Sting67

Will always be very useful to share such experiences with others, so they can think twice if to buy the set or not. This way you also somehow force (for example) Aires to update their sets if they want to continue selling them. Btw, why not trimming the excessive sprue of the air brake bay? If you display the air brake closed you can remove a lot of material there and the exhausts will fit.

This is amazing. That is what I need and I'm trying to replicate on the GWH F-15E I have, which all in all is a good kit. Absolutely fine detail what you are showing. I didn't see a close-up of this area nowhere else so far. Thanks for the pics! Ramon

I will also follow this double build with attention. The planned paint schemes are not really of my interest but the building process will for sure be very very interesting. I'm in!

That would be very impressive and encourages to buy more of these sets.

@Navy Bird In the post above I see you are going to use the Aires cockpit and wheel bay sets. I also have both. Cleaning the kit's wheel bay isn't the problem. The problem is that there's not enough space in the front fuselage for the front wheel bay and the cockpit on top. It's a bit of extra work but you have to modify the depth of the front wheel bay. To my view it is a bit too deep. Ramon

Merry Christmas to you to, Giorgio! As always, a very interesting and fantastic build. Enjoy the holidays! Ramon

Looks good so far. Here's something interesting. I agree with the text. https://www.ipmsstockholm.se/home/urbans-color-reference-charts-part-i/urbans-colour-reference-charts-notes-about-accuracy/

Here I took a few quick pics of the color charts I have. They are in a bad quality. I took them quickly in the morning with an average camera in natural but overcast grey light conditions. Anyway, its difficult to show the accurate color shade captured digitally. However, the aim is to show the approximate shade the colors have. I regard the Federal Standard paint chips as first reference for colors of American aircraft, helicopters etc. Nevertheless, even they sometimes have errors that on later updates have been corrected. The only color of the South East Asia camouflage I have is FS 34102 (as its one of the three colors of the older A-10A in its European One scheme). I quickly and roughly painted a spoon with this color free hand with a q-tip The brand is AK Interactive Real Colors. Taken in bad light conditions or not, you can clearly see, that there is a deviation in the color between Real Color and FS paint chip. Edit: Paint chips in direct sunlight:

Compared with Federal Standard 595C paints my Hobby Color Converter says: FS 34102 Medium Green - Best match with 99% = Vallejo 71289 US Dark Green Matt (AK Real Colors Air RC260 Medium Green 42 matches 95%) (Hataka 94%) FS 34079 Dark Green (Army Forest Green) - Best match with 100% = RLM 80 Olivgrün (Olive-Green) - Match of 97% = Vallejo Model Air 71294 US Forest Green Matt A match of 99% of RLM 80 = Vallejo 70894 Camouflage Olive Green 96 (AK Real Colors Air RC284 RLM80 matches 89%) (Hataka 93%) FS 30219 Dark Tan (Sierra Tan) - Best match with 98% = AK Real Colors Air RC225 Dark Tan (Hataka 94%) FS 36622 Camouflage Grey (Gray Matt) - Best match with 99% = AK Real Colors Air RC254 Camouflage Grey (Hataka 98%) Thats what the app says. If the results are accurate or not, I don't know. I have to check which colors of the above I have to compare them to the real paint chips. All I have is AK Real Color RC260 (FS 34102). I did a quick comparision. I applied paint to a plastic spoon and compared it to a (very small but original) paint chip of FS 595A. The result underlines the result from the Hobby Color Converter. The original paint is darker and the deviation is notable. I can't test the other colors as I'm building an A-10, F-15E and F-117A and therefore other colors have had priority to buy. The Tan color is something that confuses me a bit. Although the match shows 98% with AK Real Colors it appears to me a bit different. I'll check if I have it on my color charts (I have lots of separate pages with lots of updates) and tell you more.

Thanks a lot for sharing this valuable information about the colors. First I was very impressed by the Real Colors as AK Interactive seemed to have researched their colors acurately. But when I see the SEA colors you are showing, it's obvious that some colors of the Real Colors don't match while others are very close. So it seems to be like that, every individual color of their selection has to be compared to the real subject. I use a very helpfull smartphone app called "Hobby Color Converter". You pick a palette, say Federal Standard 595C colors, and let the app find the closest color approach. Very often the best match is Real Colors with up to 99% acuracy. But sometimes other brands are closer. I also have original Federal Standard 595a or b paint samples, but I firstly use the app to check which brand offers the best color match to the wanted color.

