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Ok so I have had a bit of a re-shuffle of the pack.

Mainly due to casting woes... Alot of the stuff I tried in my mates vacuum chamber didn't work, so alot of the planned builds with the upgraded parts are going to have to go on hold. I haven't done much the past month due to this (master & mold making) and also general life stuff. For example planes 2 & 4 have been at the above gloss stage waiting for decals for almost 3 weeks.... :(

Also the reshuffle is as the vf84 plane is a late A and not a B, I thought I'd replace that with a another B, then get some A's to make a trio of each, taking the total to nine.

As we have got used to the plane build number allocations (1-6) and so I dont have to amend all the posts in this thread, the A's will go on the end to become builds 7-9...

I will amend the first post with the new details soon...

So while I try and sort out the casting problems, I can at least carry on with the above 2 & 4 (decals going on over this weekend) and the OOB builds for the B and A variants.

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Hi Tony -

Enjoying watching your projects come together. What a pile of work!!!

Do you think you could write a short paragraph on casting: what brand, how hard was it for a first-timer, what you liked, what you didn't like, what you'd do differently?

One of the main reasons I enjoy this website so much is how much I learn from everyone. You've tried something I have been reluctant to do (casting) but if you can do then so can I!

Thanks again for your willingness to take time away from "gluing and grinding" to help fellow modelers out.

Thom

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Hi Tony -

Enjoying watching your projects come together. What a pile of work!!!

Do you think you could write a short paragraph on casting: what brand, how hard was it for a first-timer, what you liked, what you didn't like, what you'd do differently?

One of the main reasons I enjoy this website so much is how much I learn from everyone. You've tried something I have been reluctant to do (casting) but if you can do then so can I!

Thanks again for your willingness to take time away from "gluing and grinding" to help fellow modelers out.

Thom

Yeah I suppose I could do but it would be a novel!

Seriously there was so much to learn even after reading all the stuff on the web as there is nothing quite like getting 'hands on' so to speak.

I will try and put a few lines and pics/drawings to show what I learnt together at some point during this 'epic saga' 😂

Speaking of which did some more gravity ie normal casting (as opposed to using a vac chamber) but used a longer pot life resin. This gave me more time to manipulate the molds and get it to flow all the awkward areas. Result are better formed parts which are usable as opposed to having massive missing sections due to trapped air...

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Decals on 2 & 4.

stock OOB for plane 4. Though in hindsight I wil mask and spray all the red on any future vf-31 builds. I had to spray ventral fins anyway on this one and the colour was tough to match. The decals for the fins were quite orange, and seem to have gone even more so now they are on the grey.

Plane 2 has had the model maker AM Vf101 'the last gunfighters' set go on with stencils from the stock hobbyboss sheet. The red seems quite dark. Thought as much when I painted the fin tips to match earlier. Also on the sheet the stars and bars insignia were out of register (red stripe off centre) so used the stock hobbyboss ones for these too.

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Edited by Tony Oliver
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U/C legs. Dark wash on them. Right is applied then left cleaned up after its dried off for a while.

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Same for the front. Tried some foil for the strut but not quite happy with it. Also added approach lights and the black band on catapult bar.

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Great work. I had to double take as your u/c legs look like a pic I posted of my prowler this weekend. :)

Lovely stuff.

John.

Cheers, Yeah there are alot of similarities between the tomcat and intruder/prowler main gear as both by grumman 👍🏿

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Mastering some lau-138 rails, bomb racks (again) and lantirn pod from the hasegawa weapons set. In general parts have had the seams smoothed and a couple bits done to improve them ready to cast multiples.

Lau-138 : This is to add some more detail for depicting empty rails above the lantirn pod. Added strips, some holes and bolts and scooped out a little near the front going off of pics i have found.

The tube at the front is to help it mold properly, can be trimmed off the castings. Called a 'blind reservoir' in the trade. Stops bubbles on the ends.

Also on the lantirn pod, rescribed some details after assy, added the grills/vents on body and filled with bluetac.

The dome has had some dents drilled

in it. These can be painted silver then filled with clear red/smoke etc to make the lenses.

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Edited by Tony Oliver
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Plane 2 getting its flat coat after washes.

This is good stuff. Sprayed straight from the bottle through a 0.3mm needle at 25psi or so.

Compare wing to still glossy body. That was one pass. Says to leave for 24hrs so will report back on durability as still a bit of handling to do with final assy and weathering. Black areas will have a satin coat at end added for a scale gloss on these bits.

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Unless the formulation has changed, Galeria is the bottom end of the market and the paint is not suitable for airbrushing, pigment not fine enough and blocks it. The expensive stuff is ground non stop for years. The varnish might be completely different of course. You can message their customer service, they'll know. Might save a world of pain! I had to chuck parts of my airbrush as I couldn't clear it all out.

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Never used any artists stuff ever before this. Really impressed. Read about it on a varnish thread here on the forum.

Sprayed well, no clumping or powder flecks/white bits. Cleaned airbrush with vallejo cleaner no problem.

Good, you sound impressed with it but just incase you're thinking about Galeria acrylic paint don't use it in an airbrush unless you've checked with Windsor & Newton first. They could have changed it in the last 5 years or so but its still as cheap compared to the Artist range so I wouldn't think so.

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Good, you sound impressed with it but just incase you're thinking about Galeria acrylic paint don't use it in an airbrush unless you've checked with Windsor & Newton first. They could have changed it in the last 5 years or so but its still as cheap compared to the Artist range so I wouldn't think so.

Nah plenty of choice for me at the moment with normal model paints. Well at least untill they do colors for a tps scheme which is highly unlikely 😂

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Well those new masters of the improved bombcat parts have cast very well.

So I am willing to offer these free of charge (just cover p&p) to any tomcat fanatic or people that have helped me with these builds in this thread eg parabat, Andrew etc.

To offer i have some bombcat parts: lantirn with its pylon, and a pair each of the lau -138 rails and bomb racks. See top of the page some more details. I will get some painted up over the weekend to show them off better and how I have improved them.

I also have a couple parts to suit upgrading hobbyboss tomcats in general (saw a lad scratching ventral fins with NACA vents in another thread) pm me with what you're after and we'll go from there 👍🏻

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