Dave Ward's 1/48 Trumpeter JF-17 Thunder

[Dave Ward]

This has caught my eye, don't know why - but it somehow appeals to me
It's a cross between a Mig-21 and a F-16, developed as a joint venture between China & Pakistan. The Chinese don't use it, but Pakistan has over 100 already in service, and Myanmar & Nigeria are buying.[ATTACH]319910[/ATTACH]
The usual Trumpeter box, and full of bits - but wait - 3 of those sprues are fuel tanks, pylons and weapons![ATTACH]319904[/ATTACH]
12 air to air missiles to fit on four stations,and 3 fuel tanks Sidewinder clones, and Sparrow lookalikes and some odd configuration ones.
The tub is basic - an advantage of 'glass' cockpits is that decals work well
[ATTACH]319906[/ATTACH]
The wheelwells are nicely detailed - how much will be seen is moot.
[ATTACH]319908[/ATTACH][ATTACH]319909[/ATTACH]

The fuselage is split top & bottom, nice engraved details
[ATTACH]319907[/ATTACH]
The nose is split side to side. A small PE fret give harness, HUD & mirrors[ATTACH]319903[/ATTACH]
Good clear canopy & lights, seeker heads etc[ATTACH]319901[/ATTACH]
Decal sheet for 3 versions - A Chinese demonstrator, A garish red/white/green Pakistani version, and a Pakistani two-tone grey ( the version I'm going to do ). Another smaller decal sheet provides stencil data for the missiles[ATTACH]319902[/ATTACH]

I certainly can't remember having made a Pakistani marked airplane before, so this is a first for me
Construction will start shortly.........
Dave

[papa 695]

Looks a nice kit Dave

[stillp]

A nice kit and unusual subject. Hope the fit is OK.

Pete

[Dave Ward]

Finally managed some benchtime - joining all the fuel tanks halves, putting fins on missiles, weighted wheel bits. The\multi-part wheelwells added to the lower fuselage, and the top added..................
[ATTACH]320137[/ATTACH]
Nearly forgot to open up the pylon mount holes - when in doubt, read the instructions. Really good fit - there are one piece separate slats, flaps & ailerons, minimal clean up after assembly.
The engine nozzle - looks rather crude & clunky compared to the F-16 & later US jets. There is an afterburner ring, just visible....[ATTACH]320138[/ATTACH]
I can see that the major join will be the front cockpit sides to the fuselage, - all the other seams/joints are minimal or covered by later bits - looks like it will be a pretty quick build. Next up will be the cockpit tub & the ejector seat ( Martin Baker PK16 )
Dave

[dave]

An interesting looking aircraft, if the Pakistani red and green scheme is the one on the box art I see what you mean by “garish”

[Dave Ward]

Two of the three schemes..................[ATTACH]320154[/ATTACH]
The one I'm going for is this..................[ATTACH]320153[/ATTACH]
The third version is essentially the same, but with Chinese decals
Dave

[Dave Ward]

Cockpit tub & ejector seat assembled - now awaits the PE harness.......[ATTACH]320216[/ATTACH]

As I thought, the rest of the fuselage went together easily & quickly, a minimum of clean up - fit very good![ATTACH]320217[/ATTACH]
Dave

[Fernando N]

Interesting one Dave, great looking progress and nice to see that the parts fit very good.:thumb2:

[Dave Ward]

Further progress, the forward fuselage joined - with the cockpit tub & nose wheelwell sandwiched between them. I must admit I was sceptical about the joint between this and the main fuselage - I didn't see how it could line up. With a little wiggling and twisting for a dry fit, it clicked into place so well that I didn't dare take it apart. A little TET wicked into the joints, job done[ATTACH]320409[/ATTACH][ATTACH]320410[/ATTACH]
The joint is spot on! I'll have to clean up the joint between the nose halves ( not much at all ), and that is the major construction finished, and I can think of paint. I'll leave the nosecone off for the moment, just in case I need to add some weights.
The fit of this model has been outstanding, and has needed little edge preparation, or tweaking - very impressive!
Dave

[Dave Ward]

I decided I'd better add weights to the nosecone, so I epoxied in some ball bearings, before adding it to the rest of the fuselage. Masked up the canopy, then stuck it on using white PVA, so I can remove it later. Out with the airbrush, and a basecoat applied[ATTACH]320549[/ATTACH]
I pawed through my assortment of light grey paints, to find something that looked right - and used Mission Models Light Gull Grey. It'll darken down a bit when I gloss coat it - pre wash. No weathering on this, all photographs I've seen, have been immaculate. I have a dark grey patch to apply over the light grey - time to look at my dark(er) grey selection.........
Dave

[Dave Ward]

Grey patch added, top and bottom.................[ATTACH]320636[/ATTACH]
I used MiG Ammo Medium Gunship Grey. Despite all my care, I managed some overspray, and to knock off one of the underside aerials - I'll have to touch up the Gull Grey in a few places.
Dave

[Guest]

That looks very dark grey to me, compared to the instructions (which, of course, can be highly misleading). However, if I look for photos of the real thing, I find this:



It’s your model, of course, but I think I’d consider overspraying it with the basic grey you used to see if that brings it closer to the contrast between the colours in that photo

[Dave Ward]

Yup,
that Medium Grey was a bit over the top! I'll have another go tomorrow morning! :sad:
Dave

[Dave Ward]

This has turned out to be a bit of a struggle - I decided to overspray the Ammo Gunship Grey with the Mission Models Light Gull Grey, darkened with a few drops of the Gunship Grey.
The paints didn't mix well - then when I sprayed, the airbrush began to choke. That wasn't the worst of it - when the paint dried, it had separated to light grey, with dark grey patches. Much cursing!!!. I left it for a day, then oversprayed again, with the Mission Models Gull Grey, this time darkened with Vallejo Neutral grey. It sprayed a little better, but the airbrush was still struggling. This time, the paint dried fairly evenly, so I decided to leave well alone![ATTACH]320867[/ATTACH]
I only have the one bottle of Mission Models paint, so I'm not sure about the compatibility of different colours with other makers acrylics. Since I have loads of bottles of Vallejo, AK, Hataka & Mig paint, and never had any problems mixing them, then I'm afraid that I won't be buying any more Mission Models paint. It maybe just me, but there are loads of other alternatives.
I spent ages cleaning my airbrushes, as rather stupidly, I thought it might just be a problem with one. I ended up with both choked * sigh *
Dave

[Dave Ward]

After a few days away from the bench, on with the decals - I'm not going to apply the stencil data - the contrast between the paint and the decals is very little - I've applied one or two, and they have disappeared!
[ATTACH]321150[/ATTACH]
When I put the ejector seat in the cockpit, the canopy would not fit, the seat was too high. I trimmed about 2mm off the bottom, and the canopy now fits snugly. I can't see where I fit, or assembled anything wrongly, just one of those things!
Gloss coat next, then panel wash. I'm doing this before I add the weapons & pylons, for easy access.
Dave