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Richie B

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Everything posted by Richie B

  1. Well slightly later than planned but the cockpit is getting there! The pilot is one borrowed from a Hasegawa kit (why do so few kit manufacturers include pilots?) and enhanced using some Eduard PE. I'm not a huge fan of PE in 1/48 as the pieces are usually very small and I end up losing them or using too much glue to secure them. However, they do add a lot of detail so I'll just have to persevere. The seat is a resin one from Eduard as part of the kit extras and builds up very nicely. I lost the Oxy cylinder so had to build a new one. The helmet visor and patches are printed out on paper then cut-out and glued in place as I can't paint that level of detail! The Eduard PE front Instrument Panel is very detailed and looks great though as its metal, I can't back light any of the instruments. The cockpit lighting is therefore a mix of point lights in the side panels using thin fibre optics, some wider fibre optics to light up the side panels (these will be partially hidden by the cockpit side-walls) and a single LED mounted above the front IP . I think I'm about ready to get this cockpit installed and then work out how I'm going to wire the rest of the kit up!
  2. OK, Xmas and New year done and well behind us now - hope yours was a good one - and its about time for an update! First up its the intakes which as you will remember I cut up to allow easier painting and seam busting. Well they're all back together now which with the help of some alignment tabs was less problematic than it could have been. I've sprayed and the forward parts Air Superiority Blue before joining the rear section and both parts have been lightly weathered with pigments to look a bit dirty. Happy to say the joins are pretty good and seams are pretty much gone (or certainly well hidden!) I'll stuff them with some sponge until the rest of he build is complete so bye-bye for now. Also been working the exhausts which are quite distinctive on the F-15. The insides were dirtied up using pigments in layers which came out quite nicely, just need to add some more detail to the outside of the cans before adding the actuator arms. I suspect the actuators will stay off until the very end as they are guaranteed carpet monster seekers. When I finish spraying other areas or models, if the colour is suitable I start the marbeling process on items such as the fuel tanks. Its the wrong grey colour but once blended in it will add a little discolouration and interest to the tanks. Thanks for looking, next input will hopefully feature a cockpit update!
  3. Jumping around on this kit a bit as it needs a fair bit of prep before gluing together. At the back end I've opened up some vents, thinned down the ancillary exhaust vents and added a fair amount of missing rivet detail which is quite visible as the exhaust area is unpainted on the real thing. The kit comes with some very nice replacement resin exhaust nozzles which certainly look more detailed than the kit parts. Parts have been cleaned up and the first stage of paint added. The kit also comes with a healthy dose of air to air weapons but I'm not sure how many of these I will actually use as the aggressors were usually only fitted out in a trg to fight capacity. Still, they look ok as a starting point. Just a quick update and in case I don't get round to any more soon, Merry Xmas!
  4. Slime lights are probably the trickiest to introduce as they're comparatively bigger, not in convenient places (to model!) and not a point light source. I've not found a way of successfully using LEDs to mimic the effect but I have used glow in the dark decals in 1/32 scale which took a while to shape and need a UV source. They do look OK but don't last that long. Probably long enough for an initial impact at least! Another alternative is to use the same electro-luminescence panels as they do in the real world - though in miniature. You can get strips which you then cut to size but the electrical connections are quite fiddly and they need a transformer as they work of 110 volts. However, they are more authentic looking and keep going (as long as the battery does). They only really work for 1/32 scale though as the strips and wiring is too bulky for 1/48. All things considered I think this will be a 1/48 test bed for glow in the dark decal application.
