Minutemans Military Modeling Site

In this photo, I have filled in the spots for the kit bomb bay door hinges and I have removed the rear bomb bay bulkhead detail. I then added photo-etch hinge braces and a replacement photo-etch rear bomb bay bulkhead.

This is another view of the PE bomb bay door hinges and the rear bomb bay PE bulkhead.

In this photo is some completed assembly of the cockpit. On the left is the ejection seat and windscreen lifting arms. On the right is the modified cockpit tub. i have installed a Verlinden control stick, PE foot pedals and a PE rear bulkhead. I have also removed the molded control details in preparation for the installation of Eduard color cockpit PE control panels.

I worked on the cockpit some today. I added several PE parts from the Eduard PE set.

The ejector pin marks in the bottom of the cockpit tub are covered by the ejection seat assembly.

The white piece visible on the right side of the cockpit will get painted yellow. It is an emergency cockpit opening device used if the hydraulics fail.

The messed up area at the bottom of the console support fits behind the base for the control stick and isn't visible when placed into the cockpit.

UPDATE 2 FEB 2009

I worked on the ejection seat tonight. This is the first ejection seat that I've done. I used the kit instructions and a Squadron/Signal book as reference. I could not see the dark spots in the lumbar region of the back cushion with my plain eyes. But boy, my digital camera sure makes it jump out. The seat belts and ejection handles are from Eduard F-117 PE set mentioned earlier.

UPDATE 4 FEB 2009

I got a little assembly completed over the last couple of days. The first photo is the assembled trapeze ejectors that carry the weapon load and the bomb bay door actuators with a little photo-etch detail (that won't be visible when the GBU's are in place).

The second photo is the assembled landing gear struts and rear landing gear wheels.

UPDATE 5 FEB 2009

Not too much was accomplished tonight. I put on the PE hydraulic lines for the 3 landing gear struts.

UPDATE 26 MAY 2009

After completing a military move in March, I'm finally back to modelling again. Over the last couple of weeks, working a few minutes here and a few minutes there, I've completed some fuselage photo-etch.

That is it for today. More coming soon!

UPDATE 1 JUN 2009

Today I worked on the cockpit canopy and the heads-up display (HUD). I will post details and pictures of the canopy tomorrow. The HUD consists of two clear pieces in the kit. In the Eduard set that I'm using, you are provided a replacement HUD display bracket and two clear pieces of plastic to replicate the HUD panels.

Here is a photo of the two kit pieces with Eduard replacement HUD bracket.

I had to cut down the two kit pieces to install the Eduard replacement bracket. At some point between starting the kit and moving into my new house, I lost the two clear replacement display panels. So, I used an old clear sheet of styrene from a Tamiya AFV kit and cut out two clear display panels. I know they may not be 'to spec' but I tried to get the assembly to look like pictures shown in the 'F-117 Walk Around' book. Here are some photos of the modified and assembled HUD. I will touch up the paint and try to 'clean' the clear panels up prior to final iinstallation in the cockpit.

The shape of the 'glass' panels isn't quit right but I didn't want to scrap the kit over a couple of missing HUD panels. The people that will see this kit, won't know any different. So, I did the best I could and am happy with the result overall. The thing is so dang tiny, it was difficult for my big fumbly fingers to work with. The wooden object used to prop the HUD up in one of the photos is a toothpick. That kind of gives you an idea of the size of the HUD.

UPDATE 12 OCT 2009

Worked on the bird a bit today. Shot some more black in an effort to produce some shade variance in the panels. The results were so-so and pretty much are lost in the camera flash.

UPDATE 19 OCT 2009

I installed the HUD last night and airbrushed the titanium for the exhaust shields. The exhaust shields will receive some additional discoloring at a later time.

I have also begun work on the GBU-27's. They are still masked off. Once the paint dries, I will remove the masking and do some additional shade variation on the bomb body itself.