F-104nut Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 First of all your building my second favorite plane besides the awesome F-104 . Second this build is looking kick fool !!! Dude i have never seen this kind of level going into this old kit. Please keep up your awesome mad model skills :) Cheers Brian Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jinxter13 Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Fantastic, inspirational and instructive...keep it up we're watching with peaked interest ;) . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Check Six Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Awesome build! The time frame on your build remembers me of the days when I used to play postal chess! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nimrod77 Posted December 31, 2014 Author Share Posted December 31, 2014 Thanks again guys. Check Six, that's a great Sig :) I used to work on that jet Quote Link to post Share on other sites
airea Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 I have recently finished the same kit with some improvements but they are not even close to what you have achieved. Very clean and neat work... Awesome build... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nimrod77 Posted January 2, 2015 Author Share Posted January 2, 2015 Thanks Aires. I had a look at your build and it came out really well! My concern at this stage will be how to paint the black colours without it looking monotone so any other reference on how others have achieved their finish I am very interested. Thanks for stopping by👍 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VA-115EFR Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 That is incredible detailing!!! She's looking REALLY nice!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sgt Shultz II Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 The camera bays had silver mylar covered blankets. The cameras were mounted on doors that were raised into the camera bay. The windows have a steel, probably titanium frame around them. We installed them after uploading the cameras. Just prior to start up we removed the red metal covers over the windows. The panel in the front of the nose gear well was removeable. That was where the TROC camera went. There was a blank square panel installed on the bottom of the nose if no camera was installed. Same with the other camera stations, blank panels were fitted into the window openings if no camera was installed. Hope this helps! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nimrod77 Posted January 6, 2015 Author Share Posted January 6, 2015 (edited) Thanks for the info Sgt Shultz! Much appreciated. I'm very nearly at the button up stage of the build and was contemplating adding somthing to prevent see through in the TEOC bays. I will do something with some foil to create something believable hopefully. Edited January 7, 2015 by nimrod77 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
airea Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 (edited) Thanks Aires. I had a look at your build and it came out really well! My concern at this stage will be how to paint the black colours without it looking monotone so any other reference on how others have achieved their finish I am very interested. Thanks for stopping by I guess the most fun part of blackbird build for me was the painting process and I must say that I was really happy with the end result, although rest of the model was so-so. In order to avoid a toy-like monotone black, I used tamiya nato black and revell aqua antracite color. I mixed them with white for different shades (tones) of black and gray. Lighter tones for panel line areas and darker colors for inside the panels. One thing I noticed on SR-71 is the glossy (or reflective?) areas on leading edges of wings, front sections of engine intakes, nose etc (probably due to extensive heat during high speed cruises). For such sections, I lightly and randonly sprayed Alclad jet exhaust, which produced a good result. I also used pastels of various colors (burned umber, burned sienna and antracite) for panel lines. I have lightly brushed pastel powder to panel lines and sealed them with a matt coat. Burned umber and burned sienna pastels, along with tamiya pastel set D, was used for the burned metal effect for the inner sections of exhaust cans... Hope this helps. I am sure you will achieve a much better result than what I have done... Edited January 6, 2015 by airea Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nimrod77 Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 Hi guys, So I've finished off the painting of, and installed the cockpit. Front.. front and rear together... The rear had a gap running the entire length of both sides once it was installed. I fixed this by applying some Crystal clear along the sides... Then once it was dry, painting the interior colour over it to show through as you would if you were painting a canopy. Done. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nimrod77 Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 (edited) Next up I painted the seats. The whole thing was painted black with Tamiya mat black in the Enamel version (love this stuff, it's fantastic paint!). The head rest was painted mat Red, the seat backrest was painted in RAF interior green on the front, and Humbrol green on the sides to give some variation. The seat cushion was painted Tamiya rubber black which is a fantastic colour. It has a hit of green in the mix which changes up the tones subtly. The harnesses were painted RAF Sky for the uppers and Olive drab for the lowers... Once dry, I glossed them with some Future and then weathered with some clear green to start on the seat backrest to give the folds more definition. This was followed up with some Winsor and Newton water colours (Lamp black). The seats were then clear coated with Future again, dry brushed, and the mat coated to seal it all in. The Ejection control handles were made with small loops of copper wire and a little plasticard. The loops were created twice as the Blackbirds seats have double loops on the Ejection control handles. Painted... Installed on the seats :)/> I've also boxed in the TEOC cameras to prevent any see through.. Edited January 7, 2015 by nimrod77 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nimrod77 Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 AAANNNNDDD started to button her up!!!! Finally!! Little by little... