Giorgio N Posted March 31, 2015 Author Share Posted March 31, 2015 (edited) Folks, you're too kind ! The truth is that paintbrush marks are quite visible. Still, it's true that a coat of klear and some weathering can help... Finally I got my badger back ! I didn't want to spray klear using the new airbrush so I waited for the old one to be back with the new tip. And it now sprays beautifully ! Here's the model with a coat of klear and a wash applied to the panel lines The wash is barely visible in the picture (ailerons apart) but is actually quite good IMHO, visible but not too dark. The antiglare panel has also been added, however it's not too straight, some cleanup will be needed. The frames on the windscreen were added using adhesive aluminum foil. The original part had no frame visible... Work has also started on designing the decals Edited March 31, 2015 by Giorgio N 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Pulfrew Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Nice colour scheme there Georgio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirageiv Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 looks awesome! The hasegawa kit just seems better shaped to me than the italeri kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 That really does look good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted April 15, 2015 Author Share Posted April 15, 2015 (edited) Finally, I've completed the work on the decals !!! It was quite tedious as I had to draw some difficult bits, for example the Kfir C2 logo. Another part that is very tedious is to resize the various drawings so that they look good on the model. Once the artwork was completed on my trusted Corel Draw software, I printed a test run on normal paper and checked for the size of the various bits on the model On the wings it's easy, keeping all the bits on the tail and fuselage however requires 5 hands... Once I was happy with the size of every "decal", it was time to feed the Expert's Choice sheet into the printer, and here's the result: Some spares are printed just in case. Now that I think about it, I should have printed more spares though... I'm also trying two different approaches for the national insignia: printing the full insignia and apply over white decal or printing the red and blue only and apply over yellow decal. There are also a couple of non-Kfir related bits, in particular some stencilling for a Norwegian marked F-16. I'm making this my lesser built air forces year ! Should I stay at home tonight, I'll start applying the first decals Edited April 15, 2015 by Giorgio N 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchem Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 Looking good Giorgio. With regards to the decals, I'd go for the full insignia over a white decal IMHO. I've made my own decals on a number of occasions but I find that the Clear decal film works best on white surfaces. I'm under the impression that Red and blue over a yellow background could end up being orange and green ? Just a thought. mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 Nice work on the decals Giorgio. That's one part of model-making that I'm unable to tackle due to a lack of printer/artwork program/skill/confidence so particularly admire your abilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 Excellent work on the decals Giogio, as Col says I wish I had the ability and equipment to be able to do that, it would certainly make sourcing unusual air forces markings a lot easier. Keep up the good work. Craig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted April 15, 2015 Author Share Posted April 15, 2015 (edited) Mike, I've tested a blue/red roundel on yellow decal before, they don't look too bad. The blue however becomes too dark, almost like a WW2 RAF aircraft. I've yet to decide what to do for the insignia, I'll experiment a bit more. Col, Craig, printing decals is not that difficult and the equipment and skills required are relatively limited. My printer is an Epson colour laser that costed around £50, nothing too sophisticated. The software I use is indeed expensive and complicated however good results can be achieved with freewares like Inkscape (that I used for a while). In terms of skills, I believe that anyone who can build a model like you do can also do some basic drawing on a PC. Really, apart a few pieces of artwork, most decals only require basic shapes. Fonts are available for a number of air forces, and in any case it's possible to modify existing fonts. What is really needed is a lot of patience ! Drawing needs patience, checking and doublechecking the size needs patience, finding the best printing settings needs a lot of patience. But as modellers aren't we supposed to be patient people ? Of course it's also very important to undestand the limitations of the process. Personally I would suggest anyone to give homemade decals a try. Once the process is mastered it's possible to have some very nice results. And the satisfaction of watching a model of a subject not available with commercial decals is immense. Speaking of decals, I've started to apply a few. The victory marking (a Peruvian A-37 shot down during the Cenepa war) was printed on clear paper and applied on top of a white disc. Unfortunately I've not been too careful here and it's slightly off register. Mind, the model is smaller than what it looks like in the picture and really it's hard to see this with the naked eye. Still, I should have been more careful. One thing that does not show well in the pictures is that the film of these decals is practically invisible. It's thinner than most commercial decals, meaning some attention is required during the application, but the results using the Microscale liquids are impressive. Edited April 15, 2015 by Giorgio N 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cooper Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 (edited) Speaking of decals, I've started to apply a few. The victory marking (a Peruvian A-37 shot down during the Cenepa war) was printed on clear paper and applied on top of a white disc. Unfortunately I've not been too careful here and it's slightly off register. Mind, the model is smaller than what it looks like in the picture and really it's hard to see this with the naked eye. Still, I should have been more careful. Erm... I'll offer an apology in advance this time, but.... I've drawn at least two artworks of this Kfir C.2 over the last 10 years. Especially the latter was as precise as it could get. ...and after that 'experience', I still needed repeated re-viewing of my artwork, about a dozen of original photos, plus 10 minutes of thinking about what are you talking about - in order to realize that you seem to think that the kill marking is something like 2.4mm 'too far to the rear'... Giorgio: I dare reminding you this is a 1/72 model. It's already a small wonder what kind of results you've achieved by additional details around the nose, not to talk about precision of your application of camo pattern (for this scale!)