Mr B Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 The RAAF combo looks class rgds mr b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted November 29, 2015 Author Share Posted November 29, 2015 well nope! Didn’t get her to the stage of painting today, got side tracked on finding somewhere to go for NYE in Prague and other little bits and pieces on the model. First up I glued the underside centre section to the forward fuselage, as you can see it needed a little persuasion! But in the end I and pretty happy with the overall fit, after willing the gaps with sprue and sheet card I shan’t kneed to use any filler, just some Mr Surface 500. While that was waiting to dry I did some work on the cockpit. The PE strip on the canopy edges were fitted along with making up the new PE gun site. While I was at it I fitted the masks for the canopy to help protect it, the canopy will be open on this build. Also the holes for the arrestor hook were filled, plus I had to replace the rudder as I fitted the wrong part!!! I had been wondering if I’d paint or replace the tip tank navigation lights, but as I was waiting for glue to set I decided to add proper tip lights, so off with the plastic tips and on with bits or clear red & blue sprue. A bit of sanding later, much better, though the RHS red light needs a wee bit more work to match the blue light. Finally time the fit the two major assemblies together. Lots and lots of test fitting were done before they were finally glued together. I am pretty happy with the end results, not too much in the way of filling required at all, most of the big stuff will be done with plastic strip and the smaller stuff Mr Surface 500. Well I’m pretty happy where I’m at, didn’t get to the painting stage just yet, but all the work with the test fitting has paid off. Am at home for most of this week so should get quite a bit done……..if I don’t get too distracted! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbob Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 Prague, eh? Stocking up on Eduard aftermarket? It looks like you had pretty good success with the fit. I'm not afraid to bring out the clamps if called for! bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 Really nice work Rich. The coloured tip-tank lights are superb and really make a difference. All the extra work you have put in has made a big difference to the fit you have achieved, and like you say greatly reduced the amount of filler which might have been required. Craig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
59North Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 I really do like the clear blue and red tip lights. Well done. Coming along very nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirageiv Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 Nice, very nice! Everyones builds seem to be really cracking on, look forward to painting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted December 2, 2015 Author Share Posted December 2, 2015 Thanks guys, the tip lights are really so easy to do, half the time I forgot to do them, but when done something so simple and minor does make a world of difference! well I did get a bit distracted so I didn’t get as far along as I would have hoped. I started removing and cleaning up all the undercarriage doors and air brakes, again the moulds are now starting to show some age. The detail is not crisp and some of the mould lines a quite large. The main undercarriage doors had two huge pillars on them that are meant to attach to the main gear so as the door follows the gear when closing. As mentioned these where rather large pillars, so these were removed and replace with something more appropriate. Next up the nose gear and wheel hubs were painted, the wheels have since been completed. The nose ear assembly will be fitted once everything else has been painted. Everything was given a final once over before painting started. I ended up fitting the main canopy section for ease of painting. First up was the underside Grey, I really happy with the finish and the joins have just disappeared, which is nice. Had a small drama, had planned to use Life Color grey for the underside. It was a bit thick and for some reason (probably because I have been using Tamiya acrylics) I tried to thin it with alcohol, not a good idea! It started to go a bit lumpy! You can only thin this stuff with water! Anyway some Mr Hobby to the rescue. Next up some masking for the first topcoat, Tan. This went one really nicely as well, plus I gave it a second coat of the very watered down and paler Tan to break the evenness. After an awful lot of masking the mid green was next. I even managed to do a couple of areas of dark green, which didn’t need further masking. Again after the mid green was applied a second very thinned and lighter green was lightly applied for highlighting. With luck tomorrow afternoon I will finish off the final coat. Can’t wait to see how she looks!!! Hopefully I won’t need to do too much touching up. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbob Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 A bad time to bring this up, but is that upper "rudder" really a rudder? It looks like you've got it cocked to one side. I thought the bottom part was the rudder. bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr B Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Its coming alive Looking very nice indeed Rgds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 A bad time to bring this up, but is that upper "rudder" really a rudder? It looks like you've got it cocked to one side. I thought the bottom part was the rudder. bob That is what I thought too after looking through a few books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted December 2, 2015 Author Share Posted December 2, 2015 Hmmm, for some reason I had it down as a rudder, opps, there again I've been looking over so many photos of F-5's it's starting to get confusing! No worries a simple fix......compared to all the others so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirageiv Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 