ESzczesniak

I should have added the warning about 2k clears as well. They are great glosses, and very durable. But they are toxic while spraying. Good ventilation and a respirator are a must. I have a spray booth vented outside, so I would spray in to the booth with a respirator, then leave and close the door letting the booth run a couple hours to clear the room.

Depends on the quality of the surface to begin with. The 2k clears will work well over a smooth, but flat finish. They will also adhere well to gloss finishes (just not waxed). If there are a lot of surface imperfections, then I’d sand it back until at least 4-600 grit.

Is this 1:1 scale? I think most professional approaches would be a 2k polyurethane clear coat. These are paints that dry more by chemical reaction than being open to air. You mix a hardener with them and then have 20-30 minutes to paint. A good number of model car guys use them on their scale models and they’re a fairly fool proof gorgeous shine. Of course a spray tent to keep dust off while drying would be nice. Autoparts shops often have the stuff by the gallon. I used a “hobby” brand for this F1 car, but it’s just the same stuff in smaller bottles. This is what it looks like just from a good spray. I’d did t polish or buff this one at all: There shouldn’t any any issue with this over carbon fiber as long as the epoxy resin is fully cured. That resin in some cases could be buffable, but if there’s any true structural load (may be negligible for a wing at street car speeds), I would t mess with that I case you burn through the epoxy later and get in to the actual CF.

"Washes" of a sort can be used over a flat coat, but usually will be called something more akin to a "filter". A "sludge" wash where there is thick pigment overlying the panel lines will not wash/wipe well off a flat surface. But a thinner even layer over the whole model can be used. This will still collect in panel lines in part and act a bit like a wash, but would usually be called a filter. They can be good for adding subtle variation to monotone schemes, adding depth to base color, or creating streaking/fading/weathering effects. These filters behave a bit differently on flat vs gloss surfaces, but work on both.

Fair point, I hadn't noticed that. I'll have to check the actual model. In typical Tamiya quality, the locating pins are pretty solid and clear, so I wonder if the rubber sidewalls on the tires have deformed a bit and just need to be reseated on the wheel.

Another one off the bench recently. I usually build aircraft, but got very involved in open wheel racing in college and have remained a fan of Formula 1 and supercars. This car at least still has wings! and is the first F1 model I've done. It is build out-of-the-box and finished using Tamiya paints for the colors and Gravity Paints 2k clear coat. The 2k clear coat involves a fair bit of safety prep with a respirator, spray booth venting outside, and closing the room off from the rest of the house. However, with that said, I'm very glad to have added this tool. It will be fantastic for other race cars and aircraft like the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds. It is an unbeatable clear. As always, any comments or critiques are welcome! Thank you for looking! Eric

Thank you all for the kind comments! And apologies for not posting for a while. Addressing the note about the Aires cockpit, unlike most of their stuff, it fit well. Only removing some sidewall raised details and light sanding. They even had some positive locating references keyed in to make sure it was in the appropriate for/aft position. I had read others experiencing the HUD mount being too tall to fit under the forward canopy. I erred towards shorter when assembly this, but had no problems personally. The wheel wells, as I mentioned, were another story. I am convinced you would have had to actually just cut out a portion of the forward fuselage walls and use the resin pieces as the outer walls. I quickly realized there was no way in hell this was happening and moved on to another plan.

I hadn't noticed that, but now that you mention it, I think you're right. The camera might be playing a little trick as well, but the canopy looks to be a bit off. I double checked the det cord repeatedly because it was a PITA, so I don't think it was that, but the Hasegawa canopy is a problem. It doesn't sit in the right place. There's not enough width between the two heat exchangers over the rear deck/intakes, which pushes the canopy too far forward/closed. To address this, I sanded some canopy frame, some heat exchanger, and left the canopy a mm or so forward from where it should be still. I think this "wedge" fit threw the canopy a bit askew and I didn't notice it.

Thank you all for the kind comments!

After about 6 months on the bench, this one has landed in the display case. Hasegawa's AV-8B has fought me many a time and I finally completed one. This is the AV-8B+, extensively detailed and finished as a VMA-311 bird. From what I can tell, the VMA-311 birds were fairly freshly painted spanning 2010-2013 and subsequently forward deployed in Afgahnistan. My aim was to portray a deployed bird heavily sortied, but in good condition. Having been defeated many times with the troubling fit, I decided to make this effort count and added everything I could. The cockpit is Aires. The stores are Eduard Brassin and the aiframe got Eduard photoetch. The decals are Aviation Design "Dark Harriers". The decals performed well, but have many color errors, and as best I can tell only have a single side for many stencils that should be on both. The aircraft was finished with black basing technique and then Model Master Acryl paints. The exhaust stains were airbrushed. Most other weathering is from oil filters and effects with a scattering of other tried and true techniques. So on to the pictures. Please share any comments or critiques, I'm always happy to hear thoughts and areas to improve. I had an event with the canopy and some putty. The canopy frame needed to be blended to the fuselage and the solvent/fumes leaked through the tape I had protecting the canopy, crazing the area. I patched as best I could with polishing and future, but it still wasn't perfect. So I stashed a folded map on the dash to make this area a little less apparent. I also found in many pictures that the front panels under the forward canopy appear to be frequently removed, presumeably for maintenance, so the rivets were picked out with a silver pencil. The AGM-65 and GBU-38 are both Eduard Brassin. I picked them up to find the weapons I needed, but pleasently found them to be so far superior to kit weapons I would have happily bought them either way. I depicted the jet loaded for a mission and one of the standout extras I kept seeing in pictures were the loaded countermeasures dispensors. I put in the silver and blue for flares and chaff, with a few empty canisters. The front gear bay is often open on parked birds for access to circuit breakers. I initially planned to use the Aires kit for this, but found it impossible to fit, so I scratchbuilt the bay.

