toadwbg Posted December 17, 2011 Author Share Posted December 17, 2011 No big update tonight- glued on the wings, more sanding, filling, etc. Question: What ordinance should I hang under this puppy? The Fightertown Decal sheet does have a table of load-outs typical of these aircraft. I'm leaning towards Mk20s on the outside TERs, a single Mk83 on the inside pylon and than the gas tank on the bottom. I'm not really interested in putting 12 Mk 82s as that is a lot of pain and suffering to put together! Any other ideas are welcome. I should add that while raiding my spares box I found the original TERs I used on this kit back in 1989-1990 or so! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VA-115EFR Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 I was wondering that myself... Couple of LGB's, four tanks and a buddy store for a tanker version. Go for the big bombs, say 1000 pounders or even 2000. Cant remember if the intruder carried those. Shamefully I'm not up to snuff on my ordinance knowledge. Put some small blue practice bombs on it (Just kidding). Check Zone five for a page "Intruders Gone but not forgotten" you might get some ideas there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PlasticWeapons Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 http://s362974870.onlinehome.us/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=213857&st=0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted December 18, 2011 Author Share Posted December 18, 2011 Did some priming tonight with Tamiya fine out of a spray bomb: didn't turn out too bad, got a few things to go back and clean up. On a side note, My son completed a project today: He built that in 2 1/2 hours Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VA-115EFR Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 A-6's looking pretty good! The primer laid down nice and smooth! Legos are awesome! It's great when a Father and Son build things together! Always a good bonding time! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted December 19, 2011 Author Share Posted December 19, 2011 Filling and sanding spots. I've sorta found out that after the initial bodywork, each additional run-through of spots yeields about 50% success and than has limiting returns after the 3rd attempt. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted December 19, 2011 Author Share Posted December 19, 2011 (edited) I ordered a replacement canopy from Revell's website tonight. Since I only live about 3 hours away from them in Illinois we'll see how long it takes to get a part. Christmas might slow them down some. BTW- my son has his workbench next to mine and is now starting on a model plane Edited December 19, 2011 by toadwbg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted December 19, 2011 Author Share Posted December 19, 2011 . SB is also coming out with pre-cut camo masks for the VA-65 scheme. I just finished painting mine and they make life much easier! Darren, What I could really use is masks for he decals as matching the paint to decals will be a real challenge! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted December 21, 2011 Author Share Posted December 21, 2011 Decided to start doing some paint matching to the decals. I also needed to experiment a little with Lifecolor and Velejo as I don't typically use them. I have a good layer of Tamiya Fine Primer down, I figure a primed surface doesn't get much better than that. Surface is very clean from fingerprints or oils. First I try the Lifecolor FS30279 using Testors MM Acryl Universal Acrylic Thinner. BAD results. Paint was all pebbly on the surface. I wipe that all away with some Windex and try again with Tamiya Thinner. The mix in the airbrush cup coagulates into very fine- almost microscopic worms. I spray it anyway and it actually doesn't go down too bad except for fine coagulated worms on the surface- no good. I'm 0 for 2 so far. Next the Vellejo Air (#71026)FS30219 which I spray strait from the bottle as it is meant to be airbrush ready. It goes down pretty well if a hair thick: I let these dry and compare it to the Decals- NOT EVEN CLOSE. These colors are both lighter and warmer than the decals. Hmmm. I'm going to need to go to plan B and try to color match something out of my paint barn in Tamiya or Gunze Acrylic. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted December 21, 2011 Author Share Posted December 21, 2011 Here are a few tan-brown colors turned bottoms up to give you a good idea of what I have to work with: I spied with my Mark 1 eye Tamiya Flat Earth XF-52 and Gunze Aqueous (Mr Hobby) Color H310 to be the best bet for both the darker and lighter color respectively. I give these a shot and compare them to the decals and its pretty close! Not bad and good enough for me. So Are the instructions off? The decals off? Or the Lifecolor & Vellejo paints off? A combination of any 2 will mess you up. The answer is to match to what looks close so I'll go with the Tamiya Flat Earth XF-52 and Mr Hobby H310. The funny thing about Mr Hobby H310 (FS30219) is that is what is called out for the darker color on the Fightertown instructions but actually is a close match to the lighter color. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted December 21, 2011 Author Share Posted December 21, 2011 (edited) See last page for other pics related to tonight's test painting I tried to take some better pics of the color match to the decals but my phone won't take a good pic of them. From this picture or the last you can't really see them as a match, but they certainly are in person. Edited December 21, 2011 by toadwbg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted December 21, 2011 Author Share Posted December 21, 2011 Going back and looking at some actual pics like this one: http://kamuflazs-camouflage.blogspot.com/2011/08/usa-desert-i.html I feel the Color Spec of FS30279 (light tan/sand) and FS30219 (brown) are probably correct. The Lifecolor actually does seem like a good match to this lighter tan/sand color. The Vallejo FS30279 still seems off to me however- sorta orange-ish brown- too warm. The decals still seem dark however. I might do some more matches in the marrow! