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2 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

Good to see your Tomcat production line is still turning out kitties !

 

 

Thanks 👍🏿 Its not back to full speed though as they are sharing the factory with some spitfires at the moment :)

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Some progress on the vf102 bird to take a break from the spitfires. 

 

Trying out some different things, nothing groundbreaking but new for me. 

 

Keeping with the tamiya theme for this one, Done the leading edges (x32) and bladders (xf63) first then masked them off. Oh and the gunpanel in a mix of the above. On all 4 previous builds I masked these off and painted them after main scheme. 

 

Something else is this black basing, hence the black stynylrez. 

On the last tps bird (D-vf213) I did a grey primer and then some black and white areas followed by thin coats of Mr Color.

This black basing is quicker and easier as you don't have to be as precise following all panel lines etc. Just lots of layers of squiggles followed by some blending coats. 

It is quite laborious and boring though. Ends up with a more random patchy finish I guess. 

I have used tamiya xf19 sky grey for this overall light ghost grey scheme. Thinned with mr Color std thinner. May add a blue filter as its a bit too 'creamy' looking to me and going off of the references.  

 

Anyway onto some pics!  

 

Silver and grey on. 

 

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Masked off and blacked out again. 

 

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First pass of squiggles.

 

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What it looks like after 3 to 4 passes of squiggles. 

 

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Overall Blending coat added.

 

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Uppers still at the 3-4 coat of squiggles stage. 

 

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Undersides about done. 

 

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Once the top is finished I will go over whole airframe with some corrosion touchups here and there and some repainted areas to add a bit of interest. 

 

Thanks for looking!

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Sitrep on the vf102. 

 

Didn't go too great after the last update, kinda one step forward and two steps back. 

 

Added a blue filter with the airbrush as I said I would in last update, compare left and right below. 

 

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Ended up being too much though. Think the boxtop reference photo grey plane looks very 'blue' due to the sky affecting my brain. 

 

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Plus then after this blue filter when I took it to the cabinet to compare, this supposed overall light ghost grey plane was darker and bluer than the builds that had 35237 uppers! So this had to change. 

 

To try and counter the 'over-blueness' I applied a white enamel filter. It was stippled on and this gave quite a cool salt water stained effect, but didn't change the look the way I wanted it to. However I will save this technique for a future build. 

 

Filter applied, 

 

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And what it looked like dry. 

 

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However it still wasn't pale enough so it was back all over with the light grey again. Then I did the commonly seen 'touch ups' as well. So in the end it's turned out ok, but all that first paint job black basing was lost.  Oh well. 

 

What it looked like after the respray - 

 

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Next the wheel wells were done (masked and sprayed) and details were all touched in by brush, bits in red, radome tan and various metal areas. 

 

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Then it was gloss and decals! 

 

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Thanks for looking! 

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Nice save, Tony. Looks good from here.

 

I've been on the fence about this "Black Basing" fad. I plan to give it a chance before i pass judgement...that is if calling it a "fad" is not passing judgement already.

 

-d-

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11 hours ago, David H said:

Nice save, Tony. Looks good from here.

 

I've been on the fence about this "Black Basing" fad. I plan to give it a chance before i pass judgement...that is if calling it a "fad" is not passing judgement already.

 

-d-

 

It's certainly a quicker process David. 

 

As in the black primer and 'total preshade' are done in one, then just add the grey where and to the intensity you want. 

 

Compared to the traditional grey primer, then spraying tediously along all panel lines, then adding the grey carefully to get the goldilocks amount (just right) of it showing through ha ha.  

 

Tony

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Sounds like it might be worthwhile for low vis Navy jets. I'm planning to try it on a three tone FM-1, if and when that project comes on the front burner again. For now i'm still on the Tamiya Tomcat.....and haven't been able to quite get off the Corsair treadmill....

 

-d-

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Had an idea to make some decals to add details to interior of the GE nozzles. The Eduard brassin ones have this, slight depressions in the plates which take a wash to male them stand out. 

So I thought I could suggest this with a decal. 

 

Made some shapes in paint. 

Stated with regularly spaced rectangles which I then turned into ovals. 

 

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Printed of onto regular paper to check size. 

