Wings unlevel Posted January 14, 2023 Author Share Posted January 14, 2023 Decided to paint and not use decals for not just the leading edges but also the intakes/forward fuselage. The red decals looked complicated and fiddly, and I’m not sure what kit they were sized for - probably Hasegawa’s? So I think that’s the better course of action. But for that to work I just need to match the red to the decal red for the bird head decal for the nose. I started by using Mr Color’s red lightened with a few drops of white. But the end result (above) was both a bit too crimson and dark at the same time. Plus I made a hash of it airbrushing it on. The local hobby shop came to the rescue - they recently began stocking Tamiya’s new lacquer range. And Tamiya’s bright red looks just about spot on. Above are the three reds (my lightened Mr Color on the left) and spare red decal from the decal sheet as a test strip of sorts. The airbrushed blob on the left is the Tamiya. Looks pretty close I think. So with all the masking off I’m pretty happy with the colours. (Have also started painting the hot end, here with the tail dry-fitted.) But with the masking off, I’ve got some touch ups to do, as the masking pulled up a few patches of paint (see the RHS leading edge). I didn’t prime so that’s taught me I guess. (I’m sure I read somewhere a recommendation not to use primer on the Fine Molds kit so as not to lose the … err… fine details, so there’s always a trade-off.) Two steps forward, one step back… But that means progress at least… 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 14, 2023 Share Posted January 14, 2023 Nice paintwork there Gerard 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted January 14, 2023 Share Posted January 14, 2023 (edited) Love the work on this but Tamiya’s Lacquer range is beautiful stuff isnt it. Covers great and smooth as ever. The gloss black is glass-like when dry and the Aluminum is great. Edited January 14, 2023 by Corsairfoxfouruncle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 This is looking rather smart, great paintwork. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrisj2003 Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 (edited) 22 hours ago, Wings unlevel said: (I’m sure I read somewhere a recommendation not to use primer on the Fine Molds kit so as not to lose the … err… fine details, so there’s always a trade-off.) Gerard, that would be the FM kit instructions page 3(?) (unless this boxing is different to the others). 😉 Looking great, and what with this LHS thing? My special scheme F-4EJ has been delayed by sourcing blue paint online over the Christmas period (and other life events). Chris Edited January 15, 2023 by Chrisj2003 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted January 17, 2023 Author Share Posted January 17, 2023 On 14/01/2023 at 22:07, Col. said: Nice paintwork there Gerard On 15/01/2023 at 11:30, bigbadbadge said: This is looking rather smart, great paintwork Thanks Col, Chris, a few imperfections to fix but it’s on a good path I think! On 15/01/2023 at 08:33, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Tamiya’s Lacquer range is beautiful stuff isnt it The red is lovely stuff Dennis, lustrous and bright, it would be perfect for car models in particular I reckon. On 15/01/2023 at 20:41, Chrisj2003 said: that would be the FM kit instructions page 3(?) (unless this boxing is different to the others). 😉 Yep no you’re right, it’s there in my instructions too, complete with a an illustration of a spray can with the label ‘primer’ on it with a line through it! I’ve painted with lacquers without primers in the past without issue - might just be this particular bottle of black paint (SMS) or my application of it. Was wondering if you were still making progress on your Phantom, Chris, hope you do as I’m keen to see how yours ends up. Thanks again for the positive comments all, more progress soon with luck, Gerard 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted January 22, 2023 Author Share Posted January 22, 2023 (edited) I've been playing whack-a-mole correcting and touching up the paintwork. I sanded back and repainted the red, so a much smoother finish, and touched up the black. There are still a few more minor touch ups to do, but I was keen to get a gloss coat on to protect the paint, especially the black, which has been susceptible to wear and masking removing little patches. So the gloss coat (SMS) went down quite well I think, the finish is looking pretty good. I also attached the hot end, exhausts and horizontal tails. The hot end and inboard sections of the tail were painted with Mr Color Super Metalics (mainly titanium), which are just superb. The I misted on a bit of Tamiya Lacquer smoke. I know more skilled modellers can spend days on the hot end and achieve some amazingly realistic results, but I'm happy with that. Finally - finally! - I can start on decaling now! Gerard Edited January 22, 2023 by Wings unlevel 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 Decal time! Your paintwork looks good Gerard 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted January 25, 2023 Author Share Posted January 25, 2023 Thanks Col! A day off today so finally got to the good bit! These are beautiful decals (printed by Cartograf), and with Micro Set and Micro Sol, they went down beautifully. Only drama has been the large bird head decals. On the Fine Molds kit at least they’re too deep, if you place them so the cut outs sit over the cooling inlets on the nose as they’re designed too, further up the fuselage they extend over the canopy frames, plus they also extend too far behind the intake splitters. But I only realised that when fitting the left hand side decal (and at the same time realised my matching of the decal red with paint was out just ever so - frustratingly- slightly! I trimmed back the right side decal before applying it, which helped. And in the end - thank you Micro Sol! - they both settled down pretty well, if not where they quite should be as on the real thing. Speaking of