Thunderbird 2 1/350 Adventures in Plastic [Finished!]

[Pete in Lincs]

Thanks for that. Pocket money wasn't a lot back then, maybe 6d a week (If I was good).

4/6 was Birthday money, and there were so many other things to buy!

Thinking about it though, we were probably up to Thunderbirds times, before I started modelling.

Even more choice by then!

[PeterB]

3 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Thanks for that. Pocket money wasn't a lot back then, maybe 6d a week (If I was good).

4/6 was Birthday money, and there were so many other things to buy!

Thinking about it though, we were probably up to Thunderbirds times, before I started modelling.

Even more choice by then!

Hi Pete,

 

I might actually have been up to 1/- a week by then as a teenager -still a lot of dosh! Better let Ravnos have his thread back I guess!

 

Pete

Edited March 20, 2022 by PeterB

[Ravnos]

1 hour ago, PeterB said:

Better let Ravnos have his thread back I guess!

Hey don't let me stop you, these forums are one of the few places left in my life where the average conversation doesn't make me feel old 🤣

[Ravnos]

Oh my, Page 2! sorry chaps, update incoming.

 

Took a break from the green for a little while and painted the legs and engine inserts with some metal color, dark aluminium and gold for the hydraulic legs.

 

a little weathering on the legs, trying to emulate a little hydraulic oil on the joints and dirt/rust on the feet, before and after below.

 

That's all the progress for now, swapped out the needle in my airbrush for a smaller one to get a bit more control for the shading when I get back to it. A little practice run on some cardboard to test the flow over the 0.2 needle.

 

 

I'll not horrify you with a picture of the 0.5 needle that's been in the airbrush for the last 8 months 🤣its in desperate need of a good clean so that'll be happening at some point.

 

 

 

[Ravnos]

Round two shading, it still went on a little heavy but I managed to tone it down with another light coat of the green afterwards.

 

after the light green to bring the shading down a bit.

 

It really doesn't come across in the pictures but I'm pretty pleased with the end result, looks much better in person.

 

 

Side note..... Has anyone else had this problem with Vallejo bottles? I thought it was over zealous mixing but this one's not been anywhere near the battery drill and its still spontaneously split

 

 

 

[Mike N]

I love that shading, it really adds interest to the overall green!

 

Mike

[David Womby]

I love the colour and shading.  Really looks the part.

 

David

[Ravnos]

On 4/2/2022 at 8:37 AM, Mike N said:

I love that shading, it really adds interest to the overall green!

 

Mike

 

On 4/3/2022 at 10:54 PM, David Womby said:

I love the colour and shading.  Really looks the part.

 

David

Thanks Guys

 

Next bit was a tricky bit of masking, really wasn't sure if this would work.

 

I wanted to use the same colour as the engine cowling's which meant rattle can accuracy.

 

I gave it a couple of hours but pulled the masking off before it was totally cured to try and avoid it peeling, looks like I got away with it.

 

I'll touch up the edges once its totally dry and paint the intakes at the back. hopefully final detailing and a clear coat in the next update.

 

 

[JeroenS]

On 01/04/2022 at 23:59, Ravnos said:

Side note..... Has anyone else had this problem with Vallejo bottles? I thought it was over zealous mixing but this one's not been anywhere near the battery drill and its still spontaneously split

 

 

 

As a matter of fact... 

 

 

Could have been caused by not wiping the tip well enough and having dried paint buildup... 

[Ravnos]

9 minutes ago, JeroenS said:

As a matter of fact... 

 

 

Could have been caused by not wiping the tip well enough and having dried paint buildup... 

 

Hmm, maybe, it seems to have happened spontaniously with a few of my bottles, I thought age may have something to do with it then the green one cracked in two places shortly after it arrived.

[JeroenS]

14 minutes ago, Ravnos said:

 

Hmm, maybe, it seems to have happened spontaniously with a few of my bottles, I thought age may have something to do with it then the green one cracked in two places shortly after it arrived.

Yeah, strange.... The yellow I have is still almost full, I haven't had it for long. Must be inferior plastic on the caps then.

[Ravnos]

Managed to get a bit more done over the last couple of weeks, nearing the finish line now.

 

A little hand painted detailing, trying not to go overboard with this.

