also finished with the addition of several rows of raised rivets.
Same goes for the elevons: Recessed and raised rivets, as well as cutting out some areas to replicate the actuator openings.
Main color: Real Color 299 - RAF Camouflage Grey
Radar/Avionics color: 50% Real Color 300 - RAF Dark Camouflage + 50% RC222 - Insignia White
Radar/Avionics color: 50% Real Color 300 - RAF Dark Camouflage + 50% RC222 - Insignia White
Innermost Underwing Pylons and centerline Pylon: Dark Ghost Grey
Other Pylons are in the fuselage main color; forward part of outermost SRAAM pylons: RC249 - Medium Grey
Other Pylons are in the fuselage main color; forward part of outermost SRAAM pylons: RC249 - Medium Grey
Forward part of fuel tanks: RC237 - Medium Grey (otherwise main fuselage color as well)
It may not be very visible, but there is definitely a noticeable discoloration on the final product below. This was achieved by toning down the preliminary result above with the main fuselage color.
I did the same on the underside, but I don't have an 'after' picture yet.
I did the same on the underside, but I don't have an 'after' picture yet.
Same procedure on the fuel tanks to make them look dirty. I will follow up with oil colors after decals and wash.
The engine exhausts are also finished in terms of coloring. The engine exhaust fans and afterburner rings on the bottom are completely finished and were glued to the exhaust tubes (and both of them inside the plane). The nozzles still need a wash and some final weathering, but are otherwise finished as well.
Decaling complete.
Final assembly beginning.
RBF Tags.
The finished, weathered fuel tanks.
A sneak peak at the coming photo shoot.
Commenti
98 9 November 2020, 13:28
AlexanderSooo,
finally started this undertaking. Wanted to this already in October but University stuff got the better of me.
Planned lots of re-scribing, riveting, sawing of parts, and detailing. For many of the stuff I am going to orientate myself on this build review here:
arcforums.com/forums..ng-for-132-finished/
In addition to all that remaking, I'm gonna saw off the elevons to position them in the rested position - I am still unsure about the ailerons though. Also detailwork in the landing gear bays.
Armament like in the main picture: 2 ASRAAM's, 2 BRIMSTONE racks, 2 Paveways, 2 fuel tanks and 2 METEOR's.
Already started the step of removing the panel lines. I am starting with the upper fuselage and move onto upper wings, lower wings then lower fuselage, with phases of detailwork in cockpit and wheel wells in between. So, lots of stuff even before the first paint or primer.
9 November 2020, 13:37
AlexanderThanks guys for being on the ride. 🙂 Progress is slow, but this was expected as it is my first time making such a massive surface rework - although still minor compared to many other projects on this site. 😄
I'm now on the riveting part on the portside of the upper fuselage, picture will come when I finished this side at least for the most part.
11 November 2020, 21:15
AlexanderPortside is almost finished. The only thing missing are a few panel lines and riveting here and there that follow along further assembling and some steps around the cockpit, airbrake, engine nacelles and vertical stabilizer that need to be done with a thin styrene sheet.
Did a preliminary panel line wash after superficial sanding of all the riveting to assess wether all of that is still visible...which it mostly is, quite satisfied with the result for now. Though I need to widen quite a few rivets that got too small due to the sanding, but that for later...
13 November 2020, 20:41
Slavo HazuchaWow, that's a lot of work invested... Fighting and winning a slow battle of attrition here!😉 Following 👍 - as for building one, I'd definitely want to, but I'll chicken out and wait for a better model, probably...
1 January 2021, 22:47
AlexanderThanks Slavo, the battle had a slow ceasefire due to non-scale modeling reasons but I decided to return to the front - this time tackling the upper wings.
6 February 2021, 16:42
DanielFantastic detailing work alexander, thsi will look fantastic on the painted jet! cant wait
6 February 2021, 20:52
Slavo HazuchaSuperb re-scribing and riveting, as daniel said, very much looking forward to the way you integrate it with the paint-job! 👍 What tools are you using?
