Well, as expected, in fairly short order I did finish the engine nacelles - however, not in exactly the way expected:
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The thick walls of the plastic tubing were then carefully shaved, uniformly flaring the inlets wider all around (right), until each pair was nearly in contact on the centerline - as well as rising up to bracket the small, centerline inlet more (though still not completely) accurately. Likewise, the final contours of these nacelles are actually a bit too rounded to be perfectly accurate for the Slick Lightnings - but already I certainly liked their look, and would keep 'em: chalk it up to Artistic License.
And, speaking of "artistic":
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FULL RES
However, we can finish out much better, by further employing some "Trompe L'Oil" (in French: "Trick the Eye") painting:
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Again as anticipated, at this point in the build a quick finish had emerged clearly into view, dead ahead. Until, that was, my eyes settled upon MiniCraft's fuselage nose cap: a part Sucking So head-and-shoulders over everything else - in the kit repidly and increasingly proving to Suck Mightily overall, in its own right - particularly compared to the Revell kit - such that I didn't even stop to photograph it for you, before (literally) chopping the offending nose cap to pieces. This to begin accommodating replacement with the just beautiful Revell nose cap, leftover as unneeded by my other, Pathfinder build.
Even in this Revell Rescue, however, such unexpected redirection is Frought with Risk: chiefly that of Advanced Scratch-basher Syndrome - "ASS", in the common vernacular - in which I was, in the event, Bitten Squarely - and Hard - yet Once Again:
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In short order you can see how this all SnowBalls - "The Leg-Bone-connected-to-the-Thigh-Bone" - to instantly double the effort/complexity of the entire build. Including (at least) some minimal detailing on the insides of the access doors, now to become highly visible:
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The above views of the nose, as but crudely taped-together, belie the actually quite good fit of the doors - though their edges will still need some more thinning - whereas, on the other hand, gaps around the nose cap indicate significant mis-fit: a still-persisting legacy of the Thoroughly Malignant MiniCraft nose. Yet another bit of work to do - with yet another tidbit, left over from the Revell kit.
Meanwhile, the apparent pitch-up of the nacelles/booms, relative to the fuselage pod, is not meaningful but due simply to the former not yet being fitted to the wings. This does, however, raise a true upcoming issue - for both these kits: they are both serious Tail-Sitters (the MiniCraft slightly more so than the Revell). For both cases, I decided the solutions for adequately weighting the noses are going to involve first molding the above nose contents - gun-cluster for this fighter build, and for the other a bank of aerial cameras with film magazines - and then try yet another First, and Matty's Models Experimental Development: casting both in solid lead.
So, it looks to be getting pretty Hot, pretty soon, around here - and you'll want to stay tuned, for that...
Cheers,
- Matty
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