Painting the Tomcat

[Torbjörn Hanö]

My first jet since I was around 16. Wonderful kit, this Tamiya Tomcat. I like challenges, but sometimes I do like to build a kit that goes together without snags, and where you don't need a plastic to putty-ratio of 1:1. Others have built their cockpits and displayed them, and done a better job than I can. Therefor I focus in this build thread on the external painting. Feel free to suggest solutions or tricks. The following techniques aren't new, but I like the result so far.

I primed with Ultimate Primers glossy black (I love the way it performs! Never let's me down), then sprinkled it with salt when the primer had cured. That was followed by spraying a speckled/marbled pattern, quite randomly, with Tamiya XF-57, XF-59 both on the upper surfaces (that will end up light grey), and lower (which will be white) with some XF-49 on the upper and XF-55 on the lower surfaces. With the salt removed it looked like this.

I then sprayed it with Vallejo 71.001 on the lower surfaces and XF-19 on top. I tried Tamiya white first on the lower surfaces, but it didn't behave the way I wanted. Either it was too opaque to get the effect of the preshading I had done, or it became too "runny", resulting in spidering and pooling. Hence Vallejo, which performed brilliantly. This is the result, and it's almost exactly as I had hoped for. I managed to stop in time, and did it in two sessions, so I wouldn't overdo it. Patience is the trick!

 

Now I'm gonna seal it with some Aqua gloss from Alclad, then put on the decals (there are about a zillion of them!), followed by some washes. 

Stay tuned, and stay healthy. 

 

/Torbjörn

[Bertie McBoatface]

Thanks for that masterclass in pre-fading. Very interesting indeed..

[Gidge]

Loving the paint work. I appreciate you going into the detail of how you did it. Really helpful for less revisited modelers such as myself who are trying to improve. 

 

I get what you're saying about enjoying the challenge and problem solving side of the hobby. But at the same time I don't particularly enjoy fighting poor engineering or quality of manufacture issues. Kits that challenge you for the right reason are awesome.

[Torbjörn Hanö]

4 hours ago, Gidge said:

Loving the paint work. I appreciate you going into the detail of how you did it. Really helpful for less revisited modelers such as myself who are trying to improve. 

 

I get what you're saying about enjoying the challenge and problem solving side of the hobby. But at the same time I don't particularly enjoy fighting poor engineering or quality of manufacture issues. Kits that challenge you for the right reason are awesome.

I totally agree! The challenge for me is to improve my techniques and to get better all the time. But also to take on new subjects. And a really good kit challenges you to make the best out of it. You can't blame the kit if it doesn't turn out well.

Cheers!

[Torbjörn Hanö]

A bit further on the way. All the decals (except for the ordnance) are on, and a wash for the panel lines etc as well. Nowadays I use watercolour for washes, with a little hint of washing-up liquid to get rid of the surface tension. It really works well; doesn't smell, and you can take your time removing the excess paint. I use a broad, flat brush, slightly moistened with water, to wipe it off, sometimes using good quality paper towels as well. I keep the brush tilted at a very low angle, this helps the paint stay in the recesses.

It really makes the panel lines and rivets stand out, but not too much. That's a matter of personal taste, of course. For the grey and white I used Payne's gray, a personal favourite when it comes to water colours; great for clouds and shadows. But, I digress ...

Some other parts of the result of the wash. On the black areas I also used Payne's gray, but lightnened up with a touch of Chinese White.

On the gray areas you can see the result of the underlaying mottling from the priming. The finish turns out a little patchy and not so uniform, just the effect I am after. Next up is sealing it all with a thin layer of satin varnish as a preparation for some oil paint rendering.

 

See ya!

/Torbjörn

[Gidge]

On 02/08/2021 at 00:02, Torbjörn Hanö said:

 

 

 

How did you go about masking the anti glare panels?

[Torbjörn Hanö]

20 hours ago, Gidge said:

 

How did you go about masking the anti glare panels?

I cut out the decals and used them as templates. The rear I only used to mark where the "triangle's" rear end should be. 

Hope that helps.

/Torbjörn 

[Gidge]

Thanks mate. I've been eying these kits for a couple projects time

[Torbjörn Hanö]

3 hours ago, Gidge said:

Thanks mate. I've been eying these kits for a couple projects time

It's a great kit, fun to build.

[Torbjörn Hanö]

And then some oils ...

I like Ammos Oilbrushers, they are really easy to use. First a little oil paint, then some dliuting/blending with a moistened brush. I try to blend the paint along the edges of the different panels. I then use a broader brush, moistened as well, and do strokes in the direction of the  airflow.

Here's the result so far.

I think the surface still is a bit too uniform, so I used small dots of white oil paint, and then blended it in with a more than moist brush.

I will have to redo some panel lines, using the same watercolour as before, since the diluted oil paint gets in the recesses.

 

That's all for now!

 

Torbjörn