Homagerman

After a bit of a battle with this one I am calling it finished Thanks for looking and all the encouraging comments, until the next one. James

Thanks Lads, This one is fighting me every step of the way. @ George - The Decals I got from Dave went on fine, I did not have to use the extra thin to get them to sit down and behave. @ Mr B - I'm going for a very dirty bird, as this is a tiger meet bird I know it would of been clean, but I'm using my newly acquired artistic licence to make it look used and abused. @ exdraken – Merci More pics to come in the next day or two. James

Thanks Dave, couldn't of done it without your kind donation. James

Update time. I got a bottle of Humbrol weathering powder in my LHS the other day and after watching a YouTube I had to give it a try. And this is how the tail turned out after the kind donation of replacement decals form DaveA And how it looks in place, this is not glued on. What I have left to do on this - 1. Clear coat the underside, I had to repaint this after a failed oil wash. For some reason it cut through my clear coat ( Tamiya clear + Klear, both cured for about 4 weeks) 2. Panel wash on the underside. 3. Paint remainder of the landing gear. 4. Glue all loose parts. 5. Flat coat everything. Thanks for looking, James

Great start, I will be keeping an eye on this one with intrest. James

out standing build Richard , what can I say that others have not said already. James

Thanks Lads. Here is a bit of an update for today. The other side of the tail. I messed this one up a bit, but it will do for me. Next up the landing gear. And lastly one of the burner cans. Thanks for looking James

Evening Lads, I've gotten a bit of work done over the last few days. First up one of the R550 Magic Missile and one of the GBU12's On the GUB12's I did a little bit of work on the vain thingy at the front. On the left is my scratch effort and on the right is the kit version. I cut of the round bit and the fins off and replaced them with plastic card fins and some round tube I have and I cut it to size. I also wanted to get a feel for the large tail decals, so I worked on one side of the tail to see how I would get on. After reading how bad the decals behaved, I have spent two days trying to get these to conform with a lot of micro sol and set, no luck, I used Filip's technique for this to no avail.( this has nothing to do with Filip's technique and all to do with the thickness of the decals) Sooooo I tried a new and highly dangerous technique I had seen awhile ago on you tube. My plan was if I messed it up I could strip it and repaint and go with the other option the kit decal allow. So this is what I did - I wiped the decal down with warm water to clean any left over micro sol/set and then with a wide brush I applied a coat of Tamiya extra thin cement and let it dry ( this took about 10-15secs) it softened the decal a lot. I then got another clean wide brush and worked the decal into the tail, light and quick strokes here. I got a little be carried away on the bottom part of the tiger, it looks a bit faded and up by the positioning lights, but there are spare decals for the lights so that should cover up that little mess. I was happy with the result. Hopefully I can replicate this on the other side. James

Looks great, lovely weathering. James

Update time, I have been working on the ordinance and fuel tanks this week. This is a model of firsts for me. 1. First time to use Tamiya clear gloss - Very happy with the result 2. First proper oil wash - I will need to invest in a few more paint brushes but I'm happy with how it looks. 3. First time to try pre shading. 4. First time to try the filling technique I have seen around, it involves masking each side of the gap to be filled, applying filler of choice and then using a cotton bud dipped in thinner and wiped across the filler. Hey presto a nice smooth gap. Any way onto the work This is the bomb rack which will sport 3 GBU's One of the two wing mounted drop tank/fuel tank. The wings are on. And lastly a close up of the filled seam at the wing root. This was primed and there are a few flaws but with a quick pass of a couple different grades of micromesh sheets should see these disappear. Thanks for looking. James

Great build, love the detail in the office. James

Great paint job. Looking forward to seeing this one finished. James

Thanks for the comments lads, I will be using the tiger meet decal as depicted on the box top. I have read that these are a bit thick so I might have my work cut out for me. James

Out standing build, amazing scratch building skills in display. Keep up the great work. James

Unlucky Oliver, I'm sure you will have a new engine up and running in no time. James