Jump to content

Fly-n-hi

Members
  • Content Count

    800
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Fly-n-hi

  1. I thing that plane on photos was rebuilded F-15D... Different dashboard etc...

    Do you have any evidence of this?

    A quick search showed me that in 1988-89 4th TFW at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base transitioned from the F-4E to the F-15E. There is no mention of them operating the F-15D and I've never heard of the USAF operating converted F-15Ds as F-15Es. The F-15E first flew in 1986 and the SJ received the first operational F-15Es in 1988-89.

    The F-15E has some internal structural upgrades that enhance it's A to G role. You couldn't just put new avionics into an F-15D and call it an -E.

  2. Have you thought of using wet news paper? What you can do is carefully cut out newspapers to the match the wheel wells, moisten them and paint over them. This will not have any effect on the silver paint. The newspaper will stay wet for a long time giving you plenty of time to work.

    To be clear I'm saying to use the wet newspaper in stead of masking tape. Do this to paint the wheel wells after you paint the aircraft silver.

  3. Thanks guys.

    Overall this kit went together very well. There were a few areas that needed some attention, though. I already talked about the asymmetry of the panel lines and details on the sides of the nose that needed to be removed.

    The wing also had some issues. The completed wing sits in a "saddle" in the fuselage. But the wing part is a bit shorter that the saddle opening...so you end up with a gap either at the front or the back. I think I built it so that the gap was at the fron since it is mostly flat (at least compared to the back part of it). Also, the wing sat a little lower on the port side so I added a styrene shim to the port side of the saddle to raise the wing enough to make the wing level.

    The canopy didn't quite line up with the windscreen, either, so if you want to pose it closed you need to do a little work on it. The weapons pylons need some care, too. Be careful to attach them so they hang vertically.

    The main landing gear is a little tricky, as well. It sort of free floats in its well and you need to be careful so that all the wheels touch the ground together. I think what I did was too loosely attach the main gear and after all the gears were attached I glued the main gear in. This is hard to explain.

    The glow-in-the-dark paint was just some paint I found at a hobby store. Its intended for clothes I believe. It looks good at night but it looses its charge pretty quickly. I didn't take any pics but I'll try to get one later when I can.

  4. Wardog, scapilot and xavi84, thank you!

    scapilot, I did go over the model with some fine sanding pads but I don't remember what the grit was. It was probably in the 4000 range. In my experience MM Acryl is a fragile paint so I had to use very light pressure...and I only sanded the areas that were grainy not the entire model. After that I did apply a think coat of Future for the sake of the decals

    BUT, On my last couple of builds I've started using Mr. Super Clear Gloss and I love it. I'll use this stuff from now on when I can. The major consideration, though, is that it is lacquer and very "hot" so it will melt some paints. But It works just fine over Mr. Color paints.

    I should mention that I rescribed all the panel lines on this kit with the intention of doing a panel line wash but I changed my mind after I painted her. I'm starting to move away from panel line washes because I believe they tent to look a little unrealistic and cartooney. All the weathering was done with various post shading and oil filters.

  5. Thanks again guys!

    Speedlimit, the brand of paint for the camo was Model Master Arcyl...which I swore I'd never use again. But I thinned them with lacquer thinner and the stuck to the model very well. The other parts (grey, white) were Mr. Color.

    KRI76, thanks. But I don't believe that its actually an "aggressor" bird. It's part of the Fleet Replenishment Squadron at Lemoore NAS in California. I think they train Superhornet pilots in this squadron. Apparently, the commander of the squadron decided he wanted some non grey Superhornets so they painted this brown one and there's an -E with blue camo.

  6. Hello again. Here's a 1/48 Monogram AV-8B Harrier that I finished back in January. I was just too lazy to post pics.

    The Mk. 82s are from an Academy F-15 kit, and the Rocket launchers and the TERs are from the Hasegawa weapons sets. I also scratched the anti collision light and the antennae. I had to sand off all of the detail on the nose of the model because the raised panel lines and the attachment points for the pitot tubes are not symmetrical. I also used Glow-in-the-dark paint for the formation lights.

    This particular paint scheme was only used for about 2 years early in the Harrier's life...if my research was correct.

    Hope you enjoy:

    IMGP3653.jpg

    IMGP3656.jpg

    IMGP3655.jpg

    IMGP3658.jpg

    IMGP3663.jpg

    IMGP3657.jpg

    IMGP3664.jpg

  7. Thanks for the nice comments! I hope you don't mind me bragging a little bit but it took the 1st place and Best OOB awards in its category at the local IPMS show yesterday.

