Gwen Phoenix Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 2 hours ago, Janissary said: so curious about the wire material, the T-connector, and how you keep all the straight sections that straight while creating super clean bends with a consistent offset from the plastic. W.o.w... (just that). Could it be that the T-connectors are from Anyz's? Wow (didn't I just say that?). Cheers, Gwen Quote Link to post Share on other sites
utley Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 (edited) I really wish I had these skills and patience to do this now...can easily see this model being sold for 10 grand because it can probably fly better than the real deal! Also would like to put this out there...photobucket leaves watermarks on your pictures. There are better image hosting sites like Imgur that one can use that is free. Edited October 28, 2022 by utley Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Incaroad Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 Looks like pretty good progress, and you are underestimating your skills with paint. Yes you are! Are you folding the wings or will they be animated so to speak? As has been said, looking mighty fine! It's remarkable in your photos, I can't wait to see this in person! Cheers Larry Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wardog Posted October 29, 2022 Author Share Posted October 29, 2022 20 hours ago, Janissary said: As an example of what is jaw droppingly beautiful is this pic. Tied to my post above, so curious about the wire material, the T-connector, and how you keep all the straight sections that straight while creating super clean bends with a consistent offset from the plastic. Hello Janissary, thanks for your interest in my work. The wire you see in the pics is basic wire that you can pull out of electric wiring or buy in spools from Ebay and other sources. There's no magic or wizardry when it comes to making the lines other than needing a lot of patience. To make just one suitable line may take many attempts as you sometimes you have to include multiple bends yet have the line start and end where you want it. One wrong bend and you have to start over. If you look closely, you can see some black marks on the lines; those are marker lines where I planned to make the bends. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wardog Posted October 29, 2022 Author Share Posted October 29, 2022 19 hours ago, Gwen Phoenix said: W.o.w... (just that). Could it be that the T-connectors are from Anyz's? Wow (didn't I just say that?). Cheers, Gwen Hello Gwen Phoenix, most of the connectors and other bits you see are either made from rod or hex shaped styrene that you can purchase either from Evergreen or Plastruct. I use very small diameter drills to try and drill somewhat concentric holes on rod that is sometimes as small as .010 thick. Again, multiple attempts to get one hole started that doesn't run off the edge of rod that is that small or is way off center. BTW, the bits I use are made of carbide so they're very brittle and break easy, especially when lateral forces are applied. And last but not least, strong reading glasses (+250) or so along with a lighted magnifying lens. At 56, my once eagle-eyes can no longer focus on things so small. Some of the brass pieces came from detail sets for HO/N scale trains which were on sale at a hobby shop many years ago. I scoured through many hundreds of packages looking for what I believed were suitable items I could use to detail airplanes. At the end of the day, these bits simply need to "look the part", not "be the part". Hope this helps. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wardog Posted October 29, 2022 Author Share Posted October 29, 2022 utley, thanks for the kind words. I don't know about 10K as no one would pay that but at this stage of the game It's actually worth more than that to me because of all the work I've done. As far as image hosting sites, I've been using imgur as recommended by RichB63 for the last few years and love it. Incaroad, I appreciate your comments. My painting skills do in fact need a lot of help, but I know enough to fix mistakes and pull off something half-fool decent; we'll see what happens. Take care, Larry. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mr.Happy Posted October 31, 2022 Share Posted October 31, 2022 Amazing work on the ol Monogram kit. Your updates blow me away in how much detail your able to achieve on that kit. Great job and we’ll be looking forward to your next updat. Take care, Mr. Happy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RichB63 Posted November 1, 2022 Share Posted November 1, 2022 Elmo, The model looks great with TPS camouflage applied…can’t wait to see more! Rich Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MRF Posted December 6, 2022 Share Posted December 6, 2022 (edited) I think it should be noted, that many of pictures of this beauty in this thread, are no longer visible... 😞 Edited December 6, 2022 by MRF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wardog Posted December 7, 2022 Author Share Posted December 7, 2022 16 hours ago, MRF said: I think it should be noted, that many of pictures of this beauty in this thread, are no longer visible... 😞 MRF, thanks for the info. Not sure what happened to the pics but it seems to only affect those between 2018-2020. Not much I can do about it, I suppose. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wardog Posted February 16, 2023 Author Share Posted February 16, 2023 (edited) Time for a tiny update. Been chopping away at this beast, and as expected, it continues to fight me all the way. Finally got paint and decals applied and she's looking pretty good except for a bunch of issues I have to address. Some of the issues are due to my inexperience but others are simply part of modelling and not much you can do about it but learn from them. I've mentioned a few times in this WIP that painting/weathering are my two most unrefined modeling talents......this A-6 certainly exposed all of those weaknesses. However, I've learned a lot along the way and that's really all that matters. A few of the things I've learned: 1. When using a really strong decal softener, do not allow it to puddle over the gloss coat (Future, in my case) as it'll dissolve it and create an undesired result. Also, after applying such softener, do as the bottle states.........DO NOT TOUCH DECAL AFTER APPLICATION, you will not like the results. 2. I applied some oil washes on top of Future, followed by another coat of Future to seal everything in. In my case, the Future overcoat had a weird reaction with the oils and I kind of lost the nice finish that took me a long time to achieve. Should have just sprayed Testors Dull Coat over the oils as I originally planned, and it all would have come out fine. Anyway, here is a recent pic of the beast; at least I'm getting closer to the finish line. Cheers, E. Edited February 16, 2023 by wardog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
