F-22 Raptor - 1/48 Hasegawa - Finished!

[infofrog]

I seen  F-22 picture , I liked 

Rick 

 

[infofrog]

Opps forgot photo 

 

[theaa2000]

It's been a while since the last update, but I've made a little progress - getting closer to starting the weathering on the Raptor.

 

First up are the distinctive thrust vectoring nozzles - I never appreciated the different shades on the nozzles before I really started looking at reference photos, but there is quite a variety of  heat discolouration and rust on these - something that I'll go over again when I start weathering. I used a combination of MRP metallics and Tamiya Dark Iron for the nozzles.

 

I did indulge in some AM stuff for this build:

- Platz F-22 Decals - Since I couldn't get any of the OOP TwoBobs stuff, I went for this instead. Decals are one of the hardest parts of building for me, so I always try to go with good quality decals to give myself the best chance, and since the Platz ones are from Cartograf they should be good!

- Eduard Brassin F-22 wheels since the kit wheels/tyres seem to be one of the weakest parts of it.

- Master Casters FOD covers, mostly because they're usually in bright colours so I thought this would add something unique to the build

 

Now, the first part of getting the decals to work is a good gloss coat, and after trying a lot of different ones (Vallejo, Mission Models, Future), I've started to use Tamiya X-22 based on a guide from another forum - I've followed that guide for the last 3 builds (including this) and the results have been impressive:

Shiny!

Only issue is the drying time which means dust settles on it a lot, which requires a little sanding/polishing to remove.

 

And with some decals on....

I used a mixture of the kit and Platz decals to make up all the markings. I didn't use the kit markings as I bought the Raptor Rollout version of the Hasegawa kit, but wanted to build an in service one instead.

Hasegawa decals used here - Actually really good, especially for kit decals - anyone know who they get to print their decals?

Platz for the tail markings - thinner than the Hasegawa ones so they look a lot more "painted on"

More Platz markings....

They're even legible when zoomed in!

 

So that's where I've got to now. I gave it another gloss coat to protect the decals and once that dries, I can start making a mess of that nice, clean paint job

 

Cheers

[SAT69]

Great gloss coat and very nice work on the decals. Glad they worked well  for you.

[Tojo72]

Looking good,I really enjoyed building this one.

[infofrog]

looking very nice . 

little update on my build 

Rick 

 

 

[theaa2000]

On 7/12/2020 at 12:45 AM, SAT69 said:

Great gloss coat and very nice work on the decals. Glad they worked well  for you.

Thanks mate - I'm glad I finally found a good varnish for gloss coats after so much trial and error - the only problem now is that X-22 only comes in small bottles!

23 hours ago, Tojo72 said:

Looking good,I really enjoyed building this one.

Thanks Tojo. I've enjoyed it so far as well - a pretty good introduction to Hasegawa.

[theaa2000]

Small update from today - the weathering has begun.

 

First step was a general light grey wash from Flory Models to highlight some of the panel lines and raised detail

Looks like a mess now, but since it's water based, and because of the gloss coat, it just wipes of the surface with a moist cloth whilst remaining in the recessed areas.

 

Some of the panel lines are deeper than others, so based on references, I picked some of them out using oil paints (Payne's grey). I also applied a flat coat - this protected the washes, removed the shine and lightened the colours bringing them back to what they were before the gloss.

 

Finally, I started to pick out some panels in a lighter shade as per these references:

 

As you can see, there's a lot of variation in colours, both between panels, and between individual aircraft - also I have some US flags which I'm going to fold into a triangle as in the photo above.

 

This last panel is a little odd - it's not defined in the kit, but it's clearly a different panel looking at photos. It also varies whether it's lighter or darker than the rest of the fuselage, but most photos seem to show it being lighter - I estimated it's size/shape based on photos and sprayed a lighter version of the base colour to highlight it.

And, lastly, the cockpit has survived the masking/painting process unscathed - success! Still a lot of panel work to do, but I'm getting nearer to applying the metallic Have Glass finish - got a couple of options for this, so some experimentation required.

 

Cheers

[theaa2000]

Small update today - I added the HUD to the cockpit. The F-22 HUD is pretty unique and will be very visible especially with the canopy open which makes it a little odd that Hasegawa haven't included anything to represent the HUD projector. It was a little difficult to find photos showing this area of a production F-22, but I did find these photos of the whole module...Looks close enough I guess.

The projector looks like it would be pretty easy to scratchbuild.

Here's mine - a few pieces of plastic sheet and a drill result in a decent representation. The projector "screen" is painted with some X-22 gloss and X-25 green varnish.

Another distinct feature is the green-ish tint from some angles when the projector is on:

Again, with some X-25, this was easy:

 

Next update, I promise will have an update on the Have Glass finish which I've been putting off for a while now!

