First post and build on Britmodeller! Hobby Boss 1/48 YF23

[Skids]

Looking good, keep it up (good reference for mine)

Simon

[shawty82]

Now where was I? Today I've done a fair amount of the "big" things!

First thing I did when I got up was glue the fuselage together. Felt like forever tracing glue along all the sealing faces! Got there though, but not sure if the wheel bay wasn't straight or the nose weight was in the way, but it didn't quite hang together like it did in the dry run. Not hugely bad, just slightly out on the right hand side (as you look down the nose) up around the cockpit area.

A little blurry, but this photo shows where the fit issue was. As I said before, not major, but needed a few finger-swipes with vallejo putty and a scrub with a damp cloth, then a little work with a micro mesh cloth and it came out ok.

Then I went a little bit crazy, and owing to the usual good fit I found in this kit, the tailplane and the wings went together and were test-fitted onto the fuselage! Wow, she's looking gooooood! The tail surfaces were stuck together, but not attached. They secure to the fuselage via hefty plastic lugs, and the fit of the parts is quite good. Perhaps useful if transporting the model to a show or something? I did have to use a smudge of filler on the flat edges of the wings, and a little on the underside where a portion of the upper wing butts up to the lower. The parts weren't glued at this point to allow the fuselage to dry properly. Check out my next project, another 1/48 Phantom!!

After I was happy with the fuselage (no other filler other than around the nose area was needed) I secured the wings and hit the first snag I've had whilst building this kit! The left-hand wing (as you look at the aircraft nose-on) sits .5mm-1mm high of the fuselage. You can see this on the picture of the dry fit above, although in my excitement I didn't notice it! It's only on the upper surface, the lower seems to sit flush. I remedied the situation as best as I could, although it appears the moulding for that wing may be a little bit too deep. As it stands now, its not perfect (after filling and sanding) but its much better than it was. The picture below shows some shots of the wing roots, all of which needed a little filler, but nothing disastrous!

I decided now to crack on with spraying the exhaust troughs. I masked around the area, and also masked the exhaust petals that were already in situ. I used Alclad Grey Primer (which is lovely and thin and gives a nice smooth finish, even for non-Alclad paints! Just costs a bomb) being careful to plug the inner exhaust with some foam from an old Aires set (I also snipped up a couple to fit in the air intakes too for when I start spraying).

I used up the excess Alclad primer to test the gaps at the wing root and it appears they need another application of filler. Not to worry, I'll sort that before I start priming in earnest!

First colour was overall Alclad Gun Metal all over. I'd not used this before it came out looking like an almost glossy black, which I wasn't too happy with. But I have a plan.....more on that tomorroww. The inner troughs were then masked off to enable me to spray the outer edges, which I did in Alclad Magnesium.

That was all I had time for tonight, think the kitchen was getting filled up with fumes as well as my respirator began struggling! So best call it a night! Safety first and all that!

My final pic is how I have left the exhaust troughs

Bye for now folks! Onto masking the canopy tomorrow methinks.....my least favourite part of model-making. While we're on the subject, anybody got any fancy tricks for masking the inside of a canopy with no raised framing detail? Please do let me know, and you'll save me a lot of swearing and sweating!

Edited March 17, 2014 by shawty82

[shawty82]

Been a bit slack posting more pics as the weeks been quite an eventful one! But progress has been made! Did forget to snap a couple of processes but sure I don't need to tell you guys what I did! Basically, I added the HUD assembly and masked up the canopy ready for paint. Painted some interior of the canopy framing, and also cut up some foam to wedge into the landing gear bays to avoid overspray, and did the undercoating.

I prepped the surface usinig Micro Mesh clothes, in particular 1800 to start (where needed), then 3600, then 8000 then shining it all up nice with 12000 grit. Used Alclad 2 grey primer/microfiller as I like the finish it gives. Had the choice of using my usual Vallejo grey undercoat but I sprayed on a warm day, and had problems with warmth and spraying the stuff earlier in the build. I also managed to pre-shade the kit (I've attempted this before but never had good results, but this time it went well, best I've ever done )

Had the usual paint-job cock-up in that I dribbled paint out of the colour cup and over the noise, which required it to be left until it was dry, then sanded down and resprayed. I also took the opportunity to use a tool I completely forgot I had and have never used - a Tamiya Scriber! Used it freehand so there are a couple of blemishes, but all in all I shall be acquiring some thick n cheap tape to use as a guide, and I'll be using this tool again! May even invest in one of those rivetting wheel thingies (excuse my ignorance!).

Once I'd undercoated and left it for a day on a nice soft cloth (a first for me) to stop the bottom scuffing, I fixed the super fine needle and nozzle to my airbrush and had a crack at preshading.

The preshading was done with Vallejo Air Panzer Dark Grey, thinned with Vallejo thinners to about 40% initially, but bumped it up to 50%. With hindsight, it would have been better if I'd left it at 40% and adjusted the airbrush/regulator and how I was spraying (ie distance, stroke length etc).