... So, please: stop being too critical of your work and let us all 'simply enjoy it'. Edited April 15, 2015 by Tom Cooper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cooper Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 So, after ranting about your self-critique... There are 3-4 other details I'm missing (though you might have decided to add at a later stage): - VOR/loc 'wings' (i.e. antennas) below the top of the fin (usually painted in white), applied on either side of the fin; - RWR housing right behind these antennas, i.e. at the rear edge of the fin. - IFF antenna on the spin (small, black, trapezoidal shape, positioned there on FAE's Kfir C.2s). - UHF/Tacan and 2 other antennas below the nose. Guess that all of these could be solved with some 0.5-1,5mm plastic sheet (cut in proper forms, of course)? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 You've done a great job with the decals Giorgio, particularly the Kfir logo Cliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 (edited) Tom, I know I'm a bit hypercritical lately... The truth is that this is a subject I had wanted to build for a while and with the bad kit and the painting problems I'm a bit disappointed. I have at this point decided to finish this as a test and then build one day the nice kinetik 1/48 kit with some proper aftermarket decals. You're right about the antenna set, I'm leaving these til the end. While attaching antennas to a painted model is not ideal, I know that I'd knock them all off during the decaling phase. Cliff, one thing did not come out completely right on the logo (Tom, feel free to repeat that I'm overcritical.. ): in the real logo each letter is in black with a kind of "channel" within the letter body that shows the underlying camo colour. This is how I decided to draw the decals, these however look on the model as if each letter is solid. They look like this on the sheet too, so it's not because the underlying camouflage is dark. What happened is simply that once this detail is scaled down, it becomes invisible ( I draw the artwork much larger and only scale it at the end) Ok, jokes on being hypercritical apart, this small detail is actually interesting because shows how sometimes it's necessary to have things off scale so that they look better. Had I drawn the "channel" larger, this would have been visible and the overall effect would have been more realistic.. even if the artwork would have been not exactly to scale. It goes to show how many compromises a decal or a kit designer has to go through. Sometime you have to do it wrong to make it look right Edited April 16, 2015 by Giorgio N 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted April 17, 2015 Author Share Posted April 17, 2015 (edited) One of the problems when starting a bad quality kit is that decals can be as bad as the plastic. While markings and national insignia can be sorted relatively easy, the stencilling is usually another story, This kit of course suffers from this: not only the decals look quite bad, there are also very few stencils. Not too much of a problem, however the Kfir has a number of quite visible lines in either red or white depending on the colour schemes. In my case walwways and other lines are white. While I may not apply them all, at least the most visible will have to be added. Fortunately here we're talking simple white strips and I realised there were a few possible ways to make these: - mask the lines on the model and spray white paint. Tedious and it's not easy to mask all lines so that they are the same width. - go to the hobbyshop that I know has the Tauromodel white strip decals and buy a sheet or two. Easy but the shop is the other side of the city, means 2 hours driving if there's not too much traffic - cut strips from white decal film. Not too difficult but I've tried before and it's a pain, particularly with long strips. So I tried something totally different.. and it worked ! Over the last year or so I've experimented with a number of different paint markers, particularly in white. Some don't cover well enough but I found a type in a local toy store chain that is quite good, the Japanese Zebra Craft-Star. This has two tips and of course I used the smaller one. Of course I could not draw directly on the model so I tried to draw a few straight lines on the leftover bits of the Expert's Choice decal sheet, with the help of a ruler. I found that not only the marker covered pretty well but the paint is also not affected by the water. So I prepared a few white lines, cut them approximately to size and started to apply the walkways I'm quite impressed by how opaque the white paint is, even over quite a dark camouflage scheme. The walkways are probably a bit on the thick side, should be slightly narrower, but will do for this build. I also have a red and yellow marker from the same range, I will try these very soon in the same way. Zebra seems to have a range of paint markers, there may be some that are even better suited to our needs, for example even thinner tips. I should go and search for more ! Edited April 17, 2015 by Giorgio N 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smudge Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Good work on that old kit. It's looking very smart. I am enjoying following this build, and all the extra detail you have added. