bdt13 Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 (edited) This project has run way over the limits for the Arctic/Antarctic GB. The original build thread is here, I hope you don't mind me moving the thread to this forum. For some reason no-one seems to look at the closed group build forums...wonder why?!?! Just to catch you up, this is Hasegawa/Minicraft's venerable F-102A kit in 1/72. I'll be using Wolfpak Decal's "Alaskan Air Command" sheet to build a bird from the 317th FIS in 1969. These are definitely hi-viz markings, with fluorescent tail and wing tips, yellow wing fences, and full color markings all around. These guys weren't hiding from anyone. Joining our build in progress: Several things have not worked out as I had planned (mice and men...). The masking on the intake splitter plates was not tight enough, and the aluminum paint bled under it. I sanded these down and re-painted them: The paint is Testors acrylic aircraft gray. I then fabricated new tape masks to match photos of the actual aircraft. The Hasegawa decals bear some passing resemblance to these features, but weren't a good basis for the masks. Here is one on: The black is from the Sharpie used to lay out the pattern on the Tamiya tape. Just a note that the ink does NOT dry quickly on this surface! The nameplate was a disaster. When I went to sand off the black top coat to reveal the lettering, some of the aluminum underneath also came off before other areas of the black had even begun to wear. I re-sanded the entire thing so the lettering and border were at one level, or so I thought. I repeated the exercise in Tamiya titanium gold (which is very gold, not too titanium) and semi-gloss black. When I sanded that, the same thing happened. Oh bother. I sanded off all of the black from the raised areas and touched up the gold with a brush. Not quite as nice, but I don't know if I'm up for a third attempt. I haven't bothered to photograph this, maybe for next time. Anyway, back to the plane. I masked and painted the interior green bits (wheel and weapons bays, doors, etc.) which I didn't take photos of, because the plane looks like a mummy shilling for 3M and Tamiya tapes during the process. Here we see the Deuce fully unmasked for the first time: Generally I'm pleased. There are a few raised lines at the masked areas, but nothing too terrible. Here are some detailed shots. You can see that the seam between the fuselage and intake broke open just a bit. I'll see what I can do to fix this without making it worse. Weapons in progress. Masking again was not tight enough. Considering plans to fix this with brush paint or decal stripe. Paints used: Testors and Tamiya acrylics and Hawkeye Talon acrylic aluminum. I'm quickly warming to this new stuff. Future and decals soon. Looking forward to using Wolfpak for the first time. Edited August 9, 2012 by bdt13 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
viking73 Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 Looking good Ben! Did you do anything to the kit like adding detail to the cockpit or is it a straight OOB build? I think you are brave to build it with the weapons bay doors open. I plan on using the Aeroclub closed weapons bay insert for my build :) I really need to get started on one of my Has. F-102s someday soon... I picked up a neat Draw Decals ANG sheet for them at the last Dallas IPMS show. And when Caracal Models comes out with some 1/72 Deuce decals I'm really going to be in trouble! So many models, so little time. Please post more photos as your build progresses. -Derek Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bdt13 Posted August 12, 2012 Author Share Posted August 12, 2012 Derek- There is some upgrading of the cockpit, please see the original build thread in the group build (link is in the first post). My focus has been on making this a clean build and getting all the complex masking down. Seems like half of the paint colors in my drawer wound up on this one, although it really isn't that many. I do have an F-106 that I plan to build gear up with a closed weapons bay. I'll need an insert for that one. Right now the first coat of Future is curing, I'll put at least one more on before decaling. So there isn't too much to see at the moment, but progress is being made. Thanks for looking! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bdt13 Posted August 19, 2012 Author Share Posted August 19, 2012 Two-three good coats of Future (the second and third thinned) and off we are to decals: Nameplate is still a little sketchy. I'll need to clean this up a bit. No trouble so far with the Wolfpak decals. The are thin but strong and come off the paper readily. We'll see how well the settle down with Micro Sol. Decaling (sp?) is hands-down my favorite part of modeling. This is where all those great little stencils, etc. go on and the thing finally begins to look done! :D Quote Link to post Share on other sites