8 February 2021, 21:24
Jos JansenGreat work with "Rosie" the riveter...definitely a build to follow!
8 February 2021, 21:28
AlexanderThank you Slavo and Jos, I am also keen to know how it all looks in the end 😄 .
Tools:
- for laying down the template a pencil (obviously 😄) and rulers, including a large flexible one for longer and/or curved areas (it's called "Curve-Ruler" and I bought it from PK-Pro, not sure if it's a specific model though). For Curved panel-lines Hasegawas photoetch templates. I use those things as a guidance for the actual scribing and riveting tools as well
- for scribing I operate in three phases: 1. Using a "Flexi-File" Ultra fine scriber (basically a holder with a replacable needle) for the first panel line, doing slow and careful and then more pressure. 2. A one-cast Vallejo scriber with a thicker point to enlarge the panel-line. 3. A Trumpeter panel line scriber for actually deepening the panel line
- for riveting I use two Rosie the Riveter's - one with 0.75 mm intervals and one with 0.6 mm. Since the resulting rivets are too small and shallow for my taste, as they probably would barely be visible with all that primer, paint and clear coat, I subsequently deepen them one-by-one with the Flexi-File scriber - more time consuming, but worth it in the end imo.
- For sanding I use a variety of stuff, sanding paper from the local hardware shop, Tamiya, Flory Models, etc.
8 February 2021, 21:40
GamerLevelDadLiking the work on the rescribing panel lines. I have an old tomcat monogram kit in my stash that I may do this to. I've never done it before. Yours is real inspiring to look at though.
9 February 2021, 00:11
AlexanderThank you GamerLevelDad and Clifford - hope you and your wife are doing good!
Making the rivets symmetrical on the left wing proved to be trickier than anticipated - ended up moving two of the "round rivet lines". Though I am quite pleased with the result now. Pictures'll follow tomorrow.
11 February 2021, 22:44
Spanjaardamazing riveting. i have some plan to do a full paneling/riveting in an old model, so i will certainly watch with interest.
11 February 2021, 23:45
AlexanderThank you for the kinds words Nathan and Spanjaard!
I'm thinking if I should continue with surface preperation or with some other detailwork. I want to tackle the landing gear bays only when I'm finished with the bottom fuselage and wings, so I guess I'm moving on to the cockpit for now.
12 February 2021, 11:30
Clifford KeeslerStunning work so far. The wife and I are doing well. Thank you very much for your well wishes.
13 February 2021, 21:40
AlexanderThanks again for your nice comments, Daniel, Celliers and Clifford!
Remaking the canopy was quite difficult indeed, but I think I have the worst parts behind me. After a bit more sanding and Future the canopy will look much better, and it is okay-ish right now as well for me, no to bad considering all the putty and superglue dust that landed on it.
There is still some work to do on the outer part: riveting, scribing one or two panel lines and gluing another thin sheet on it, but I think I woll focus on the "inner values" for now. Meaning the inner canopy part which lacks a lot of details and needs considerable scratch-building.
3 March 2021, 12:46
Konrad -Damn how could I miss this.
Awesome work on the canopy Alexander awesome work 👍!
6 March 2021, 22:16
DanielCrazy stuff, looks like space engineering 👍 I see a real show stopper coming here 🙂
7 March 2021, 10:12
AlexanderThanks alot mates! Was the first time I actually did more than significant scratch-building, so I am proud to have achieved something y'all seem to like.
