F&M Mark 2 Colonial Viper

Good stuff! Yeah, I alway WAY over-reinforce my mount points, too.

Thanks Jason. I started thinking about the stress that would be on the mount point and figured it was the best thing to do. I always worry about mount points.

I added the nose and the rear and did the usual puddy, sand, rescribe and prime.





I will be closing up the landing gear sections to make this a flying version.

Following this thread for sure!

Any plans to light it?

Lighting it is the plan! It will be a slowish build though. I have limited time to build this.

It seems excessive for a single engine, but it shouldn't cause any problems. Are they all one color, or did you do a ring of blue with white in the middle?

Can't wait to see this build progress. I'll eventually get around to starting mine.

Looking goiod, Dude!!

Thanks.

I have been working on this sporadically and I have a few updates.

I built a section in the side engines to accept the LED housing that I will use to light it, and blacked it out for light leaks:



I closed up the front landing gear bay:



I added the front cowl to the upper engine section:



I then made a channel, a rather messy channel, in the wing to accept wiring:



I drilled out the tips to accept LEDs:



I soldered the LEDs together:



I soldered the wiring to them, added liquid electrical tape (first time I used it and I like it), and glued the wiring in place:



I closed up the wings:



Here you can see where the LEDs sit in the wing. I will be using the Red tinted clear tips provided with the kit for the marker lights on the wings, so I set the LEDs back a little.



Light test:

I have to do the same thing...not looking forward to it

I managed to get my hands on a few Red 3mm LEDs without the usual raised lip in the back of the LED. That made fitting it in there much easier.

Great work TJ, always going that extra mile to make things look cool as hell.

Looking forward to more mate.

Happily back to work on this.









The top engine section is not glued down yet. I've drilled a few extra holes where it meets the body, making it easier to pull wiring through the top of the body for soldering purposes.

I took these pictures last week, but just got a chance to post them.

I'm in middle of building and lighting the cockpit.

Unlit:





Lit:





And a bit overexposed:






I'm not that great at taking pics of lighted models, cockpits especially.

I still need to do some painting, maybe tone down the weathering, and light up the top display in the front of the cockpit. Steady as she goes.

That's a great looking cockpit! I've seen pictures of your build before and I'll definitely be following it from now on. Looking forward to seeing this complete.

Excellent job so far TJ . I love the cockpit interior . I used the same flashlight led clusters in my ss salzo viper and have had no problems with heat .even after being on all day at a model show / contest . You should have no problems at all .

cockpit looks beautiful!

Thanks guys. I really appreciate the kind words.

I changed out the engine LEDs with another flashlight that I found. I was having trouble getting them to work with the cockpit LEDs. Instead of spending the time to trouble shoot the problem, I set them aside for another build.

I've painted the cockpit seat. Anything along the bottom of the seat will never be seen due to the fact that it gets covered up because of the cockpit layout. Therefore, why detail it?

I need to touch up a few sections and add a part that came with the kit, but I think that it is turning out quite nice.

THis Build up is KICK ASS.
REALLY awesome job.....

Im still amazed at this model.
SO much work when into it, and Moe and i get such a kick out of seeing the builds by everyone..

We only take it so far, its not til it's BUILT with such care and enthusiasm, such as you see in this thread....
, that it is TRULY complete.


THANK YOU.
Thank you for enjoying building something that we enjoyed SO much bringing it to you.

Frank & Moe.
FM MODEL CO.

Thank you Frank. Your kind words are encouraging and greatly appreciated. This is a great kit and I'm having a blast building it.

That cockpit looks amazing