Doing the preshading did highlight a weak link in my airbrush setup - the compressor. It's a tankless fairly low powered compressor, and I suffered with pulsation problems for the first time doing this. It was far less noticeable using a 40% paint mix, so when I come to put down the main colour on the '23 I'll be using that mix, and looking to either get a new compressor or add a tank to the system some time soon.

On another note, I received the set of Caracal Decals relevant to my plane. Caracal have sold out of the 300 odd sheets they were initially printing, so they're like hens teeth! But luckily, a kind member on here saved the day!! There were 2 YF23's built, PAV 1 and PAV 2. PAV 1 was the black/dark grey version which the kind provider of the decals is building, thereby leaving the PAV 2 decals surplus, and he kindly sent them to me in exchange for a copy of Tamiya Modelling Magazine with a feature on PAV 1 in it. Top bloke! Thanks Simon!

Anyway, onto pictures!

Next step is actually spraying the beast!

I'm taking my references from here:

http://yf-23.net/menu.html

Easily the ultimate source for anything to do with the YF23, some pics of completed kits to look at too (although the writer isn't too complimentary about most of them, really!)

I've established that the "correct" paints I should be using are:

Light Ghost Grey (FS36375) = Vallejo Air 71.046 - Pale Grey Blue (aka RLM76)

Dark Ghost Grey (FS36320) = Vallejo Air 71.120 - USAF Medium Grey

I have Light Ghost Grey already and comparing it with pictures and video of PAV 2, it looks about right, just the right amount of blue tint in it. It remains to be seen with the Vallejo Dark Ghost Grey, but I'll be picking some up tomorrow morning from Mike at Clifton Curios Models. And stroking the HK Models Meteor he has for me

Thats all for now!

[Dave A]

RLM76 is really quite a 'blue' light blue, are you sure about that?

[shawty82]

I've ummed and erred about it overnight and I'm not sure about it myself to be honest! Looking at the PAV2 airframe as it is now in stills and in video, it looks fairly accurate but I'm going to see how it mixes with the "dark ghost grey". I may go darker for effect -definitely not short on shades of grey! Thanks for bringing the thought to the fore Dave

[shawty82]

Hi all,

Having been and checked on the paints and how they go together, I decided to stick with my initial paints. As Dave pointed out, the RLM76 is a pale blue, but looking at pictures (http://yf-23.net/galleries/PAV2.html) it appears that from most angles, both colours are very much Blue/Greys.

With that in mind, I started masking ready for some paint! Tailplanes first

The masking "sausages" are just plane old cheapo plasticine from a local art/craft shop, 0.5kg for £2.10 (my personal bargain of the week). It's unbranded stuff and a nice neutral white. I've tried blue-tack, play-doh and silly putty before and (including plasticine) they all seem to leave marks on the paint, but plasticine is the least offensive. As long as the paint isn't too thick or hasn't dried properly, the marks are removable either by brushing a lump of plasticine over them (it seems to pick them up really well) or lightly moistening a finger or a cloth and gently (and I mean really gently!) rubbing over them. They come out very well this way.

I decided to limit the amount of plasticine I used anyway and began spraying the aircraft itself freehand. Here's how it came out.

It hasn't appeared too well in the piccies, but the preshading is showing through! Got on better with the paint mix today, although the airbrush clogged up after every pass. Annoying but got used to moistening the needle tip every time I used it, and I got on ok.

Not being big-headed, but doing this was nowhere near as hard as I thought it'd be to get it looking ok! I think though perhaps the shaded areas could have been darker.....I'll remember that for the next kit though.

Once I'd sprayed the "Dark Ghost Grey" I let the compressor rest (it was running quite hot, poor little thing!) whilst the paint dried. Intended on spraying the "Light Ghost Grey" but ran out of time tonight. I managed to begin the masking process on the relevant areas though, so when I'm home from work tomorrow, I'll have a crack at finishing off the upper surfaces.

Edited March 22, 2014 by shawty82

[shawty82]

Well its been a while, but I've still been plodding on with the 23! Almost finished in fact. So without further ado, on with the piccies! I hope you like!

The second (lighter) grey was applied, and I think it looks just fine. Not too blue as may have been suggested, It could perhaps have done with being a little more blue compared to photos of the actual aircraft. On spraying the underside, I was roughly following the Caracal Decals painting instructions for PAV 2 which basically says that no clear pictures of the underside are known, so I used a little artistic license and used the darker of the greys to mimic the paint that runs from the nose, beyond the cockpit and down the spine of the aircraft. So on the underside it begins just aft of the nose wheel bay and continues down past the weapons bays. I also added rough triangular areas of the same grey, again copying the upper surface around the engine housings. Neglected to upload the pics of this but will do at a later date.

Another one of the many angles this plane manages to look mean and beautiful all at the same time!

