marvin20

WOW!!!!! Awesome job!

Very nice work! I love the weathering! Do you pre-shade or post shade your models? What did you use to put the white squares in the exhaust nozzles? Are they painted on or decals?

Kris, From the builds and reviews I read, the engine as well as the cockpit designed by Eduard for their kits fits flawlessly. If you look at the pieces given in the engine set, it gives you new cowling pieces, so you can build it either open or enclosed. Here's a link to the instruction sheet for the Mk VIII engine from Eduard: http://www.eduard.com/store/out/media/648200.pdf HTH, QT

The AKAN FS36170 Camouflage Grey paint (AKAN 72071) is an acrylic paint,not a lacquer or enamel paint.So, it isn't as durable as the enamels or lacquers are.

Instead of wasting your scrap plastic which can be rather expensive, why not pick up some plastic spoons and use those instead? They are cheap and can be purchased in bags of 50 or 100 at your local dollar store.

That is where I get mine from Seal Model as well. Here's a link to the start of the Mr. Hobby color line: http://www.sealmodel.com/products.php?category_id=84&pn_pr=12 HTH QT

I had terrible results with the Vallejo paints and using distilled water as a thinner. When I switched to their new formula thinner, I got much better results from them. You will definitely have to keep some Q-tips and water handy to clean the tip of your airbrush with Vallejo paints, the flow improver does help out a lot, but the size of the tip on your airbrush does also, if it's a very fine tip, it will clog more readily than a larger tip will. I use a Badger SOTAR and have noticed that it starts to clog/sputter after a couple of minutes of spraying with Vallejo paints. TomG and I get our

Have you tried going to YouTube to look at some of the videos that people have posted on how to apply Vallejo paints. I had troubles airbrushing them, but looked at a few videos and practiced applying it to plastic spoons and once I got a smooth finish on them, I then started to use them on my models. I mostly airbrush them on large areas, and brush paint using Model Color for small detail work, and haven't had any problems with the paint adhering since I learned that they have to be applied in thin coats and built up over time to get full coverage. HTH

Very nice work, Michael! I love the SEA camouflage scheme on the Phantom. And it is hard to imagine this being only the 5th model you've completed, it is a stunningly beautiful build. I too have struggled with using Vallejo paints, but have watched many videos on YouTube on their use and application. One thing that stood out for me at least, was that I can't apply them in the same manner that I do enamels or lacquers, they have to be put on in thin layers and built up over time to get a good finish with them. I've had trouble with them beading up on the surface, or not adhering to different s

Ken, It looks like the area underneath which houses the actuator and brake when retracted is the same as the fuselage color. So can one assume that there are a multitude of different colors underneath the air brakes on a Flanker? I can see where it can be very confusing, it may be easier to build it retracted!

Tom, Very nice work on the OA-4M Skyhawk! Awesome build!

Thanks to everyone for the responses. This will help out a lot! Thanks again!

I'm currently building the 1/72 Hasegawa Su-27 kit, and cannot find any definitive photos of the interior of the speed brake and the compartment underneath, to determine what color they should be painted. Any information on this will be greatly appreciated! TIA

I did get the refund from them immediately. They have excellent customer service, the delivery of my purchase from Greece to the USA arrived in 6 days. I would highly recommend them to anyone who is looking for fast, reliable service. It was just an unfortunate event that AKAN mislabeled their paints. Hobby Colours has some of the best pricing I've seen so far on AKAN paints, much cheaper than Linden Hill Imports here in the US. I certainly hope that this error was just an isolated incident and didn't affect the entire stock of the FS36170 paint. I see that Linden Hill has it listed, I hope so

I have been building models since I was a young child, not that I'm very good at it, but these books have helped me immensely in learning how to do things that I've seen done on other people's models, and it explains it in such a way, that it makes it easy for even the novice to do, and come out with some very good results. I highly recommend them.

The latest update on the FS36170 paint. I got a reply back from Hobby Colours, who sent the photos I sent them to AKAN, here is their reply: We received an answer from AKAN production! The color you received is 72021 - FS 30219 Tan and it was mixed during labeling. Please keep the 4 bottles and we will proceed the soonest with refund. Once again we are sorry for the inconvenience, soon we will restock all AKAN series and FS 36170 Camouflage Grey. Best Regards It seems that the improbable happened.

I have purchased AKAN paints from two sources, Linden Hill Imports and just recently Hobby Colours, and the paints I have received (except for FS36170) have been accurate. I am currently building a 1/72 Hasegawa Su-27 and am using the AKAN paint set for it, and I would agree that the paints are correct. I have been in contact with Hobby Colours for a few months (since August/September), as the FS36170 had been listed as "Out of Stock" for awhile, and this is what I was told during our conversations via email: That the factory had been closed down for some time, and they expected it to resume p

I just got my bottles of AKAN(#72071) 36170 Camouflage Gray and it looks nothing like the dark gray color that it is supposed to represent. I'm not sure if they produced a bad batch of paint, but see the photos below and judge for yourself. Here is the bottle of paint, along with the paint applied to a plastic spoon for comparison Another photo of it from a different angle I've seen that some have said that FS36170 should be a lighter shade of FS36081, here is a spoon painted in FS36081 And here are the two side by side, you can see that the FS36170 by AKAN certainly is not the gray

Some additional photos.

Made some good progress on this build. Here are some photos showing my progress.

I know the group build has ended, I've gotten pretty far along in the build, but didn't get it done by the completion date. Will continue to post pictures of the build here until it is finished.

I don't recall there being a problem with their F-15C kit, that the issue was with the first kit in the series, the F-15B/D kit that had the incorrect parts in the first run of the kits. Most of the advertisements I see for this (F-15B/D) kit nowadays says they have the corrected parts included. HTH

Some additional work on the Skyhawk. Fuselage and wings mated together, seams sanded.

Looking good Tom!

Here's what I'm building for this group build.