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Everything posted by Gekko_1
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Thanks Andrew! Missed that. This photo is awesome and answers a lot of questions about the scheme. 😍 Cheers Richard
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No, no crew names Tony. Yes the main u/c bay door for sure is white (good spotting!) and yes the drop tank pylon too, but the front section of it looks to be grey? Also, what do you think is going on with the leading edge of the fins?
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Just found this amazing photo of Pukin Dogs 107. I wonder if that is my jet Ghost Rider 202 (or 207?) in the background to the left of the Sea King? https://www.flickr.com/photos/beechhawker/8583325030/ One thing the above photo has proven to me is that I'm going to have to adjust the Mig Ammo US Navy colours quite a lot! Lightening them by at least 20% maybe 40%! Keep in mind that that top side colour on 107 is FS. 35237, which is way lighter than what I'm used to seeing. And compare the drop tank and wing glove pylon colour to the main wheel hub! It also confirms that the tip of the nose is part D1 and not part D2! And the fin tip yellow is narrower than is shown on the vague Microscale Decal instruction sheet. The colour of the air bags (parts B14, B15, B13 and B16) is a light grey and really shows just how 'blue' these early Tactical Paint Scheme (TPS) colours were, compared to today where they seem far less so. I wonder if the nose cones of these early TPS painted Tomcats was painted separately? The tones of the colours seem ever so slightly different? The inside of parts E27 is white, as you can see on Tomcat 107 in this photo. I'll say it again, amazing photo! Richard.
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Bandai 1/144 TIE Striker
Gekko_1 replied to teddylindsey's topic in Work In Progress - SF & RealSpace
As for colour, I'd suggest FS. 36375 Light Ghost Grey as a good match. Gloss coat the model, then once dry apply the Flory wash with a very fine brush as opposed to an all over everything type of wash, then remove any excess with a fine brush dampened with water. Seal the wash in with semi-gloss varnish. Richard. -
OK, here goes my version of the popular Tamiya F-14A Tomcat. I'm doing it in the markings of VF-142 Ghost Riders in their 1981 low-vis scheme from the old Microscale Decal sheet 48-217. Controversy and confusion kick off right from the get go! Microscale, with their usually vague painting instructions contradict each other in how the jet should be painted! I thought an ancient copy of Scale Aircraft Modelling June 1983 Vol. 5 Number 9 page 403 may have been of some help.................... ..........but the article seems to copy Microscale's instructions! The problem here is that I believe both Microscale and Scale Aircraft Modelling have got it wrong in their illustrations. The scheme in question appears to be the then brand new (for 1981 that is) low visibility blue/grey scheme of FS. 35237 top, FS. 36375 mid section and FS. 36495 underside. This very scheme has been slightly better documented by a couple of VF-143 Pukin Dogs Tomcats as seen below. https://deskgram.net/p/1825662876444855523_3230508708 So, the search began for any colour photos of Bu No. 159452. My initial search, several months ago, found nothing. But a more recent search uncovered a very poor quality colour image that seemed to confirm my hunch. https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1048472 But, there are still unanswered questions! If anybody else is able to source any more colour photos of this particular jet I'd really like to see them. Anyway, so on with the build....... The cockpit is good enough out of the box. All that really needs adding is aftermarket seats. I'll be adding Quickboost seats from set number QB 48-754 for the EA-6B Prowler. As far as I'm aware they are the same seat as fitted to the early F-14A Tomcat, and you get 4 seats obviously, so enough for 2 Tomcats! I'm trying to build the kit in a way that avoids as much masking as possible. So I have painted the inside and outside of the nose section before gluing. This way I'm hoping I won't have to mask off the cockpit and undercarriage bay. Part number H6 the cockpit frame was painted Tamiya XF-85 Rubber Black, then dry brushed with light grey. This will simply slot in to place once the nose section is finished. An example of ease of use and speeding things up a little can be seen here with parts D18 and K1 and K2. I assembled K1 and K2 then glued them to D18, then went about cutting off the antenna and cleaning up the join line. Doing it this way made it all a lot easier to handle. Next the unit will be sprayed FS. 36495 and glued directly to the model. The panel on the side of the jet was filled with a styrene and Tamiya glue mix, then sanded. Perfect! Also take note of the fuselage mold line that needs to be removed prior to painting! More filling required on the nose section. This time using Mr Dissolved Putty. I really like this stuff and can highly recommend it. Also, there are two more sections of mold line that need to be removed. As indicated by the black marker and red arrows.............. On the intake ramp parts I glued part E13 to part D4 whilst holding parts D4 and E10 together (not glued) with mini clothes pegs. This aided painting later on. Parts G56, A5, A6 and B12 were all added to the lower fuselage section as well as the two E13 & D4 glued parts. This entire unit was then painted Stynylrez white primer. K14 and K15 were glued to their respective intakes and sprayed Stynylrez white primer. This section (not glued yet) is a drop fit onto the lower fuselage section. Such is the quality of Tamiya engineering! Next will be completing the front fuselage section and painting the lower fuselage FS 36495 in its various sub assemblies. Cheers Richard.
