"What me have unfinished models!!!!" - Completed

[trickyrich]

Hmmm I've seem to have found the naughty corner, and with the number of unfinished builds I have I'll probably be stuck here for life!!!

 

Well I've made my self promise to complete a few builds over the Xmas break.....mostly because I've run out of space to store Shelf Queens!

 

So to start with there a 4 beasts I need to complete....some have been around for ages, so the first lot, all 1/48th of course:

 

 

Revell Rafale M - horrible model, been trying to build it for 4 years, intake fit is really bad and is completely open inside!

Hasegawa F-22 - picked this up at a my club meet, someone had started it/butchered it, but it was complete, with Hasegawa PE set and free!

Hobby Boss F3H-2 Demon - Part of my VF-31 set of builds, not sure why I started it...more on her later.

Kitty Hawk F2H-2 Banshee - again part of my VF-31 build set, started it early this year, Kitty Hawk at their best......truly a horrible model to build...

 

Right first cab off the rank the Rafale. She had been sitting around awaiting painting for ages. All the issues with her are around the intakes, the fit is REALLY poor and they are completely open at the end. Took a lot of work to get them to sit correct and to sort out the poor joins. The other issue was that the flare cutout at the rear were missing. I think this model was based on the original release Rafale A model, the M version needs to have these flare cutouts, so quite a bit of work was required to sort them out.

 

I finally bit the bullet and painted her yesterday, came out quite nice, she has a gloss coat on now, ready for decals. Quite a bit of work was done on pre-shading as she is a solid grey allover.

 

 

It is the same colour just the camera being weird!

 

 

Other major bits are at this stage as well. I had to make up a new pivot for the canards as the silly Revell bit snapped really early in the piece.

 

 

The rest of the bits, she also had some Eduard Interior PE thrown in as well.

 

 

Using Syhart decals for the "Arctic Tiger Meet" scheme, I really do love using their decals.

 

 

The only sad part of the build is that I have lost the clear sprue and all the small bits attached to it. May have to steal these from the Rafale C I have in the stash for now.

 

Ok beast #2, the F-22

 

As mentioned she was a freebie, someone had started it and really messed it up! They had even bought the Hasegawa PE set for her.......they were binned because that PE set is made from Stainless Steel, horrible stuff to work with. I replaced this with Eduard Int/Ext PE sets. As a result of the initial butchering the weapons stores bays had to be closed up!

 

She's primed and ready for painting.....a fun task to look forward to, as no one can agree on the proper colours to be used on her. I'll go something close, plus I'll be using masks for the pattern.

 

 

 

The minor bits are ready for painting too.

 

 

Here is the masks..

 

 

Plus more bits...

 

 

That's enough for a start. The Rafale is already for decaling and panel washes, she should be the first one to be completed.

 

The F-22, it should be 1/2 a days work to complete the painting, there is some minor masking required for the leading edges, by with using lacquers ti'll be a quite process.

 

The other two builds will start as I finish these two.

[Snafu35]

Hello, Rich

 

On my own behalf, I would like to welcome you to this place for those who do not finish the models they have started.

Now that you have set foot here, you can not go back.
Especially because you have shown your work. 
I want to see the Banshee on its wheels!
I want to see the finished rafale!.
I want to...! 

 

In any case, your work is very clean.
Look me in the eye: keep going, I want you to!    

 

and good luck!

 

Regards,

Eric-Snafu35

[Mjwomack]

12 hours ago, trickyrich said:

Hmmm I've seem to have found the naughty corner, and with the number of unfinished builds I have I'll probably be stuck here for life!!!

 

I'd say that just like the naughty corner at school, it's a lot of fun and has it's own special camaraderie; we are The Breakfast Club. but now I'm just showing my age!

[JOCKNEY]

Where's all the others Rich ?

 

That long wide shelf that sags in the middle....... or is that just me 😉

 

Good luck mate

 

Cheers Pat 

[trickyrich]

1 hour ago, JOCKNEY said:

Where's all the other Rich ?

 

That long wide shelf that sags in the middle....... or is that just me 😉

 

Good luck mate

 

Cheers Pat 

 

....well lets put it this way, I have 2 rather ;one shelves holding those in a more advanced state, "Exposed Shelf Queens" plus quite a few boxes of "Started Playing with Box Queens"!!  

 

Will, have update a bit later, but the Rafale has 90% of its decals on and the F-22 is ready for painting. Would have been more advanced if not for a Lego Spaceship may wife gave me for Xmas. Spent the day building it.....gosh it was so much fun!

[trickyrich]

On 12/25/2022 at 12:54 AM, Snafu35 said:

I want to see the finished rafale!.

