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DX VF-31JA


Firefox

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I admit the 31J is a good looking jet but I'm not a fan of forward swept wing. Since NY messed up with my 31A, I decided to take thing into my hand. Convert the 31J wings to 31A wings. Arming with the info from one of the member here, and the downloaded topview of DX VF-31A, I start my potential costly customisation. I'm not sure if I would go as far as re-doing the head into 31A or not for now. May be I will or may be I just do a totally what if model.

The top view of the 31A wing with some of the measurement supplemented by a member here and the angle acquired from the Hasegawa 1/72 VF-31A. You probably can't just blow up the Hasegawa 1/72 to 1/60 as some of the measurement aren't correct but some are the angles are correct though.

IMG-20190217-155048.jpg

First using the Tamiya plastic sheet and cut off the 31A wing to the exact size. Then cut  the 31J wing off. And the way I cut it, was a mistake. First blunder.

IMG-20190214-173950.jpg

Salvaging solution: Cut the right section and glue it to the cut out plastic sheet

IMG-20190215-182430.jpg

Milliput is one of the best shaping putty here. It is strong and bond well with any plastic, it is also heavy, thus gives the weight feel. If you could afford the costlier finer Milliput, the better. I'm using the normal one here. After some sanding, it starts to look good.

IMG-20190217-152607.jpg

Edited by Firefox
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4 hours ago, Firefox said:

A quick mock up that really excites me! Finally I sort of having the jet I want without breaking my bank account.

Now you just need the alternate weapons pod.

Edited by Bolt
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8 hours ago, Firefox said:

Both wings are ready. Now it's time for my first panel lines scribing. Hope I don't stuff it up, Any panel line carving tips are most welcome! :D

IMG-20190219-194805.jpg

Are you going to increase the Canard surface-area as well? or just live with it?

I know they're different sizes between the Kairos and Sigfried on the Hase kits, but I'm not sure the size difference is enough to warrant going to the trouble of making new Canards... 

 

 

as far as Scribing panel lines goes: label-maker tape [that thick, black plastic strip stuff] is the most useful, and re-positionable, straight-edge you'll find. go light, and make several even passes until you're happy with your result.

 

If you mess up a line do not worry! You can just fill-in the place where you mucked-it with Superglue, let it dry, sand it flat and do it over. 

 

do you have a dedicated scribing tool? or are you using the good-old "reverse #11 blade" trick?

 

I'm currently re-scribing a Starfury from Babylon 5... I may have written a cheque that my dilapidated skills can't cash... put it aside and come back to her after I've had more practice lol.

 

edit:

Oops! Forgot to mention that she's a sweet conversion!

Edited by slide
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@slide Thanks for the tips. I've got a proper tool. Tried it out. The lines are very fine. May be it's good for model but the DX has a thicker lines. Hard to match those lines.

Briefly thought about enlarging the canard, but the DX VF-31A just has the normal one. Still undecided. Most likely will leave them as is as I can see that the plastic is too thin.

Starfury, yeah! Hopefully one day I can see the finished product.

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Really great work, I have to say that I am also curious about the engraving techniques. 

Btw, I think the main differences with the A  are:

-of course the head design and delta wings

-larger canards

-larger carbon crystals on the sides of the head

-minor changes of the crystals geometry on the nose

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Via anymoon.com

Bandai-VF-31A-DX-6.jpg

Plus the missiles in legs instead of drones. But yours is a custom version anyway just like the guy that put the draken wingtips on the 1/72 kit instead.

Edited by wmkjr
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I think it's also interesting to note that the Siegfrieds are "custom" for this team anyway.  As I understand it, the FSW design was considered non-standard and was developed specifically to ensure higher maneuverability for supporting Walkure.

With that in mind, it's entirely logical that a "JA" could be an experimental non-FSW version. 

Plus, making the modifications to the fold crystals, canards, leg missile racks and let's not forget the nose sensors, is a pain!  ;)

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Just now, Firefox said:

@slide Thanks for the tips. I've got a proper tool. Tried it out. The lines are very fine. May be it's good for model but the DX has a thicker lines. Hard to match those lines.

Briefly thought about enlarging the canard, but the DX VF-31A just has the normal one. Still undecided. Most likely will leave them as is as I can see that the plastic is too thin.

Starfury, yeah! Hopefully one day I can see the finished product.

I've got three 'Furys in the stash... and one from like, 2005 that needs alot of repair from a move. eventually I'll be posting pics of them, but this one's going back in her box for a bit.

I think I'll just leave the raised lines on the other two... maybe if I'm satisfied with my results I'll cast the Upper/lower-wing parts so I don't have to do it 3 more times! lol

This really is a bigger project/pain than I thought it would be... The compound curves around the engine nacelles... I get the sweats just looking at it :ph34r:

 

 

 

as far as thicker panel-lines... that's a quandary... the only answer I can conjur is to go deeper [thus making a wider V shape trench in the material], then fill the bottom of the trench with thin CA ... which in theory would result in a more DX-like panel-line... 

But there's obvious impracticalities to that...

 

I'm wondering if a proper Graver [like an engraver would use] would be an option...

it would involve grinding the cutting face to the exact shape/size you need, but other than that I can't think of a way to get thicker lines that would still cut smoothly and controllably through the plastic...

another difference is that you push a graver, and pull a scriber...

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2 hours ago, spacemanoeuvres said:

Looks great. These seem like a good candidate for shapeways. 

Was anything damaged swapping the wings? Would you be able to swap them back without too much trouble?

The process is destructive and irreversible, thanks to Bandai glueing everything up. 

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Hope this is helpful.  If that's a straight copy of the J shape, then the A is actually differently shaped, in addition to being bigger.  I've added the extra line in red to show what I mean.  I've also added some panel lines and colours that may (or may not) be useful.

31A Canard.png

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