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted April 19, 2015 Author Share Posted April 19, 2015 Thanks for the nice words, I have to say that this build has been one of the most frustrating I've gone through in the last couple of years. However there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel, and watching the result with some of the decals applied makes me feel a bit better Mind, this model must be haunted as I'm still experiencing many problems... I've used some stencils from an aftermarket Mirage F.1 sheet and some of these went on fine, others simply fell. No idea why, in any case now the model is missing some stencils.. let's say that the relevant areas were repainted and the stencils not reapplied.. Disaster also struck the right side flag on the tail, for some reason the decal reacted badly and now I have to print another one. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Looking very good Giorgio. Those white lines really stand out, a great tip there and thanks for sharing it. Craig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 That looks good Giorgio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cooper Posted April 23, 2015 Share Posted April 23, 2015 It's not that 'you've brought this project this far, can't stop now': but, selfish me, finds it looks wondeful in my eyes. Thus, sorry mate: but here another (slight, and - contrary to my usual way - 'gentle') 'kick': keep on pushing, Giorgio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchem Posted April 23, 2015 Share Posted April 23, 2015 Damn it Giorgio ! If I end up buying one of these http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234944648-148-iai-kfir-c2c7-rc2-c10c12-by-wingman-models-kinetic-add-on-released/?p=1377523, I'm going to hold you personally responsible ! Your Kfir is looking cracking and the decals have come out really well. We need to see it finished off. :thumbsup2: mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted April 26, 2015 Author Share Posted April 26, 2015 Folks, glad you like it ! I gladly accept the gentle kicks for me to complete this. However, let me say... AHHHAAAHHHAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With only a few days to complete the model, most wheel well doors have completely disappeared ! I have hope they may be buried under the bits for some other model or that they ended in the wrong box, but I fear that they may have been lost. Just to be safe, I'm checking how hard they would be to replace with scrat built bits, copied from an Italeri Kfir. This build has gone through so many problems that I'm now looking forward to the day the model will be completed. Some good news though: I struggled to find a way to reproduce the white lines on the wing leading edges and around the airbrakes, then while browsing the web I found a web based shop that seems to have a number of dry transfer white lines sheets in several sizes. This is a kind of product that was widespread 20 years ago but is now completely disappearing, yet I still use them quite often on my models. I'll place an order soon and everything going well, I should have these in a couple of days. Now on to scrstchbuilding those doors... P.S. Mike, I'm happy to be blamed for the purchase of a good quality Kfir kit ! However I've read some not so positive comments about this box, not much for the original kit and the decals but for the resin part. These seem to be of not great quality and some have complained about the overall cost of the box. IIRC there was a thread on ARC regarding this Wingman box 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeR Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 That's coming along nicely, that is! Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted April 27, 2015 Author Share Posted April 27, 2015 Glad you like it Mike ! Now while this build has been (and still is...) frustrating, there's one area that has IMHO come very nicely, the exhaust. I had mentioned before that I would have used a resin clone of the Hasegawa F-104S exhaust. The Italian Super Starfighter uses the same J79 variant of the Kfir and while the Hasegawa part is certainly no Aires quality, it's still miles better than the original bit. Yesterday I prepared the exhaust and painted it gun metal. I've yet to add a wash but I could not resist checking the overall result with some dry-fitting The pictures above also show a few other things: maind landing gear legs are glued, weapon pylons are glued and unfortunately one of the flags got s few scratches during handling. No big deal here, a small brush will sort it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 Looking good Giorgio, I can see why you are pleased with the exhaust Cliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted May 1, 2015 Author Share Posted May 1, 2015 I should have added that the exhaust was not fixed yet when I took the pictures above, as I usually wait until I've finished with the various clear coats before adding parts painted in metallic colours. For this reason the exhaust is not installed in the next couple of pictures, but they show some progress nonetheless: the Kfir is now resting on its landing gear ! I've also pretty much completed the decalling. There's one bit missing though: the white lines around the airbrake. Unfortunately my white strips transfers will not be here until next week, so I'll have to find something else if I want to add there before the end of the GB. The white stripes on the leading edge come from the Italeri F-21 decal sheet. I was planning on using these on the F-21 kit but then I decided to make my own for the F-21 and use the decals on this one. They are typical italeri decals of the era, with a matt carrier film and not great adhesion, for this reason I applied them using the good old Johnson Klear. One of the improvements I had planned at the beginning of the build was the use of a resin seat. The bad overall quality of the model made me change my mind and I've now decided to use a seat from an Airfix Sea Harrier kit. This will receive the resin seat instead. Here's the seat painted and glued in the cockpit As the model will be built with closed canopy, I think this will be more than enough detail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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