Jon Fitzgerald Posted September 22, 2011 Author Share Posted September 22, 2011 Thanks Anton! On with the build! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tonal Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 Hi Jon, as stated in my last post, following your work gets me high, no pun intended, it's great to see your progress to say the least! Being in school (college) second year has me very busy with little time for anything else, so keeping track of your build keeps me hopeful of my own work in progress. Your work is awesome. Tonal B) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jon Fitzgerald Posted September 27, 2011 Author Share Posted September 27, 2011 Thanks Tonal, thats very kind of you! I'm glad your enjoying the blog. Actually I'm still quite new to aircraft, I used to do mainly Tanks and Wheeled Vehicles before. Building and painting a tank is a hell of a lot easier than building and painting an aeroplane! Recently I've been doing a lot of tedious work on the fuselage, filling and sanding, sanding some more, filling a bit, sanding... oh and sanding. Not very exciting stuff and not much to show in ways of "build" progress. Heres a small update with some comparison pictures between different companies components. First up, the reason why I love Aires detail, but hate their casting... Sanding these wasn't fun! With the casting block Required thickness Everything needs surgery on this project! :) The tail needs a little work removing the kit part and replacing it with the Windmark component. Chopping up the flaps in preparation for extending the length so they fit the wings. Here's the Turbine replacement front landing gear and bay door compared to the Academy kit door, and the Windmark Metal front gear As you can see the Turbine landing gear is much thicker and longer than the metal gear, and fits much more nicely with the thick metal rear landing gear struts. Heres a comparison of four companies approaches to the same component. Thats all for the minute. When I'm happy with the fuselage I'll move onto building it all up, and next up I'll be painting the cockpit before sticking it in and sealing the plane up. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tomcatmodeller Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 Wow fantastic work. You are definately a braver man than I. I just cant make myself cut up a kit to make all the modifications on it. I'd probably mess the whole thing up. Mike Young Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Inquisitor Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 (edited) I don't have experience with this exhaust but on other 1/48 or 1/72 Aires Exhaust I've used you don't need to sand the casting block from the fan. Just paint & glue it to the back of the can and that's all. Also looking at the turbine resin nose landing gear, do you think it's gonna hold with all the nose, cockpit, front fuselage and canard resin pieces weighing on it? Just looking at it I feel it's gonna break specially around the pegs for the nose wheels. Edited September 28, 2011 by Inquisitor Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jon Fitzgerald Posted September 28, 2011 Author Share Posted September 28, 2011 (edited) I don't have experience with this exhaust but on other 1/48 or 1/72 Aires Exhaust I've used you don't need to sand the casting block from the fan. Just paint & glue it to the back of the can and that's all. Also looking at the turbine resin nose landing gear, do you think it's gonna hold with all the nose, cockpit, front fuselage and canard resin pieces weighing on it? Just looking at it I feel it's gonna break specially around the pegs for the nose wheels. Sadly with the Flanker exhaust the block needs to come off as the part has to go deep inside the can. I tried as one whole piece but it wouldn't fit :) As to the resin Landing gear, I think its reinforced with metal rod cast inside. I'll ask Turbine though and check. I admit too that I thought about the strength, having said that it is very solid resin. I'll find out and get back to you all :) With regards to the pegs fro the nose wheels I'm planning on perhaps drilling this out and using brass rod anyway for the reasons you mention ;) Edited September 28, 2011 by Jon Fitzgerald Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mareku Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Wow Jon! You are doing surgeon job! Great modeling Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jon Fitzgerald Posted September 28, 2011 Author Share Posted September 28, 2011 Mike, Mareku - thanks guys! I'll be starting the painting today. Working on the cockpit before sticking it inside the fuselage :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jon Fitzgerald Posted September 28, 2011 Author Share Posted September 28, 2011 In preparation of the cockpit tub I've been working on the Windmark nose. Wolfpack provide some small side panels to include in their part, but to be honest the detail isn't great and they are a bit off. Aires luckily also provide side panel details, and they look great! They also provide surface exterior detail for the "lip" around the cockpit. Heres the Aires instructions showing where you have to modify the Academy upper fuselage to accommodate these parts. Time to break out my trusty Hasegawa saw! And with a little work the Windmark nose is prepped and ready to accommodate the Aires side panels to maximum effect. Next up tub painting and installation. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mareku Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Definytely a surgeon. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jon Fitzgerald Posted September 28, 2011 Author Share Posted September 28, 2011 Today I used Akan paints for the first time. I had heard a lot on forums and English language websites about Akan products. Linden Hills blurb on them is very complimentary and positive. Famed the world over for their superb accuracy of colour and excellent catalogue for the Russian Aviation fan... bearing all this in mind I had high hopes for these products. Being a Tamiya fan (their paint in my opinion is just fantastic) but now working on Soviet and Russian Aviation, I found that Tamiya's colour range was severely lacking. Great for Tanks, not so great for aircraft :) So moving to another paint manufacturer was more out of necessity than choice. I also dislike enamels, so the only options really were Vallejo, and Akan (Gunze Sangyo Mr Colour is now no longer water based I hear. Having moved over to solvent based when they merged with GSI Creos). Like I said I had high hopes for Akan... but my confidence sunk somewhat when Nazar drew to my attention the issues with the Akan Naval Deck Aviation set that I had ordered. Doing a little research on Scalemodel.ru seemed to also imply that not just this set was with problems. But maybe numerous other Akan colours have issues. Perhaps Akan aren't as vigorously accurate as they are famed to be? Anyway, heres the results of my first attempt and experiments today. First of all I ordered from Linden Hill 1 six colour set (the controversial Deck Aviation pack) and 1 individual bottle "Grey DarkBlue (faded) Interior Su27;UB;30;33;34;35;37" These are the three Akan colours from the Deck Aviation set that raise the most questions. Sadly all three are for the Su-33 :( First impressions After looking at these closely and working with one I've found the following things: Pigment quality - a little coarse and not as fine as Tamiya or Vallejo. The pigment settles very quickly, and even when mixing in a jar prior to pouring into the airbrush this is evident very quickly. Ease of use - Akan is a difficult paint to use. It blocks the airbrush very quickly and you really need to keep cleaning the needle and mixing the paint in the airbrush paint reservoir. I have never had this problem with Tamiya before, and not to the same extent with Vallejo. My first use (after I mixed and diluted with water as per the instructions) blocked my airbrush in under 30 seconds! It also had a tendency to give a very erratic flow through the airbrush. Spraying well at some times, but spurting out large blobs other times. Mix ratio/ thinner - Akan don't seem to have a dedicated thinner for their paint. This raised my eyebrows a little as I am always dubious when a paint company doesn't have their own thinner. The packaging recommends thinning with water, 5-10%. I tried this first off and it didn't really work very well. Not only did the airbrush clog very quickly the paint foamed and bubbled very rapidly in the airbrush throughout. Next off I tried Tamiya's X-20A Thinner. That seemed to work with the paint much better, blockages were much less (although still a problem). I tried first off the ratio of paint mixing I use for Tamiya paint, this was too much as Akan paint seems to react with Tamiya thinner (or Iso Alcohol) very aggressively. So I changed the ratio to more paint and less thinner. Which seemed to work better. coverage - Here is one of Akan's strong points. It seems Akan has a very high surface tension, and contracts and shrinks around surface detail well. If you have an accident with Akan (erratic flow, or paint splatter) then the paint is very forgiving and with a little clear air through the brush you can dry it up, the high surface tension helping here, without any worries. I painted my resin Aires cockpit today and it covered well, I did however prime first with Gunze's Mr Resin Primer. Tomorrow I'm going to try Akan neat and see how it performs. So it's a mixed bag really. I can't quite yet make up my mind on them yet, I think the jurys out till I try some more experiments. :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jon Fitzgerald Posted September 28, 2011 Author Share Posted September 28, 2011 (edited) The colours... Here's the thing. Akan's Flanker Interior colour is quite dark and greenish. A lot of Flanker interiors I've seen have been lighter and more grey. When in the bottle it didnt seem to match to the photos in my Squadron walkaround very well. I figured I'd give it a shot though and see how the colour looks on the model. First off I primed with Mr Resin Then applied the Akan Colour in the bottle is a good match for the finished paint As I said I was a little unsure about the colour, but I managed to find a few photos that seem to match much more closely than some pictures Ive seen. Maybe this should be the actual colour, but flash and cameras distort it on walkarounds... I don't know. Maybe it isn't right after all. I'm not an expert, but it would be interesting to get peoples feedback. I'm still considering giving it a light coat with something lighter to lift it up a bit. These are the closest matches I've found of the "real" thing Flanker cockpit 1 Flanker cockpit 2 Flanker cockpit 3 Edited September 28, 2011 by Jon Fitzgerald Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fu Manchu Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Hi I didn't find the akans sprayed well with water either. i sprayed my mig neat and they seemed to behave better. but as you say, they dry very quickly on the needle Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aigore Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 I think it looks good..tho a few drops of white to lighten the color a lil´ bit wouldn´t hurt if you consider scale effect and such. Then again I think it´s down to how you´re going to weather the pit... I always make the pit very much lighter than it is in real life because I use dark, thin washes that dull down the bright colors. