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[eng]

This thread just keeps giving, epic workmanship, still loving this.

 

Mod's can we please have this thread pinned? It deserves to be a 'go to' guide for Tomcat modellers, weathering, casting, scratch-building... it's all in here.

 

Rgds,

 

Eng

[fewr9fkr9595]

Vf21 bird has been primed! 

 

Great having different shades of primer available these days. Handy doing some things in black or white to help the up coming colours.  

Gave the gloss black stynylrez another run out as a base for the metals. 

Also tried the mission primer out on some of the smaller parts too. Pleased. 

 

 

Stuck to my favourite mix of  lightened grey stynylrez for the airframe though. (I find the regular grey too dark)

 

My vision for this CO’s plane is to try and give a varied, faded and worn look without the blatant in your face touch up type paint job that the vf 14 & 111 line birds had with their maskol & post shade technique. I also wanted a stronger tonal variation than black-basing would give me (already used on the vf 31 & 102 birds)

 

So the plan is to try the same style I used for my have glass F-16CJ Block 50, where I did pre shading and pre highlighting, then used mig transpartor to apply thin coats of the main colour allowing the work to show through. Sort of like a black and white technique that seems popular with armour & figures. 

 

Before doing that F-16 in this style in March time I kind of did this last year with the vf 101 & 213 builds but didn’t use any transparency in the upper layers of colour so obliterated most of the black and white work. 

 

So next for this will be some black and white work with the mission model basics then it will be the ghost greys over this with the mission ‘transparent medium’ ie a clear base paint so that over thinned colour layers don’t lose their integrity 

 

Thanks for looking (and reading, not many pics this post - sorry)

 

[Robert]

Should be interesting to see how this one turns out compared to the others.

 

PM sent

 

Robert

[fewr9fkr9595]

Few other bits had some progress/experimentation. 

 

Keeping with the misson paints theme, the vf21 hot parts were done in mission metals, 2 colours on it as per bottles behind. Very impressed with these for water based metals. Gloss black stynylrez as primer. 

 

 

To add some interest and variation I will pick out some of the individual exhaust panels & petals in some other colours like I did on the vf 14 & 111 birds. To facilitate this I have mixed up some extra shades from the 4 currently available. Percentages are a rough guide. 

 

Mixes left to right:

 

1 - A pale burnt metal titanium type shade. 75/25 % of alu/copper. 

2 - A lighter steel gunmetal which is 50/50 % of the alu/steel. 

3 - A burnt rusty steel shade which is 40/40/20 mix of the cold steel/burnt iron/copper.   

 

 

One other thing I have mentioned before in this wip but not had a close up yet I think is of the mods to the glide-slope/landing light box on the nose gear leg. Three holes drilled out with a 0.3mm. Then once leg is painted white dropping some clear colours in makes nice little lenses 👍🏿

 

 

 

 

[Andrew]

Your custom mixes of the metallic shades look very useful, and it's good to hear that the Mission metal paints get your nod. I look forward to your efforts on the nozzles and with the nosegear lights.

[fewr9fkr9595]

So a bit about this paintjob before I begin,

 

Here is the hasegawa recommendation - medium grey over dark ghost, gunship skunk stripe, fin caps and nose gear door.  

 

 

Pics of this time frame seem rare. A google image search of vf21 1991 throws up this as the closest I can find. 

 

 

So its a dirty line bird, with the skunk ending like an anti-glare rather than going to the tip of the nose. Also no dark fin caps and the carrier name is on the wing glove. 

 

There are some pics of a tps cag 200, but it has an engine grey, almost black skunk stripe and a yellow fill in the tail fin triangle wedge logo, with rainbow wegdes across the top of the tail. Pretty cool. 

 

But none of the CO’s bird so will go with the hasegawa spec. 