 

she will be the first one in the Gallery forsure!

 

On 12/25/2022 at 12:54 AM, Snafu35 said:

I want to see the Banshee on its wheels!

 

I want to see the Banshee in the bin!!! Gee it's a crap model!!!! The fit is just soooo poor, everything is a bit of a struggle.....but I do need to finish it!

 

Ok first up the reason for delays in updates........

 

 

.... my wife gave me them for Christmas........ they were so awesome and fun to build!!!  I have never built Lego before, but have built similar types.  The orange Guardians one took all day to build, love every minute of it.......now want the Razor Crest, though she's near a $1000 here....oh well....

 

....and back to the bench!

 

The decals are on the Rafale, and she does look quite nice!

 

 

 

 

The Syhart decals are so nice to use, recommend any of the decal sets, the decals just go on so nicely and are really trouble free.

 

 

 

The Raptor is painted....well sort of! Getting the colour mixes right is so hard are there are so many different opinions as to what are the correct colours. I went for a mix based on Hasegawa;s instructions and a couple of different forums, so they are a mix of a Grey and a metallic paint. 

 

 

 

One cool thing with using metallics in the mix is if you give the model a very light buff with a cotton cloth once the paint is dried it gets an awesome metallic sheen to it!

 

 

The lighter grey I am happy with, the darker grey I think is too, I will need to re-mix the leftovers (have heaps) and lighten it with a bit more steel & Lt grey.

 

 

I had intended to use bought masks for the pattern (and it was painted in reverse, dark to light) but they weren't cut correctly, so they went into the bin and I just used Blutack.

 

The only dramas with the paint was that it was so hot here yesterday ( 36C - 98F) that the paint dried too quickly, even with retarder added.......I actually think it made it worse!

 

So hopefully will re-paint her today.

 

Whilst still looking for the lost clear bits for the Rafale I cam across another couple of contenders for finishing off;

 

AMK F-14D - I really don't like this model when compared to the Tamiya one, it's over engineered for no reason and the fit isn't that great!

1/48th Collect-Aire X-15 - I started her way back in 2017, she  full resin model that required a lot of work and scratchbuilding. All the hard stuff is done, just needs the surface finishing and then she can be painted. Would love to see her done.

 

Not sure if I'll get these but would love to see them done.

[Col.]

Oh wow! Will I finally get to see you finish the Rafale?

[modelling minion]

The Rafale really is looking very good Rich, the decals look superb.

 

🇺🇦

[trickyrich]

41 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

The Rafale really is looking very good Rich, the decals look superb.

 

🇺🇦

 

If you ever get the chance do try some of those Syhart dace, they are super nice to used. Think it's the 3rd or 4th set I've used (not including the 2 sets I used on me 6Sqn Growler (the was all my fault!!).

[Snafu35]

Hello Rich,

 

11 hours ago, trickyrich said:

I offered the same ship to my son for Christmas!🌲
I haven't heard it all day.   
He's twenty-one, but still, we haven't seen him... 

I am amazed by the engineering and creation of LEGO today. 👍

 

Otherwise, playing LEGO has recharged your batteries, I'm glad to see that the Rafale is progressing well.

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Regards,

Eric-Snafu35

[trickyrich]

I'm soooo hooks now, just want to build some of those huge ones!! 

[Marlin]

24 minutes ago, trickyrich said:

I'm soooo hooks now, just want to build some of those huge ones!! 

Well how about a trip to Paris?
10.001 pieces only

Or if you think that's a bit too much, there's always Rome.  

Only 9.036 pieces. 

/Bosse - who still plays with Lego.....

[arfa1983]

I think I am beginning to understand why the mods draw the line at lego... it would clearly be mayhem 

[Grandboof]

17 hours ago, arfa1983 said:

I think I am beginning to understand why the mods draw the line at lego... it would clearly be mayhem 

Isn't the annual Bunfight enouh mayhem already?

[trickyrich]

Ok, the decaling/panel-lines are done on the Rafale and she is ready for her final clear coat. Not too much more to go till she's finished.

 

 

 

 

The Raptor....... well I re-did the dark grey and it does look much better in the flesh.......lots of masking required for that. Which seemed to be the theme for the day as next was leading edge grey .........and another colour that no one can seem to agree on 100%!

 

Again this colour seems to vary from photo to photo, from having a hint of tan/barley tint to it to having a sight bluish tint. Having nothing definitive I went for the later.....and another big masking job to!

 

 

It came out quite nicely, the photos unfortunately don't show off the metallic nature of the finish which is a bit sad. Due to this being a metallic finish it is easily damaged/marked, but if you give it a light polish with a soft cloth it gives an amazing look to it.

