Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Detailing a Fujimi F-18 1/72 (Part I)

English:
I want to begin with an apology to all those who have been interested in the process of this model for delaying so long the preparation of this article. The problem was that the original pictures of the process, besides being quite bad, were in slide format so I needed some time to arrange and remaster them into digital format. You will notice that some of them are not good enough, but I have not been able to fix them anymore. Still, they are better than nothing so I decided to include them.
I also want to thank Ralph Riese for his help in the translation. All errors are entirely my fault.

Español:
Quiero comenzar pidiendo disculpas a todos aquellos que se han interesado por el proceso de esta maqueta, por haber tardado tanto en preparar el artículo. El problema es que las fotos originales del proceso aparte de ser bastante malas, son antiguas y están en formato de diapositiva, y por lo tanto he tardado bastante en ordenarlas y remasterizarlas en formato digital, notareis que algunas de ellas no han quedado muy bien pero no he sido capaz de mejorarlas más, aún así son mejor que nada por eso he decidido dejarlas.

Materials / Materiales:

1: Good graphic info is essential for this kind of job: books, reviews and the Net are valuable sources.
1: Una buena información gráfica es siempre importante para este tipo de trabajo: libros, revistas e Internet son fuentes valiosas de información.


2: The Fujimi kit and the aftermarket used: Verlinden´s detailing set, Eduard photoetched sheet, Hi-Decal sheet for the adversary markings, and Aztek decal sheet for the "21 Escuadrón" markings.
2: La maqueta de Fujimi y los complementos usados: El set de detalle de Verlinden, una hoja de fotograbados de Eduard, la hoja de calcas de Hi-Decal para el F-18 agresor y la hoja de calcas de Aztek para las insignias del 21 Escuadrón.


3: Stretched sprue. To make some rods of stretched sprue first you heat the sprue and when the sprue is soft you can remove it from the flame and stretch it to any thickness you desire.
3: Plástico estirado. Para hacer varillas de plástico estirado primero se calienta una sección del soporte de las piezas, cuando este bastante blando se retira de la llama y se estira hasta conseguir el grosor deseado.


4: With stretched sprue and other styrene round rods you can make every cylindrical element you need.
4: Con plástico estirado y otras varillas de poliestireno se pueden hacer todos los detalles cilíndricos que necesitemos.


5: The styrene strips are useful to build the square-section elements.
5: Las tiras de poliestireno son útiles para construir todos los elementos de sección cuadrada o rectangular.


6: Styrene sheets along with other material sheets such as tin or aluminum are also useful.
6: Las láminas de poliestireno así como de otros materiales como estaño o aluminio también son muy útiles.


7: Finally, the metallic wire, bared or insulated, is also good stuff.
7: Finalmente, los cables metálicos, desnudos o aislados, son también muy útiles.


Beginning with the cockpit / Comenzando con el cockpit:

8: The first step is to hollow the avionics bays and other opened panels. Then the inner structure is built with styrene sheet. For gluing the styrene pieces we must use styrene cement.
8: El primer paso es agujerear los compartimentos de aviónica y los otros paneles que queramos dejar abiertos. Entonces se construye la estructura interior con secciones de lámina de estireno cortadas con la medida apropiada. Para pegar las piezas de poliestireno (a partir de ahora lo llamaré solo estireno) uso pegamento especial para estireno.


9: To build the lateral control panels in the cockpit first I engraved the lines on a thin styrene sheet with a scriber, and then cut the piece and glued it in place. Over this piece I attached all the small switches and buttons.
9: Para construir las consolas laterales del cockpit primero marqué las líneas en una lámina fina de estireno con un grabador o scriber, seguidamente corte la pieza a la medida y la pegué en su lugar. Sobre esta pieza se pega el resto de pequeñas clavijas y botones.


10: The buttons are made with small discs of stretched sprue (black and red) and the switches from small sections of thin stretched sprue (black). It is important to get the right volume in these elements because this will ease the paintjob.
10: Los botones están hechos con pequeños discos de plástico estirado (negro y rojo en la foto) y las clavijas son pequeñas secciones de plástico estirado negro. Es importante conseguir un volumen correcto en estas piezas ya que ello facilitará la pintura de dichos elementos. 


11: The cockpit side structure is a section of styrene sheet over which I glued some other styrene pieces. The metallic pieces are sections of tin sheet, which is easy engrave textures such as the quilting of the compartment behind the cockpit. The small rivets, screws or buttons are made with small discs of stretched sprue. The red wire is also a section of stretched sprue bent to shape with fine tweezers.
11: La estructura lateral del cockpit es una sección de lámina de estireno sobre la cual pegué algunas piezas de estireno. Las piezas metálicas son secciones de lámina de estaño, sobre este material es fácil grabar ciertas texturas como el acolchado del compartimento detrás del cockpit. Los pequeños remaches, tornillos o botones se hacen  con pequeños discos de plástico estirado. El cable rojo también es un trozo de plástico estirado doblado hasta su forma correcta con unas pinzas finas.