Cheers

[Night Owl]

Thats looking good be careful on your weathering dont go overboard stick with what the photos are showing you. If you have a spare wing from another model paint it the same way and use it to trial your weathering and decals. Both can make or break a good build. If your paint is too flat and your decals are silvering try a coat of Vallejo satin clear over your weathering then apply decals. Every decal set acts differently so do trials it will save you from the " want to fly this thing into the wall" moment. 

[theaa2000]

On 7/17/2020 at 8:19 AM, Flaps out said:

Thats looking good be careful on your weathering dont go overboard stick with what the photos are showing you. If you have a spare wing from another model paint it the same way and use it to trial your weathering and decals. Both can make or break a good build. If your paint is too flat and your decals are silvering try a coat of Vallejo satin clear over your weathering then apply decals. Every decal set acts differently so do trials it will save you from the " want to fly this thing into the wall" moment. 

Cheers Flaps (sorry, not sure what to call you  )

I'm not planning to go mad with the weathering since the crazy panel variety on some Raptors is going to be really tough to reproduce in scale. Also there doesn't seem to be any chipping or rust so no need for any of that. I will however use some AK pencils to apply some very light colour variation/fading on some panels, but that'll be done after the Have Glass finish (no I haven't done that yet, but almost....).

 

I have however made a start on another distinctive stealth feature - the tinted canopy. Mercifully since this isn't a blown canopy there isn't a seam line down the middle so I don't have to perform any cleanup, which is good because I can never seem to get all of the scratches polished out before the Future dip. The Raptor canopies have a lot part to part variation (what a surprise!) and can range from totally clear:

To a dark tint:

To almost completely orange:

 

Complicating matters further is the fact that the canopy coating also seems to have metallic flecks in it (gold, I believe) so somehow I have to replicate that! I found a couple of really helpful references on youtube about canopy tinting:

 

(Not sure if I am allowed to embed the videos directly, but all credit to Fox Thre3 & Grumpy Modeller for these!)

 

So, here's my attempt:

I used Tamiya Clear Orange X-26 and Titanium Gold X-31 thinned with their X-20A thinner sprayed at ~15psi from aboit ~8-10cm away on the the inside of a test canopy (F-16 1/48).

Well, the orange is there, but how about the metallic flakes...

Ok, so the pictures don't help, but they are visible in real life - you'll all just have to come around to see it . This canopy is still foggy, but a second Future dip should clear it up, so with the test over, I moved on to the actual canopy. I prepped and sprayed both the clear and tinted canopies so I have the option to use either when they're ready.

Here they are, drying in my dust proof lunchbox... more photos to come after I've restored the clarity - any opinions on which to use?

 

Last but not least, I've finally added the landing gear and covers to the Raptor - got to give Hasegawa credit here, the gear is attached by very solid mounts! The GWH F-15E could definitely learn from this....

 

Thanks for looking!

 

[Nikolay Polyakov]

Lovely work, Anirudh! 👍 The added details are excellent.

 

37 minutes ago, theaa2000 said:

Here they are, drying in my dust proof lunchbox... more photos to come after I've restored the clarity - any opinions on which to use?

It’s not that easy to imitate a tinted effect on a canopies. I had an excellent results with Tamiya Color Enamel Paints years ago, but not so good (even the bad) with an acrylics some time ago. As for me, I prefer the upper (already tinted) canopy pictured above.

[exdraken]

Great progress indeed!

[mirageiv]

Fantastic work Anirudh, beautiful finish to the paintwork! Replicating those canopies is very difficult. I prefer the darker tinted one from your options but any combo is right as it can look like any option depending on the light, nothing is wrong here imho and it is down to personal preference. Does the metallic gold reflect under direct light? I've experimented with Alclads (very fine pigment) mixed into clears with this and it works ok but sometimes you still see the tiny metal flakes even when using very small amounts, still not 'the answer'. Also I found in order to reduce the cloudiness of the tint you can thin and spray with Mr Color levelling thinner with a final wet layer (you don't even need to dip the canopy tbh for clarity), the problem is when using the acrylic clears you have to let it cure for a week or so to stop any cracking under the future/klear which got me in the past with only 1-2 days drying. Since then I switched to tinting with Mr.Color clear lacquers which give crystal clear canopy tints and cure within a day or so before dipping them, also you can polish out any little bits of dust or lint that managed to get on there easily. 

 

Anyways, really great work!

 

David 

[theaa2000]

11 hours ago, Nikolay Polyakov said:

Lovely work, Anirudh! 👍 The added details are excellent.

 

It’s not that easy to imitate a tinted effect on a canopies. I had an excellent results with Tamiya Color Enamel Paints years ago, but not so good (even the bad) with an acrylics some time ago. As for me, I prefer the upper (already tinted) canopy pictured above.

