.

[fewr9fkr9595]

3 minutes ago, Nikolay Polyakov said:

Stunning work Tony, your Tomcats amazed me! 👍

 

Cheers! 😎

 

Thanks Nikolay! Glad you like it. 

 

Had two years practicing on hobbyboss ones so no excuse really... 

 

Here is the thread of those, 

links to the individual Finished builds in the first post 

 

 

[Shalako]

On ‎5‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 12:54 PM, Tony Oliver said:

Update - seats and round 2 with the pilots.

 

Here a few seats to show the variation in sizes. Hobbyboss and hasegawa plastic ones are currently at the other end of the country. 

 

Order: Wolfpack, modern hobbies, finemolds stock, aries quickboost. 

 

 

 

These two photos reminded me of why I should never buy Wolfpack seats!!!

[fewr9fkr9595]

Update: Reaper has had its final sealing coat and canopy masks off. It is now ready for some staining and scuffs and then the long journey to final assembly and all those little jobs that still need doing. 

 

 

Exhausts had a wash too when they were being used to detail airframe (these had deep brown inside) and then a matt coat dusting to seal it in. A bit of pigment soot perhaps and they will be about there. 

 

 

A reminder of how its exhausts looked. Note the patchiness &  fresh repainted bits above the tailplane and inside the starboard taifin, the inspiration for doing the finish as it is. Also in this pic you can see that the two blade antennas and arresting hook weren’t repainted from the tps scheme which 160 used to wear before this special decommissioning retro paintjob. 

 

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/5620176

 

Thats all for now. 

 

Ps the tps one has started to get some primer on, beloved stynylrez.

[Azgaron]

Very nice work! Great looking Tomcats!

 

Håkan

 

[fewr9fkr9595]

On 07/04/2018 at 09:34, Robert said:

VF-31 gets my vote as it is different enough to be a tribute to be mighty Tomcat.

 

Robert

 

Watch this space...

[fewr9fkr9595]

Update - TPS bird has been painted. 

 

So there are a few things that could be better on this build (worst affected one by glue gate at the start) so didn’t want to waste any lovely VF decals on it. 

 

Decided to go with the plan from the start and do the commemorative Grumman ‘navy’s last fighter’ scheme. The hasegawa decals for this aren’t perfect/ are incomplete and will require a bit of artistic licence which I won’t bore you with now. 

 

Anyways so the aim is to get a grubby tps finish with freshly painted tails and canopy (crew names, felix and the AJ were removed)

 

The hasegawa decals seem bit lighter than normally expected so perhaps wouldn’t look correct over straight TPS paint. From pictures 102 does seem quite faded. 

So I referred back to the swatches I made when trying to get paint that would work with the light dxm vf101 decals. 

 

Now the darkest shade on here (which the brush is pointing at) is dense/full saturation MRP 36375 light ghost grey. The rest around it are lighter mixes, with a flash of light arctic grey on there too. (There are still some of the those dxm decals on there)

 

So this bird was painted in lighter than normal shades to get the contrast correct with the decals. Also an interesting side effect with a black base and lighter shades it allows you to build up the strength/concentration of the colours more. As in the more you add the lighter they become so you can add fading too all with one paint. 

 

So in a nutshell this plane was painted as so:

 

Lowers in lieu of 36375 - Light arctic grey. 

 

Sides of nose & tails in lieu of 36320 - A 50:50 mix of 36375 and white. 

 

Uppers in lieu of 35237 - straight 36375. 

 

Here it is: 

 

 

Also tried this out - random highlights. Then when you apply thin layers to build up the colour these bits look like fresh touch ups. 

 

Something else different I have done this time - washes straight onto the paint. The MRP is tough and smooth enough to allow this with its hard satin sheen. Would never try this with say rough matt tamiya which would clog and soak up the wash. 

I had some loss of definition of some petite finemolds panel lines with the reaper bird, mainly because the washes went over an extra two layers of paint (pre and post decal gloss), so doing the wash now should prevent this. It should also darken the finish a bit more towards where I want it to be. 

 

Quite pleased how it turned out. Normally when I do washes they are over the post decal sealing gloss, so when rubbed off they only define panel lines and don’t add weathering too. This way on the satin paint there is a nice staining and grimy effect left over.  Always learning. 

Left side bits still has it on and right side bits cleaned up. 

 

Here are the uppers - showing the straight clean paint, the ‘wash on’ and the ‘wash off’ in the centre where it has been rubbed off but also rubbed in a bit and grimed up. The tails however were rubbed back with turps damp tissue so there was only panel lines left defined and no grime on them (fresh paint for the commemoration scheme) 

 

Here it is with the decals - the tone and ‘darkness’ of the scheme looks good to work with these now, as in the shade of then uppers matches the stencils. Still quite ‘light’ overall though compared to other tps paint jobs I have done. 