  5. Okay, on the theme of lighting one of the areas I will be adding lights is the wings. The F-15 has two lights on each wing, red position lights on the leading edge near the wing root and red/green navigation lights on the wingtips. The position lights can be created relatively straightforward by carving away the plastic where the light should be then adding some coloured transparent plastic. In this case I used parts from an old toothbrush, cutting them to size then sanding then back to the wing before polishing the plastic so it retained its see through quality. As mentioned before the Academy wing tips are solid which means a somewhat more drastic approach. Because the LED has a cable you need to be able to feed it through the wing. As the wing is solid you need to carve a channel deep enough to hide the wiring. The LEDs are coloured according to the wing light colour as white light even against coloured plastic, looks too harsh. The channel was carved out using a wide scriber and the plastic where the light was just cut away. I created a large enough gap to fit an LED at the end of the channel, luckily there was just about enough depth in the plastic to do this. The LED was then secured inside and a wingtip light carved out of some more coloured toothbrush parts before being sanded flush. The channel was then backfilled with filler and sanded smooth. Even without the lighting its an improvement on what the kit provides. I've also added some riveting detail which I did before gluing the wings together. The wires for both LEDs will then be fed through a hole in the fuselage to the battery. I've also started to add some more elements to the cockpit though most of this won't be seen since the canopy will be closed. At least I'll know its there.
  6. I had a go at the Italeri kit a long time ago (no lighting!). Only bit I didn't care for where the engine exhaust nozzles - resin replacement required. Nice photo of a Lakenheath jet. No slime lighting for this build but might try something else.
  7. Hi bar side, yep the Academy kit has solid wingtips just like the Revell F-15E. I'm definitely up for adding the wing lights so standby for some plastic surgery! I wont be adding the fin tip lights though as the solid fins are too thin to be workable. It was bad enough on a 1/32 version.
  8. OK, the intakes on the Academy kit are pants. Maybe the designer thought we modellers needed a challenge so they added extra bits that clearly shouldn't be there and a whole raft of butt-joints that just don't. Seamless they are not. Also, there is the question of painting them as the colour goes from fuselage colour (in this case Air Superiority Blue) to an off-white. To help solve this I decided to glue the main intake trunking together then saw them in half where the paint changes colour. The front parts were then painstakingly put together with plasti-card reinforcement tabs then gap-filled and sanded, filled and sanded, filled ... etc. Oh, and did I mention the large number of sink marks on the intake walls? To paint the intakes in this fashion also means not constructing them in the manner Academy would like but I figured that since they'd made such a hash of the design it made no sense to do it that way anyway. I also glued in the undercarriage doors which were a remarkably better fit. With a fair bit of work, patience and sanity checks, they are finally coming together. The rear part of the intakes was less troublesome but the fit still less than desirable meaning more filling and sanding joy. Luckily this area is far less visible. The tabs on the front were added to help alignment when I glue them back together. And to think that most of the time you won't even be able to see down the intakes!
  9. So it's been a little while but time to update on the next project, yep another F-15! This one is a late C model courtesy of the 1/48 Eduard F-15 kit which is an upgraded Academy kit. The upgrades include nice decals, resin wheels, ACES ejection seat and most importantly some very nice exhausts. The kit also includes some PE including colour PE for the cockpit which all together make it quite an attractive bundle. The only slight caveat is that it is still the academy kit which does have some fit issues especially regarding the engine intakes and nose-to-fuselage join. As most of the essential bits are already upgraded, I'm not planning too many additional items however, this will be lit up with some LEDs which always requires some additional thought/patience/sanity-check on a 1/48 scale model. Subject of choice will be a blue aggressor machine from the 65 AGRS at Nellis similar to this one (but not a twin seat version). Decals for 65 AGRS machines are courtesy of an old Afterburner set I bought ages ago (as who doesn't like some more Aggressor options!) and as this will also be an in-flight display, I'll need a pilot . Right onto the kit and straight into the first issue - which to be fair I knew when I bought the kit second hand. The cockpit had been started but it looks like initial efforts to assemble the PE elements had not gone well and subsequent attempts to rectify the situation with copious amounts of super glue had also not gone well. Even the cover-up paintwork failed to improve the look which was probably the point the previous owner decided to call it a day. Anyway, never shy of a challenge (and knowing that a closed canopy will hide a multitude of sins) I set about removing the super-glued paint as best I could with chemicals and assorted files/sanders. All the front cockpit PE was trashed so I purchased another set and set about to recover what detail I could. As you can see, there was not a lot left to play with. Some clever paintwork required here I think or more likely for my skill level, just rely on the seat and pilot covering up most of the issue. The new PE for the front IP should also help. Talking of the seat, at least the Eduard resin one is nicely detailed and some additional PE should detract nicely from the melty-mess of the rest of the cockpit. More to follow soon, intake heaven (not).
