The SAAF Forum

G'day people,

Well, I have lucked out and I now have a 1/48 Esci Machhi MB.326K kit. I only paid $10AUD for my kit, but there are a few bits missing from the kit.

The right wingtip on the lower wing half was snapped off and the wing pylons and SUU-11 minigun pods are missing, along with the larger 90gal wingtip tanks. These have no doubt been used on a RAAF Macchi, so I don't feel so bad!

Although annoying, none of these problems are insurmountable.

Thankfully, the broken wingtip was in the box, and the missing gunpods are no biggie as I wasn't planning on using these.

The missing tip tanks will be replaced with some resin Ozmods items (which have probably been copied from the Impala kit anyway), and a fellow forum member (W407594F) has offered me the wingtip pylons, so there is no reason holding me back now so it is onto the build.

This will be a bush war Impala, in the final camo scheme.

The first job was to re-unite the broken wing parts.



I added some plastic sheet re-enforcement to the inner surface to make sure the seam did not come apart whilst sanding the join.



I have also cut out the flaps and thinned the trailing edges of the upper and lower wings.





The strip of plastic is there to box in the flap bay.







To add a little interest, I decide to open an inspection panel, in this case for the exhaust thermocouples. Now i just have to build the thermocouples!





Finally, I Have made a start on the office. I don't have any pics of Impala cockpits, but I don't think these will be dramatically different to the two seat Macchi's.






That's where I am up to for now.

I have some 'homework' for the forum readers though;

What colour was the underside? I though Light Admiralty Grey, though I have seen some Impala builders paint their kits light blue?

Does anybody have pics of the chaff/flare pods fitted beneath the wings?

I also need pics of the RWR antennas fitted to the wingtip tanks.

Finally, what was a 'typical' load. I am thinking of:

2 x Mk.82 LDGP
2 x underwing tanks
2 x 6 shot rockets.

but I vaguely think that I read somewhere that some Imps were fitted with an A/A missile (V3?) due to the MiG threat.

Can anybody confirm this and you guessed it, does anybody have pics?

cheers,

Pappy

Hey Pappy,



- http://www.saairforce.co.za/the-airforce/weapons/66/v3b-kukri (Have a look in the images section).

- http://www.saairforce.co.za/the-airforce/weapons/67/v3c-darter

The text on the V3C Darter link mentions that the Bush War ended before the missile entered service in 1990, but was still used by the Impala Mk II.

Nice looking cockpit detail

Regards,
Stratobat

_________________
'If the literal sense makes good sense, seek no other sense lest you come up with nonsense'

_________________
So few, who did so much, with so little - the RhAF 1970 - 1980

G'day fellas,

Right click save!

Thanks very much for the info, very helpful and a quick reply too!.

I like the option of the V-3B/C, though that would look waaaay cool. I will have to think about it. It looks like the Kukri/Darter is based on the Matra magic 550? It makes since it would have to be integrated into the Mirage F-1's fire control system

The rail looks like and Aero-3B (as opposed to the LAU-7 series used by the AIM-9 family), does that sound right or is it some French deriviative?

Sorry for all the q's,

cheers,

Pappy

G'day people,

A little more progress today.

I have added a few more details to the office. The oxy bottles have been added to the cockpit bulkhead as well as some wiring. The flap select lever and a few other bits were added to the consoles and I have boxed in the footwell area.





I always dryfit my work frequently to eliminate fit problems prior to the painting stage.

The footwell area interfered with the forward avionics bay in the nose, so I decided it would be easier to cut a hole in the bay area as I was not going to have the nose cone removed in any case.





The wings halves are together. The seams still need a little cleaning up but everything is coming together.







The flaps have been sanded to shape.



I still need to add a couple of notches for the flap actuator screw jacks but otherwise, they are coming along well. The flaps are tacked in place with some tape for these pics.



I have also started to assemble the ordnance. The jugs have been assembled first.



cheers,

Pappy

It is going top be a good looking model, lots of detail
How did that wing pannel break off in such a strange place?? Nice fix though.

Theuns

G'day Theuns,

I hope it turns out well too. i don't know how the wingtip broke off, I bought the kit second (third?) hand and that is one of the reasons why it was so cheap I guess?

The broken wingtip had quite a warp in it (laterally), perhaps it snapped whilst the previous owner attempted to 'straighten' it,

cheers,

Pappy

I also had a kit deleivered to me after I bought a model online.A super etandard Heler 1/48 (the reviews seemed good) and what arived was an ancient heller 1/50 ETANDARD! I would not have even offered 50 bucks for the thing

It just seems that to buy things from non-reputable people will come back to bite you hard

Theuns

Ouch!

Thankfully I have never been ripped off on-line. The second hand kit dealers I bought my kit from (Modelnerds) were very up front about the damage and missing parts, I went ahead armed with the knowledge that I had work to do. To be honest, i wasn't worried about tghe missing parts so much as the damage.

The broken wing turned out to be a relatively easy fix in the end so I ended up with a cheap kit. Even with replacement resin tanks ($5 a pair) it is still a cheap kit when you consider the kit's rarity. Hopefully, Italeri will one day re-release the kit, they seem to be slowly working their way through the rest of Esci's back catalogue,

cheers,

Pappy

This was not from a dealer.It was on another forum I am on,private seller.Ah well, so we learn I guess......

Looking forward to see your Imp.

T

G'day people,

Today's little update.

I have added a few more bits to the office.







The rudder pedals as well as some pipework for the footwells has been added. I have also added some lights and other bits and pieces to the cockpit sidewalls.







As always, test fit constantly.

The instrument panel will need some improvement, Esci only provide a decal which is not really convincing in this scale.

The ejection seat is also very poor, it doesn't really resemble a MB.4 (or any other seat for that matter) so I will try and improve it. If my efforts turn out crap, then I will just buy a resin replacement instead. I have made a start.





I cut off the top lump which is supposed to be the parachute pack. The seat sides were added to the bottom pads and the bottom, front and back were boxed in with plastic sheet. I had to thin the left seat side a little to fit into the tub because of the added details. I have also attached some plastic rod which represents the ejection gun. I will build up the main beam assembly around that and add a new parachute pack using Milliput.

cheers,

Pappy

Pappy, some photos from W407594F, please clarify which parts you require





Cheers

_________________
Brent Best

G'day Brent,

I need the two smallest wing pylons (the two outermost ones) parts 62 and 65,

thanks very much,

Pappy

Hi Pappy,

Awesome work once again. It is so nice to see all the effort you are putting into the cockpit. Cant wait for your next update.

Cheers

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www.facebook.com/scaleworx

Items will be in the post tomorrow, was not sure if you wanted just the pylons or the MG pods.

Thanks Brent for posting photo's