AA models 1/48 Chengdu J-7 E

[eddiesolo]

Lovely work so far Tony, coming together nicely.

Si

 

[Snowman]

I'll have that with noodles....................

Looking good, love the attention to detail!

 

[yak face]

Bit more done today , the scoops are all on including a further 2 under the tail . The fin under the tail is on too and also the AOA vane housing on the side of the nose. Ive fixed the canopy , this just needing a smear of Vallejo acrylic putty round the edges of the front part then its ready for primer. The scheme I'm doing it in is white all over , this being a tricky one as its always difficult to get a realistic finish with such a scheme . Too clean and it looks toy like , too weathered and it looks really mucky , too heavy on the panel line wash and it looks like a technical drawing - its a bit like goldilocks and the three bears , its got to be just right! The thing I'm aiming for is a mix of all three ,so I reckon a grey primer base with black pre shading ,then mist on the white till it looks right. I probably wont bother with a panel line wash , even a pale one would probably look OTT , just highlighting the control surface hinge lines should be enough. cheers tony

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[flyjoe180]

Looking good Joe nice start, bit high-tec for me iff it ant in the box TUFF lol.John

It's Tony's build John

Reckon you have the colour sorted Tony. Agree with the panel lines etc, even on BMF panel washes seem to emphasise the 'toy look' too much especially in smaller scales. A light grey wash might be the way to go if it needs it at all?

 

[tr1ckey66]

Cheers joe and Paul , yes its certainly a bit obscure. Not strictly a cold war jet though Paul , it only entered service around 1990 and its still in service with the chinese navy air force (PLANAF) today , so more 'bamboo curtain' than cold war! thanks for looking in , more progress today hopefully , cheers tony

My mistake Tony. Im not really that familiar with Chinese jets but the look of this aircraft certainly belongs to another era (although I'm sure the Chinese have made improvements on the Classic Mig design). The details you're adding are definitely giving this model a lift and are turning this into a very'busy' build.

White schemes can be tricky and you're right to keep the weathering and panel lining minimal.

Looking forward to this. If it's anything like your last build it will be very, very cool.

Paul

 

[yak face]

My mistake Tony. Im not really that familiar with Chinese jets but the look of this aircraft certainly belongs to another era (although I'm sure the Chinese have made improvements on the Classic Mig design). The details you're adding are definitely giving this model a lift and are turning this into a very'busy' build.White schemes can be tricky and you're right to keep the weathering and panel lining minimal.

Looking forward to this. If it's anything like your last build it will be very, very cool.

Paul

No need to apologise Paul , it certainly is based on an iconic cold war jet the MiG 21 F-13 , but the tangled story of how the chinese came to this aircraft starting with the original MiG 21 F-13 licence produced as the F-7 is fascinating. The original F-7 was just a straight copy , the F-7 I made improvements to hydraulic systems and quality , further improvements were made for the F-7 II mainly to avionics and the canopy and ejector seat. The F-7 III was a different thing altogether being a copy of the MiG 21 MF ,with different nose,fuselage etc but this wasnt very successful . The next development saw the F-7 E with new wing and engine , then the F-7G improved the canopy again .It all spans about 30 + years and shows that an old design can still be effective today. cheers tony

 

[flyjoe180]

You have to give the Chinese their due credit, they have proven that they can reverse engineer and redevelop existing airframes into more capable machines. They only stopped building the J-7 in 2013 I just read! 30 years sounds like a long time, but when you think of the first 4th generation US fighters, the F-15 and F-16 in particular have been around since the 1970s. Amazing really.

 

[yak face]

Wonky pre-shading on , theres a few bits where the airbrush decided to start spluttering as well , but hopefully it wont show after the white goes on , cheers tony

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[Tone M]

Coming together nicely Tony :D

 

[yak face]

Latest progress- Ive used Model air White for the top coat , misted on with 2 or 3 coats , the pre shading just showing through . Its just drying now , is it just me or does anyone else find model air takes a few days to dry properly ? When I did the paint on my Mig 15 uti that was the same but I just put that down to it being a metallic , but this is the same.Anyways its getting left for a few days so I cracked on with the undercarriage. The main U/C legs werent very detailed so i had to add some brake lines from fuse wire and the prominent scissor type attachment for the bottom section of the gear doors. The nose wheel leg has had lines added too but with black coloured beading wire .The pics in the reference book show the effect I'm after. Cheers tony

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[dubster72]

Blimey Tony, you must have good eyes

for all that detailed work! And steady hands!

 

[Tone M]

As me nan would say... Chuffin 'ell!

Awesome detail man, epic build so far tbh :D :D

 

[flyjoe180]

Nice detail Tony.

 

[Ziper_it]

Great job Tony, lot of details added.

Painting looks perfect, not easy with white.

Francesco

 

[yak face]

Undercarriage is now on and painted /weathered , just the retraction struts and main gear doors to add next. Ive also been adding some lumps and bumps to the top of the fin. The ECM bumps are totally missing so i used some poundland nail art gems as they were about the right shape and size, they just need painting now. The same gems have also been used to add the wingtip position lights and then painted clear red and green. As you might be able to see Ive got the decals on (surprisingly well behaved too !) and given the airframe a subtle panel line wash - this is a tricky area with an overall white scheme as its very easy to make these too prominent ,then it looks like a technical drawing. I used a grey wash for the panel lines and a darker one for the control surfaces ,eventually I got something I was happy with. Next jobs - making some ejection triangle decals (the kit ones were way too big) ,those retraction struts and doors and adding the drop tanks ,missiles and some other fragile bits , heres a few pics , cheers tony

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[papa 695]

That's looking very good Tony your attention to detail is paying off

 

[Polux]

Excellent work Tony, looks really, really good

 

[Dave W]

Great work Tony.Especially on the undercarriage.

 

[Ziper_it]

Awesome work! FLG is impressive!

 

[Deleted member 3568]

Great work and knowledge I know nothing about planes and if you'd built it straight outvof the box I would have still said great work so you've done amazing work so far.