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nazar Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Hi Here's the original color of the cocpit, just the Su-33 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jon Fitzgerald Posted September 29, 2011 Author Share Posted September 29, 2011 Thanks guys! Fu - I'll try them neat today and see how that goes too. :) I'm going to try to mix it with some tamiya paint as I don't have white in Akan. It will be interesting to see how it reacts to others brands. Aigore - Definitely I think I'll mix a lighter shade and layer some high lights over the top. Theres going to be shading and washes like you say so that will bring the overall colour down even further! Nazar - Thank you for the picture :) I'll try to match this colour by lightening the Akan, it seems the colour isn't too far off. Just a little too dark. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nazar Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 (edited) Nazar - Thank you for the picture :) I'll try to match this colour by lightening the Akan, it seems the colour isn't too far off. Just a little too dark. Yes, you need to clarify about 15-20%. I do not recommend mixing with Tamiya, they have different bases. Edited September 29, 2011 by Nazar Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jon Fitzgerald Posted September 29, 2011 Author Share Posted September 29, 2011 (edited) So I did some more experiments with my Akan paints. I took paint from various companies: Citadel, Tamiya, Vallejo, Akan The good news is that Akan seems to mix well with other paints. Throughout the different Acrylic ranges I didn't have any problems, reactions or coagulation. I also found that it indeed seems to spray much better neat, without any thinning or dilution :blink: Here are the results. I tried pure white and varying lighter shades of blue or grey. The photos didn't come out great so the colour isn't very good I'm afraid, however these pictures should give an idea. And the same test colours in better light I decided in the end that Akan's light blue and Vallejo Blue were probably the best for lightening up the original Akan colour without changing the qualities of the colour too drastically. I then did a test spray on an old plastic wing, sprayed over a light primer coat of Tamiya Flat white (as the plastic is nearly identical in colour!) These were mixed at a ratio 3 parts Akan Grey Blue 2 parts light blue/Vallejo Blue I think for my actual application I will increase the amount of light blue, as the ratio I tried first came out very subtly. Looking at these though and comparing them by eye to Nazar's photo I think I will use the Akan light blue. Edited September 29, 2011 by Jon Fitzgerald Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jon Fitzgerald Posted September 29, 2011 Author Share Posted September 29, 2011 Yes, you need to clarify about 15-20%. I do not recommend mixing with Tamiya, they have different bases. Thanks Nazar, I'm thinking perhaps Akan and Vallejo are closer in qualities than Tamiya. As you say Tamiya Acrylic has a very different base to other water based acrylics. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Av8fan Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Great work..still. what else can a person say? Curious, I read the comments re the Gunze Aqueous, and I have been using Tamiya X-20A thinner. It works well. Looking forward to more updates. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jon Fitzgerald Posted October 1, 2011 Author Share Posted October 1, 2011 Thanks! Yes regarding the Gunze paint it seems to have changed since it became GSI Creos Mr Color. If it was old mix Gunze Aqueous then I would be water based and would thin well with Tamiya X-20A, however the new solvent based mix would need Gunze's Thinner or Lacquer Thinner I believe. After a few experiments I finally got a colour I liked, and whilst not 100% perfect (shade/hue is still off compared to Nazar's interior example) this mix seems to match well with other photos I have in walkarounds. Personally I'm not too strict over colour and colour matching. For me modelling is also an artistic and creative exercise (and while I don't subscribe to extremes like Colour Modulation) I can understand why people like these techniques. Here are the Cockpit tub and side panels once they have been lightened up with the Akan/Akan (Grey Dark Blue Flanker Interior - Light Blue Su-25 UTG) mix. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jon Fitzgerald Posted October 1, 2011 Author Share Posted October 1, 2011 After a lot of work I finally finished the cockpit, Ejector seat, and main instrument panel! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jon Fitzgerald Posted October 1, 2011 Author Share Posted October 1, 2011 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jon Fitzgerald Posted October 1, 2011 Author Share Posted October 1, 2011 And in the tub: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sharkey Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 That pit is unreal! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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