  10. Many thanks all, I have added the build thread below if interested. Now to concentrate on actually finishing the 1/32 F-15B, now that has been a marathon!
  11. Many thanks everyone for your very kind comments. It took far longer than I expected but that was through no fault of the model, just the modeler! Hi Marcello - the background is just a black bedsheet hung down to avoid any creases. I process my photos in Adobe Lightroom which allows me to make the blacks really black so it removes any highlights in the background and blends it all in to one shade of black. I also use high aperture and a tripod to get better depth of field. Hope that helps.
  12. Ready for Inspection pictures at the following link:
  13. Well it took a bit longer than anticipated but this cold-war Mig is finally done! It's ICMs 1/48 version of the Mig-25 PD with the challenge of a mostly monotone grey colour scheme. The main colour is MRP traffic Grey but I used a fair bit of artistic license when pre-shading with various other colours such as brown. Note no missiles or fuel tank in this shot. Eduard photo-etch was used to enhance the various aerials and intakes, along with a Master nose probe. Decals are by Begemot and went on fine. The base is made from mdf sprayed gloss black with a Soviet star added. The acrylic rods were bent into shape using a heat gun and 'gentle' persuasion. Although panels were mainly different shades of aluminium, I added random shades of metallic colours such as titanium to provide an interesting (in my eyes!) patina to the rear fuselage. The large fuel tank is detachable as it's held on by magnets. I used the kit missiles which were ok with a bit of work and added magnets so they can be added and removed easily. The pilot is an Aerobonus one which also came with a very nice seat though you can't see that much with the canopy closed! I used Alclad metals on the rear and weathered with brown washes. I went for blue lights from the exhaust just to add a bit of colour but best viewed in the dark! I lit the cockpit with a couple of red LEDs as I had no idea what they actually used and red seemed appropriate. I liked the ICM kit, it's well detailed and goes together nicely. It's certainly a big and imposing fighter! Thank you for looking!
  14. And slightly (actually a lot) later than planned, she's finally done! The missiles and fuel tank are removable as is the model from the base if required. In case you were wondering if the lights still work... I really liked ICM's rendition of the Foxbat, it is nicely detailed goes together relatively well and certainly looks the part. I'll put some more pictures on the Ready for Inspection site soon. Thanks for staying with me on this one!
  15. Just a quick update as I am plowing on with the weathering and nearly finished. I'm using a selection of panel washes (mainly brown) on the tail and dirtier lower sections with some lighter grey highlights on the top surfaces. I'll add some Mig oilbrusher spots and fuel/hydraulic staining to add a bit of tonal variety but there's already quite a lot going on. I'm pretty sure the Mig-25s were not pristine so hopefully a little artistic licence will be acceptable! I'm also making a custom base to show her off in-flight out of sprayed MDF and adding a Soviet era Red star. Sorry there's not more photo's this time round but I'm keen to get her over the finish line. Nearly there!
  16. Many thanks Dan & Deano, hope to get some more headway over Xmas.
  17. Next up was some panel line washes to add a bit of contrast and detail. I used 4 colours from the Mig Ammo washes. Very dark for recesses where the control surfaces are, brown for underside and heavily worked areas and a variety of light and medium grey panel lines for variety on the remaining surfaces I used more of the darker colours at the rear where dirt tended to accumulate and left more of the colour on the surface to provide a tint to the underlying paint. It's quite a fun stage as you can experiment then wipe off and start again if you want. I also added a dark wash to the AA-6 missiles which helped bring them to life and a touch of exhaust wash at the back end Will need to seal all this all in before adding some variations using oils. Finally starting to get there!