viking73 Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Looking good Ben! I too think decaling is my favorite part of the build. The model really comes alive then :) -Derek Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bdt13 Posted August 23, 2012 Author Share Posted August 23, 2012 Derek- Yes, "come alive" may be a good way to put it. Decals are on the other side of the bird now. Only have the barber pole red stripe on the pitot to do. The rev. 1.0 attempt to do this ended in failure. Microscale decal stripe just does NOT want to take this level of flexing. Trying to work out a plan in my head before I try again. Having better results with using white stripe decal to clean up the contact fuses on the missile wings. I have to manually wrap them over after applying liberal amounts of Micro-sol. About 5 minutes per decal, four wings per missile, six missiles - you do the math! The result is looking good, though. I won't try to mask and pain this detail again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aigore Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Looking good! Considered masking the pitot tube? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bdt13 Posted August 24, 2012 Author Share Posted August 24, 2012 Janne- No, actually I had not considered masking the pitot to paint the red. Not a bad idea at all, although I'm a bit masked out at the moment. I'll ponder this idea as I work on the F-51D. My deadline is coming up for that - next local club meeting is Sept. 7th and we're having a natural metal finish contest. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bdt13 Posted September 15, 2012 Author Share Posted September 15, 2012 Looks like the new Meng Models 1/72 kit of this subject will be out before too long, as enough of us built this old Hase kit to propitiate the proper modeling deities. This is a blessing to some, and a curse to those of us who rather would have had a newly-tooled kit to build. But I digress... I did decide to mask and paint the red stripes. A reference photo of a Deuce from this unit shows a myriad of evenly-spaced tiny stripes. This was more than I could handle, so I went with bigger parallel bands. A fellow modeler in the club pointed (thank you, Bill) out that these were parallel and not barber-poled, as the instructions stated. Not sure who is right, as I have no photos of this exact aircraft. Masking: The result after Tamiya flat red was sprayed: As you might expect, it looks better when viewed in real life and not through the camera's macro. Sanded re-sprayed the red-orange on the top of wingtips after I took the WIP model to a club meeting and another member pointed out some gunk in the finish. Its amazing how different the same model looks in different light. Anyhow, this looks better now. Thanks, Scott! When I sprayed this same paint over flat white, the finish was flat. Now, spraying over Future, the finish is gloss. I think some paints and finishes take on some of the characteristics of the coat below as they solvate them. As stated earlier, I am using white decal strip on the missiles to clean up the contact fuses. Here is the work in progress. So much of what makes for good modeling is not so much difficult, as tedious. I am much more pleased with these decals than the areas I masked and painted. Let me know if you all feel the same. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JMan Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Very nice looking Dagger! Cant wait to see her all finished! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bdt13 Posted September 16, 2012 Author Share Posted September 16, 2012 Go the last of the contact fuses on this afternoon. No pix, not much to see, they just look better than they did in the previous photos. Also put the dark gray sludge wash on the moving parts panels, and got the side arms attached to the weapons trapezes. Getting closer... Suggestions on the sheen for the final coat? I'm thinking 10% flat future mix to just take the edge off of the gloss. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bdt13 Posted October 9, 2012 Author Share Posted October 9, 2012 Almost done. The nose gear is wobbly, and I will likely repair with metal. The final semi-gloss goat went on patchy and I'll need to put on another coat. Here is the base by Max Models. Still needs some weathering. Painted with shades of gray and tan Model Master Acrylic. The weapons: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bdt13 Posted November 2, 2012 Author Share Posted November 2, 2012 Complete! Not my best work. This project fought me at many turns, and I feel it ended up a draw. Comments and constructive criticisms welcome. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bdt13 Posted November 2, 2012 Author Share Posted November 2, 2012 P.S. Thanks to The Loggie for getting me the rest of the Falcons I needed to arm this baby. Hasegawa sells you sets of four in their aftermarket set. How useless is that? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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