 

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Then printed off on to laser decal paper. A dirty brown color. 

 

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One being tested - fujimi plastic nozzle shown. 

 

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This was a few weeks back. 

Now being used in anger on the vf102 birds nozzles!

 

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Should look better once they have had a grimy wash and some pigment soot. Thanks for looking 👍🏿

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These look great Tony.  I always think TPS is one of the hardest finishes to get right.  The paint being porous picks up all sorts of crap from the servicing guys which I think always gives it a brown tinge in the well trodden areas.    You seem to have nailed it though - any chance of a few shots of the all together in the cabinet?

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18 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

These look great Tony.  I always think TPS is one of the hardest finishes to get right.  The paint being porous picks up all sorts of crap from the servicing guys which I think always gives it a brown tinge in the well trodden areas.    You seem to have nailed it though - any chance of a few shots of the all together in the cabinet?

 

Hi pal, thanks for the comment :)

 

A couple pages back when the vf32 was finished is the most recent groupshot of the 4 completed so far. Hopefully this one will be done by next week too then the thread will be updated...

Spent some time with this bird & its panel line washes yesterday. Pics to be added later if they turned out ok then it will be flat coat time followed lastly by greaking grime type marks and wing sweep area grubbiness etc 👍🏿

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Meanwhile the next two are being planned. Small details eg AM & resin to be finalised. 

 

An A and a B. 

 

The A will be vf 114 from the allstars sheet, wearing Akan paints. 

 

The B will be as vf 74 adversary courtesy of hasegawa, wearing Mr Paint. 

 

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Will update the first page with these new ones later and assign them build numbers 👍🏿

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I like the black base and squiggles paint technique.

Question, how thinned are your filter coats?  50% or less?

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8 hours ago, At Sea said:

I like the black base and squiggles paint technique.

Question, how thinned are your filter coats?  50% or less?

 

Hi pal I'd say it's probably around that. I am a lazy sprayer when it comes to stuff like that. I just go by eye and feel - always spray on scrap first and adjust mix from there. I start thin and add more paint if needed. 

I'm the type that mixes in the airbrush cup too (can hear people gasping in horror)

 

I always start with the thinner in the cup first (the type suited to paint I'm gonna use obviously)

 

Then I drop the paint in off of a toothpick or similar and stir with a brush to mix. Use the brush again to help clean it out afterwards too. 

 

I have a separate brush for mixing metals though. (Different airbrush too) Always seem to get little flecks in otherwise. 

 

Hope this helps a bit! 

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2 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

If you're doing an aardvark's Tomcat You need the crew with orange flight suits.  Aardvarks kept wearing them long after issue was stopped..

 

Yeah seen pics of that whilst doing research for the build due to the strange '1000' modex. Something to do with 1000th carrier landing from what I have ascertained.

May have to do a crew in the pit or one lad on the wingwalk 👍🏿

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VF 102 update. 

 

Washes on - 4 were used. 

 

1- Went for blue grey overall, a slightly lighter and browner wash than the overall deep grey of previous builds. 

 

2 - The wheel wells/ doors & u/c (all white bits basically) had the grey filter used as a wash. 

 

3- The exhuast interiors had the deep brown.

 

4- Lastly all the vents/grills and hinges on flaps rudders engine cowls etc had the blue back for more depth. 

 

Once it was all cleaned off, a few panels on the top and most of the undersides where grime collects were outlined in deep grey to give a bit of contrast and make them stand out a bit more. Then is was matt coated with tamiya flat clear xf86. 

 

In detail: 

 

Wash on!

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Wash off!

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Darker bits done - note some of the more prominent oval panels on wings. Flat clear going on in these pics. 

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Quite pleased with how the hasegawa decals turned out. They are thick but settled in well. 

Streaking grime to be added tonight 👍🏿

 

 

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Some small vf 102 details

 

Reskit wheels and home cast exhaust tubes (no seams) and bases. Hasegawa parts originally. 

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U/C on. 

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Nose leg was cut above landing light to make installment easier at the end because it wont go in due to doors molded in place. (Instructions have you place it in from the start) The cut off wedge was glued in from beginning, then rest of leg drilled/pinned & added now once detailed. 

