Legendary Blackbird - Part 1: A-12 Oxcart (Italeri Conversion)

[Serkan Sen]

In order to fit Italeri NLG leg into Revell/Monogram wheel bay a pivot strut is needed. This part was done as scratch built and cloned:

 

All landing gear  assembly parts were painted with MMM Titanium, Steel and Aluminium paints:

 

Also inlet spikes' tips were painted to MMM steel:

 

Serkan

Edited March 5, 2020 by Serkan Sen

[Serkan Sen]

The fin roots were painted to black whereas the rudders were painted with MMM Titanium, Steel and Magnesium:

 

The tail number background was painted to light blue/gray which will carry 06932.

 

Serkan

 

[Serkan Sen]

The next step is to coat with Future/Pledge. I have used this product first time during my Flankerstein build (my avatar) but had some bad experiences during panel wash because of not fully sealed surface. I have thinned Future/Pledge with IPA but it was causing droplets on the surface instead of creating a smooth sealant film. I remember that some guys were recommending to add few drops of dish soap to break surface tension of Future/Pledge and thin it with Tamiya X20A thinner.

 

Does any of you have an experience how to apply Future/Pledge coat evenly?

Edited March 5, 2020 by Serkan Sen

[Sting67]

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.

[Chemguy3000]

Serkan, I mixed up my own thinner for Future with isopropyl alcohol, ammonia (ammonium hydroxide), and distilled water, and had great results. Unfortunately I no longer have the exact ratios. The IPA may have been 10-20%, and the ammonia 1-5%. It just takes a little experimentation.

 

David

[Robert]

Hi Serkan, l have the original Klear and just spray it neat with a 0.3 airbrush, thin coats then a heavier final coat. The black paint work looks very convincing.

 

Regards

Robert

[billn53]

21 hours ago, Serkan Sen said:

The next step is to coat with Future/Pledge. I have used this product first time during my Flankerstein build (my avatar) but had some bad experiences during panel wash because of not fully sealed surface. I have thinned Future/Pledge with IPA but it was causing droplets on the surface instead of creating a smooth sealant film. I remember that some guys were recommending to add few drops of dish soap to break surface tension of Future/Pledge and thin it with Tamiya X20A thinner.

 

Does any of you have an experience how to apply Future/Pledge coat evenly?

I’ve lately been thinning with Mr Surfacer Levelling Thinner, with good results

[Serkan Sen]

Thanks for sharing your experiences mates.

 

Today I have coated the entire airframe with Future/Pledge with and without thinning with IPA using Badger 150 with medium nozzle. I have first started with very light mists and then several  relatively heavy passes. The result is as follows:

 

It looks now very shiny. There is a well known orange peel effect (little roughness on surface) but this can be fixed with fine grit sandpaper.

 

Next 24 hours I will let the coating fully cured. Meanwhile I will prepare decals.

 

Serkan

[Serkan Sen]

To finalize the decal artwork I need your help.🤔

The below picture is the only reference material I have found for 06932.

 

Has anyone an idea what the white markings at the nose?

 

 

[Serkan Sen]

I have forgotten to scribe the

sun/celestial compass and drift sight, one just forward of the windscreen, the other just a little further forward, and under the nose:

 

Also the Qbay windows were scribed just in front of NLG bay;

 

Using a fine brush the scribed lines were sealed with Future/Pledge.

 

Serkan

Edited March 6, 2020 by Serkan Sen

[Serkan Sen]

Oops!.. I realised that I scribed camera windows on wrong side...🤔

No problem, it can be fixed easily... 😁

Edited July 12, 2020 by Serkan Sen

[Serkan Sen]

Ok I have found what the little white spot at the nose was:

 

From habu.org:

"Lockheed article #132 on the nose identifies this A-12 as #60-6938"

 

From the same source:
"932 (also known as "Article 129") was one of three A-12s deployed operationally to Kadena AFB in Okinawa as part of Operation Black Shield.  The other aircraft, Article 131 and Article 127, arrived on May 22 and May 24, 1967..."

 

So a pair of Lockheed article number "129" has to be added to custom decal set.

 

Serkan

[Serkan Sen]

The scribed camera window frames were filled with Mr Surfacer 500. The new window frames will be scribed on the correct side when the filler is ready for fine sanding.

 

Serkan

Edited March 7, 2020 by Serkan Sen

[Nikolay Polyakov]

On 06/03/2020 at 21:30, Serkan Sen said:

Has anyone an idea what the white markings at the nose?

Sorry Serkan, I searched over the books but can’t find anything. Maybe it’s a marked replaced compartment door or just a simple «do not paint» stencil...