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OK, here's some progress with the E-75 King Tiger III. The escape hatch needed a lot of work to get it to sit flush! I decided to paint the vision ports Gunze H63 as no clear parts are provided for the commanders cupola. The barrel doesn't fit into the rear part of the barrel with out shimming it with plastic card. All small parts that needed sprue attachment points trimming and sanding were glued first and dealt with once the glue had set. This made dealing with them a lot easier. Cheers Richard.
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Yes! That filter does the job very well. Not too in your face, great tonal variety. Gives excellent visual interest to what could be considered, by some, to be a boring scheme. Looking forward to seeing this one completed.
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OK, so here's a bigger pic of the plastic card strip, as seen on the video. And here's the bottom of the hull that I've been working on with ground-up pastels, weathering pigments and fixer. Cheers Richard.
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How does one embed a YouTube video on here? Below is a link to the same video as above, but you'd be able to see it in HD. Also, its the first video of my new YouTube channel. Bringing the big cat to life - Trumpeter E-75 Cheers Richard.
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Hi guys, starting off with something a little different. Not sure if it'll work or if it will end up looking a bit silly, but I'll never know unless I try it. Its a sort of video dairy build created in Adobe Spark. First time using this program, so I hope its turned out OK? https://spark.adobe.com/video/ysr0ydIk47IOw What do you think? Cheers Richard.
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Ah yes, you're right. I got confused. DXM = Cartograf. VF + ? If it is Geoff's (Furball) research then yes I'm confident that the decals for the VF-213 jet will be insignia blue.
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Thanks Tony, ah good, no white as I suspected being Cartograf decals. Apparently their inks are so good that there is no need for a white background, unlike every other decal manufacturer that I know of who insist on a white background. Handy to know, and confirm. Cheers! As for the VF sheets being different between 72nd and 48th. That is just bizarre! Nothing like consistency! As for "the remainder". Cartograf can print specific Federal Standard colours very accurately so I can't help but wonder what VF asked Cartograf to print them in? Personally I think they should be FS. 35237, but that doesn't look like it to me? But I can't see them 'in the flesh' so in reality its hard to be 100% sure? It'll be interesting to see what AMK do with their Grim Reapers markings as I believe Geoff at Furball Aero-Design has designed them and I really like his research capabilities so they should be spot on. The profile looks good to me too.
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I managed, after a very quick Google search, to find this shot of 165............... https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d1/78/41/d17841f76f14a14e2253bcb5c3e13ac5.jpg Yes, I still believe the eye and thin lips are FS 35237, but the front of the open mouth does indeed seem darker. I don't think its a trick of the light, but it could be fresher paint? The mouth of the DXM sheet could be 36375? Does the decal have a white background or is it just light blue/grey ink only? (after you've soaked the decal off the sheet have a look under the decal to see if what was printed first. The 'star n bar' you applied to the 36320 looks to be a lightened version of 36375. Or possibly a dark version of 36495? There's a chance the decal doesn't have a white background and therefore the ink used won't have enough density, making it slightly translucent which is just adding to the issue. Cartograf's decals are printed with the best inks available and do not need white to be printed first, most others do though. So if DXM have left out this step it may explain what you're experiencing? VF's decals look to be printed in a 'guesswork' grey and look completely wrong to my eye.
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Tony, FWIW, I believe the intake warning and all of the markings under the cockpit etc should all be FS. 35237 and therefore so is the shark mouth. The FS.35237 on the top of the nose cone is simply heavily faded. The paint on this airframe looks very tatty and bleached. It looks like that initial shark mouth decal you tried was printed in FS. 36320 which is why there was such an issue with it as it would be going onto an FS. 36320 background. Regards Richard.
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Yeah you can thank Photobucket for destroying most of my images here on Britmodeller. Was it this one?
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This Skyhawk is actually very unique. For instance I have never seen an intake warning marking with the forward vertical stripe before. The camouflage scheme is a variation on one of the earliest low-viz schemes applied to the Marine A-4F and A-4M's. To me it looks like FS. 35237 as the upper most colour, then FS. 36320 and FS.36495 underneath. Like this.......... The national insignia is the right size and style for the early low-viz schemes, but the upper part of the circle and the two horizontal bars either side look like they have been sprayed FS. 36495 which is very unusual. Normally they would just be counter shaded in the upper and side colours in the same pattern shown. It looks like a re-spray has happened underneath the "MARINES" and "4987". With the "ARINES" and the "4" being covered over by a stencil? Fascinating stuff! Richard.