Beautiful build and a very patient and efficient mastering of the occured modelling disasters. 👍 And of course from my side... a very Happy Birthday to you! 🎂 Cheers Ramon

I had the same many years ago when I was priming a Blackbird. I tried several gloss black brands and the result was always semi-gloss. I then gave up working on that model because it was the inaccurate Hasegawa SR-71 anyway. About half a year ago I wanted to overspray the roof color of a model car to gloss black. I used Alclad II black primer. Again, a semi-gloss finish. I'm not very experienced with airbrushing so I researched and found out one very important thing. It seems to be e very easy to avoid issue. The key is the distance you keep to the object when airbrushing. If there is too much distance to the object, the paint already dries in the air before reaching the object and the coat becomes semi-gloss or even matt, even being a gloss paint. So I guess the key is to airbrush closer to the object with a careful paintflow control. At least it finally worked for me on the model car I treated (so it worked on a test object). Cheers Ramon

Hi Bill, with great interest I'm following several of your builds, mostly as a still reader/watcher. Looks like you are not sure about if scratch building a leading edge landing light or not, since there are no many reference pics. Unfortunately, I don't have reference material of this specific aircraft, but I found something interesting that maybe could help you. There is (or was) an aircraft add-on for the Microsoft Flight Simulator X (FSX) https://www.mutleyshangar.com/reviews/ag/e10a/e10a.htm The add-on is made by Just Flight that uses to create very accurate aircraft add-ons (and sceneries). The link points to a review of this add-on which seems to be very good. Check out the pictures. The Lockheed Electra of Wisconsin Central Airlines livery doesn't have the leading edge landing light. However, I don't know if there were units with and other units without this landing light. Ramon

Thanks for the valuable info! The decals look very good on the model. What resolution do you use for printing out the decals, 300dpi? Using 3-view-drawings sounds very good. It's a bit of a challenge to find the right ones and to be sure they have the correct size and haven't been resized. Fortunately, it's not a mission impossible. Ramon

Serkan, here I have to ask you for more details. You manage to create custom decals that look like professional ones which is amazing. As we know, sometimes we want to build a unit for which no decal exists, so we have to learn doing our own decals. My questions to you are: First thing is to get the appropriate font and the stencils. So far so good. But then... - 1/72 decals have to be very very tiny and clear. How you get that absolute tiny and clear result? Is it the right choice of program (Photoshop, Illustrator, Gimp, Inkscape)? (Somewhere I read that some programs reduce images clearer than others). Or is the key the format (converting the images to vector graphics (svg))? - What is your approach to find the right size the stencil, placard etc has to be in 1/72? - What decal paper you are using? I've never seen it available to buy (just the Experts Choice decal sheets). Or do you let the decal sheet print by some custom service, because white is on the sheet that only few special printers (like Alps) can print. Fantastic work, as always. Ramon

Unfortunately, I don't know, but once a modeller told me that it turns yellowish with time. I think there are a lot of people here that used Future/Pledge in their projects so that they can tell more.

Serkan, I still don't have many experiences with Alclad II, but I don't think it's a waste of money to have them. Once I copied some useful information on how to handle Alclad II paints best from a forum. I already posted this info here Maybe it comes a bit late as you already work with Tamiya paints, but maybe it will help you in the future. The key to avoid the loss of shine by masking tape use is to seal the metallic paint with a layer of Aqua Gloss. This is mandatory if you use high shine colors. It will also allow you to use decals with the decal setting solutions without altering the metallic shine or having other problems.

Another excellent job, Giorgio! Can't wait to follow your next project.

Watching a few Youtube videos on the Anycubic Photon (for example) the print quality seems to be that good that you are able to print even tiny pieces in 1/72. The second half of the video shows examples that have very small details.

You probably have these pics already but here's at least one sharp pic of the spike, plus an interesting video that shows the position of the spike.

Maybe this: https://www.shapeways.com/product/JQLZJXHSV/sr-71-blackbird-engine-spike-1-72?optionId=60722282&li=marketplace and this: https://www.shapeways.com/product/GDH3ANEJN/sr-71-blackbird-engine-inlet-1-72-testors?optionId=60804741&li=marketplace will help you. Here are some more nice detail pics. They show an YF-12A, but many sections like air intakes, exhaust, gear bays are the same on most versions anyway. http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/howard_mason3/yf-12a/ Ramon

Hi David, even if it's a bit late for the info below, as you are almost done with painting the Mirage, I found some interesting tips on how to handle the Alclad II colors. I still don't have any experience with Alclad II, so I can't say much about it. All I know is that the metalic shine is much better if the model is first primed with a high shiny gloss black. But here's what I got: ALCLAD Regular 101, 102, 103, 104, 106, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 116, 117, 120, 121, 123 and 125 need ALCLAD Primer 302, 306 or 309. ALCLAD High Shine 105, 107, 115, 118, 119 and 124 need ALCLAD Primer 303 or 305. ALCLAD Transparent Colors can directly be sprayed on ALCLAD Regular; ALCLAD High Shine must be sealed with ALCLAD Aqua Gloss 600. Recommended Polisher: Micromesh Polish-Set 301. Decal softener is not suitable for 105, 107, 115, 118 and 119! Ramon

Oops, I just read it. Also from me, belated Happy Birthday, Giorgio! Ramon

Hello Giorgio, as always.... a beautiful job! Regarding the metal finish I remembered having watched a Youtube video of the same build but in 1/72. This modeller uses Alclad II Chrome which unfortunately costs a lot more but the effect is good. I don't have experiences with the extreme metal range of AK Interactive but the videos I have seen so far look good. What I don't understand is the long drying time. Shouldn't be. The must be some factor that delays or prevents the paint from drying properly. Maybe too much humidity in the air? But here the link: Ciao! Ramon

Beautiful build, Giorgio 👍 and always amazing scratchbuilding approaches. And one thing I particularly like in your builds is that you finish them all fairly soon! Well done! Ramon