 

Something else new for this build - the 'traffic lights' were drilled out (0.3mm) and filled with tamiya clears for the lenses. 

 

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Brassin Aim-54C. 

Also new to the WIP and being used for the first time in anger are my mastered and improved lau-138 launchers with added rails and bolts etc. Hasegawa parts originally. Sidewinder still to be added. 

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Mastered and cast Lantirn pod & pylon next with homemade decals. Painted the silver circle and rectangle then used a 'grid' decal to make the vents. Another one of my cast lau-138's here too. 

Forgot to paint a white square to go under the red and black laser warning signs though :( 

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Lenses were drilled out when mastered. Painted Silver then filled with clear colours.  

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Black and yellow check came from the spares box. Seen it on a few 102 and 103 (when still sluggers) birds. Don't know what it means though. Anyone?

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Streaks/grime next 👍🏿

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1 hour ago, Tony Oliver said:

...

 

Black and yellow check came from the spares box. Seen it on a few 102 and 103 (when still sluggers) birds. Don't know what it means though. Anyone?

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Just a guess, but the marking is similar to photo calibration marks usually carried in abundance by aircraft flown by units such as VX-4/5/9/23 etc to (I think) assist with evaluating weapons separation during trials. Perhaps VF-102 and VF-103 inherited pylons (and LANTIRN pods or vice versa) from one of these test units when they first started using LANTIRN....?

 

The work in this most recent post matches all the other lovely progress you've been making; I especially like the home-made decals and resin enhancements.

 

Andrew.

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33 minutes ago, Andrew said:

 

Just a guess, but the marking is similar to photo calibration marks usually carried in abundance by aircraft flown by units such as VX-4/5/9/23 etc to (I think) assist with evaluating weapons separation during trials. Perhaps VF-102 and VF-103 inherited pylons (and LANTIRN pods or vice versa) from one of these test units when they first started using LANTIRN....?

 

Andrew.

 

Thanks mate. Yeah had a feeling they might be that too but wasn't 100%. Seen pics with markings like that all over the belly of cats when they were trialling bombs, but those were all circle shape, like you get on crash test dummies. Mmmmmmm, mmmmmmmmm, mmmmmm mmmmm lol. (As opposed to these squares)

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Some house keeping updates on the others. 

 

First is the vf31 sunset tomcat, the first one I did OOB in this WIP when I didn't know much about cats. I did it with sparrow pylons on both wing gloves, as I only saw a picture of the left and assumed the right  layout was the same. I recently found a picture from the other side that shows a Lantirn pylon instead. So have now swapped/added that. 

Plus the hobbyboss sparrow launchers are wrong, being a mirror image of each other. They should both be like the left one in the kit. So getting rid of the incorrect right one is a double winner. 

I also added the TER's to the bombracks as found a pic of 101 wearing these too so it adds some interest to the pack. So now its like an empty bombcat rather than a potential wrong sparrow/air to air load. 

 

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Also, having done the diamondbacks wing sweeps   recently and now having the daco book, I noticed that I needed to darken up the ones on the vf 101 & 213 with some black washes. 

 

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Cheers!

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Diamondback update:

 

Wingsweeps - let dry for 5-10mins

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Move it about with a damp brush (odourless thinner)

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Ends up like this. 

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Then squared off. 

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Done 👍🏿

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Underside sweeps done too. 

Next - dark mud (turns out a nice match to those rusty colour streaks you see around these parts) in dots all over engine areas- 

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Then streaked and blended. 

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Streaks back from rudder hinges too etc. 

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Tanks had streaks from various points and dirtied up along bottom. Fuel stains to be added yet. 

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Some more dot fading and dirt with oilbrushers - white, grey and filth. 

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Bombs almost done. Cast bodies roughed up first.  Xf62 olive drab overall. Pressed metal bits in a lighter green and some in grey. Glossed, decaled, washes and metal/clear bits. Bodies/cast bits done flat and satin for pressed metal parts. Pics of mismatched bombs like this on a trolly in the daco book 👍🏿

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Nozzles mated with shrouds and tubes ready to go on. 

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Cheers, Tony

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