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Excellent Sven, thank you!
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Awesome! My all time favorite period of US Navy/Marine aviation - the 80's! I love all the variation in greys and patterns. 01 has the earliest pattern and 13 is faded so much you can hardly tell where one colour ends and another begins. Are you able to read the names under the cockpit of 01 and 03? Richard.
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Thanks Andy! The streaking was done both by enamel washes..................... and by using Vallejo Washes on top of Vallejo Retarder Medium 70.597 slightly thinned with water painted onto the surface first, on areas pointed out with the red arrows. Although this is a poor photo it does best show the very subtle shadow blend I was able to achieve in the green area, blending in the direction of the black arrows. This blend was also achieved with the Vallejo Wash and Retarder Medium mix. I also used Ammo Mig White Oilbrusher to add dots of white onto the upper pink ID panel, then blend them in using an old flat brush to create a faded bleached out look. Also for the first time I used the combination of Tamiya X-35 semi-gloss clear, Tamiya XF-86 Flat Clear and Mr Color GX112 Super Clear III for all the various varnishing work, all thinned with Mr Color Levelling Thinner. These products give a far superior finish to acrylic varnishes that I've had nothing but problems with. There is also a final dusty water wash all over using Lifecolor UA 09 Sand. Cheers Richard.
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Here's my Hasegawa 1/35th scale Melusine. First model I've actually finished to completion in something like 8 years! Cheers Richard.
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Any aftermarket decals for RNZAF Skyhawks out there?
Gekko_1 replied to Antoine's topic in Aircraft Cold War
Yes, I'm still around! You can get my decals here: http://studiogekko.blogspot.com.au/p/gekko-graphics-decals.html Cheers Richard. -
Bandai 48th scale AT-ST (alt camo scheme)
Gekko_1 replied to Gekko_1's topic in Work In Progress - SF & RealSpace
Here’s the legs. Nearly finished. Just have to add some more sensors around the main head, add sand/dust to the right leg and think about how the crew figures are going to look.- 144 replies
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Bandai 48th scale AT-ST (alt camo scheme)
Gekko_1 replied to Gekko_1's topic in Work In Progress - SF & RealSpace
Thanks James. The redish coloured parts are primered parts that had no time to be painted properly because of the urgent need to get this highly modified AT-ST out into the field to assist other reconnaissance units in the detection of Sand People insurgent forces that were hindering the Empire's control on Tatooine (post Episode IV time period). Hence they are newer parts attached to an already weather beaten machine. That is why some of the AT-STP (Pathfinder) is mostly weathered and other parts, Imperial Grey and red primer are newer. I'm following the "real world" examples of what American and allied forces have had to do to counter insurgent forces in Afghanistan and Iraq over the last 16 years as an example of what sorts of ad hoc modifications the Empire has had to come up with under similar circumstances on Tatooine against continuing Sand People resistance. The prod things are IED detector whiskers. (35th scale US military aerial mounts) These whiskers are used to detect microscopic movement in sand and dirt, plus changes in moister at ground level. They are positioned where they are so as to get maximum clearance from the main body. Plus it was the only real place the two Imperial Engineers, unlucky enough to find themselves garrisoned on Tatooine, could find that would fit with everything else that would have to be externally mounted on an already busy frame. No wiring necessary for these units as they are internally powered and transfer data electronically. The role of the AT-STP (Pathfinder) is to sit further back on the battlefield and use its sophisticated electronic equipment to detect a whole host of environmental changes to the natural environment. Moister, carbon dioxide, movement, electronic emissions, changes in temperature, sound and many other things. It still retains its ability to fight it out should that be necessary too. Cheers Richard. -
Bandai 48th scale AT-ST (alt camo scheme)
Gekko_1 replied to Gekko_1's topic in Work In Progress - SF & RealSpace
Thanks Geoff. The Sniffer unit was found in a vitamin jar, I think the contents are meant to keep the vitamins dry? Anyway as soon as I saw it I thought to myself - "That has Science Fiction modelling potential!" I didn't know at the time what I was going to use it on, and have since collected several, but just knew the day would come! Contemplating the mods that were going to go on the AT-ST to bring it up to AT-STP (Pathfinder) standard I just simply started mucking about with options and came up with what you see. Richard. -
Bandai 48th scale AT-ST (alt camo scheme)
Gekko_1 replied to Gekko_1's topic in Work In Progress - SF & RealSpace
Here's a few quick shots before I embark on the additional sensors and mini cameras..................... Cheers Richard.