Moebius - Viper mk7

cabour

cabour

Sr Member
While the mk2 cabin seams was quietly drying, I started the mk7 kit in parallel. I had already open to compare and exchange the pilots.



If it looks okay from a distance, this kit is very disappointing when studied closer :
- Like the mk2, the surface is grainy and has some shrinkages.





- Verniers are there this time (though not deep enough for my taste). Curiously, two are missing on each side of the nose.



- This little plate (highlighted in green) on each wing is curious. It seems to have nothing to do here !



- the panel lines are a little plump.

But the two major weaknesses of the kit are :
- the horrible seam that run from the wings to the nose of the cabin. Parts design is unwise.






- The cockpit has almost no detail. For once, it deserves its bathtub nickname !! The photoeched upgrade is almost unavoidable here.





The pilot is really good. Very similar to the resin one in the mk2 kit. As it enables to depict a man or a woman, it will be placed in the mk2 (as Starbuck), and the mk2 resin one will take place as Appollo in the mk7.
The only change (already done in parallel to the mk2) was to hollow the helmet to insert a face.





It is a pity that Moebius proposes a so sloppy kit, I almost feel to dive back in the 80s with a kit designed like this one!
 
I began to modify the engines so they can receive LEDs : opening of the nozzle (leaving a small lip to hold the photoetched part) and removing one of the two studs. The second is kept as a support for the led.






A quick wash with Tamiay extra liquid glue dissolves all remaining dust.



To hold the photo-etched nozzle, I needed to add matterial to the small lip (in some places where I sanded too much), and the photoeched parts are installed.



The inner faces of the engines receive a layer of surface primer and black, followed by a silver drybrush on the viewable end.



Plastic films from the upgrade kit and LED are installed with white glue.



And everything is closed.

 
The cockpit requires a lot of work.

The photoetched is fragile and should be folded only once, unless it should broke (this happened to me for the small wedge behind the dashboard, on which lies the HUD screen.
Given the level of detail, it should be difficult to paint it once assembled. So it is better to paint everything before folding.
For this, the brass surfaces are first sanded, for a better grip of the paint.




The painting is done following captures of the show, found on the web.







The screens are those of the upgrade kit.The screens are those of the upgrade kit.
For the buttons, I glue transparent plastic on the back, frosted with sandpaper, on which the buttons are painted with clear colors.For the buttons, I glue transparent plastic on the back, frosted with sandpaper, on which the buttons are painted with clear colors.




Little test.



During folding, I prefer using white glue, and very few cyano glue. The curing takes longer, but it is more tough to manipulations. To hold parts in place while curing, I use clamps and pliers.
As white glue becomes translucent when dry, it is then painted with matt black to prevent light leakage.







I ended up to use temporarily black tape to see how it fitted into the cabin, and it was a good idea as because it has been pushed this cockpit, and glue would have not resist to this !

It needed to :
- Dig inside the cabin (areas highlighted in green stabilo)



- Cut the corners of the photoetched



- Bevel the side panel edges.



Flat white paint is applied behind the dashboard, for a more uniform diffusion of the light.
 
New test with leds this time.




I find that the front panel of the dashboard went up not enough close to the cabin. There was a gap of about 2mm.
I was almost resigning myself to cut the brass panels, when I realized that I had stupidly forgotten to fold one panel of the photoetched dashboard ! (no kidding, but I'm stuck on it for half a day...)

before


after


The photoetched little wedge, that went off from the panel, is glued back. This wedge will hold the HUD screen.
With plastic card, the dashboard is completed to fill the openings and to prevent light leaks.




The HUD is hollow to get the maximum light from the bottom. The film screen from upgrade kit is too thick (or too dark), and nothing can be seen without direct lighting.
I therefore replaced it by a color photocopy of a transparent decal.






The pilot arm is modified to adapt to the resin body of pilot. The seam is filled with plastic putty.

 
After some dry lighting tests , I found that there is not enough light in the armrests, except just above the LED, where it is too strong.
So I enlarged the openings for the LED, and painted flat white inside the armrests.




Diffusion is much better, more uniform (even if it is not as apparent in the photo, due to the camera sensibility).
To save space, the LEDs are arranged laterally instead of perpendicularly, and a white box is then built around (again for diffusion, but also to prevent light leakages)
These LED must have the lip sanded on one side so that it fits properly in the white box.










The LED behind the dashboard is permanently installed. It is set in a cap (a button from an old calculator or toy) .

 
The cabin has some shrinkages. Some disappeared after sanding, while other needed putty.

before



After sanding. where the putty is still drying, there was a remaining shrinkage.



Verniers are hollowed, not forgetting to add the 4 missing ones ( 2 on each side of the nose)



To close the verniers back ends, as the area was never flat, rather than using plastic card, I just stuck some masking tape, reinforced with cyano glue.
To prevent particles or dust from sticking (the sticky side of the tape is facing outside), I put a tiny drop of Klir/Future to coat and make it inoperative.