 

Back to the mission paints - 

 

Here is the white highlights done first. These will hopefully represent fading or fresh paint later on. Also the missile noses were done ready to be masked off later. It’s all about concurrent activity for maximum productivity 👍🏿

The paint went on like a dream by the way. Real easy to work with and great results for a water based acrylic. Thinned as per their directions with a touch of the poly mix added. Hardly any tip dry 👍🏿

 

 

Then is was time for the preshading. Instead of black which may be too stark, I used a mix of gunship and brown to make a dark dirty grime colour. 

This was sprayed into the nooks and areas of shadow, over some panel lines for dirt and lastly used to ‘frame’ or outline some of the white areas. The idea is that once over coated these white areas will appear to be lighter than the surroundings due to the darker edges, so will seem like fresher paint for corrosion touch ups. 

 

Overall - 

 

 

Nose close up - also pleased with how my custom etch formation strips look under paint 👍🏿

 

 

Rear fuselage -

 

 

Again the paint was very easy to work with. I went a bit thinner this time for finer work and help it pass through a 0.2mm needle (white was done with a 0.3mm) To compensate for this I increased the pressure a bit to help atomise the thinner paint and get a tighter spray, as at 15psi it was a bit blobby and ‘falling’ out of the airbrush if that makes sense.

 

Very Impressed with them 👍🏿

 

Cheers!  

[fewr9fkr9595]

17 hours ago, Andrew said:

get your nod.

 

Thanks mate, didn’t realise it was that influential  

 

 

[basaez.bruno]

Nice paintjob!!

[Nigel Heath]

Even the pre-shading is a minor work of art.

[qn30jEkPz7]

By this point I reckon you could do a blindfolded OOB Tomcat build and paintscheme that wouldn't look out of place in an RFI thread - lovely work as ever

[fewr9fkr9595]

2 hours ago, LostCosmonauts said:

By this point I reckon you could do a blindfolded OOB Tomcat build and paintscheme that wouldn't look out of place in an RFI thread - lovely work as ever

 

Thanks mate! Much appreciated. 

 

By the way, here below is the the RFI of the first build completed from this WIP, OOB inc decals apart from some pylons. In vallejo paints. 

 

Would do alot differently if I did this one or a different vf31 bird again.

 

 

[Twong]

Great looking builds.

 

Back on page 17, post 418 you said you used Mr. Cement S extra thin to join the PE to the plastic. Is the Mr. Cement S extra thin strong enough to hold the PE to the styrene? I am looking for something other than CA or two part epoxy and was hoping you could shed some light on how the Mr. Cement S extra thin works with PE on plastic.

 

Here is a photo of a VF-21 F-14A similar to the Hasegawa instructions. It is painted as Hasegawa says but the puma or whatever cat that is seems larger than the one shown on the Hasegawa instructions.

 

[Massimo]

...WOW!!!

I had missed this topic and I have to say it's outstanding!!! andthere'smore to come!!!

Look forward to it!!!

[fewr9fkr9595]

6 hours ago, Twong said:

Is the Mr. Cement S extra thin strong enough to hold the PE to the styrene? I am looking for something other than CA or two part epoxy and was hoping you could shed some light on how the Mr. Cement S extra thin works with PE on plastic.

 

Hi Mate, first off thanks for the picture of the vf 21 CO bird. 

 

Very similar to the instructions and like you say, just the panther is bigger and perhaps the dark fin caps tops a bit shorter too? Trying to see if the crew names are the same. It’s not uncommon for the squadron markings to evolve or even crew to change appointments during a cruise so happy enough with it as it stands. 

Edit - the skunk and caps look more 36081 than 36118 too...

Main paint was done yesterday so later will be wheel wells and wings bladder bags. 

Big picture update tonight hopefully. 

 

With regards to your question of etch and cement - I learnt that trick from somewhere when I did armour. 

 

The problem for me with small etch and superglue/epoxy is that its too quick or messy. 

