neil5208

After completing the Viggen and its complicated paint scheme I was looking for the next build but something less involved paint wise and came across a video review of the Clear Prop OV1A Mohawk. Not an aircraft I'd come across before so had a quick look at the history and was suitably intrigued so ordered the kit from Hannants. First look is good the parts are flash free, 2 photo etch frets and 5 marking options. Onto the sprue shots. Well packed 2 part box. Option for wheels up or down with 2 lower fuselage panel provided Clear parts look very nice. Masking will be interesting Instructions are well laid out, there 27 photo etch parts for each seat in the first four build steps! Five marking options, all from Vietnam theatre but looking at the wings I think the later OV1C/D model will be available at some point. Just got a few things the finish on the Blenhiem and then I'll get started on this.

Excellent work and I enjoyed the magazine article as well, another one for the Xmas wish list although I would prefer the infantry carrier variation

Thanks, it was a bit of both. The tan and black were patch painted but the greens were all over.

Latest finish is Special Hobby's re-box of the Tarangus kit in 1/72, this is the air superiority version. A lovely kit with some nice moulded detail but as many have found care needs to be taken with the forward fuselage and the intake joins. I adjusted the some of paints indicated in the instructions as 3 of the upper colours didn't look right when sprayed, masked with my own hand cut masks by laying tape over a up-sized laminated photo copy of the painting guide and carefully cutting with a sharp knife before transferring onto the kit. Built OOB less the AIM9's (Airfix) and Skyflash (Resikit) both mounted on LAU's taken from an old Hasegawa F4E kit. Painted with usual mix Mr Hobby Colour and Tamiya acrylics. All comments welcome. Here a link to the WIP

And its finally done, RFI below

Been working on the under carriage and found that all the olio's had been broken in the box, the front one had lost over half of the moulding but the main ones I managed to glue back together. Also fitted the front bay doors.

Finished the underside decals and pylons and then fitted the tanks and sidewinders along with the front landing gear strut. I think its a shame that Special Hobby don't supply a weapons sprue with these kits with the right launch rails, it would finish as it should be. Front on view shows the lovely lines of the Viggen.

Nothing simple about that, excellent work

Managed to do some small stuff this week, most of the decals are on, the forward canards and the fuselage pylons, the Aim 9's have been painted along with the undercarriage parts. So canards fitted first. Underside still has a few small decals for the pylons to go on. I think the rails that I took from a Hasegawa F4 kit look right for the Viggen. And a quick test fit of the sidewinders.

An attitude that I'm adopting more and more with PE

Outstanding result.

Made some more progress on the decals over the last few days and did the all important wing serials which are one of the features of Viggens. Hopefully I can finish the decals over the next few days as I going to have a busy next few weeks.

After staring at the underside for a while last night I decide against trying to post shade and started on the decals instead. Here the port side done, the special hobby decals are going on with no problems.

Yes it's definitely designed to be in the open position

Nice work, I had the same problem when I made the same kit.

Second finish for the year is another of Bandai's lovely Star Wars kits. Built OOB but I didn't use the kits panel decals so I could do a fair bit of chipping work. Painted with Tamiya acrylics and the exhaust stains done with MIG powders. A basic black oil was in the pipe work bays and around the edges but again not to heavy and stark. The detail in the gunners bays is completely lost one assembled but has been detailed anyway. I used the open canopy parts rather than the clear parts for the same reason. I have a base in progress but it wont be ready for this months model club tomorrow but will post when ready. As usual all comment welcome. The detailed gunners bays.

Calling this one done (for the time being), may go back and add more weathering later but I'm happy with how it looks now. RFI is linked below.

Thanks. I did a light oil wash of Bone Black in the pipe work section but decided to leave the rest as it was so I didn't want to over do it. Sprayed the upper exhaust vents with Tamiya Rubber Black. Assembled the fuselage section and 3 of the legs and the ramp but it turns out I haven't sprayed 2 of the smaller leg doors so I'll have to try and match the paint mix. Next up will be a flat coat which should tone down the starkness of the red and black and maybe some weathering pigments to finish off.

Been nearly three weeks since last update but had to catch up with work, go on holiday in Wales for a week (first one in five years) come home to a broken boiler (took BG 2 days to come out and fix) and then after 2 days back at work got sick again (not Covid) but not pleasant so not much work done on the Falcon. Before Wales I did mask up the red panel and sprayed a mix of Tamiya XF7 red and XF1 black but didn't take any pictures before removing the masks so did the last few light grey panel in Tamiya XF12 IJN Grey. And after removing the masking with turret, dish and cockpit fitted. Still need to paint the upper exhaust vents and there are some small decals to go on before I can clear coat. The underside has no light grey panel less the boarding ramp. I' have popped out the detail panels so I detail easier.

Being back at work has really slowed me down this week but completed the second round of masking for the Tamiya XF54 dark sea grey panels last night and unmasked this morning. Now it just repeat another two time for the light grey and red panels.

Sprayed the Falcon yesterday morning and started on masking the individual panels rather than use the decals, I've done this on both the X Wing and B wing so I can do more chipping of the coloured panels. I had just enough of the paint mix to get a good coverage. Already done the orange panels as there was only 4 of this colour, next will be the dark grey panel, some of the darker grey panels masked up below. No where near as complex as the Viggen but still time consuming. On the plus side the wife has finally tested Covid clear.

Stripped the Falcon apart and sprayed a second coat of X32 last night so I could get into the odd spaces around the edges before sponge applying the Maskol on for the chipping effects. And the Maskol applied. I've made up a mix of Tamiya XF2 white, XF55 Deck Tan and XF54 Dark Sea Grey at 85/10/5% mix for the main colour, just hope I've made enough.

Excellent work

Finished off the last few details so she now sits on its own five feet. First paint on is Tamiya's X32 Titanium Silver as my base layer for chipping.

Placed the decals on the clear parts earlier so I could fit the gunners stations and as I thought most of the detail is lost. Once the guns are in place even less will be visible. Below is the only part that has a gap so far. Quick size comparison with1/72 Tempest, not the biggest kit but still a fair bit of surface to paint. Underside done less boarding ramp, landing legs and some engine details. Top side completed less dish and engine details.