After about 6 months on the bench, this one has landed in the display case. Hasegawa's AV-8B has fought me many a time and I finally completed one. This is the AV-8B+, extensively detailed and finished as a VMA-311 bird. From what I can tell, the VMA-311 birds were fairly freshly painted spanning 2010-2013 and subsequently forward deployed in Afgahnistan. My aim was to portray a deployed bird heavily sortied, but in good condition. Having been defeated many times with the troubling fit, I decided to make this effort count and added everything I could. The cockpit is Aires. The stores are Eduard Brassin and the aiframe got Eduard photoetch. The decals are Aviation Design "Dark Harriers". The decals performed well, but have many color errors, and as best I can tell only have a single side for many stencils that should be on both. The aircraft was finished with black basing technique and then Model Master Acryl paints. The exhaust stains were airbrushed. Most other weathering is from oil filters and effects with a scattering of other tried and true techniques. So on to the pictures. Please share any comments or critiques, I'm always happy to hear thoughts and areas to improve. I had an event with the canopy and some putty. The canopy frame needed to be blended to the fuselage and the solvent/fumes leaked through the tape I had protecting the canopy, crazing the area. I patched as best I could with polishing and future, but it still wasn't perfect. So I stashed a folded map on the dash to make this area a little less apparent. I also found in may pictures that the front panels under the forward canopy appear to be frequently removed, presumeably for maintenance, so the rivets were picked out with a silver pencil. The AGM-65 and GBU-38 are both Eduard Brassin. I picked them up to find the weapons I needed, but pleasently found them to be so far superior to kit weapons I would have happily bought them either way. I depicted the jet loaded for a mission and one of the standout extras I kept seeing in pictures were the loaded countermeasures dispensors. I put in the silver and blue for flares and chaff, with a few empty canisters. The front gear bay is often open on parked birds for access to circuit breakers. I initially planned to use the Aires kit for this, but found it impossible to fit, so I scratchbuilt the bay.

Yes, very! It even eats Tamiya’s own decals.

If you're doing race cars and have a good ventilation/respirator setup, 2k clears are the most forgiving and best I've ever used. They are near glass like when they dry, so they are great for things like F1 cars (what I've built when doing cars), but a bit much for things like a production car or CAG jet. The 2k part means you have to mix two parts (an activator and the clear coat). Most systems I've seen also have a third part thinner, but not always. A single part clear that we are used to that dries in air without additives would be referred to as 1k. They are automative grade paints and many of the ones you find will be made commercially and sold in gallon sizes by companies like DuPont and 3M, but Gravity Colors and Zero paints to make sizes and varieties dedicated to scale models. A few comments through: 1) I am only aware of one 2k clear that comes in a spray can and it is inefficient. It's $30 something and only good for 48 hours once you pop the seal (releases the activator). 2) They go on thick. Great for a top coat, but can make fit less than ideal if used before major assembly is complete. 3) They are toxic. They can be used perfectly safely with good ventilation and a respirator, but definitely not to be used in a closed basement. But if you're looking for the best clear available, this is it. I just finished SF70H a few weeks ago and haven't taken the formal pictures yet, but this is an idea of what you can get...

I'm almost done with my 1/48 AV-8B+. I have built the bird as a jet loaded for sortie forward deployed (live weapons, fairly "dirty", but well kept). I have noticed a few pictures such as the one below where the countermeasure dispensers are loaded. I boht like the visual appeal and it fits with the way I am portraying my bird. So... 1. Does anyone have more pictures of the dispensers on AV-8B's or similar (A-10, CAS birds, etc)? I think I've seen some where each box is mixed (blue/silver) or like this where each box is separate. I would love any pictures or info on the belly dispensers of the AV-8B in particular, as these are very hard to come by pictures of them loaded. 2. For curiosity, can any one tell me which is which, as in are the chaff blue or silver and vice-versa for the flares? Thank you! Looking forward to sharing final pictures in the near future! Here she is, as it stands. Just awaiting a map to fold in the cockpit dash (hide a blemish on the clear part) and if I choose to do anything with the dispensers... https://www.dropbox.com/s/h4oarvv0ex7ti5v/AV-8B.jpeg?dl=0

I guess you loved how Tamiya made the flaps and slats have so many options too? There is a very narrow window where the wings will be transitioning from full forward to full sweep. This will always be in flight (or the brief transition during startup on deck) Effectively, the only way the Tamiya Tomcat can be realistically displayed is in flight with 55-68 degrees of sweep or stowed on the deck. With less than 55 degrees sweep inflight, the maneuvering flaps are no longer locked out and will be in some transition. Anything unswept fully (deck or inflight) would maneuvering flaps, flaps, slats, and/or spoilers out. I suspect it would be impossible to make an in scale moveable flap mechanism, which would be needed to retract the flaps before sweeping the wings. So Tamiya wins the option for any sweep you want. AMK wins for options of landing and takeoff configurations available. And has AMK confirmed there will be no crew? Even if not, it’s easy enough to use aftermarket or crew from other kits.