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wolfgun33 Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Wow. That's a lot of work trying to figure out what colors are the right ones. Good luck with that. You use acrylics exclusively right? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted December 21, 2011 Author Share Posted December 21, 2011 Wow. That's a lot of work trying to figure out what colors are the right ones. Good luck with that. You use acrylics exclusively right? Yeah pretty much gone acrylic. I occasionally use up an old bottle of Floquill or MM Enamel. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Darren Roberts Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 I've had an interesting situation with these markings. I have the AB sheet, which I used on my build. I realized that I also have the FT sheet. I compared to the two and discovered they are completely different. The camo patterns are very different between the two sheets, as well as the colors called for and the color of the decals. Looking at the picture you linked, it looks like the real thing is somewhere between the two. I'm doing masks for this scheme, so I'd like to know which one is correct. Maybe I just need to do a specific set for each decal sheet. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted December 22, 2011 Author Share Posted December 22, 2011 Did some more color experimentation tonight. I decided to slightly lighten the colors over last night and was happier with the result pictured is the following: The light tan is a mix of 1 part Tamiya XF57 Buff and 1 part Gunze Acrylic H319 FS30219 The brown is a mix of 2 parts Tamiya XF-52 and 1 part Gunze Acrylic H319 FS30219 I decided that I will be doing Aircraft 533 (circled in red below), which is is a spotted camo pattern (like a Rorschach test) as opposed to aircraft 503 which is more of a typical wavy camo pattern. These markings do NOT have the markings splitting colors between the cammo pattern colors, allowing more leeway getting by without an exact color match. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MasterJedi Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 This is an outstanding A-6 thread with alot of inspiration and good reference. Check it out I think you'll be surprized. Randy www.scalemodelworld.netshowthread.php?t=10501 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted December 23, 2011 Author Share Posted December 23, 2011 (edited) MasterJedi- I couldn't get that link to work :( Tonight I did a little paint work by adding a dash of the original FS36320 Dark Ghost Grey camo that shows just under the nose section before they field applied the experimental desert camo. I used Gunze Acrylic H307 for FS36320, which is a good match to my Mark 1 Eyeball. I also decided that Tamiya light grey primer was "close enough" to the Light Ghost Grey FS36375 for the main undersides. I have some Mr Hobby Color 308 (Lacquer)FS36375 but found the difference to the primer to be marginal at best- maybe a little less blue but I would challenge anyone to notice on the completed model. I used some paper masks for the camo demarcation. Hopefully tomorrow night I'll get the first of the Desert brown camo on. Edited December 23, 2011 by toadwbg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PlasticWeapons Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 That's probably the Zone Five link posted much earlier. :) You can't directly link it to ARC. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted December 23, 2011 Author Share Posted December 23, 2011 Laid down the lighter sand color this morning with the help of some blue-tak sausages: Airbrushing note: I sprayed a little higher pressure than usual due to the large surface, about 20psi. I mixed in a little Future to the paint soup and everything layed down beutifully! This large surface took a LOT of paint. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted December 24, 2011 Author Share Posted December 24, 2011 Revell came through today with my replacement canopy! That was a very quick 4-day turnaround. It helps I only live about 3.5 hours driving distance away. Cutting it off the sprue is a PITA the way the sprue attachment is designed. This time I decided to try to saw it off with my trusty UMM USA Razor saw by John Vojtech. This is a tool no workbench should be without. E-gads! I just realized I said 2 nice things about Illinois based businesses in one posting! I painted the canopies separate from the main airframe. Just a personal thing, canopies are so fragile I like to add them last to the completed model. That way they get handled less. Here's another shot of the model after painting the lighter sand color with a different background for better color contrast than my last post: I gotta say its really refreshing to see a Modern ( well the 90s) Navy aircraft in something other than just greys! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VA-115EFR Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 The paint job is looking great!!! Does the blue tack give you a feathered edge? Looks a helluva lot easier to mask curved lines than with tape! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VFA-103guy Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 Really nice work so far! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted December 24, 2011 Author Share Posted December 24, 2011 The paint job is looking great!!! Does the blue tack give you a feathered edge? Looks a helluva lot easier to mask curved lines than with tape! Blue Tac can give you a feathered edge if you sausage it into a big enough roll and spray at the right angle, which I didn't quite do perfectly. Yes, it is great for masking these areas. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jimz66 Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 Nice work Toad.... Hey for future reference LifeColor has there own thinner....I have a some Lifecolor paints I am going to try... SOON.... For my Tiger 1 Projet... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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