The amount of CA needed for these  pieces is so tiny it would be an instant grab with no time to wiggle it into the exact position. Plus to try and get and even amount for full purchase along all edges would be tricky. Plus there is a chance of ooze coming out along the edges and making little bumps/dunes along it. Ooze would be a big drama with epoxy too. Which would need cleaning off - when done wet it would smear or when dry trying to chip or scrape the bumps off would crack the join and/or ping the etch off into oblivion. 

 

This is where using liquid cement comes into its own for small plate type parts. 

As long as they are full contact and/or flush and not load bearing then its fine. 

 

The trick is in the sanding.

 

- The plastic surface in the area gets roughed up a touch with 400 grit wet and dry paper. This provides lots of little ridges for the glue to melt. 

 

- The back of the etch is sanded too, normally with a sanding stick or paper whilst still on the fret for ease of handling. Again at least 400 or coarser. This provides the grooves for the molten plastic to flow into.

 

So then the etch part is placed onto the surface as perfectly in position as you can get, holding it level so it doesn’t move. Then you can use the fine brush as which comes with the thin type cements to touch and flow some cement onto/into it, trying no to disturb it. 

If it does move you have a second or two to wiggle it onto its mark, then a light pressure to secure it in place. 

 

So the glue is melting the surface  of the roughened plastic so it flows into the back of the scored etch and grips it in place. It takes a bit of practice, as the first few times one tends to be over cautious without confidence in the technique and use too much cement, which can melt too much plastic and you can get the dreaded ooze coming out along the edges. 

 

Once dry its robust enough as long as you are carefull. You can tap a fingernail against the egde and it won’t move, but a good shove will dislodge it obviously. I tend to add etch like this right at the end when the amount of handling of the model is reduced

 

Also then during painting you have to be wary when masking and using tape to not pull them off. But that would be the same when masking with any fragile parts I guess. 

 

Hope this answer is comprehensive enough to help out yourself and anyone else with the same query. 

 

Cheers, Tony 

 

[Duncan B]

I hate painting all grey colour schemes, it looks like you have perfected this technique so I will be reading this thread again and using it as a guide when I get round to finishing my RAF Phantoms that are waiting for paint. Keep up the good work Tony.

 

Duncan B

[fewr9fkr9595]

33 minutes ago, Duncan B said:

I hate painting all grey colour schemes, it looks like you have perfected this technique so I will be reading this thread again and using it as a guide when I get round to finishing my RAF Phantoms that are waiting for paint. Keep up the good work Tony.

 

Duncan B

 

Thanks Duncan! 

 

To try and make more people aware of this paint and how to get the best of it - I was thinking about using the text and pics from the painting of this vf21 only as a stand alone thread in the paint section, so if someone searches for mission paints then it is there on its own rather than buried amongst 18 pages of fluff etc.

 

Thoughts? 

[Duncan B]

1 hour ago, Tony Oliver said:

 

Thanks Duncan! 

 

To try and make more people aware of this paint and how to get the best of it - I was thinking about using the text and pics from the painting of this vf21 only as a stand alone thread in the paint section, so if someone searches for mission paints then it is there on its own rather than buried amongst 18 pages of fluff etc.

 

Thoughts? 

it's a good idea if you can be bothered to separate it out.

Great thread on the Tomcats, back in the 80's I mostly built 1/72 scale USN aircraft then spread to USAF. They've all gone now and I sold the last of the unmade stash from that period just this week. What was it? Oh, it was a Hasegawa "Pacific Fleet" Tomcat (the original with raised panel lines, Photo-etch and a huge decal sheet ).

 

Duncan B

[Twong]

Thank you and greatly appreciated for the time you took to explain how you used the PE with Mr. Cement S extra thin. Seems it only works for very small PE. I build only 1/48 so the PE parts are bigger but there are some small parts which I might try your method and see how it works. Thanks again!

[fewr9fkr9595]

Freelancer getting its clothes!

Got a day off at short notice so went full retard on this and did a monster session. 

 

The two main greys were mixed 50/50 with the transparent medium, thinned as per recommendation plus a few drops of polymix added for a smooth finish. 

