Billabob Posted June 30, 2012 Author Share Posted June 30, 2012 After a lot of seam filling and sanding I was finally ready to install the wings. The engine nacelles needed a lot of work. Just about every seam was huge. All the way around the bottom of the wing where it mated with the top half were also major gaps. In this picture you can see on the far side lerx the white putty lines. On the near side the aren't visible,but the gaps went all the way around. I tried different methods of filling the gaps since this is a learning model. I used Milliput on the biggest gaps. I tried Squadron putty, CA and finally I tried what has become my favorite small seam filler...Mr. Dissolved Putty. It works great on small seams and sink marks. The wings needed a little sanding to fit right but I got them in. I'm getting close to the first coat of paint over all for gap checking. Some weathering done on the pit Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fellow Hobbyist Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 On your kit did the panel lines on the bottom of the LERX line up? I have an unfinished Revell Super Hornet that has that problem. Did you run into that same issue? I like your use of toothpick to make mini-sanding sticks. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Billabob Posted June 30, 2012 Author Share Posted June 30, 2012 On your kit did the panel lines on the bottom of the LERX line up? I have an unfinished Revell Super Hornet that has that problem. Did you run into that same issue? I like your use of toothpick to make mini-sanding sticks. Yes for the most part. there was one that didn't line up perfectly, but it disappeared for the most part so I'll be able to get it lined up when I re-scribe. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wolfgun33 Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 Looks very nice so far. I have two of these that I also got from Michael's. Can't wait to see more. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Billabob Posted July 2, 2012 Author Share Posted July 2, 2012 Got done with all the preliminary seam filing now it's time to see how I did. I first wiped everything down with a little thinner to degrease then I did some pre-shading. Then it was time to put down the first coat on the bottom side where all the seam filing was done. I got a little heavy and lost most of the pre-shading on the bottom. But of course the bottom of the plane doesn't get much direct sunlight. All the white lines are the places that needed a little more filling with Mr. Dissolved Putty. Prior to filling I ran some 4000 and 6000 grit sand paper over the paint. I also painted the center line drop tank and arresting gear assembly. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Billabob Posted July 14, 2012 Author Share Posted July 14, 2012 After two weeks I've made some progress on the SH. I got all the seams filled and all the light ghost gray paint done on the bottom then I masked things of for the dark ghost gray on the top: Near the aft end there is an area of the dark gray that form a loose circular pattern. I was trying to find the least sticky tack putty I could. I found some Aleen's white tack at Michael's and decided to try it since I read that white tack tends to be less tacky. IT was a big mistake. After painting when I tried to take it off...some stayed on and after getting it off I found I'm going to have to re the soft circles. Any suggestions ?? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Billabob Posted July 14, 2012 Author Share Posted July 14, 2012 The rest of the paint job isn't too bad though as this is my first 1:48 scale I'm finding problems with airbrushing that I didn't experience with my 1:70 SLUF... I was heavy handed again and lost most of the pre-shading. I also had a problem with over-spray that dried on the surface that required 2000 and 4000 grit sandpaper to remove. At first I was un-happy with the results bat after looking at it it looks good since I sanded in the direction of the airflow it looks normal to me. I also got the two vert stabs painted. Since on the original they mixed some black in with the blue ...I did too. After shooting it and letting it sit a week the blue didn't quite register as blue so I re-mixed and re-shot and am now happy with the result. So except for the demarcation line fix all the big parts are painted. Now to do the small stuff... steel parts, red around the wheel bay doors and other small brush painting. Thanks for looking! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Billabob Posted July 26, 2012 Author Share Posted July 26, 2012 Well in a week and a half I managed to cut odd the top bump on the right tail and create a semi clear light, I filed down the bump, drilled a small hole and then put a little silver paint inside. Then I used a little Micro Krystal Klearand let it dry with the drop on top. This created a pretty good lens but a little flat so after a day I put a little more on and let it dry with the glue at the bottom hoping it would round up some. It did and I like the result. I think it looks close to the 1:1 except for the cat hair Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Billabob Posted August 13, 2012 Author Share Posted August 13, 2012 Progress is slow what with work and other things going on. I have been slowly finishing up the tails with the Fightertown decals. I have had a problem with the leading edge and top of the tails... the decals didn't want to fold over and stick so I'm going to have to paint the yellow. The rest of the decals are going on real nice. You can't really see it in the photo but the bunny head has really settled into the rivet holes nicely. Today I worked up the nerve to fold up the PE HUD frame and make my own "glass" for it. I used some CA and glued the frame in place then painted the frame flat black and used some Mr. Color clear green in the center. I didn't get a picture of it though. After everything was dry I hand shaped some .015" clear pvc for the two pieces of glass in the HUD the glued the windscreen on. I still need to fill the seams around the windscreen a little and finish off the inside edge it. Until next time Go Giants! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JesniF-16 Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Nice work on the HUD glass Alan, maybe I could borrow this idear from ya... /Jesse Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Billabob Posted August 14, 2012 Author Share Posted August 14, 2012 Nice work on the HUD glass Alan, maybe I could borrow this idear from ya... /Jesse Thanks Jesse. I didn't like the kit HUD. It was one piece of ugly plastic. After looking at my reference photos I thought this shouldn't be to difficult, the Eduards PE frame made it go together well.I hope nobody gets a ruler and measures it. It was purely eyeballed but to me it looks real close to the real thing so I'm happy. The $1.99 for the plastic was worth it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor01 Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 VX-9. Nice choice of decals. I was attached to them for about 4 months back in '03. Good times. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Billabob Posted August 14, 2012 Author Share Posted August 14, 2012 VX-9. Nice choice of decals. I was attached to them for about 4 months back in '03. Good times. I was with VX-5 in '79 to '80. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Billabob Posted September 30, 2012 Author Share Posted September 30, 2012 Well the last month and a half has seen a lot of progress but not a lot of photos. I've been decaling in my free time... and there were a lot of SMALL decals. I tried to take some pics of them but there was so little contrast they didn't show up so I tossed them. Today I put the final sealing gloss coat on the under side in prep for dirt and grease :D. Right now it's sitting in seclusion while it dries. Photos to come soon. I did get some photos of the completed centerline drop tank. I used Flory (formally ProModellers) wash on it then a nice dull coat. This is my first attempt at weathering. It looks dirtier than any pictures of the real bird I've seen, but I know how dirty they can get. I like the outcome for my first try. I can't wait to get to the bird with it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Billabob Posted September 30, 2012 Author Share Posted September 30, 2012 She's dry already. Alclad Gloss dries in about an hour. I let it sit a little longer though. One drawback to it.... I was going to use some oil paint for some of the weathering but since it's lacquer based not acrylic like Future, the thinner used to wipe away the oil paint may take some of the gloss off and possibly gray paint. Not good. Next comes the weathering. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Netz Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 At this stage of the paint job is where I see allot of people go astray...Once you have pre-shaded your panel lines, do not apply the top coat on like your painting a house, I think allot of you start to apply layers till the pre-shade is at a contrast you like. What you should do at this point is get your top color/next color, load your A/B so it can spray a very fine controlled line and start filling in each panel individually, like a coloring book, work by filling in the field of the panel then work your way to the edge,once your at the edge go light as some over spray from this panel and the next can dilute the affect your working on, then go on to the next panel, do the whole model this way. Curt Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Netz Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 Another Filler I'd recommend for the LEX and wing flaps would be stretched sprue, it works great for those types of seams and will make for a stronger bond. Where the intake meets the wing, try the filler (I like Tamiya Regular grey) and fingernail polish remover trick, works great in those tight places. Curt Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Billabob Posted September 30, 2012 Author Share Posted September 30, 2012 At this stage of the paint job is where I see allot of people go astray...Once you have pre-shaded your panel lines, do not apply the top coat on like your painting a house, I think allot of you start to apply layers till the pre-shade is at a contrast you like. That's how I did it only heavy handed. After watching planes and cars being painted I used those techniques only scaled down. Of course when painting a 1:1 car or plane you aren't interested in panel lines. What you should do at this point is get your top color/next color, load your A/B so it can spray a very fine controlled line and start filling in each panel individually, like a coloring book, work by filling in the field of the panel then work your way to the edge,once your at the edge go light as some over spray from this panel and the next can dilute the affect your working on, then go on to the next panel, do the whole model this way. Curt This sounds tedious but I can see the advantage. I think part of my problem is poor lighting. I'm going to invest in some better/more lighting before painting my SLUF Thanks for the tips Curt. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Billabob Posted September 30, 2012 Author Share Posted September 30, 2012 Another Filler I'd recommend for the LEX and wing flaps would be stretched sprue, it works great for those types of seams and will make for a stronger bond. Where the intake meets the wing, try the filler (I like Tamiya Regular grey) and fingernail polish remover trick, works great in those tight places. Curt I'll give it a try the next time I have some bad seams. I tried a couple of different techniques on this build. And since this is a learning build I have learned quite a bit. Thanks Alan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JMan Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 Great job on your SuperBug! Cant wait to see this finished! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Billabob Posted October 15, 2012 Author Share Posted October 15, 2012 (edited) Well I finally finished the build of the super bug. I had more WIP pics but did something real stupid. I was taking pictures of my wifes students art work on one card and wip pics on another. I went down to take some shots the other day and reformatted the card thinking it was the card of old art pics. Nope!: . So I'm not able to show the amazing tricks I performed to get everything perfect . I took a bunch of finished photos today and will post them tomorrow in the completed section. In the mean time here's one of them. Thanks for looking. Edited October 21, 2012 by Billabob Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.