After leaving her to dry for a couple of days it was on to a coat of Klear in preparation for the decals, which went on very smoothly. There was little silvering on the larger decals, although I had trouble with the small "No Step" stencils despite using Micro Sol/Set as with the larger ones. Weird. Not really too noticeable, so I wasn't overly concerned.

With the decalling done and another coat of Klear to seal them in, I moved on to the fiddly bits! The landing gear is well made and fairly well detailed, but a little plain (on the actual aircraft too). I decided not to depict any of the chrome/polished stainless of the "bouncy bits" (for want of a better phrase or word!!) as most pictures of PAV 2 don't show them, unless the aircraft is, so it seems, devoid of the weight of fuel. Made life a little easier. I did take the time to Klear all the landing gear parts and add a little ProModeller Light Dirt wash, which certainly looks the part and isn't too OTT against white paint (will use this on all of the modern aircraft I build from now on).

I hit a snag in the assembly and location of the Y-strut that extends from half way down the main gear legs to a bulkhead in the wheel bay itself. The instructions were a little vague in this area, not really showing any mounting points, so again with a little license, I trimmed 1mm or so from the parts so that they'd fit. The other snag is that as I read before buying this kit, the landing gear seems to be incredibly weak! Even with all parts attached, the gear bends quite a lot, especially the nose wheel leg. I will mount the landing gear when it's time using PVA glue to make it easily removable so that (hopefully) when SAC or another company releases some metal landing gear, it'll go in with minimal fuss. Seriously, the gear was that weak that I almost considered building the kit with the wheels up!!

With all the fiddlys at least ready to attach, I set about considering my options for weathering. I lack the skill to mimic the kind of patchwork effect on the real aircraft, but I did apply a dark grey wash (mixed from a Grey and a Black Vallejo Wash) to areas I wanted to highlight, such as on the area surrounding the engines, and also on the area on the upper surfaces next to the forward wing root, plus around the refuelling probe housing, as I'd imagine this would get quite dirty what with stray sprays of fuel on hookup to a tanker etc.

I also used a Vallejo pigment, Dark Steel, on the engine exhausts. It was my first time using a pigment, and to compliment a Light Dirt wash in between the tiles (as seen on the original) I used the pigment to add the unusual steely-blue finish you see on the ablative tiles of the real thing. I really was chuffed with how it came out - metallic yet translucent at the same time, and I'll definitely be using more pigments in future! I know strictly speaking I should have waited until I'd put a flat coat on, but I was itching to give it a try!

I almost cocked up the paintwork using some Vallejo washes (it was my first time using them) and they really dried solid and were almost like paint! Anybody else experienced this? It certainly didn't behave like a wash! It took a lot of scrubbing with a damp cloth, scratching lightly with my fingernail and Vallejo Airbrush Thinner to get rid, eating away some of the Klear in the process!! I corrected this, and I ended up using ProModeller Dark Dirt (I find this wipes off waaaaaay too easily) as I was that annoyed at almost ruining the paint!

Once I had corrected the problem and gave the surfaces a quick wipe down, I proceeded to coat the whole model in Vallejo Satin Varnish. I find it dries more Matt than Satin, perhaps something I'm doing wrong. Either way, I like the results and use it where appropriate on all my kits. One issue was that the pigment effect on the engine exhausts almost disappeared, but I'll be correcting this on finally assembly and "roll out" (to the display shelf). Here's some piccies of where I'm at right now:

The final things I need to do is assemble and paint an Aires ACES II ejector seat, renew the effects around the exhaust with pigment, scratch-build some sort of hydraulic ram to hold the canopy open to show off the cockpit, and finally assemble the landing gear with PVA and attach the gear bay doors. I will also be attaching the exhaust petals relevant to PAV 2, giving me another excuse to play with pigments! Oh, I'll also paint and attach the pitot tubes.

Edited April 7, 2014 by shawty82

[Alpha Delta 210]

Good effort! I like that a lot. Looking forward to seeing it finished.

[Skids]

Looking good, did the decals go on nicely?

[Parabat]

That looks sweet. Nice work.

[shawty82]

Thanks for the positive comments guys

Simon, yeah decals went on well with the usual Micro Sol and Set. Some of the little "No Step" stencils silvered a little but after Klear and Satin varnish they're not really noticeable. Got a good decal experience to look forward to when you're ready with yours Thanks again for helping me out with them, really ironic Hannants restocked the sheets days after yours arrived lol such is my luck

Edited April 7, 2014 by shawty82

[shawty82]

Well no new pics as I've already posted some of the 23 in a near finished state. I've stuck the landing gear in this morning with PVA glue in preparation (or should I say hope of) a metal set of legs for the beast! I'll be attaching the gear doors later on

[Dave A]

Looking good! Those Vallejo washes are interesting to work with - they're not really meant for panel-lining, as you say they dry quite firmly. But they do dirty up interior spaces very nicely.