plasticWerks_JL

In lieu of starting a new thread, I'd like to ask if anyone's ever used Vallejo Model Air over a base of Tamiya, and if it helped the the Vallejo adhere? I usually do this with MM Acryl, and it works, but the MM paint clogs the airbrush easily and is fussy to work with. My experience with Vallejo is limited to some metal colors (their aluminum and steel Model Air), and some recent experimenting with their black Surface Primer on a scrap piece of plastic. The primer sprayed well, but flakes off in spots with tape. Thanks, fellas

I saw it was green-lighted in the heavies thread, but I assume the F-117 would work for this one, as well?

You too? Seems to me it's a topic that doesn't have a "right" answer. As noted above, it seems like he really talks up the black basing and slams the preshading at every turn, and doesn't come across as objective at all. Maybe the preshading would've looked a bit better if he didn't blast every panel with half-inch wide, death-black paint, but that's just my humble opinion. Can't we at least agree that it's disingenuous to write off a technique because it's used improperly?

This should be the plot of the inevitable gritty reboot of West Side Story.

Out of curiosity, I added up items I've been collecting for a future project in 1:72 scale. With the base kit, aftermarket sets and decals, I've got $95 worth of items for this one project (...I need to go lie down! :unsure:). That doesn't include shipping charges from different retailers for all these items. It's also an attack a/c, and not a tanker/bomber/etc, so it will ultimately be smaller than the F-106 when complete. Point being, you could easily spend the same amount for any project, it just depends on what you want out of it, Meng just seems like they're taking everything in-house.

Such detailed work at this scale, it's really inspiring, Gianni. I'll have to use this thread as a resource when I finally get around to building my copy of this kit, if you wouldn't mind. I'm looking forward to the next update!

Voted yes, and I'll say a later start date works for me as well. I'll most likely have a crack at my 1:72 Italeri Jaguar GR.1, with the centerline recce pod and Model Alliance decals for 41 Sq., the red spine commemorative scheme.

Wow, Vedran your detail work is amazing. Looking forward to the next update

I'll keep a few empties around in case they're needed. Acrylics here too; I just soak them in a dilution of simple green cleaner, rinse, let them dry, and stash them away.

I'd REALLY be in for a "mad max, but for planes" GB! LOL

Not too much to update on, but I wanted to upload some photos, since my previous images are MIA. A better shot of the CATM-120s and my lens modifications to the LANTIRN (both Hasegawa weapons set items): I finished both a Quickboost ejection seat and the Aires seat that came with the cockpit set a while ago. I decided to save the Aires seat for another build, since it had extra detail added with Eduard PE. That one will be used for a Viper with the canopy open. The Quickboost seat should look okay with the canopy closed: The weathered gear wells, finished previously (such lack of detail

Finally update time: Here's where I am with the fuselage so far; all smoothed out and just about ready for paint: Here's the beginning stages of the burner petals; Tamiya NATO black base coat, Vallejo steel, then a light coat of MM jet exhaust. It still needs to be polished up and weathered, and the photo makes it look very gold. It's more subtle in person: Thanks for looking, and feel free to post any notes, critiques, comments. Hope to update again soon!

More updates: Fuselage is together and just about ready for paint: Burner petals: Tamiya NATO black base coat, Vallejo steel, then MM jet exhaust. It's not as gold in person, just poor lighting for my photos: Thanks for taking a look, I hope to update again soon!

Time for a proof-of-life update: Cockpit is done completely and ready to be sealed up: I'm especially happy with the seats. They were airbrushed with Tamiya NATO black and the seat cushions were dry-brushed with Testors olive drab enamel. This seems to give a really nice effect: Here she is with the canopy and main rotor mocked up: You can just see the cannon fairing door open to show the gun in the stowed position (not yet painted and finished), and there's a handful of detail parts to be finished and added before paint, but things are moving along. Due to the fit of the fuselage, t

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Thanks for the info, everyone, been looking around for an F-4C, so I may just have to pick up a few. Seems that all 1:72 A-10 kits have some kind of shape issues, and I've heard good and bad about both hase and italeri. Italeri may be the way to go since they seem comparable. Plus no rescribing, more aftermarket options, and they'll (probably) be less expensive. I'm excited for these releases now.

Looks like 1:72 F-4B/C/D in the Aces box? Anyone familiar with their quality (if these are rereleases)? A-10, as well. I was going to order the hasegawa kit, but if italeri is fairly accurate, I might hold out for that. The Desert Storm set looks interesting too. Thanks for the link.

I'm enjoying your progress on this one; in my opinion the Mirage is one of the sleekest-looking modern jets.

Wow, thanks for your replies Tank, they will certainly come in handy. One interesting thing from the last link, it looks like the nose sensor doesn't rotate. Unless there's a separation I can't see (only able to look on my phone right now), it looks like one solid item, possibly because it's just a prototype? Interesting either way.

Another quick update: In order to "fix" the screens in the cockpit, I wanted to try a technique I haven't used before. Sitting at my desk at work, it crossed my mind that I could create some small printouts of MFDs (found these from an image in a chopper flight sim). I adjusted the shape and colors of the images to try and get something suitable, printed them on a few different paper stocks (and at a few different measurements), and tried them out when I got home. At this scale, the prints aren't very detailed, but then again, at this scale it doesn't matter all that much . I attached the pa

Hey ARCers, I posted some questions about the RAH-66 Comanche in my build thread (for the Test Birds GB), but thought I'd post a dedicated thread here for questions I (or anyone) may have about this killer machine that never was. Question 1 is on the cannon bay: I found an image online showing the cannon stowed: What I'm wondering is how the bay opens to stow the barrel. I'd assume the port side of the fairing opens from the top, allowing the gun to swing into the fairing, but I couldn't find any definitive info. Would anyone have knowledge of this function, or better yet, photos of th

Thanks a lot, Tank, those threads should come in handy. Can't believe I missed them while while searching for resources. I have a slight tweak to the cockpit that I hope turns out well. If successful, I'll update the tread later tonight.

First pics of this build are up, as promised: First up is the cockpit, painted and dry-brushed; the seats are still in progress (before anyone says it, I know the screens are way too bright! ) Here's the fuselage; I started gluing in the cockpit, so it should be together soon: One bit of detailing I wanted to accomplish on this was to open the canopy doors for a better view inside. Luckily, this kit has deep grooves in the canopy that made them easy to cut out. This pic is before polishing and a dip in Future: Thats it for now, more updates soon. Thanks for looking

Unless I missed a thread somewhere, I haven't seen anything with rotors yet, so I also began an Italeri RAH-66. I started getting the cockpit together, and I'll post pics as soon as it's done. EDIT: If anyone knows where to find some reliable info for colors and details (cockpit, wheel wells, weapons bays, etc), please let me know. The instructions call for olive drab, but in photos it appears darker, closer to MM helo drab, possibly? Thanks in advance!

Thanks, Mike! So far I've only used the instrument panel decals in the cockpit. I trimmed the excess clear, set them, and used one coat of MicroSol to settle them down. I didn't have any problems, but I didn't expect any with those. I'll let you know how the Hasegawa markings work out! Working on finishing up intakes and fuselages for both my builds today, I'll post pics soon