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nimrod77 Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 (edited) After a long nights sanding I couldn't resist a glamour shot of her 😁 👍 Edited January 7, 2015 by nimrod77 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
IrishGreek Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Beautiful... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SERNAK Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 What a beauty!!!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dsahling Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 To break up the finish I'd spray it all in whatever base color, then mottle it with a lightened base color, dark greys, browns, etc. If you notice the mottle or other colors seem a bit too much, you simply can spray mists of the base color to subdue and blend it until you get what you're looking for. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aurora Mark Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Nimrod, I've sat back and read this thread from the start... ...then went back and read it again. A very fun build, and a lot of fantastic scratch building you're doing there. This one is turning into a really fantastic Blackbird! Mark. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nimrod77 Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 Thanks for the comments guys. Feels good to get some real progress on this bad boy. Gets the motivation flowing again after building at a glacial pace for so long... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
swimmer25k Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Outstanding work on your Blackbird. I have a few questions for you. How were you able or obtain the cross-section for the wheel wells, and did your model have the pronounced twist in it? If so, how did you get it level? I went through the hassle of scribing the same model years ago and wasn't aware of the twist until after I glued it together. That has been the only reason why i haven't gone back to do another one. Keep up the great work. Chris Quote Link to post Share on other sites
swimmer25k Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 (edited) Double post, dammit. Edited January 8, 2015 by swimmer25k Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nimrod77 Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 Hi swimmer, There are a couple of places that u got my starring points from. The measurements for the noise wheel well were kindly sent to me by Archiebean here... http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=238882&st=0&p=2275826&fromsearch=1entry2275826 And the inspiration for the mains came from this build here. Justin kindly share his dimensions in his thread here... http://www.aeroscale.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=182331&ord=&page=6 HTH and thanks for commenting. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nimrod77 Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 Of and there isn't a noticeable twist that I can see. The wheel wells may have helped with that.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nimrod77 Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 Hi guys, quick update as building the Blackbird has become a grind again.... I attached the wings... sort of. If you can call these gaps attached! LOTS of CA and putty later.... After some serious sanding I ended up with this. The left hand nacelle didn't line up with the fuselage at all so I had to recreate some of the chine around the engine intake using CA and accelerator. I think it came out OK. Something that I forgot to do prior to installing the nacelles is to fix the massive gaps inside the intakes. I decided the best way to tackle these was to fill them with Milliput. This had the added bonus of strengthening the already very thin intake edge that was sanded to within an inch of it's life. you can kinda see the gap I mean here... (sorry I forgot to take a before pic). After Milliput.. and after some sanding.. Much better. Finally I had to see how much work was left to do to get this big bird straight, after some tricky and fiddly masking around the wheel wells, I gave the whole thing a good prime with some Mr Surfacer 1200. Which revealed some more problems such as and soft/missed panel lines, and a few putty flaws..... c'est la vie. More to follow when I have something more interesting to share :)/>/>/> Quote Link to post Share on other sites
taggor Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Hello nimrod77! All your work is paying off though. She is really starting to shape up quite nicely. I feel your pain with the putty and sanding, however, much of my current build is "self inflicted!" :D The kit is partly responsible. I am really enjoying your thread. I have had one of these kits in the stash for years and your work and determination are very inspiring. I think it really shows your love of the Blackbird. Model on sir! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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