This is looking fantastic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Great job Rich. All that work you have put in on the seams has really paid off, they are invisible. The paint work looks great so far, can't wait to see her with the masking removed. Craig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skids Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Wow Rich that is looking amazing. Those tank nav lights are brilliant. Where did you get the plastic from? It's certainly moving along at a pace now. I am waiting for my paints to arrive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 Wow Rich that is looking amazing. Those tank nav lights are brilliant. Where did you get the plastic from? It's certainly moving along at a pace now. I am waiting for my paints to arrive. The blue I stole from my Daco F-104 improvement set, clear blue sprue is really hard to find! I have to admit that I'm dying to get home to finish the Dk Green coat. Hopefully will have some unmasked photos up tonight. Am really happy with the finish at the moment!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
59North Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 I like your paint application hint with the slightly watered down 2nd coat. Once again you educate me, as I've used the thin stretched sprue seam fill idea you gave me earlier in my CF-5D post. It worked very well. You're doing a stand-up job and this thread is a watcher. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arniec Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Great paintjob. Love the colours. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 I like your paint application hint with the slightly watered down 2nd coat. Once again you educate me, as I've used the thin stretched sprue seam fill idea you gave me earlier in my CF-5D post. It worked very well. You're doing a stand-up job and this thread is a watcher. thats great to here it worked for you! I've only recently become a convert to the stretched sprue or thin card for filling. As there is less chance of losing detail if you happen to go over board with filler! I've done a couple now with next to none or a tiny amount of filler (P-38 Lightning, Meteor NF.13, and a CAC Boomerang), plus t makes you work just a wee bit harder to get those joins as close as you can before you glue them. Am really glad I could help. Ok time for a wee update and an unveiling! As mentioned earlier I have been desperate to finish the paint job, as so far everything with the paint has gone pretty nicely and I’m very happy with the finish. Ok I got home a bit later then planned, but the fat grey cat wasn’t demanding dinner and SWMBO would be home late, so straight off to the dungeon and finish painting! Again the masking just took forever! For such a relatively simple colour scheme it was hard work, trying to get the pattern to match took ages. If it was 1/72nd I would have just cut out the masks as the scaled demarcations would be almost sharp, 1/32nd they would be a bit softer an easier to do. But 1/48th can be a real pain sometimes, even with simple colour schemes. So after a bit of cursing and 50 meters on tape & Blu-Tac painting time! Again I’m using Mr Hobby acrylics and it just went on perfectly, I thinned it down quite a lot plus ran the airbrush at a low pressure and paint feed. Then I had to wait for the paint to at least touch dry……. Then time to unmask, and it took equally as long to unmask as it did to mask! But it was worth it! The finish is great, some touch-ups ( a bit of over spray here and there) bit they are simple and easy to do. The demarcation lines look great, just right for the scale. They had a soft edge in real life but it was quite a fine edge and I cant ask for better then I got! So next up is a wee bit of touching up plus a misting of extremely thin White or Lt Grey (or a mix of the main colours) just to lighten up a wee bit the surfaces exposed to direct sun a fraction. Then a coat of gloss and decal time! I’m trying to get as much done as possible before I go on holidays as I’m going to loose a months worth of modelling time! 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skids Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 That looks the fantastic, I hope mine looks half as good as yours 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
59North Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 It looks like you've used up some of your hard effort supply, earning yourself a spectacular paint job. Well worth the work; she is gorgeous. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arniec Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Nice, very nice indeed. Cheers, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirageiv Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 phwoar! That looks awesome, the SEA camo really makes the jet's lines look even better imho. Really nice job on an intricate scheme! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 That scheme and the job that you have done to acquire the finish that you have is superb. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr B Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Outstanding paint job Really looks great 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted December 4, 2015 Author Share Posted December 4, 2015 thanks for the lovely comments guy's, very much appreciated! Apart form the very start with the issue I had with the Life Color Grey (my fault), each coat went on pretty much perfectly! Another reason why I con't wait to remove the masks! The Touching up is pretty well done as well. For over sprays I made little Blu-Tac "donuts" that surround the effected area (this helped give the touch up a nice soft edge) then mask with tape. For the odd edge issue it was very similar, though this time using very thin Blu-Tac "sausages" and masking tape. Then using an airbrush at a very gentle setting to just mist a coat on. So just have the Dk. Green to go then a gloss coat. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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