7 March 2021, 11:01
Nathan DempseyYes, definitely nice and busy. The cockpit on mine is toylike by comparison🙂
7 March 2021, 14:59
AlexanderWell, this is what Italeri delivered on default in your case, and so did Revell in mine. But you still made a very presentable model out of it. And thanks for the compliment. 🙂
7 March 2021, 16:17
Alexander GrivonevThis looks like serious dedication, gotta love honest craftsmanship, effort and eye for detail 👍👍👍
8 March 2021, 13:15
Slavo HazuchaWow - the re-scribe was a job requiring some true grit, but the canopy is an entirely new kind of beast... literally, I am stunned & intimidated by what I see - in terms of determination and result as well! 👍😉
8 March 2021, 13:58
AlexanderOh, didn't saw your post somehow Slavo - but thanks very much for your kind words!
10 March 2021, 17:51
Alexander GrivonevYes, this is a "slight improvement" of the kit part....nothing fancy👍😄
Put them together in one picture for comparison!
19 March 2021, 10:10
Marco PretoThat cockpit is really something amazing! I'll stay here for the remaining build!
Cheers
mpminiatures.wordpress.com
Instagram: @marco_a_c_preto
19 March 2021, 16:00
Konrad -That is something special in a positive way👍! Awesome detail work. Looking forward to the painting process 👍!
19 March 2021, 16:20
AlexanderThank you both Marco and Konrad! Painting is not too far off, the biggest "obstacle" on the way is the instrument CPU inside the windshield, this needs some extensive detailing as well. Both the cockpit tub and ejector seat should be relatively straight-forward in comparison.
19 March 2021, 16:41
Slavo HazuchaGo on, I´m cheering on the side, still watching in awe, really looking forward how this rainbow of colors & materials will look in final paint 👍
21 March 2021, 13:05
AlexanderWell, it will be replaced by another rainbow of colours and materials, as the reference pictures show (kind of). 😄
Happy to deliver to the cheering crowd. 🙂
21 March 2021, 13:36
Spanjaardejection seats are just stunning. well, like everything else, actually...
2 April 2021, 21:12
AlexanderThank you very much Spanjaard and Clifford! I also think that the ejection seat is the small highlight here, mostly because how lifelike the seatbelts and cushion look to me.
3 April 2021, 09:05
Slavo HazuchaExcellent progress in the pit 👍 you probably used more different materials than the original aircraft in scratch-building all those details, great devotion & outcome!
20 April 2021, 17:27
Robin (WhiteGlint)That's some nice detailing.
I guess you need a lot of stamina and patience for a project like this.
22 July 2021, 19:30
AlexanderThanks WhiteGlint and Nathan!
@WhiteGlint: yeah, that for sure. But most of the hard work lies behind me, the only major step now is the landing gear with the bays and doors. After that it's just minor stuff here and there and probably some significant filling and sanding to get the fuselage parts together nicely.
22 July 2021, 19:55
Spanjaardstunning scratch details, all over the place. this baby will look nothing like the original kit did... wow.
3 August 2021, 12:22
AlexanderThanks alot for your nice words Spanjaard.
Yeah, I also get the feeling now. I am really curious how it will look finished, will definitely make some comparative pictures with my older Typhoon.
3 August 2021, 12:58
Lenny HoffmannWow this is Bernhard Schrock Level of detailling 😄 nice work Alexander! Keep it up!
4 August 2021, 06:18
AlexanderMates, the rework is now almost finished! With the exception of some smaller parts and areas, including the two DASS pods, every part has now been reworked with riveting, scribing and scratch building. Now it is time to put the other wave of pieces in to the paint booth before continuing with the fuselage assembly and the last reworking steps.
8 August 2021, 17:16
JEAN-LUC LELODEYyou are the king of scratching, compliance and information research. well done
8 August 2021, 17:30
AlexanderThats a great compliment JL L, thank you a lot! Though I must humbly remark, that probably still have to learn quite a few things in these regards.
8 August 2021, 17:45
Slavo HazuchaAmazing stuff! At this rate of scratch-techniques display, I'll have to start learning additional languages due to acute lack of unrepeated English terms of praise. 👍 Hardly ever was both the beauty & the suffering of this hobby been expressed better than in these pictures... 😄
8 August 2021, 21:04
AlexanderThank you very much for your words of praise Clifford, Slavo and David!