12: The main control panel and two electronic boxes located in the compartment behind the cockpit. The main shape of the boxes is made with a thick styrene strip, then we can detail them with more small pieces of styrene.
12: El panel de control principal y las dos cajas de aviónica que van en el compartimento detrás del cockpit. La forma principal de las cajas se hace con una varilla gruesa de estireno, después se detallan con otras piezas más pequeñas de estireno.


13: The dashboard cover has some styrene detailing, the HUD frame is Verlinden´s photoetched. At the right is the cover of the compartment behind the cockpit which also has some photoetched elements added.
13: La cubierta del panel de control también tiene cierto detallado con estireno, la estructura del HUD es del fotograbado de Verlinden. A la derecha está la cubierta del compartimento tras el cockpit, también tiene algún elemento de fotograbado.

14: The ejection seat is resin replacement included in the Verlinden detail set. As you can see it couldn’t escape from some further detailing. It also got some metallic wires to imitate some tubes. All of the styrene and non-styrene elements in contact with the resin seat were glued with cyanoacrylate.
14: El asiento eyectable es una pieza de resina perteneciente al set de Verlinden. Tampoco pudo escaparse de su ración de detallado. Tiene algunos cables metálicos para imitar ciertos tubos. Todos los elementos de estireno en contacto con la resina se tienen que pegar con cianoacrilato, por supuesto con los elementos metálicos ocurre igual.


15: Other interesting area is the cannon and radar housing. Again, the structure is made with white styrene pieces, then I used a few sections of red stretched sprue to imitate some cylindrical details and black stretched sprue for the wires.
15: Otro área interesante, el compartimento del cañón y del radar. De nuevo, la estructura se hace con varillas cuadradas de estireno, rodajas de plástico estirado rojo para imitar algunos detalles cilíndricos y plástico estirado doblado (negro esta vez) para imitar los cables.



16-17: The different elements are not yet glued in place but is important to check the fitting frequently.
16-17: Las diferentes secciones todavía no están pegadas en su lugar pero es importante comprobar el encaje frecuentemente a medida que construimos.


Posted by Diego Quijano at 12:41 PM
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3 comments:

  1. bob villaDecember 31, 2010 at 11:55 AM

    OLa, Mr Quijano,
    I first saw your model of the F-18 in Military in scale magazine , it was jaw dropping for me. At first i thought it was 1/48 .Only after reading that i realized it was 1/72.
    And when it later appeared on Air modeler front cover i bought that issue, just for the article on your 1/72 kit.
    And my recent cleaning of my book shelf i rediscovered both magazine, that led me to showing the article to another modeler.
    Again the same reaction, jaw dropping followed by cursing( in a good way). He couldn't belief that it is a 1/72 and most work by scratch with plastic cards with wire bits.
    An immediate internet search on the web with your name and we found your site. i wish to know who took the pictures? and how it was it done ?, and if the model is still with you?.And how long and how many hours it to built and paint? and what the most irritating problem ,if any ?.
    And are there more panel opening model kit of that level made?, but not published.
    As for my self bad eyesight has led to a decline to my model making. But the net has help me to enjoy other people work, instead of waiting for the model magazine to publish it .

    Again thanks for sharing with us your models kit

    ReplyDelete
  2. Diego QuijanoJanuary 1, 2011 at 2:32 PM

    Hi Bob,
    Thanks for your kind words, you almost made me feel important. :)
    This was a long time project, over two years from the beginning to the end but discontinued, I mean, I made some other faster models in the meantime. I always have a "long time project" in the hands, currently there is a Harrier Plus 1/48, I work on it some time until I get bored and then I made something else. No hurry at all.
    I think that one of the trickiest things was to detail the small switches on the cockpit, they are too tiny and I had to try twice or three times to correctly locate most of them.
    Other complex part was the engine build. Since I made it from scratch it took me much time, it was not as difficult as I early thought but I needed plenty of time watching pictures to properly recreate a GE F404 at this scale.
    Apart from the models published in this blog until now, I have some other finished works that I will post periodically here but none with that level of detail at 1/72. If you also enjoy 1/48 I´ll post a detailed F-104 within some time, but just some finished pics, not the building process. You can see the whole article in Air Modeller #30 and #31.

    And yes, the model is still with me, do you wanna buy it? We can reach a deal. :)

    Thanks for your interest, Bob, and happy New Year.

    Q

    ReplyDelete
  3. bob villaMay 27, 2011 at 1:08 PM

    Sorry for not visiting along time, life is now very busy with new employment after a long retrenchment. Please contact me at totalhobby@gmail.com about the price, i don't know if could afford it? .

    ReplyDelete

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