 

Sprayed on a coat of Valejo gloss, this went on really nice but properly clogged my airbrush so the next evening was spent stripping and cleaning that 🤦‍♂️

 

 

It really is amazing how much difference adding decals to something makes, even something super simple like this.

 

The decals with the kit are really thick, which makes applying them a bit less fiddly but a little harder to get them to sit down in the details, the engines in particular are still a bit wrinkly but I've been putting a coat of microsol on them every time I go past and they are improving.... I may yet take them off and paint it instead but haven't decided yet.

 

 

Despite the thick decals I still managed to tear one of them, there's two breaks in the yellow stripe, I'll let you be the judge of whether I got away with lining it up again.

 

 

Looking at these close up I'm going to have to try and do something about dust settling in the paint for the next model, that and the dog's moulting at the moment so where ever he goes is tornado of fur.

 

That's it for now, after a little more time for the microsol to do its work I'm going to hit it with a matt clear coat then it'll be on the home stretch with some weathering.

 

 

[JeroenS]

Looks to me like you got away with the decal. I have a big plastic box with a lid under my spray booth, I put stuff in there right after spraying it. Works fine, keeps (most of) the dust off.

[Ravnos]

21 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Looks to me like you got away with the decal. I have a big plastic box with a lid under my spray booth, I put stuff in there right after spraying it. Works fine, keeps (most of) the dust off.

 

Thanks, and yeh I'm definately going to need to get something similar before the next paint job.

[Ravnos]

Final update time!

 

First up, engine installation.

 

Looking at those pictures now makes me realise I forgot to hit the engine section in the tail with a wash but its too late now 🤪 its much less obvious in person so I think I can live with it.

 

After that I sprayed the whole lot with a matt clear, unfortunately I managed to break the nozzle for my 0.5 needle in the process..... maybe its a good excuse to buy a better airbrush, (this is still a cheapo amazon special)

 

Masking pulled off the windows, unfortunately I've ended up with a touch of frosting on the clear bit,I thought I'd get away with a spot of CA when I was installing it, serves me right for being impatient.

 

I couldn't get the camera to focus close enough to show you but you can actually see some of the detail in the cockpit which is nice.

 

Aaaaand, I'm calling that done, legs on and everything in its place, I had originally intended to do some more weathering at this stage however in the past ive found it really difficult to sell weathering at small scales like this and I'm happy with how it looks so I'm going to leave it alone.

 

 

I took it outside in the nice weather and played around with the good camera, I'll post all the pictures in the gallery but here's a taster.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading, and thank you for all the nice comments along the way, it was a really fun kit to build and I'd highly recommend it to anyone, it would be really good for new/younger modellers as well as it would still look pretty good unpainted.

 

[Ravnos]

While I was writing the gallery post I remembered only 5 pictures are allowed 😄 so here's the full sequence.

 

 

 

Edited April 23, 2022 by Ravnos

[Mike N]

That looks great, the varied tones of green really pop in the sunshine. Nice work!

 

Mike

[Ravnos]

13 hours ago, Mike N said:

That looks great, the varied tones of green really pop in the sunshine. Nice work!

 

Mike

Thanks Mike

[CliffB]

It looks FAB 

(and I've just worked out that there isn't a massive crack in the first photo - phew!)

[Ravnos]

4 hours ago, CliffB said:

It looks FAB 

(and I've just worked out that there isn't a massive crack in the first photo - phew!)

🤣 I had a minor heart attack as well, didnt see the shadow until I got the pictures on the computer.

[Pete in Lincs]

Very nice indeed. I too like the shading.

[Colin W]

What an excellent build of a fun and unique subject.

I sometimes think we get too serious on here but this really brings back the fun of our youth.

 

I really enjoyed following this build and love the finished model.

[Ravnos]

6 minutes ago, Colin W said:

What an excellent build of a fun and unique subject.

I sometimes think we get too serious on here but this really brings back the fun of our youth.

 

I really enjoyed following this build and love the finished model.

 

Thanks Colin, you're too kind

 

I'd like to think I never take myself too seriously but I know what you mean, it is nice to do something like this now and then, and the kit its self was really nice to build, so I would absolutely be up for doing more of the range at some point.