toadwbg Posted March 2, 2013 Author Share Posted March 2, 2013 We now bring you some interesting A-6 history from the Col. Because the A6 was and attack mission there was really no demand to clean it for speed. Fuel consumption was not really a consideration as it had amazing time on station. In fact when you shut down the aircraft after a mission all of the fuel drain from all the lines; very dicey with hot brakes and would put environmentalist in a tailspin today....imagine reporting a fuel spill with every flight. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VA-115EFR Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 Ha Ha, I remember the days of going under the engine doors to catch the fuel in a bucket during shutdown. During hot-fueling, the pilot would shut down the starboard engine while taxiing in. Watching the fuel pour out of the engine bay, I'm surprised there weren't any brake fires!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted March 10, 2013 Author Share Posted March 10, 2013 (edited) Major painting is done! I got the black anti-glare shield to do yet but that will happen after sealing with the final satin-coat to keep the black flat. he red intake lips are done! Doing this part was like putting lipstick on a pig LOL! I used red decals for the interior demarcation lines and masked the outside. This masking was very difficult due to the complex curve of that surface. I used the thinnest trim tape I had but even this wanted to lift and I didn't get as a sharp of an edge as I wanted. Red is such a difficult color, especially over white. I has to walk away and say "good enough". I followed all this by a good hard brush-coat of Future, this is needed for weathering and decaling. I started with a Pro-Modeler wash. Problem is my panel lines were too shallow on the wings due to all the priming I did (recall I modified the wing fold). So I had to deepen some lines with a scriber. The Pro-Modeler wash works great on the deeper lines but still doesn't "catch" well on the thinner shallower lines. So I went to a Oil wash with Orderless turpentine thinner. BOOMSHANKA just what this thing needed! he oil wash is much thinner and just wipes away differently, allowing more streaking but still allowing it to be "erased" with some additional thinner. I am going for a very dirty look on this aircraft and this will get me there. More pics to come. Edited March 10, 2013 by toadwbg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted March 10, 2013 Author Share Posted March 10, 2013 ahh, that's more like it. The photo might be washing the contrast out a little, in person it looks satisfactory dirty, greasy, and stained: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dsahling Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 I can't tell if you've got future on top of the paint yet. If you don't have future down yet, try adding small amounts of white to the base color (gull grey I presume?) and "mottle" and blend the color, do this randomly over the whole plane, then do the same with the white on the bottom, but add small amounts of perhaps light ghost grey fs 36375, then use a little brown and/or black as a LIGHT mist to simulate overall grime, fs 36081 is a great color for this. If you don't have reference photos of a particular aircraft, try and find some others that show which panel lines are typically lighter or darker, commonly replaced panels, paint touched up with different USN grey colors, etc. Looking good though!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted March 11, 2013 Author Share Posted March 11, 2013 (edited) I can't tell if you've got future on top of the paint yet. If you don't have future down yet, try adding small amounts of white to the base color (gull grey I presume?) and "mottle" and blend the color, do this randomly over the whole plane, then do the same with the white on the bottom, but add small amounts of perhaps light ghost grey fs 36375, then use a little brown and/or black as a LIGHT mist to simulate overall grime, fs 36081 is a great color for this. If you don't have reference photos of a particular aircraft, try and find some others that show which panel lines are typically lighter or darker, commonly replaced panels, paint touched up with different USN grey colors, etc. Looking good though!!! Yes, a strong coat of Future was laid down before weathering via brush. This is the Navy Gull Grey over White scheme of that period. Keep in mind these were Marine Intruders stationed at airbases and did not weather like Navy planes with TPS at sea. I still did a little color mottling but it is an artistic decision to leverage washes to do the bulk of the weathering here. I do have some reference pics and these birds were heavy on the grease, fuel and oil staining. Thanks for your interest. Edited March 11, 2013 by toadwbg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted March 23, 2013 Author Share Posted March 23, 2013 oohhhhhh the canopy on this makes me want to scream! I've moaned about this before- those 2 halves for the windscreen and main canopy. The windscreen cannot hold its own shape while handling and keeps flexing at the joint! Furthermore the fit to the main fuselage is very poor. At some point, you just have to breathe deeply and move on. I decided I had to finish the cockpit now before putting the windscreen on, so I masked around the opening an airbrushed the cockpit interior and painted the details. Cockpits are always fun and draw a lot of visual attention. Here I just temporarily placed the bang seats. The front colwing fit was a little fiddly but I got it ironed out. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted March 23, 2013 Author Share Posted March 23, 2013 Now that pesky widscreen- does not fit well leaving a LARGE gap in the front and a poor seam all around. I lost my pic of the gaps but here you can see the bodywork I very carefully filled and sanded and did some masking and re-applied the main Gull Grey color around the area. Not perfect but at some point you must move on. The Black anti-glare panel is next: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted March 23, 2013 Author Share Posted March 23, 2013 As general commentary I should add every time I touch this build it seems like I leave a fingerprint, or get some unintended over-spray, or take 2 steps back! A frustrating kit can lead to more problems and you do need to step back and do something else before proceeding again. I LOVE building this for my client but I do NOT love this Kinetic kit. I would only recommend it to advanced modelers. I would be very hesitant to build another, but I'm sure the learning curve would make a second go-around a bit easier. But it seems live I've had to do everything on this build twice to get it right. Oh how I wish I would have done the Revel kit some days! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wardog Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 (edited) oohhhhhh the canopy on this makes me want to scream! I've moaned about this before- those 2 halves for the windscreen and main canopy. The windscreen cannot hold its own shape while handling and keeps flexing at the joint! Furthermore the fit to the main fuselage is very poor. At some point, you just have to breathe deeply and move on. I decided I had to finish the cockpit now before putting the windscreen on, so I masked around the opening an airbrushed the cockpit interior and painted the details. Cockpits are always fun and draw a lot of visual attention. Here I just temporarily placed the bang seats. The front colwing fit was a little fiddly but I got it ironed out. toadwbg, I understand your pain regarding the canopies. When I first saw test shots of this kit and the split canopies I said to myself....what a nightmare that's gonna be. I commend you for sticking with it as dealing with ill fitting parts is always a downer. Good luck and keep up the good work. Edited March 23, 2013 by wardog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VA-115EFR Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 Toad, that weathering in the cockpit area is KILLER!!! As for the Kinetic being a PITA, your kit is turning out stellar! Can't wait to see this baby done. Judging from your frustration, I bet you can't wait for it to be done too! Lol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HAMMER32 Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 I LOVE building this for my client but I do NOT love this Kinetic kit. I would only recommend it to advanced modelers. I would be very hesitant to build another, but I'm sure the learning curve would make a second go-around a bit easier. But it seems live I've had to do everything on this build twice to get it right. Oh how I wish I would have done the Revel kit some days! Can not agree more,and I have bought the new A-6A/E.It's seemed that I am getting used to being abused by this kit. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted March 26, 2013 Author Share Posted March 26, 2013 (edited) Thanks for the encouraging words all. A little touch up. Silly putty works well as a mask around the cheeks: More trim painting. Here is the Steel Beach vinyl mask designed for the Revell kit. It is a little small for the different profile found on the Kinetic kit but I sprayed twice and made it work: also shown is the refueling probe. I've built several Intruders and this was the first time I noticed that this refueling probe makes it look like a unicorn! Edited March 26, 2013 by toadwbg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted March 26, 2013 Author Share Posted March 26, 2013 Here you can see the hole I drilled and pin to help hold the refueling probe: Paint finished Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted March 26, 2013 Author Share Posted March 26, 2013 I started laying down some decals last night. Had a little trouble with the larger ones on the tail as the Future I used to settle them would dry too fast, get sticky and grab the decal to the surface before I could finely position it. After a little sweat and hot water I got them positioned well enough: I used Microset on the fuselage sides and these went a little easier. A drop or 2 of Solveset was used on the Stars and Bars here as their is a little round plate underneath that protrudes and requires the decal to melt around: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted March 26, 2013 Author Share Posted March 26, 2013 We're getting there. The decals add a LOT of color: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Devilleader501 Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 Beautiful job Toad. I need to get my Prowler done so I can get back on the Intruder Im building too. Hopefully they will come out as well as yours always do. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VA-115EFR Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 Looking REAL good there Toad! Paint job turned out great!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted April 19, 2013 Author Share Posted April 19, 2013 (edited) Getting so close I can taste it! Ejection seats in: Edited April 19, 2013 by toadwbg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted April 19, 2013 Author Share Posted April 19, 2013 (edited) Little details like the wing lights and all the small probes on the bottom of the front fuselage: The wing tip lights are one of the nice details about the Kinetic kit. I'm struggling painting the vertical tail lights, I'm on attempt #3! Edited April 19, 2013 by toadwbg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VA-115EFR Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 Great detail on the cockpit there Toad! The dial and switches really stand out! Great job Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted April 19, 2013 Author Share Posted April 19, 2013 Thanks for the words. One of my tricks to getting all that panel line detail to stick out is to use a Prismacolor Pencil to "draw" on the raised detail. Sort of the same idea as dry brushing. I use a light grey and silver pencil for this. Landing gear on! And she stand on her own 3 feet for the first time! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Benjaminht99 Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 Looking great Toad.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted May 16, 2013 Author Share Posted May 16, 2013 Time for the MERs and bombs! They look like tiny bees! This will get a full load! Just the inner MERs don't get anything as this was due to clearance to the landing gear. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bikerider Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 Can I ask how you did the striping on the ejection seat pulls? It's very neat and precise Thanks Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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