@Slavo: "beauty & suffering" is a perfect description of this build, though I still had a lot of fun with all the scratch building. And the finish line is already viewable at the horizon, after the fuselage assembly it should be rather quick in terms of painting and weathering.
8 August 2021, 21:19
Richard SelleiWow ... i drop my mind over the window 😄 Its ....ng cool 🙂
i would ask Alexander, what you use for wire holder?
8 August 2021, 22:41
Richard Selleii think on the last pic of ur albums, i see the red wire, and what is on the wires...masking tape?
8 August 2021, 22:48
AlexanderAh that - yes, that is just masking tape. It is held initially via cyanacrulate glue, else it would not hold strong enough. After that though I just wrapped it around the wires.
8 August 2021, 23:13
Richard SelleiGreat 🙂 Thanks 🙂 its looks great 🙂
Go ahead, i take a seat and waching teh results 🙂
8 August 2021, 23:14
JohnThe before and after photo is striking - just fantastic level of detail! You will have to display that model over a mirror to fully appreciate it.
9 August 2021, 00:09
AlexanderThanks alot John and Mona!
@John: that may be even better, but at least I put it on a glass shelve, so you can look at it from below. 🙂
9 August 2021, 07:46
AlexanderToo much for any sane person, probably.. 😄
Though painting of it is finished now, only clear coat and wash now - and maybe some decals.
9 August 2021, 20:25
NeilJust been through whole album, learning as I go... I'll just say I'm in awe of work like this. Some of you guys on here are engineers really. It all looks simply stunning Alexander ?
14 August 2021, 10:16
AlexanderThanks alot Vincent and Brandon!
I wanted to say that the project will be on hold for now. I will be away for almost a year and therefore not able to pursue this hobby during this time. I tried to get this finished before I leave, but my assessment of time is not the best, and I would rather give this beast of a project the attention it deserves, rather than hastily finishing it and leaving mistakes along the way. It was a hard choice, but don't be worried - next year I will definitely finish the Tiffy, as well as some other projects I have.
In the meantime I will observe the other artists on this site, and learn a thing or two, I'm sure.
Thanks mates for your attention and support in this project!
18 August 2021, 20:04
VincentWell good luck with your assignments and we will patiently wait for the return!
18 August 2021, 23:59
Clifford KeeslerTake care of yourself, and we will see you when you get back, will anixiously await the completion of this fantastic project.
19 August 2021, 01:05
Slavo HazuchaThis build & thread really is a gift that keeps on giving!!! 😉
Along the main plane build, one would think it impossible for the armaments to be but a mere side-show, but here we go - excellent job on the AA package, especially like the Meteor side-intakes 👍
19 August 2021, 12:21
Konrad -Awesome Alex just awesome!
So many details to Look at, I'm really looking forward to the final rollout.
19 August 2021, 12:35
SchnematIncredible work! I'm sure it will pay off in the end, this will be one goodlooking typhoon!
21 August 2021, 10:07
Maciej BellosWe will be waiting rather impatiently for your comeback Alexander. Good luck with whatever keeps you away. Cheers!
21 August 2021, 10:59
Daniel1 year? Thats quite a while...I will be here when you blow the dust off again 🙂
Your weaponry looks stunning, the stencil effort was absolutely worth it 👍
21 August 2021, 14:24
tyuGreat job! I guess I leave my Eurofighter kits untouched after seeing this...
8 September 2021, 07:06
AlexanderThanks Alexander and tyu!
No need to tyu, there are a lot of other great Typhoon builds on this website, I'm sure your's will make a great addition.
23 October 2021, 00:54
AlexanderMates, I hope there are still people left on the spectator seats for the last part of this marathon of a build.