 

Colour was built up to allow the black and white to show through. 

Top done in medium/blue grey first, then it could be masked for sides, fins and lowers which were all the same (dark ghost grey) 

 

1st pass with the paint - just starts to soften and blend the pre-work. 

 

 

Complete! Took a few overall coats then some spot painting where the black was coming through too strong still. 

 

 

Next was masking the demarcations, once the other colour was done I then went back over and softened the joins. 

 

 

 

Skunk stripe in 36118 gunship grey (fin caps too) This was built up in the same way as the tps greys. 5mm tamiya tape for curves. No other masking needed because the mission paint sprays that tight. Great stuff  

 

 

Missiles done in straight light ghost grey. 

 

 

Then it was wells and bladders. Strips of tape and maskol. 

 

 

 

Next after a few touch ups and details like ecm bumps in radome tan it was on with the aquagloss. 

 

 

So now its ready for decals over the weekend 👍🏿

Alot of the colour variation is lost with the sheen at the minute, apologies. Once back to matt it should be restored to glory (hopefully he says) 

 

 

Thanks for looking 👍🏿

[Andrew]

Oh, that's looking very nice. The Mission paints are contributing to a very nice project - I just hope that the Hasegawa decals are now up to the task. I look forward to what the weekend has in store.

[fewr9fkr9595]

18 minutes ago, Andrew said:

 I just hope that the Hasegawa decals are now up to the task. 

Cheers mate, me too. 

 

As they are old, thick and slightly yellow...  

[fewr9fkr9595]

Update from the weekend and yesterday! 

 

Decals on...

 

Really fed up with the last three tomcat builds and decal woes. The worst being the sundowners with its strip and repaint to get the constrast correct. 

 

This freelancer has gone down the same route as the tophatter. Last time I am using old 90’s hasegawa kit decals not matter how obscure or interesting the markings are. 

Like the VF14 ones all the medium and light greys were misprinted. Fortunately the majority of this scheme uses dark markings, which were fine print wise but still slightly yellowed and like scale armour plating thickness. 

The misprint on the lighter greys gives them all a drop shadow type effect which I will have to live with. I didn’t bother with all the small tie down, jack point type things and ‘no steps’ because of this. Plus they were really thick and don’t settle well. Still a bit of silvering on some of the larger markings. Good job I gave it a good glossing before because with all the poking with needles and slicing with a blade of the decals with the strong setting solutions soaking through the paint was starting to go soft underneath them.  I don’t think any  acrylic paint would have put up with that amount of abuse. 

Another thing is the strange bluish brown grey that they use for the middle grey colour decals. Hmmmm. 

 

Anyway - 

 

 

 

Sealed in with more aquagloss. 

 

Panel liner. AK wash for blue and grey camo. 

 

 

Top one has had it removed. 

 

Wash was fully cleaned up and then it was ready for sealing. After the varnish dramas I had with the 262 for those that are in the know, I went back to one of my trusted favourites. Thinned with a touch of distilled water and flashed off with a hair drier. Couple of coats and its sorted. Lovely stuff. 

 

 

Some close ups to show the finish as it stands. All that pre shading and highlighting has paid off using the transparent medium to build the grey colour up. 

 

 

Now it time to start really griming it up with some localized washes/staining and streaks 👍🏿

 

Thanks for looking. 

 

 

 

[Nigel Heath]

All that preshading has paid dividends. Lovely looking finish.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Looking great so far ... sorry to hear about the decals. I can commiserate, Im just dealing with the “slimy” Hasegawa decals  on an 1/48 Fg.1 Phantom. Everytime i work with the decals i feel like my hands are covered in some kind of weird jelly. 

[Andrew]

Hmmmm indeed... Sorry to read of your experience with the sub-par Hasegawa decals (I'm very wary of using my copy of these decals now), but your painting and post-paint work is a joy to behold. Keep up the great Tomcat production.

 

Andrew.