Thank you Nikolay - I really didn't think to look at the Tamiya enamel line since they seem to be so hard to find here in the UK (along with a lot of other Tamiya "chemical" products like their putty or polishing compounds), but since I had their acrylics I went with those. I think you're right, enamels are better for metallic finishes so they would've been a better choice for the metal flakes. I also prefer the pre-tinted version so I'm probably going to use that.

 

Cheers! 

8 hours ago, exdraken said:

Great progress indeed!

Thanks Exdraken!

1 hour ago, mirageiv said:

Fantastic work Anirudh, beautiful finish to the paintwork! Replicating those canopies is very difficult. I prefer the darker tinted one from your options but any combo is right as it can look like any option depending on the light, nothing is wrong here imho and it is down to personal preference. Does the metallic gold reflect under direct light? I've experimented with Alclads (very fine pigment) mixed into clears with this and it works ok but sometimes you still see the tiny metal flakes even when using very small amounts, still not 'the answer'. Also I found in order to reduce the cloudiness of the tint you can thin and spray with Mr Color levelling thinner with a final wet layer (you don't even need to dip the canopy tbh for clarity), the problem is when using the acrylic clears you have to let it cure for a week or so to stop any cracking under the future/klear which got me in the past with only 1-2 days drying. Since then I switched to tinting with Mr.Color clear lacquers which give crystal clear canopy tints and cure within a day or so before dipping them, also you can polish out any little bits of dust or lint that managed to get on there easily. 

 

Anyways, really great work!

 

David 

Thanks David! I'm very happy with the paint finish - all credit to the MRP lacquers, which I will definitely be using more often!

The metallic gold reflects a little under light, but you have to get the correct angle, and have a bright light source so it's there but subtle - not sure how accurate this is scale wise as I haven't been that close to an actual Raptor canopy, but I think the effect is acceptable - it is also less prominent on the darker canopy so I will probably go with that one. I think that the definitive option would be some sort of Mylar or other dichroic film attached (somehow) to the inside of the canopies - this would give the correct finish and produce that colour variation as the light changes, but I have no idea how you would glue this to a canopy or if it would conform to a complex shape, so for now this is just a what if  

 

So I guess we're stuck with messing around with clears for now - I was nervous about using a lacquer on the canopy in case there was any fogging or etching of the plastic by the lacquer thinner/paint medium - did you have any issues? or do you do this after prepping with Future?

 

Cheers

[theaa2000]

Afternoon folks! Hope you're all enjoying your weekend. Big update today as the Raptor is...done!

 

Before the photos of the complete build, here are some of the intake covers. I added these to add some colour to an otherwise grey scheme.

I painted them with Vallejo Model Air Scarlet Red but that was a little light, so I went over it with thinned Tamiya Clear Red which also provided the gloss finish for decals.

I scrounged some ACC decals from the Tamiya F-16 Aggressor kit (but one disintegrated so I replaced it with a white only outline decal from TwoBobs) - not sure if this is 100% accurate but it looks ok based on references.

And both completed and in place - A little sanding was necessary to get them to fit, but I think they look very nice, even though not much can actually be seen from most angles.

 

The final step was to take the canopy which had been drying for a few days now, mask, prime and paint it - sound simple, but I spilt glue on it whilst fixing the inner frame to it, so out came the sanding sticks, cloths and polish again to repair it. The second time I used thicker cyano instead of Tamiya extra thin which was a lot more successful. So here is the finished thing:

 

And some details shots:

Here you can see some of the panel fading and light weathering,

For the Have Glass coating I tried the MRP Have Glass varnish (on a test piece) but the metal flecks were too large, so instead I thinned MRP White Aluminium in Mr Color Levelling Thinner and used that instead - this produced a much more appropriate finish - It's difficult to photograph, but as you look over the surface there is an indication of the shiny treatment. I then used AK grease pencils (the Aluminium one) to pick out some panel edges similar to what I've seen in references - the results are subtle but I think appropriate.

A couple of detailed shots of the cockpit/canopy, also showing some of the aluminium panel lining.

 

RFI Topic:

 

Of course, now that I've taken these photos, I noticed I forgot the two pitots which I always leave to the end in case I snap them off, so these have now been added. Overall, for my first experience with Hasegawa I think they've done a damn good job - not quite Tamiya fit but some really smart engineering to make a very solid kit! - If all their stuff is like this, I'm definitely going to buy more.

Thanks to everyone who like & commented throughout this build!

Edited July 26, 2020 by theaa2000
RFI link added

[exdraken]

Fantastic result!

Love the decals on the intake plugs!

[theaa2000]

1 hour ago, exdraken said:

Fantastic result!

Love the decals on the intake plugs!

Thanks Exdraken - glad to have had you along for the build  

 

I'm very pleased with how this turned out - the intakes add a bit of much needed colour to it!

 

Cheers