 

Next is a gloss to seal in the washes and make it ready for decals. Once they are on I may do some of the maskol post shading to add some more grime and ‘touch ups’ here and there. 

 

 

Thanks for looking. 

 

Tony. 

 

 

 

[fewr9fkr9595]

Here is a gratuitous shot of the pair. 

 

No progress on the reaper since its flat coat as this week has been all about the felix bird. 

 

It has now had its gloss coat and is ready for markings. 

 

 

Thanks for looking. 

[woody37]

You’re a master with these big cats, really must get one on the bench next year, great inspiration

 

[fewr9fkr9595]

Mini update: 

 

Some other things I have just spotted on the commemorative scheme after applying the decals.

 

One of the pictures I linked to at the start of the thread. 

 

https://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pacificaviationmuseum.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F10%2F4.png&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pacificaviationmuseum.org%2Fpearl-harbor-blog%2Fp40%2F&docid=k5uHnHhOYL8N9M&tbnid=t6aP25hz55hGlM%3A&vet=1&w=914&h=608&hl=en-gb&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim

 

1 -  the starboard rescue data is not like 90% of tomcats. The ‘normal’ way as hasegawa supplied is with the rectangular data box ‘forward’ of the rescue panel, under the formation light strip. 102 has it below and going towards the rear. Oh well. 

 

2 - I noticed that there is a special marking which can only be a ‘date of birth’ on this jet. Look in the pic linked above  at the nose gear door under the elbow of the ‘1T’ dude saluting. 

‘DOB Apr 1991’ - means she was only 15 when they all were scrapped/given to museums after this sunset parade in 2006. 

Not sure if this marking is unique to 102 only or all the sunset participants had them. Never seen this before on other final vf31 decal schemes before. 

 

Anyways - wasn’t going to be able to paint that so got creative with some spare decal as best as I could get it. Font doesn’t match though  

 

used some of this :

 

 

to make this : 

 

 

‘B’ is a 1 and 3 joined, need to tidy it up with some black and a fine brush. Also those ‘beware of brast’ came in handy- two were used. An R on its own and one was cut to make a P  

 

Bye for now!

[Sting67]

Thank you for all the informative updates with all the helpful pics.

 

Looking at all the struggle you have with wrong or missing decals the only solution I have is that you have to address creating custom decals sooner or later.

 

I have a similar problem. I bought a nice decal sheet which contains a EA-18G Growler among others. Everything is fine excepting the serial number. Just one tiny number is wrong and has to be fixed. I'm still experimenting with decal papers, working with graphics and the whole subject. But it's a must to fix some errors etc.

 

Ramon

[fewr9fkr9595]

Decals went on with no major dramas, apart from being a bit thick as hasegawa ones normally are. Not much to show there. 

 

Anyways onto the fun stuff - some weathering. 

 

Did the maskol post shade again, but avoided the tails and canopy as they were freshly painted for this scheme. 

Also tried something else, once the post shading was done I micromeshed it with some 4000 grit to make the ‘dirty’ bits more patchy and streaky. 

Then went over with a light grey to tone it down where the post shade was a bit strong, and also to fade and blend some of the black decals. 

 

Pics- 

 

Took about 2hrs with a toothpick carefully putting this all over the various parts  

 

 

 

 

Used this dirty brownish grey to post shade:

 

 

Here is the raw effect: 

 

Then scrubbed back a touch with 4k cloth as said. This was possible as it had a good gloss coat to seal and protect the base paint.

 

 

Has since had a sealing coat and some of the metals done like corroguard on wing leading edges for example. 

 

Here is the pipes done in gloss black SNR ready for alclads: 

 

 

Will get a picture of the pair up soon, this tps plane is now proper flat coated and I have added a touch of sheen back to the reaper jet. 

 

By for now. 

[Parabat]

Looking good, that is an excellent way to represent the dirt and the touch up spray painting on the Tomcat. Very nicely done.

[fewr9fkr9595]

12 hours ago, Parabat said:

Looking good, that is an excellent way to represent the dirt and the touch up spray painting on the Tomcat. Very nicely done.

 

Cheers pal, I have used it on a few builds now and think it is quite effective in 1/72 as it keeps things quite crisp and defined. 

 

I don’t think it would look as good in larger scales though. Too stark perhaps? I reckon for 1/48 you could actually spray the touch ups with an airbrush and get away with a soft edge on them. 

 

 

[fewr9fkr9595]

Metals work on the TPS bird

 

leading edges: 

 

 

Nozzles - 

 

I wanted to get a golden titanium type look but don’t have that in alclad paints so:

On top of the gloss black SNR they had a solid coat stainless steel first, then pale burnt misted over till they looked like this. 

 

 

For the insides I expanded on the technique I used for the new and old segments as seen on the reaper 160. 