 

 

 

 

 

Since these photos I have done even more masking and done the exhausts area, plus re-done the wheel wells, as I didn't mask them off while painting the main colour.

 

I have given the elevators a clear coat of Alclad Klear Gloss, it does give a nice finish, just need to remember you can only use water based panel washes with this stuff! Will paint the main fuselage with it today.

 

Plus I really do need to stop looking in the shelf/box of Doom as I keep finding more stuff I really should finish......maybe the next KUTA GB could run for a year!!! 

[Adm Lord De Univers]

On 24/12/2022 at 05:59, trickyrich said:

came out quite nice

Ooh, so, so,  so close to the deadline, but I think we've found the understatement of the year, 2022.

 

David

[trickyrich]

I haven't forgotten about this one, the F-22 now has the decals on....and what a pain they were, they were starting to crack so recalling wasn't fun, but it's completed. Just need to do the panel wash and the clear can go on, think for this it'll be a semi-gloss clear. In photos of the real beast it does seem to have a non flat finish.

[trickyrich]

..and yes there has been progress on these builds....had a wee break today from the Ta-154, and yes there is a big update for that one.

 

Not an awful lot different on the F-22, did the panel wash....not that there are many panel lines on her. The decals were crap and I have lost a few since I put them on, they were just sold and cracked as soon as you looked at them. Probably should have bought replacements....if there were any!

 

 

Started fitting the U/c, next up will be the final clear coat and she that with a couple of minor bits to do, be done!

 

 

Same with the Rafale, just lots a wee bits to do.

 

Pretty much finished the cockpit area, had to do some additional painting I forgot to do before putting the decals on! Luckily no dramas there....painted the non-slip pads, plus had to re-paint the correct colour the area behind the seat.

 

 

Still couldn't find the missing clear sprue, so had to make up the bits missing, just need to do some minor re-shaping of the laser/camera (??) housing before painting (because of the size it'll be easier to re-shape while it is fitted). The Nav lights are a bit of a mish-mash, hopefully not too noticeable!

 

 

I have painted the missiles, just need to finish the painting and that are done as well, same with the exhaust cans (they are just sitting there for now.

 

 

Hopefully I push these 2 out the door by next weekend or Saturday.

 

The worse thing so far with this GB is I keep finding other dead bodies to resurrect/finish......found a couple of 1/48th full resin beasties I had sort of started, a Warrior Models AMX and a Planet Models Ju388J-3 which I started to convert. Both are fairly simple builds........so who knows, got until March to build other stuff before the A-7/F-8 STGB starts!

 

[trickyrich]

....and yes they are finally done!!!!  

 

With  the Rafale done that cleans up my GBs for 2020, all started now completed! The F-22 been sitting around probably the same amount of time.

 

So there wasn't much left to do on the Rafale just the final wee bits and that was it. I didn't like the model as I was building it, the intakes were are right pain to get right........but now seeing her done I quite like her.

 

The F-22 however I don't like, don't know why....probably because I wanted to open up the weapons bays. I could because whoever started the model (I got it at my club for free) sort of trashed them, they were beyond saving. The paint job wasn't too bad, but the Alclad Krystal Klear clears I used are just plain funky!!! They go on perfectly and give a great finish, but even after 2 weeks drying they still feel slightly tacky to touch! Not good for if you want to do more work after..........I've damaged a couple of areas for holding her, not good. Will go back to my Gunze and SMS lacquers, the Alcad stuff is actually enamel based!

 

To top off the F-22 experience the decals mostly tried to shatter when you applied them.......then later try to fall off! Anyway she's done and off the shelf. 

 

Anyway, here they are additional photos will be in the Gallery.....i my stick some in the RFI section for the Rafale...definitely not the F-22!

 

Ok after some waffling and 3 days since I started this post, here are the photos, Rafale first.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[trickyrich]

......and now the Raptor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jinxman]

Both great looking builds - nice one.

[Snafu35]

Hello Rich,

 

Nice achievements; very neat painting, overcoming worries...I admire!👍

 

It's the Demon and the Banshee's turn now, right? 

 

Regards,

Eric-Snafu35

[trickyrich]

4 hours ago, Snafu35 said:

It's the Demon and the Banshee's turn now, right? 

 

Right now I have more KUTA builds on the bench than any other....I would really like to get the Demon done as well (the Banshee is just plan scary!!).......just too many builds to complete and not enough time!

 

It's all @Enzo the Magnificent KUTA GB's fault!!!!  

[Grandboof]

They both look great . 

Martin H

[jean]

Hi Rich,

both builds are outstanding!

Congratulations!!!

Looking forward to the Banshee...

JR