Back | pages 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
The sprues on first inspection look nice and flash free, as you would expect from Hobbyboss. There is a lot of rivet detailing on the air frame but I like that at this scale. The cockpit and Aces II ejection seat in the kit look adequate but I have decided for this build to add the Airies Cockpit which should bring out the detail and make the model more interesting.
I have also decided to add the Airies Avionics Bay to the build which I will explain more later on.
Construction Begins…
- References used: Internet, photographic reference materials.
- Materials Used:Revell Cement, Tamiya extra Thin Cement, Superglue, Vallejo Model Colour, Alclad2 lacquers, Tamiya acrylic paints, Tamiya weathering pastels and artist pastels, Squadron Green putty, MDC Sanding Sticks, Micro mesh, Tamiya Masking tape, Micro Sol.
We start with the wings that on the aircraft. These can both be posed with the speed brakes open or closed. I was looking for a “pre prepped for flight” aircraft and I have not seen many parked with these open so they were closed. The wheel wells were added and then out to one side. One thing I do like about the HobbyBoss kit is the option to pose the slats open or closed on the wings. I believe this is the only kit so far in 1:48th scale to do so and it certainly makes the model look a lot more interesting.
Next up is the mighty GAU-8A Canon that the whole airframe is built around. Hobbyboss do include a nice detailed model of this and which I have not built as I believed that by including this I could not add any weight to the front nose, especially with adding a resin cockpit. All credit to Hobbyboss for doing so and I am sure that this could be posed on a stand by the side of the aircraft if you wished (note, a stand is not supplied and you would have to scratch build one!)
The kit also allows you to pose the kit with each engine bay opened. I did initially begin to build the kit with these opened but soon changed my mind to allow each engine bay to be closed. A quick dry fit of the airframe the kits main elements do fit together well.
At this stage the undercarriage was sprayed Tamiya XF-2 (White) and weathered with MIG dark wash and the rubber tyres added. Small light dry brushing was added to bring out the detail.
The weapon hard points were also painted Gunze H308 (FS36375) and then again washed with MIG Dark Wash. 
So far so good!