Giorgio N Posted September 14 Posted September 14 Great work, I'm really impressed! The base kit sure is very good but your work is really making the best of it. A small comment if I may: the Regia Marina stopped existing in 1946 when the Italian people chose to abolish the monarchy and become a republic. From then the terms Regio and Regia, that mean Royal, were removed from all armed forces. The Italian navy became from then on the Marina Militare.
Pappy Posted September 14 Author Posted September 14 (edited) On 9/14/2024 at 5:47 PM, Giorgio N said: Great work, I'm really impressed! The base kit sure is very good but your work is really making the best of it. A small comment if I may: the Regia Marina stopped existing in 1946 when the Italian people chose to abolish the monarchy and become a republic. From then the terms Regio and Regia, that mean Royal, were removed from all armed forces. The Italian navy became from then on the Marina Militare. G'day Georgio, Thanks very much. I will correct my terminology as well, cheers, Pappy Edited October 2 by Pappy
Pappy Posted September 15 Author Posted September 15 (edited) 23 hours ago, Hook said: Really nice work so far! Cheers, Andre Thanks Andre 7 hours ago, Wings unlevel said: Gosh that nozzle is a work of art! Steady on Gerrard, it's only paint mate G'day people, Reached a milestone today, the fuselage has been closed up. I managed to shoehorn everything in and it fit pretty well for the most part but for some reason, (most likely me) the left side did not ant to close up at the port intake I t fit just fine before the intake ducts were added so I assume these were just a little misaligned but I don't know how? In any case, I ended up doing some judicious sanding here and there until I could get the two halves to meet with just some light finger pressure While that was drying I turned my attention to the clear bits. The EOTS window first, this was cleaned up and the inside painted black. A dry fit showed that the fit was perfect Next up the canopy frame. The F-35's canopy frame is all internal and Tamiya provide a nice one piece moulding. I cut off the locating stub at the front since mine will be shut but I could not resist adding some gubbins in the form of grab handles, SMDC lines and the TRS initiator A spot of cockpit painting rounded out the session cheers, Pappy Edited September 15 by Pappy 5
Wings unlevel Posted September 15 Posted September 15 1 hour ago, Pappy said: Steady on Gerrard, it's only paint mate As Darryl Kerrigan said, “Yeah but it's what you do with them!“ 🤣 1
Pappy Posted September 15 Author Posted September 15 (edited) 1 hour ago, Wings unlevel said: As Darryl Kerrigan said, “Yeah but it's what you do with them!“ 🤣 It's the vibe, it's Mabo. it's the vibe... Yeah I gotz mad skillz To be fair I did embellish the 'zorst a little 😄 Pappy Edited September 15 by Pappy 2
Pappy Posted September 16 Author Posted September 16 (edited) G'day people, Not much done today, domestic maintenance issues have prevented me from getting any bench time in 🤕 I did find some addition pics of the donk however Pappy Edited October 2 by Pappy 5
Pappy Posted September 29 Author Posted September 29 (edited) G'day people, The sun finally showed itself today following the blustery ccld snap we have been experiencing so it was a good time to fire up the airbrush and throw some paint at the next sub assemblies. The undercarriage doors have now been tarted up Tamiya include some tiny decals for some of these doors which is a nice touch. A quick dry-fit shows that these parts should play nice together when the time comes to add them The Lift Fan inlet door has also been completed. I still need to add the forward actuator struts but these are so delicate that I will leave them to the very end. One of the things that sold me on the MM variant was the gorgeous ensign that lives under the Lift Fan inlet door. I was worried about the decal conforming to the rib detail but I needn't have, A couple of coats of decal softener and it sucked right down into the detail - result! A cheeky dry-fit just because To finish up the hittiles have been added to their respective racks and launchers The half open weapons bay doors obscure most of the weapons bay interior and also the AIM-120s themselves are also partially obscured so the worst of both worlds really, just as well, it will hide all my crappy painting. The 9Xs will be visible though cheers, Pappy Edited October 2 by Pappy 6
Wings unlevel Posted September 29 Posted September 29 5 hours ago, Pappy said: the gorgeous ensign that lives under the Lift Fan inlet door It’s a classy touch, for sure. All looking super neat to me, Pappy. 👍
