Hasegawa 1/72nd F-4B VF-151

[alhenderson]

2 minutes ago, brianthemodeller said:

I think it looks great but you are welcome to the stencils from my Airfix FGR2 if you want them?

Thanks for the offer, but I just realised there were a whole bunch of stencils detailed on the drawings for one of the other schemes.  Didn't pay much attention to that page, or indeed to the fact that there are clearly loads of stencils on the sheet 🤣  I usually mix the stencils and the bigger decals to avoid getting bored with the tiny things, don't have that option now.. 😞

 

Al.

[Hook]

On 9/20/2022 at 11:32 PM, alhenderson said:

that's a top notch, classic USN fighter scheme! 😎

I'd say!

[alhenderson]

Having located the stencils on the decal sheet (they were staring me in the face!) I can now report that decalling is finished 😁

 

 

 

Next up, a coat of satin and a spot of weathering.. 😬

 

Al

[alhenderson]

Progressing at a slightly glacial pace here..  Got a couple of coats of Mr Hobby satin on the Phantom on Saturday ready for some weathering.  I bought some oil paints a few weeks back in order to try out some different weathering techniques to my normal Flory Wash and AK weathering pencils.  Did some playing around with them on a Hurricane mule and decided to start on the back end of the Phantom as I figured any cock-ups would be easily recitifed.

 

 

Must say, I'm quite pleased with how that's come out.  I painted the main portion Gun Metal but it was still fairly shiney and clean before I went in with the oils.  Flushed with that success I then decided to go all in and do the undersides as well.  Always a nervous time, taking your pristine shiney paint scheme and setting about vandalising it 🙂 

 

An hour or so of dabbing around with a paintbrush and kitchen roll and I have:

 

 

I wasn't going to do the panel lines with the oils, thinking I would use the trusty Flory wash, but changed my mind as the oils allowed me to mix shades of grey rather than the really dark dirt which might have been a bit much on the white.  I haven't gone all out and made it filthy but I think its subtle enough to show some usage and wear & tear.  There's always the danger of going too far!

 

All in all, I'm really liking the effects I can get with the oils - might be my new favourite thing 🙂

 

Al.

[alhenderson]

Flushed with the success of the underside, I moved onto the top sides last night.  Wasn't quite as satisfying - the panel lines didn't hold the wash very well.  Might be due to more paint and sanding meaning the lines are not as well defined.

 

 

I think its still looking decent, there's a level of grubbiness on the wings that I'm happy with.  I also experimented with using some white oil paint to make some panels a bit lighter to get a kind of sun bleached effect.  That went reasonably well, I think its actually too subtle to show up on the picture.

 

Al.

[alhenderson]

Right then, a week or so of faffing around with little details like a final coat of satin (think it should technically be gloss, but I'm not that confident spraying gloss yet), navigation lights and the canopies, and I think we're done 👍

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not a fan of canopies up cos they're something else to break, bit they wouldn't fit over the seats so not much choice!

 

I've enjoyed this build, there were challenges (when aren't there?) but happy with the result. Was worried I wouldn't be able to do the scheme justice but the airbrush really helped.

 

Will get some proper pictures done soon and put an RFI up. Thanks all for the hints and encouragement 👍

 

Al