things ending up where they shouldn’t be, I managed to knock over a hitherto almost full bottle of Micro Set. Expensive lesson learned! It’s been the theme of this build most the way through - beautiful kit, lovely PE extras, beautiful paints that go down beautifully, stunning decals, but it’s not quite been the sum of its parts in how it’s come together, or I should say how I’ve brought it all together. I’ve knocked over glue and decaling solution, poorly applied paint, almost but not quite matched the red painted bits to the decal red, mangled PE, misfitted parts during assembly, and almost mucked up fitting the most important decals. Still and all though, I think it’ll end up looking alright. Not my finest effort skills wise, but it is making up for that in colour and character! Gerard 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 Hhis is certainly looking very impressive with those decals in place. Great work Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 That's a great model Gerard, despite all the trials along the way. But it's all part of the fun of modelling and you have worked your way through the issues and are well on the way to producing a very colourful looking aircraft. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted January 26, 2023 Author Share Posted January 26, 2023 11 hours ago, bigbadbadge said: certainly looking very impressive with those decals in place 1 hour ago, nimrod54 said: That's a great model Gerard, despite all the trials along the way. Thanks Chris and John, I really do appreciate the encouragement, and I appreciate I'm not the only one who is his own worst critic. Still... still... I must have kicked a black cat while walking under a ladder at some point during this build. I'm so close to finishing this now, after another solid day of effort (public holiday here today). I've finished the decals, finished and attached all the landing gear bits and bobs, and the weapon pylons and tanks and my single AAM-3 training missile round are ready for attachment. But after I had the model upside down resting on the little plastic air bags online shops use to pack out boxes when shipping models, I turned it over and discovered the little plastic bag somehow had a glue spot on it, which has damaged the '1' in the '1974' decal. It's fixable in time, I guess either by sourcing a replacement decal sheet (expensive and wasteful), or seeing if I can find a metallic gold paint that matches the gold lettering and creating a mask to paint a replacement figure '1'. I guess the lesson here though is not trying to push through to meet an arbitrary GB deadline. I had a terrible sleep last night so I clearly wasn't on my game today, and so a little muckup like this is no surprise. Think I've had GB deadline fever!i Anyway, I'm pretty sanguine about it. The rest of it does look pretty good all told, and there's always more models to be made! Cheers, Gerard 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 Sorry to hear about the decal, it may be worth trying to mix up some paint to the right shade and touch in with a brush. Looking at the colour the AK true metal paste set with brass I it is quite a good match, the set comes with Steel and aluminium too and I have used the brass on my Hawker Nimrod fire extinguisher and it looks quite similar in colour, obviously the phone I am using and photos could be giving me the wrong hue. They are very handy pastes to have too. Hood luck sorting out and steer clear of black cats and ladders in the mean time It does look lovely overall. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 (edited) 8 hours ago, Wings unlevel said: It's fixable in time, I guess either by sourcing a replacement decal sheet (expensive and wasteful) Good looking Phantom. Not necessarily, someone may have bought the kit and not used the decals ? Put a request in the wanted section and see what happens. Edited January 26, 2023 by Corsairfoxfouruncle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 27, 2023 Share Posted January 27, 2023 Other than the slight damage to that one decal this is looking great Gerard. Hopefully you can get a replacement but in the meantime please don't rush what is coming to be a beautiful model simply to make the deadline. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted January 27, 2023 Author Share Posted January 27, 2023 On 26/01/2023 at 23:21, bigbadbadge said: Looking at the colour the AK true metal paste set with brass I it is quite a good match On 27/01/2023 at 07:29, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: someone may have bought the kit and not used the decals ? Put a request in the wanted section and see what happens. Thanks Chris, Dennis, both really good suggestions, I think matching the paint is probably where I’ll end up. And I appreciate your comments about the build. 12 hours ago, Col. said: Other than the slight damage to that one decal this is looking great Gerard. Thanks so much Col. I’m away this weekend so I’ll definitely miss the deadline, but that’s ok. This won’t take too much to fix and I can take my time to get it right. I’ll post a few pics here when it’s done, but for now Col and Dennis, thanks for an amazing GB, and thanks all the comments and support. Can’t keep a good Phantom down! Gerard 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 28, 2023 Share Posted January 28, 2023 12 hours ago, Wings unlevel said: I’m away this weekend so I’ll definitely miss the deadline, but that’s ok. This won’t take too much to fix and I can take my time to get it right. I’ll post a few pics here when it’s done Please do Gerard as I'd really like to see this one when you finish it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted October 4, 2023 Author Share Posted October 4, 2023 Hello from the future! I did finish this, phinally! I posted some pics in a RFI thread: With the passing of time the faults are not so obvious and I think it turned out pretty well… 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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