  18. Getting there..... slowly! After a couple of Tamiya gloss coats (should probably have put another 1 or 2!) it was decal time. I used a mix of Begemot stencils and the kit decals. The stencils were finer detail than the kit ones but otherwise both sets performed fine. After a bit of decal softener and some sealing gloss coats the decals have started to add a bit of life to the Mig. The Red stars might be a bit bright compared to the paint job so will have to see what I can do to tone them down. The Begemot decal set includes some additional pylon and weapons details that aren't in the kit set, which is nice. Next up - washes!
  19. Many thanks ZHOU Kun, they are almost more of a challenge to paint than the aircraft itself!
  20. Sooo..... a little longer thank anticipated but finally some progress! Managed to find some time to add the main Traffic Grey (MRP) and the metallic shades (ALCLAD). Thankfully MRP paints spray quite thinly if you're careful and allow the underlying shades to show through. Once the main colours were down and the odd spot corrected (poor masking on my part) I sprayed some thinned down X22 to give it a gloss finish. Not sure why but I always seem to have to buff it up when its dried to get a better finish, maybe I need to thin it out even further? In case you're wondering I've removed the static dischargers before they removed themselves! Will replace with some more robust metal ones. I think the underlying shading has worked well and especially the black basing. I suspect that the MRP paint would look too light if sprayed on a lighter primer of raw plastic. You can see the right hand gear door (where the battery is stored) was painted without primer (an omission on my part I think) and looks a different lighter shade of grey. Will overspray or use a filter later to correct. Other than that I'm very impressed with MRP lacquer paints and they are now my go to colours. The large metal area at the rear of the aircraft was done using several shades of Alclad over a gloss black primer. I used photo references to try and get the colour pattern right then ad-libbed some smoke and exhaust manifold to add interest. Finally, the large AA-6 Acrid missiles are also coming together. As they are really quite big (larger than 1/32 Sparrow's!) I thought I'd try and add some paint variation to the whit as they are never that plain in reality. Probably time for some decaling! (eventually)
  21. So I thought I'd experiment with some black basing. Not used the technique before but I've seen some great results using it,. I used Ultimate black primer which went down well then started adding random colour spots and streaks. I had two aims in mind, the first was to introduce colour variation which I hoped would show up under the MRP paints I was going to use and provide that often suggested undertone of colour even on monotone schemes. The second aim was to introduce tonal variation so that even if the colour didn't work, the light/dark shading would! Some variations I kept to panels others I over-sprayed whole areas just to mix it up a bit. There was little reasoning behind the choice of undertone colours other than to perhaps go dirtier underneath ie light brown on top, darker underneath. I used a mix of greys and browns and did contemplate other colours i.e. blue but in the end wasn't brave enough. maybe next time depending on how this one goes! I also emphasised where I thought there would be natural accumulations of dirt i.e. tight spaces, exhaust areas, to add to the tones expected there. The back end i sprayed gloss black to help the metallics shine. I'm going to replace the static dischargers as the kit ones look oversized. Pictures I've seen of Mig-25s always looked like they'd been left out to suffer the consequences of Siberian weather so panel shading was in. Time to start beating up on the large fuel tank, not sure if they are actually natural metal but the contrast looks good so I'm going with it! Now to see whether any of this actually survives overspray by the main colour!
