Then and now- 4th stormo Regia Aeronautica - Fiat cr32 and Typhoon

[yak face]

Heres the typhoon in its basic state! 228 parts and a decal sheet with literally hundreds of tiny stencils!! The kit looks to be excellently detailled and i dont think ill have to add anything ,so its just o.O .B. Theres 2 sprues just for all the weapons ,i expect ill have quite a bit left for the spares box. Ill be starting with the cockpit (surprise!) and the ejector seat is made up from 6 pieces and is superbly detailed with moulded on harness, the rest of the cockpit is similarly well detailed ,although these modern digital cockpits are really quite simplified in real life, not as busy or crammed as some of the older jets- makes my job a bit easier!! More progress as it happens , cheers tony

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[Ian M]

I saw a photo of a 4.Stormo 'Phoon with all its stores laid out in front of it on the tarmac. T'was a most impressive site.

Cant find it again now. Typical!

Ian M

[yak face]

Heres the ejector seat minus the firing handle,(i thought it would be easier to attach this after painting it yellow and black)It should scrub up pretty well with a bit of careful painting. tony

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[Ian M]

Good looking seat that! A resin seat may be a little sharper in detail but that kit one has it all.

Firing handle. Good you said that, Need to put one on my seat in the Jag. I always leave them to the last moment, as I normally knock them off about ten times!

I find it easier (some times), to paint a bit of stretched sprue, then bend it in shape as I superglue it in place, one end at a time. Well it makes it easier to paint the strips anyway. lol

Ian M

[Guest]

Great looking Fiat Tony and super clean build! I do'nt even you on those Typhoon stencils my eyes hurt just thinking about them!

[yak face]

After being a bit busy these last few weeks ive got a bit more done on the typhoon this weekend. The main thing has been the cockpit which is now done, the seat is painted with a few extra straps and cables and doesnt look too bad, the rest of the cockpit is fairly plain,as the modern ones are, with just switches and a throttle lever. The instrument panel is the same being just buttons and lcd display screens, the kit supplied item having raised detail and also supplying no less than 10 decals for this in case you didnt want to paint the detail. I settled for a mixture of the two and the only thing added here was the supprt struts for the HUD and a circle of holographic confetti for the projector screen. Once the cockpit is done the fuselage can go together but not before i drilled out the APU exhaust vent above the port wingroot. This is what causes the characteristic sooty mark on all typhoons and is just represented by a shallow hole on the kit. I decided to add a small tube to make the hole look better and used a section of bendy drinking straw ,superglued on at an angle. The fuselage is going to get glued tonight so hopefully it should start moving quicker now, cheers tony

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[Ian M]

Neat bang seat and office there Tony. A good idea with the straw too.

Its funny how more often than not the cockpit takes more time than the rest of the build.

Ian M

[yak face]

Cheers ian, it wasnt so much the cockpit as my lack of time that slowed the build, but now the big bits are going together its coming on nicely. The kit cockpit is fine isnt it?,i dont think a resin or P.E. replacement would be much different, the actual thing is very simplified . I must say though , im very impressed with the rest of the kit, great details in the undercarriage areas and the fit and engineering is very well thought out,as with all the new revell stuff- i just cant understand why a lot of people regard them as not very good. cheers tony

[Ian M]

LOL I didn't mean any thing by it other than the cockpit always seams to take more time than the rest or an aircraft. On problem here, its taken me longer than ever to build my Jag, so I can hardly talk...:-)

I agree with the comment on Revell as well. The new stuff is pretty good and much improved on from their early kits. Another good reason to keep an eye on Revell is that they often do re-boxed Hasegawa kits. And now't wrong with them is there!

I will probably end up with a 'phoon some time so I will be glad to see how this one looks.

Ian M

[Dave W]

Another thing with Revell is they rebox the old Monogram kits that you and i love Tony.I Bought the 1/48 B24D a couple of months ago.Its a good old Monogram kit with Revells better quality decal sheet.

[yak face]

Well, I did it!! I managed to get this one finished last night - in the final hours of the six month build time!! This has taken me quite a while, what with holidays, work etc but im happy with how its turned out. The build thread has been a bit bare due to me not having much time to take pics etc but it was a fairly uneventful build, a very nice kit,just a few little things to watch out for (seams in intake, undercarriage doors needing shaving down a bit) All that has been added to the basic kit is a few more harnesses on the seat, a replacement HUD and projector (as i lost the kit one!)the APU exhaust port and a few brake lines on the u/c legs. The stencils took AGES! there were loads ,although it does look better for it ( the decals by the way , were revells usual excellent standard,easy to use and all the tiny stencils were readable under magnification -NON SALIRE -no step!) One point for anyone making this kit, dont forget to add the nose weight, I did! OOPS! Fortunately for me, this particular weapons fit and a tiny bit of good fortune meant that it wasnt a tail sitter anyway, but loaded with more weapons and the intermediate pylons might be a different story? The kit is finished in the standard air to air role as recently employed by the 4th stormo,enforcing the no fly zone over Libya (the only difference is the real thing carries 4 IRIS T missiles in this role, but the kit only supplies two) Here are a few pics with the Fiat cr32 , Ill be taking some more for a 'completed' post later when the light is a bit better, cheers tony

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[Guest]

Great work mate. Both aircraft look amazing. Top work.

[coachman]

Hi Tony,two more masterpieces for your shelf. It must have been a doddle

for you working at this scale compared to your usual miniatures. Lovely

paint jobs,I particularly like the Typhoon,very realistic. John

[yak face]

Cheers guys, i'm just off outside now to get some pics for a completed thread in the sunshine! cheers tony