On each wing, there is a curious trapezoidal panel that has nothing to do there. It is scraped and sanded, and the panels lines are engraved.
I complete the edge by a thin plastic strip to give a little depth to the air inlet .


 
The cockpit is finally installed, the bonding is done with cyano glue, reinforced by a mixture of resin dust/particles and cyano.
Sorry, no photos of this. However, here it is installed and lighted






The inside of the cabin and the cockpit walls are painted with black to prevent light leakages.

 
To hold the socket, I help myself with the studs and rear landing gear wells. The middle pin was removed to get some space, then I started to sand in the well walls.




To hold the connector, I blocked it with a plastic square, in which 2 slots are made to free the socket metal tabs.
This plate is glued and reinforced with 2 screws. To have more material for the screws, 2 small wooden blocks are installed with hot glue in the landing gear wells.
2 part modeling glue closes the openings around the socket.







Hatches and intakes are glued. The hole of the original support is clogged with plastic card, reinforced from behind again by a mixture of cyano and resin dust.

 
The two half of the cabins are finally glued. The seam is rather loose and leaves a gap of more than 1 mm. The gluing will be made in strength, which requires a very large dose of glue, some clamps. I let this dry as is for several days without trying to start sanding the seam.








Meanwhile, the guns are prepared and drilled.



On the engines, the seams are sanded. Again, there are molding marks and shrinkages.




The design of the kit does not allow the engine module to be glue only at end of the assembly (after painting). So at this stage, they must be painted, glued in the cabin and protected for further assembling works.
They therefore received a coat of primer and black satin (spray cans).
As the surface still did not satisfying me (sanding marks this time), they are sanded again.

Then again primer + black satin paint.



It is covered with Alclad Steel.




The petals are highlighted with Aclad Jet Exhaust.



Then burning marks of the metal are made with transversal lines of Alclad Copper.



Followed by lighter ones in Tamiya clear blue.




The guns were painted at the same time.

 
After let dry a whole week to be sure that all solvents were evaporated, the seam of the cabin is sanded.





It is filled with 2-part modeling glue.







Then the panel lines are engraved and a thinner putty is used.





For the gun houses, I was tired with putty, so to simplify this, rather than fill the seams, I keep them in simulating panel lines. I was just needing a quick sanding of the edges to have each side panel at the same level.




I did not realize this at first, ut these gun houses are not in the right direction too bad (a big error by Moebius !). I did not want to make surgery, so to fix this a little, I will straightening the barrel, to bring back the section vertically.
For this it is necessary to reduce the wall thickness of the housing.









The reactors are glued together



And the electrical circuit is completed.






Dorsal air intake covers are installed.
Here, the joint is filledwhite plastic putty. (no photo, sorry)





I repaired a wingtip (a sanding collateral damage !) with a parts tree bit. it is straingtened with a metal rod in the center.

 
Painting typically starts with a coat of tamiya spray primer.



Followed by a black pre-shading of the panel lines.



On this build, I will tried for the first time the hair lacquer trick. Indeed, the blue paint is heavily peeling on the Apollo Viper.
The gray base coat is Sky Gray xf19



Followed by a lvery very thin coat of Alclad aluminum, just to give it a very slight metallic look.



Everything is sealed with Klir/Future




Then a matte coat.
Followed few hours later by 3 coats of a first price hair lacquer spray




The blue, a mixture of light blue, flat white and intermediate bleu (all from tamiya) did not satified me once applied.




So I replaced the intermediate blue with a tamiya flat blue, with a better result.
I took benefit of this error to not applied uniformly the new blue mixture : Since it is darker, I applied it along the strucutres and panel lines, like a postshading.







I let it dry just the time to clean the airbrush.
I apply a some warm water, wait a few seconds and I rub with an strong hair paintbrush.
It does not come off as easily as I thought. In places, it is necessary to rub hard ( maybe it's because I did several coats of paint ? or not enough hair lacquer ?) .



I try to follow the best 3D model, here's the result.







In places, the lacquer has created some halos, they fade a little wiping a brush with water (it certainly has spread it in fact... !).
I did not try to rub them away completely as they will had another weathered effect to this worn Viper.



I'll let it all dry for several days before applying a matt coat.
 
After few drying days, I applied a coat of Klir/Future.
Then, a dark gray wash in the panel lines.

before wiping




after





I then applied the decals.
To give them a worn look, well I .... damaged them ! with a sand pencil and sand papers.






After this torture session, I was not sure that decals will stick well, so I've brushed them with Klir. Then with the airbrush.
Next comes a coat of satin varnish to give me the work surface for the weathering to come.



 
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