Procopius

Still stenciling...

Certainly, no other aircraft able to be armed with atomic air-to-air rockets ever looked so cute.

Started work on the decals. I'm using the Airdoc FGR.2 in Germany stencils; a quick consult over at Britmodeller indicated that only the RESCUE/RETTUNG stencils differed from those on UK-based FG.1s, so I'm making use of them. I'm also using FG.1 decals from a more recent boxing of the Fujimi Phantom FG.1, and happily, these actually seem to work quite well so far. Knock wood.

Here she is now. I put the glosscoat on her tonight, and tomorrow I'm going to start decaling and working on the stores. I'm really proud of this one so far; it's strained my meager skills, and so I'm getting nervous about screwing up so close to the finish line.

Here we are as of tonight. I tried some preshading, and I'm actually fairly pleased with how it came out, especially considering I've never done it before.

On the off chance that someone has the 1/72 Combat Decals Libya sheet and doesn't want to build the Tornado GR4 option on it, I'd be interested in buying those makrings from you.

My wife has graciously or foolishly offered to go with me up to Oshkosh to see the EAA Museum there. While I'm up there (it's a three hour trip from the northern suburbs of Chicago), are there any decent hobby shops to go to, or restaurants you'd recommend?

I suppose I'm relieved it's not just me, but I just don't get it; I find them to be very finicky paints. Not sure if I'm not using enough thinner, or if they need a different primer, or what, but it's very frustrating.

Fresh on the heels of my weathering disaster with the F-4J(UK), I decided to try preshading on this. It's impossible to tell in a 5mp cell phone camera photo, but there IS a subtle effect in person, I swear. Unfortunately, I'm using Xtracrylics, and while I appreciate their convenience in being BSC 381c color-matched, which makes them essential for painting British stuff (which I build almost exclusively), they seem extremely prone to being lifted by Tamiya tape when masked, even with a primer coat. Perhaps I'm not letting them cure long enough. Anyway, I had to basically scrape down one wing

Okay, I'm calling this one done, "at a certain point in time". RAF 74 (Tiger) Squadron F-4J(UK) Phantom II ZE350/T, shortly before an ill-considered first-ever-attempt at an enamel wash. Those of you who slow down to see the results of car accidents may also derive some enjoyment from how she looks now: I have learned some important lessons. ETA: Also, I think those triangular strengthening plates(?) are not present on RAF Phantoms, so this was probably a just punishment from the accuracy fairy.

Cunningly, I prepared for just such an eventuality by having two more F-4Js, one even in a RAF 74 Squadron boxing. You have to get up pret-ty early in the morning to get one over me.

Ah, my hobby shop clerk lead me astray. I had a little bottle of enamel thinner, and he told me to get a bigger bottle of lacquer thinner. Well, important lesson learned, I guess. Had I tested this out before trying it on the Phantom, though, I wouldn't have wrecked an expensive model. My Phantom curse continues!

Well, long story short, I don't think enamel washes are for me. I tried it out today, and the results were a little discouraging. It looks a little better in the dim light of my underground workshop. The FLHS guy suggested I buy lacquer thinner, and in places it seemed to literally eat through the paint all the way down to plastic; I'm wondering if that was a function of not using enamel thinner instead. I've ordered a Flory wash for future endeavors; that seems like it might be more in my wheelhouse.

That looks amazing. I love the roadrunner noseart.

"When the Americans left Afghanistan, they buried thirty-six F-15Es in waterproof crates around Bagram."

Gave her another gloss coat tonight; I'm off tomorrow for my birthday (sort of), so I'll decal it then, and hopefully on Saturday I can grab some enamels for my weathering experimentation.

Say, thanks! I'll have to rustle up some enamels from my FLHS. EDIT: enamels, not acrylics. I have plenty of acrylics.

I just used Tamiya XF-16 and XF-56 for the bare metal areas. For clear coating, I generally mix a little bit of windex with some Future and spray away.

So, uh, quick question for you all. I need to weather my F-4J(UK), and I've never really weathered anything before, ever. (I'm a little inept.) What's a good way to do this? It may save some heartbreak if you assume I'm a congenital idiot.

Eep, I'm quite nervous about that, as I'm absolutely awful at weathering. Gotta psych myself up.

This one's going to be in the correct version of the grey/grey air defense scheme.

Gear on! Almost done! Alllllllmooooooooost there...

Applied a smidgen of filler to places wot needed fillin', as absolutely none of my ancestors would have said, they being too busy stealing dirt (in a desperate attempt to work their way up to horse thievery, I presume) before getting chucked over to Fair Columbia to sort of forlornly steal dust until they could turn to bootlegging. Also painted the wheels; at one point the airbrush sent a tiny nosewheel careening away across the workbench, causing me to make a noise that only dogs could hear. Happily, I was able to find it on the floor, though I'm now liberally coated in dust.

Britmodeller has a very useful thread on the topic.

Closed up the intakes, added the wings. Masking the canopy and gluing it on tomorrow.