utley Posted February 16, 2023 Share Posted February 16, 2023 Future comes right off with windex...also can be polished by using a windex saturated paper towel or microfiber towel. But damn if that thing doesnt still look amazing... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Youngtiger1 Posted February 16, 2023 Share Posted February 16, 2023 She is looking nice. Your mistake to my eye looks perfection. I was looking over the ejection seats again and I like to ask how or what colors did you use to do the cushion/padding? Are the belts painted gray? TIA Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BuNo02100 Posted February 16, 2023 Share Posted February 16, 2023 I want to have issues and mistakes like that some day. Please tell me this one will make the trek to San Marcos for Nats so I can admire it in person. BW Quote Link to post Share on other sites
A-10 LOADER Posted February 16, 2023 Share Posted February 16, 2023 Very nice Elmo !! You obviously know of your problem areas but, looking at this pic she sure does look good. Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RichB63 Posted February 16, 2023 Share Posted February 16, 2023 (edited) Incredible work Elmo…it’s really starting to look the part with paint and decals applied. All these years of dedication and hard work have paid off handsomely. The completed masterpiece shortly awaits us! Rich Edited February 16, 2023 by RichB63 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted February 16, 2023 Share Posted February 16, 2023 I wish my mistakes looked this good.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cruiz Posted February 16, 2023 Share Posted February 16, 2023 The finish looks fantastic, Elmo; it goes well with all the detailing you added; too bad you had those difficulties; I'm always paranoid about how different products will react between them, so now I keep a mule with the same paint/finish the model has at each stage and test there beforehand. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wardog Posted February 16, 2023 Author Share Posted February 16, 2023 RichB63, A-10 Loader, BuNo02100, Youngtiger1, utley, habu2 and cruiz, thank you all for your comments, and suggestions. When I started this build long ago, my vision was to take it to the next level by taking advantage of all you can do to an A-6. However, I think I was mostly thinking about it from a "detail" perspective and totally forgot that my modeling skills are severely lacking in certain areas. That said, this build served as a test-mule for many techniques that were new to me, such as: Blackbasing, scribing, weathering and a few others. This led to many mistakes along the way as I progressed along. But years later, here we are. The finish line is not necessarily close, but I can at least see a glimpse of it, so long as I'm successful in fixing all the imperfections. Thanks again for looking. -Elmo Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wardog Posted February 16, 2023 Author Share Posted February 16, 2023 (edited) 13 hours ago, Youngtiger1 said: She is looking nice. Your mistake to my eye looks perfection. I was looking over the ejection seats again and I like to ask how or what colors did you use to do the cushion/padding? Are the belts painted gray? TIA Mike Hello, Mike, I believe I used Tamiya XF-72 for the cushion/padding. If I remember correctly, I mixed a little white and maybe some green to XF-72 for tonal variation amongst the individual seats. After, I applied a brown wash into the recesses followed by dry-brushing the edges with a lightened mix of XF-72. The belts are in fact gray; again, I varied the tone a bit so that both seats did not look exactly alike. I think I used MRP Dark Ghost Gray for one seat and MRP Light Ghost Gray for the other. Seat belt tonal variation on real jets is all over the place so you almost can't go wrong with whatever gray you choose. Hope this helps. -Elmo Edited February 16, 2023 by wardog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Thadeus Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 Stunning model. Sick level of detail. Amazing paintjob. Wow! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kike Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Wow Elmo!! this has been mind blowing from the beginning and it doesn't seem to change!!!! great job!! but come on, one picture??.... lol! we want to see more!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
utley Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 I agree. This is like going to longhorn steakhouse, ordering the 28oz ribeye and just eating the bread. No A1. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wardog Posted February 21, 2023 Author Share Posted February 21, 2023 Thadeus, kike and utley, thanks for the comments. The pic I included was simply to show that there's been progress made, especially since the decals are finally applied. However, and as mentioned before, I did experience some quality issues which will take some time to address. I will be posting a lot more pics once I get the time to fix those issues........hopefully in the next couple of weeks. One of the most concerning areas is the windscreen. The masks I used did not yield the best results so that alone will take some time to fix. Additionally, while I was refining the paint edges, a piece of tape I was using as protection for the clear areas stuck to the windscreen center frame and when I removed the tape, it peeled off a nice section of paint which left a rather deep depression. That issue alone will take careful work to restore which of course equals, time. Here is a pic of the depression, front and center on the model, right where I want it....LOL. Again, thanks for looking. -Elmo Quote Link to post Share on other sites
A-10 LOADER Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Hey, I recognize that windscreen 😎. That sucks Elmo but, if anyone can fix it, you can. IMO masks are a waste of money, they don't fit. I prefer to use Parafilm and the occasional Tamiya tape when needed. Press on Elmo, you got this. Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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