Pappy Posted October 2 Author Posted October 2 (edited) On 9/29/2024 at 11:14 PM, Wings unlevel said: It’s a classy touch, for sure. All looking super neat to me, Pappy. 👍 Thanks Gerrard, G'day people, I have finished dealing with the fuselage seams so I have added the bang seat, driver and dash to the office. The canopy frame was also added at this point rather than adding it to the canopy interior as directed by the destructions. My concern was that some of the delicate added details could snag when installing the canopy if it was attached already. This way I can set it in place without fear of it fouling. A dry fit with the canopy suggests that this approach will work The lift fan inlet guide vane assembly was also added. The wash is still wet in this pic, soz Next I have started to paint up the empennage. I am not using the Tamiya paint suggestions for the exterior ram tape / Z1 overcoat (they are trying to flog their own paints after all), fair enough but went with my own home brew mix instead of buying more paints just because Finally, a cheeky dry-fit of the tails These just drop into place with a gap free fit, impressive and it will allow me to completely paint and decal these and just add them at the end cheers, Pappy Edited October 2 by Pappy 5
Marlin Posted October 2 Posted October 2 Looks fantastic @Pappy I really like the Italian flag. Think I need to add one to my own collection. /Bosse
Pappy Posted October 2 Author Posted October 2 Just now, Marlin said: Looks fantastic @Pappy I really like the Italian flag. Think I need to add one to my own collection. /Bosse You have a flag collection? 2
Pappy Posted October 2 Author Posted October 2 It's okay if you do collect flags, no judgement 😀 Pappy 1
Pappy Posted October 7 Author Posted October 7 (edited) G'day people, I have has a good day at the bench. I have painted the empennage These have a slew of teeeny decals that need to be applied and I was just able to read them under magnification. They are so small that I could easily have added these in the incorrect orientation but Tamiya very helpfully show the correct orientation the various stencils but it was nevertheless a tedious process, especially as it is very easy for such small decals to silver, even when applied over a glossy base as in this case. For that reason I tend to apply these using the 'Future sandwich' method to avoid silvering. Also some of the lighter decals just disappeared against the backing paper which led to much swearing and gnashing of teeth trying to find the decal. I only managed to lose one (green star if anyone can spot where it is(n't)) and there are no spares provided so you are working without a net. The kit is finally starting to assert its identity now that some unit markings are going on. I really like the scheme, subtle but still interesting, the paw prints on the rudders are a nice touch. This will be a a foretaste of the remaining paint stages with a myriad of stencils and RAM decals yet to be added, Just one more task to go before I can start painting up the old girl and that is prepping the canopy, a task I have been putting off, cheers, Pappy Edited October 8 by Pappy 4
Wings unlevel Posted October 7 Posted October 7 2 hours ago, Pappy said: the paw prints on the rudders are a nice touch. They add a nice bit of character! 2 hours ago, Pappy said: Just one more task to go before I can start painting up the old girl She's on her way to being a good looking beastie, that's for sure. Good luck with the canopy, a task I'll approach with some trepidation!
Pappy Posted October 9 Author Posted October 9 (edited) G'day people, I took the plunge today and started on the canopy. The kit provides the data labels present at the front of the lid as well as the SMDC lines that cut open the canopy during emergency egress, it even includes the 'H-patches'. It felt really weird adding decals inside the canopy and the SMDC is made up of five pieces. The canopy has slightly raised detail to represent the SMDC. I used the line running down the centre as a datum and began by applying this decal first, followed by the front and rear decals and finishing with the left and right sides. The decals went on very well even though applying the long thin decals was akin to applying wet spaghetti, luckily none of these curled up on me. I let them dry for a couple of hours before brushing a single coat of Future over the top to seal everything in. The canopy of the F-35 like the rest of the airframe has been specially treated to minimise the aircraft RCS. The colour is hard to pin down and seems to vary greatly between a metallic purplish red to a lightly tinted smoke and this depends largely upon the prevailing light conditions and viewing angle of the observer. I opted to go for a dark(ish) smokey gold tint. I lightly 'misted' several coats of Mr Tinted Canopy Colour for F-35B (tic) at 15 min intervals, followed by a 'wet coat'. This was then set aside to dry for the remainder of the day. The canopy tinting looked slightly opaque and frosted at first but as it dried it regained its clarity. It looks a little dark against the white plastic in the pic above but when placed onto the kit it looks good. The pics were taken outside during a rainstorm so in reasonably dark conditions. Very happy with that. The next job will be the tedious task of masking all the openings and anything else that will not be painted grey. I think I have used up nearly a whole roll of tape! cheers, Pappy Edited October 9 by Pappy 5
Wings unlevel Posted October 11 Posted October 11 On 09/10/2024 at 18:20, Pappy said: Very happy with that. Very effective Pappy! Best of luck with all that masking. That does mean you’ve made excellent progress, however!
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