After getting back to the bench I was at first very busy of cleaning up all the problem areas of the plane. Next were the final surface details, many of them scratch-built as well. Hopefully my clean-up will be sufficient or at least only minimal needed. In that case, I would be racing to the finish line with painting the actual plane. Only relatively minor steps after that.
18 May 2022, 20:10
AlexanderThanks mates for all the nice comments!
Main paintjob is done, but smaller detail painting, the engines and post shading remain. Pictures will follow soon.
19 May 2022, 19:55
AlexanderSave for one or two miniscule details, I am completely finished with the paintjob now. The plane is waiting for the gloss coat to dry, so I can begin decaling fuselage, pylons, and remove before flight covers.
24 May 2022, 10:15
Konrad -Ok that is indeed visible! Let me say hmm…
Absolutely stunning and awesome!!!👍🏻
24 May 2022, 12:06
AlexanderSoo, after all this time its finally done. I have yet to make the full photo shooting to show off all the details on the finished model, but I will see when time and lighting conditions are suitable for that.
As for now, there is one picture of the finished model here so you can get a glimpse of the finished product. Stay tuned for the final pictures!
28 May 2022, 13:53
Pantelis AntonoglouAbsolutely fantastic!!! I love the detail level of this build!
28 May 2022, 15:13
tyuVery nice added detail. I just don't get the raised flaperons for a parked Typhoon. The vast majority of pictures at rest show flaperons neutral or dropped, never raised. I don't have the reference book you used at hand but online pics are NOT showing flaperons in raised position when parked. Normally gravity would do its work and they would be in a lowered position. Could you explain the reason why you went for the raised flaperons?
28 May 2022, 15:53
AlexanderThanks guys for the nice comments!
@tyu
In my reference book, a lot of the parked typhoons have the elevons in the raised position in fact. I also read somewhere that that is the neutral position. However, you are correct that a lot of online pictures show them in the default drooped down position, and I have this in my book as well. I even have a picture of both dropped and raised elevons at the same time. Maybe it has to do something with hydraulics specific to the Tiffy? Anyway, couldn't find anything concrete, but I decided to depict the Typhoon this way to add more interest.
28 May 2022, 16:47
Nathan DempseyLooks great & I really like the load-out too. Can't wait to see more pics.
28 May 2022, 18:09
tyuThanks for the explanation, maybe I should buy this reference book. All I can find online that flaps AND flaperons can be both raised while parked, but not only raised flaperons. I'll take the easy way out on my build and go for the more common neutral variation, can't go wrong with that.
28 May 2022, 18:32
AlexanderThank you Robin and Nathan!
And no problem tyu, good luck with your build!
29 May 2022, 00:09
AlexanderAlrighty guys, here it is, the final album of this plane: Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 - Final Pictures | Album by DokAlex144 (1:48)
Thanks to all of you for following along!
4 June 2022, 19:16
Petar ŽorićAmazing Typhoon man, and those rivets required serious precision, let's see those studio photos! 😄
8 April 2023, 21:54
Petar ŽorićI'm going through the pictures and cannot believe how much additional work you did. It's inspirational man!
8 April 2023, 22:00
AlexanderThank you for your kind words Petar! Sometimes, I even needed to redo some of the rivets.
And what can I say, the base kit is not necessarily that detailed that it's sufficient for my taste 😄
I'm also not the first one, there are a couple other builds out there that also detailed the Revell Tiffy, I recommend you check them out.
For example this one, the main inspiration for me:
arcforums.com/forums..ng-for-132-finished/
or this one I found recently (though it's in German only):
modellbaufreunde.net..lug-1-48-revell.html
9 April 2023, 09:47
Petar ŽorićI have revell euro fighter 1/72 in stash, so this, alongside with your album will be great for referencing, and in the end if it's as half as detailed as yours, I will be happy, thank you very much 🙂
11 April 2023, 16:06
AlexanderThank you very much for these flattering words, I'm sure you will make a great model - good luck with it!
11 April 2023, 20:11