 

The progress looks great, also the subtle pre-shading - your painting skills as good as your engineering! 👍

[Serkan Sen]

After searching a bit in internet I have found the lost treasure of Oxcart!..

http://www.nvahof.org/education/oral-history/a-12-line-art/nggallery/

 

From above link, I have compiled the following images:

 

From the above images my final decision is not to add any Q-Bay detail in my build...

 

Serkan

 

 

 

 

[Serkan Sen]

Here is my decal artwork for 06932:

 

23 hours ago, Nikolay Polyakov said:

I searched over the books but can’t find anything. Maybe it’s a marked replaced compartment door or just a simple «do not paint» stencil...

Thanks for your time and precious support Nikolay. I have interpreted as "line-dot-line" in my artwork. However "Don't Paint" makes more sense. Nevertheless it is too small to read clearly 🙂

 

Serkan

 

[Sting67]

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

[Serkan Sen]

1 hour ago, Sting67 said:

You manage to create custom decals that look like professional ones which is amazing.

Thanks Ramon 🙂

1 hour ago, Sting67 said:

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)?

I use CorelDraw and sometimes Inkscape.

1 hour ago, Sting67 said:

Or is the key the format (converting the images to vector graphics (svg))?

I do all artwork as vector image (svg for masking film cutting, cdr for printing multi-pass decal with spot colors)

1 hour ago, Sting67 said:

What is your approach to find the right size the stencil, placard etc has to be in 1/72?

I use reference pictures with perspective and distortion correction (as much as possible). Before doing artwork design, I always start with 3 view drawings to size the decals as accurate as possible.

1 hour ago, Sting67 said:

What decal paper you are using?

Currently I have Micromark clear decal paper with blue back paper (for alps/laser printers). But this is unfortunately a bit thick especially for 1:72 scale. In ALPS printer forums the people are highly recommending TangoPapa decal papers (and some other Papilio). Having ultra thin decal paper would be great 🙂

1 hour ago, Sting67 said:

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.

I have own Alps MD5500 I have bought directly from Japan which was one of the last printers before production was ended (a good friend of mine had a Japanese girl friend living in Tokyo. She sent it to him first to Athens/Greece, and then he shipped it to Hamburg. Loong way to travel 🙂 )

I have also bought an HP printer with Ghost white toner but I am not satisfied with the print result (not very opaque and not possible to put white background for colored markings unless you follow Twobobs approach, i.e. white layer and colored artwork are separate)

 

Serkan

Edited March 13, 2020 by Serkan Sen

[Serkan Sen]

The Italeri kit has nice decal sheet which include white "US Air Force" label and white backed insignia. But the nose Lockheed article number "129" and tail numbers had to be printed. Also the rescue and warning stencils are different than the stencils available in decal sheet. Therefore I have decided to print everything I used on this model.

 

The decals were printed with ALPS MD5500 and the result is as follows:

 

Three different shades of metallic colors were used on fins (titanium, steel, white aluminum). The tail number background was painted to light blue/gray.

 

The model was coated with Future/Pledge again to seal the decals. It will cure for next seven days before oil paint panel wash (I had a bad experience during Flankerstein build, because I didn't have enough patience to wait for completely cured gloss coat).

 

Serkan

 

Edited March 13, 2020 by Serkan Sen

[Sting67]

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 Sen]

11 minutes ago, Sting67 said:

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

Thanks Ramon.

I use max physical resolution of 600 dpi with color separation and spot color printing.

Having own vector 3 view drawings is always very helpful especially designing different markings for aircraft variants or various air forces/squadrons although it takes very long time to draw.

Here are some good examples how I used the drawings for different versions:

 

The last image lower left camo is my avatar 🙂

 

Serkan

Edited March 13, 2020 by Serkan Sen

[billn53]

She’s looking great, Serkan! It won’t be long now!

[Serkan Sen]

4 minutes ago, Serkan Sen said:

The last image lower left camo is my avatar 🙂

I mean the other left 😁 (i.e. right)

Edited March 13, 2020 by Serkan Sen

[Serkan Sen]

6 minutes ago, billn53 said:

She’s looking great, Serkan! It won’t be long now!

Thanks Bill. I hope too. But you know the final little details take long time as well. To reach the happy end the secret word is "patience"...

[Nikolay Polyakov]

8 hours ago, Serkan Sen said:

The model was coated with Future/Pledge again to seal the decals.

Oh yes! 👍 Absolutely fantastic!

 

10 hours ago, Serkan Sen said:

I have interpreted as "line-dot-line" in my artwork.

That’s reasonable, I think it’s a right decision.

 

11 hours ago, Serkan Sen said:

After searching a bit in internet I have found the lost treasure of Oxcart!..

Thanks, Serkan - it’s good to find something new. Very interesting information.