 

This time I have tried to replicate new, used, and old segments. 

 

First a select segments are masked off. Then a dense coat of dirty steel sprayed on. 

 

 

Next a few strips are removed and then a touch of colour misted on. 

 

 

Once all tape is off there is the three stages of wear/dirt. 

Will be blended and toned down with some grime washes and soot pigments. 

Outers need overlap areas (decals) and some washes too still. 

 

 

Thanks for looking. 

 

[fewr9fkr9595]

Last update on these for a bit...

 

Leaving these for three weeks while away for a break. 

 

So the tps felix had a proper flat coat and the gull reaper had a bit of shine put back on as mentioned earlier. 

 

Here are some shots overall and in detail of the paint work. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I return to these the main effort will be getting the pilots done for 160 and all the u/c legs need building and painting for 102. 

 

In the meantime need to compose an RFI for the latest hboss vf-2 bird that was photographed last week. 

 

Bye for now and thanks for looking. 

 

Tony

[Sting67]

Have a nice break/Holiday!

As always, beautiful pics.

 

Ramon

[fewr9fkr9595]

2 hours ago, Sting67 said:

Have a nice break/Holiday!

As always, beautiful pics.

 

Ramon

 

Cheers Ramon,

 

Have to move house though so leave is busy...

 

Très stressful!

 

Tony

[Parabat]

Nice work, that TPS looks great.

[F-32]

Wonderful work, absolutely great, and you've taught me some tricks too!

[Cookenbacher]

Fantastic work as always Tony, the internals on the spine and air break of the TPS jet are especially impressive!

 

Good luck with your house move.

[fewr9fkr9595]

10 hours ago, Parabat said:

Nice work, that TPS looks great.

 

3 hours ago, F-32 said:

Wonderful work, absolutely great, and you've taught me some tricks too!

 

28 minutes ago, Cookenbacher said:

Fantastic work as always Tony, the internals on the spine and air break of the TPS jet are especially impressive!

 

Good luck with your house move.

 

 Cheers guys, much appreciated. 

 

Tony

[Robert]

Great attention to details Tony. Hope you have a stress free move.

 

Robert

Edited August 25, 2018 by Robert

[fewr9fkr9595]

17 hours ago, Robert said:

Great attention to details Tony. Hope you have a stress move.

 

Robert

 

 Cheers Robert. 

 

I’m sure thats just a typo 😂

 

One thing that I managed to do because of the move - get a group shot of all ten hboss cats together. Brought the vf-2 and felix figure up home from work down south. 

 

Was taken on the empty kitchen worktop after it was stripped out of kettle and toaster etc - only place big enough to fit all 10 -before packing them all up. I hope they survive!

 

Will update that thread with those pics later...

 

Tony

[Robert]

Sorry about that Tony should check before l click send.

 

Robert

[fewr9fkr9595]

Well a sort of mini revival. 

 

Always trying to improve bits either to use across my future builds or hopefully sell on one day as an upgrade/conversion. 

 

Latest subject - GE F110 afterburner faces. Particularly in 1/72 tomcat kits. 

 

The real deal

 

 

 

So far all, until the Finemolds kit, most are a compromise of some sorts. Alot just have the back of the engine but don’t replicate the afterburner ring with its slots in it.

For example the stock hasegawa and fujimi parts which are both quite similar. Hasegawa shown below - 

 

Here are the finemolds parts. Two pieces. A good effort but the plastic limits what can be done. Alot of the detail on the engine part is lost when the afterburner ring is placed on. Even more so in the depths of a tube on the back of a model. 

Stacked on the left and individual parts centre & right - 

 

 

One of the best I know of is the eduard brassin one for the 1/72 tamiya f-16cj, a mixture of resin fan and brass for the afterburner ring.

But I’m not going to buy dozens of them. 

So that made me look at F-16 kits to see what they provide as stock. 

 

The revell kit has a decent representation of the afterburner ring, but is quite a flat part at the bottom of a tube. 

So I cut one off. At first I started to drill holes (black one) around edge to make a start on trying to replicate the square wave/petal outer edge. However when I checked it against the tube the internal diameter of it makes this detail redundant. So I started on another part (grey) and cut it to leave a slight ridge and gouged out a recess to make the part like a cap that will clip onto the back of the tube. 

 

 

Then to resolve the flatness I cut the dome off of a hasegawa part to add to the centre. The detail of the fan blades on the revell part were quite soft from several years of moulding, so I carefully re-scribed them back in the square depressions. 

 

Next was cutting off and thinning the central part of the afterburner ring from the finemolds part to place over the added dome. 

 

 

Here is the finished part next to the stock Finemolds. 

 

 

And when viewed down a tube. 

 

 

Quite pleased. Now to get the silicone out and make some more. 

 

Thanks for looking.