  22. In a rare moment of calm I accelerated the build quite rapidly (for me) and glued most of the major components together. I sprayed the inside of the canopy the same Turquoise colour as the cockpit and sealed it in place before adding the Eduard mask to the outside this time. The next set of pictures provide an overview of where the fit required a bit of filler. In general it goes together really well and certainly looks the part but occasionally the fit is beautifully engineered but just slightly out! The intake top covers sat a little too proud so they needed a bit of fine sanding on the inside to sit flush. The front fuselage join to the main body wasn't too bad and certainly better than a lot other kits. The underside required a bit more work on the undercarriage doors as they are designed to be shown gear down. Also I moved the lower intake inlets into a closed position so that needed some work to blend back in. The lower wing section attachment to the upper part is just weird. It doesn't follow any particular panel line that I can see and there is some subsequent work to fill in any gaps to avoid any signs of that weirdness remaining. The rear fuselage section join also requires some thinning where the pieces overlap or one part will sit quite proud. The base of the fins need some filling and I found the flaps were a little too far away from the fuselage so added some plasti-card to make them wider. The brake housing was not a great fit and required some sanding and filling to make it flush. The wing joints although not too bad still benefitted from a line of filler to smooth out any gaps. Also, the notch section where it meets the fuselage was too big so again more plasti-card was used to make that feature much smaller. Finally, I added some detail by scratch building the Aileron actuator which sits quite proud of the wing, and re-scribed the associated hinge area as its stepped the wrong way round. You might think that this is a filler queen but in reality most of the small gaps were quickly filled with water based putty and smoothed off which a wet cotton bud. It didn't take too long at all and by checking the fit of the parts first (sanding down where necessary) the job was much quicker and tidier than most of my other projects. Next up is the addition of colour! Well grey anyway.
  23. Many thanks Alan, I’m really liking the kit and looking forward to getting some paint down at some point!
  24. Hi everybody, The build progresses with the intakes now assembled and the exhaust section added. The intake assembly looks quite complicated with several sections but they go together pleasing well. I'm not sure which is the best method/order of assembly as any slight mis-alignment will cost you in filling and repair work later. I decided to work front to back as I felt any errors were going to be less obvious at the back end. In the end I was still probably 1/2 mm out when I put the outside side wall on as it required a little filler on the inside of the right intake. There is some nice detailing inside the intakes which I nearly sanded off as I mistook it for just a rough finish initially! Not sure how much you can see when its all assembled though. One thing to note is that the instructions have you fit the front intake brace at the beginning of the assembly sequence, which I did. It then becomes very difficult to add the lower fuselage floor since the lip on this part now won't fit in the gap. I fixed this by sanding the step down until I could pry it in. Adding the brace after the lower fuselage is fixed may help. I also had to reshape the lower intake lips as these are fixed in the lowered position which is normal for low-speed or ground operations. As mine was in-flight (and presumably going very fast!) I had to carefully cut a slot and bend the intake up. I'll fill in the gap with plasti-card. I also started to close up the undercarriage doors. For the most part the fit of the doors was ok but the kit is clearly designed to be displayed gear down. Once the intakes were complete I added the exhaust section which needed a whole lot of additional support to make it strong enough to take the weight of the model. The 'pink' tubes are where the acrylic rods will pass and the rear fuselage brace has been reinforced along with the join to the rear exhausts to keep the structure steady. In addition, I've added the wiring for the exhaust LEDs and linked it to the cockpit lighting. I've checked all the components which are still working as once its closed up there is no going back! I've also added some of the remaining Eduard PE that goes on the aircraft skin though I am in two minds as to whether it adds 'artificial' detail as you end up sticking the PE onto the surface when in most cases it is smooth with the surface. I therefore end up not using a fair proportion of the PE as a lot is for the undercarriage which I don't need. Still, the replacement aerials look more to scale than the kit offerings. I think we're just about ready to start putting together the main assemblies!
  25. A bit of work on the back end for a change. The exhausts are from Metallic Details and very nice they are too. The kit parts are not that bad but these are another step up and avoid the very tricky task of joining the three exhaust parts up seamlessly. The inner exhausts were given a green hue as seen on many photos and a hole drilled in the back-end for the acrylic rods to pass through. This will need reinforcing as the weight of the model will rest on these parts eventually. The fit on the kit parts is very good so no issue in that regard. The resin is incredibly fine on the exhaust petals so be careful - and yes one repair later! The inner rings were given the same greenish tinge with the outer rings given a couple of shades of Alclad and some tinging with Tamiya weathering colours. In case you were wondering, there is another resin part that fills in the gaps on the exhaust rings. These exhaust rings are pretty big, bigger than some 1/32 kit exhausts, so no wonder this aircraft was fast. More soon (ish)!
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