    Warthoglvr, I used the sanding cloths that run from 3200 down to 12000. Then I used the Novus polishing kit (the #2 and #3 bottles) to polish it to a really high shine. I have done this on a few canopies since then and I can't tell the difference between the polished ones and the Futured ones. I like it because not having Future on the canopy is one less thing that can get messed up from masking, handling, etc.

  8. Hi guys. I recently finished this 1/48 Hasegawa F/A-18F in the "Expert 101" colors. The kit is completely OOB with scratch built seat belts and a scratch built HUD.

    The decals are the "Wicked West coast Hornets" by Fightertown decals.

    The paint colors are my own mixes to best recreate the colors on the plane. They don't quite match up with the decals but oh well. I think the decals may be a tad bit too red (but they were great decals). The real plane is very clean but I decided to weather her up a bit to give her a more used look.

    This was the first time that I polished and finished a canopy without dipping it in Future.

    Hope you enjoy it:

    (These aren't my best pics...sorry)

    file.jpg

    file-6.jpg

    file-3.jpg

    file-4.jpg

    file-7.jpg

  9. No, they are not. Block 25/32 ANG kit comes with lightweight landing gear parts, while Block 50 kit comes with heavyweight landing gear. Aggressor and Thunderbirds Block32/52 kits come with both types of MLG parts.

    Ah yes...I was thinking of the Agressor C/N boxing. I have that one as well and that was the kit I was actually thinking of...not the CA ANG kit.

  10. I'd say I didn't want to split hairs, but since it's in the process of being done anyway: be careful with your definitions, at some depths water would fit your definition of opaque. The phrase 'difference between translucent and transparent' makes absolutely no sense. Transparency is a type of translucency. That's like saying there's a difference between apples and fruit. It's an illogical statement.

    By definition, if light can pass through a substance, it's not opaque. An opaque object or substance is something that allows absolutely no light through.

    Since paint is a pigment suspended in a solvent, opacity will depend on the density of the pigment and the depth of the coat. The pigment may very well be opaque, but depending on the mil thickness and how much reducer is used, the coat may not be opaque at all. The obvious analogue is water: pure water is optically transparent, but we don't call a small amount of impure water opaque just because it's opaque at great depths.

    For qualifications' sake, I was a physics major and worked several years in a paint shop.

    You obviously didn't look up the definitions before you posted this. Let me do it for you. According to Dictionary.com (which I'm assuming is legit):

    Transparent: Having the property of trasmitting rays of light through its substance so that bodies situated beyond or behind can be distinctly seen.

    Translucent: Permitting light to pass through but diffusing it so that persons, objects, etc., on the opposite side are not clearly visible: Frosted window glass is translucent but not transparent.

    Clearly, according to the dictionary I was correct in the way I used the words. Maybe you guys use a different dictionary in the physics world.

    But...this isn't the point so don't take us off topic please. The point is that if you spray any Alclad II High Shine paints on your canopy that canopy will no longer be completely clear. This is the issue.

  11. Or just get the T-bird boxing as it is block 32/52 out of the box. Has both types of landing gear plus all the standard pylons, tanks, AIM 120's and 9's.

    This.

    The Thunderbirds can be a Block 52 OOB. And if I'm not mistaken the CA ANG kit...the Block 25/32 kit...can be built as a Block 52 just by filling in some panel lines. I have both kits and as far as I can tell they are exactly the same.

  12. Alclad is hardly opaque - they are actually some of the more translucent paints out there, and no: there is no fogging - unless you don't know what you are doing I suppose.

    This is totally incorrect. Alclad II is absolutely opaque...even the "translucent" high shine paints. I've experimented with this on an F-22 canopy to achieve the gold tint and yes it looked good from a distance...but up close the canopy was not completely clear.

    This makes sense - unless you don't know the difference between "translucent" and "transparent" I suppose. Heck, don't take my word for it. Look at a bottle of any of the high shine paints. Can you se through it? NOPE. That means its opaque.

    ChuckF, I wasn't aware that Alclad II had a "transparent" gold paint. If that is what you were asking about then I imagine that it would work. Try it and post some pics for us. BTW, I've got a few 1st place awards in the 1/48 Modern Jets category so I'd say I know what I'm doing (not braggging...just establishing my credibility).

×
×
  • Create New...