Neo Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Ah leave my poor Humbrol 15 alone there is not a better autoleveling paint that can match it!! i had painted this baby with it and since its my chosen BA color and ive got tons of it its the one i used to learn to use my AirBrush with!! BTW ALF if you use lacque thinner to clean up the smell dosent last has long ! i spay this stuff in my office and after an hour you can even tell Hand brushed Airbrushed (ok not the best pic but its baby but smooth) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted September 8, 2012 Author Share Posted September 8, 2012 And the alarming part of this whole thing is that after I read your post ALF, I had forgotten that we had previously discussed the closeness of colours of the MM Enamel I used on the Corsair and the acrylic you planned on using on this build. I guess my parents really did cook with too many aluminum pots when I was a kid. I think I'm going to have to change my name to Al...Al Zheimer! Wow... That's OK, Mike - I couldn't remember if I'd told you or not... Save me a place in the asylum, next to the beer and wings. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted September 8, 2012 Author Share Posted September 8, 2012 Ah leave my poor Humbrol 15 alone there is not a better autoleveling paint that can match it!! i had painted this baby with it and since its my chosen BA color and ive got tons of it its the one i used to learn to use my AirBrush with!! BTW ALF if you use lacque thinner to clean up the smell dosent last has long ! i spay this stuff in my office and after an hour you can even tell Hand brushed Airbrushed (ok not the best pic but its baby but smooth) Neo Those finishes definitely look sweet. Nice and smooth. And the colour is perfect for a Blue Angels jet. Unfortunately, the NFTC blue is darker than the BA blue. I finally got around to painting the blue colour, and here's what it looks like: The bottom It took two coats; some areas were a bit pale. I like the colour. I've started to do some hand-painted touchups to the silver and the white areas, and the black on the wheels. It's coming along nicely. The canopy is nice, but the masking bled a bit, despite the usually excellent Tamiya tape. I think I might have waited too long after applying the tape, and it might have lifted in a few spots. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neo Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 Looking good there ALF Just need a gloss coat and shell be amazing Keep it up Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted September 9, 2012 Author Share Posted September 9, 2012 Looking good there ALF Just need a gloss coat and shell be amazing Keep it up Merci, mon ami. It needs a few more touchups, then it will be Future time in Canada! ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted September 9, 2012 Author Share Posted September 9, 2012 Now for some history again. In June (a few months back), I took my family for their first ever visit to Moose Jaw, Sask, the home of these NFTC aircraft. On the base, there are a few pedestal aircraft, including the venerable old Tutor which I flew for more than 5 years. The Tutor was the predecessor to the Harvard II. Here if you look carefully, you can see the new NFTC building in the background, where the simulators are installed. It is the big one with all the glass in the front. Here is the original Harvard, sitting near the old groundschool building, where I had an office on the top floor in 1983/1984. This is a popular marketing pic of the two NFTC aircraft, early in their life at Moose Jaw. Here you can see a Harvard II sitting on the ramp, with the canopy open. If you look closely, you can see the detonating cord on the canopy. Instead of jettisoning the canopy when the occupants eject, the det cord blows up and shatters the canopy. The kit comes with some decals to represent this cord - nice touch. Here with the canopy closed, it is obvious that the hinge is not visible on the right side from any distance. The kit comes with hinge decals that would look great on the white background of the US versions; I won't be using that decal. Note that the prop is missing the now-typical red and white markings to make it more visible when turning. This final pic shows the new prop markings, which I will be using. The Canadian instructor on the wing is an old colleague of mine - we knew each other on the Tutor in the early 80s. Part of the fun working on this simulator project was reconnecting with friends still in the military instructional world, plus some relatives that still live in Moose Jaw, where my father is from. Like the old saying - Saskatchewan is a nice place to come from (and the part not spoken out loud), but I wouldn't want to live there... ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neo Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 (edited) Love hearing about great history especially when you had a couple of beers with the one telling it !! Must be nice to see a plane that you flew sitting as a gate gard that way part of your history lives on Been a sailor myself i really like the massive rope wheel chalks ! changes from the classic yellow ones! Edited September 9, 2012 by Neo Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted September 9, 2012 Author Share Posted September 9, 2012 Love hearing about great history especially when you had a couple of beers with the one telling it !! Must be nice to see a plane that you flew sitting as a gate gard that way part of your history lives on Been a sailor myself i really like the massive rope wheel chalks ! changes from the classic yellow ones! Thanks Neo! The rope wheel chocks are standard these days. They are easier to handle than the metal ones, and are used on multiple aircraft (we had them on 433 and 425 squadron, and they used them in Europe on the Hornets as well). ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted September 9, 2012 Author Share Posted September 9, 2012 More progress. Here I have made several touchups to the blue, silver, and white. I had to scrape some bleed-under off the canopy. Hopefully the Future will cover most of the scratches (which are hard to see anyway). I then masked off the wings where the anti-skid black goes, and the anti-glare panel on the nose. I used Tamiya semi-gloss black, followed by a spray can of Testors Dullcote. I now need to paint the white antennae underneath. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tilt Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 Hey Alf, The Harvard is looking good old friend. It's nice to catch up with your stories and projects. Still hoping you write a book some day. Keep it up!! Tilt Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted September 10, 2012 Author Share Posted September 10, 2012 Hey Alf, The Harvard is looking good old friend. It's nice to catch up with your stories and projects. Still hoping you write a book some day. Keep it up!! Tilt Hey, Tilt! Nice to hear from you again. For some reason, I was thinking of you the other day... but I can't recall in what context. Your ears must have been tingling, which prompted you to come and check out this thread. And no, the thoughts of you had nothing to do with dancing cats in tutus, or other bizarre things - that was another dream I had. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 That's OK, Mike - I couldn't remember if I'd told you or not... Save me a place in the asylum, next to the beer and wings. ALF Consider it done, my friend! Now...if I only remembered how to get there... :wacko: Nice paint work, sir. I like what you've done. The clear coat should darken things up nicely. Look forward to more progress. Hope work isn't interfering too much? Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted September 13, 2012 Author Share Posted September 13, 2012 Consider it done, my friend! Now...if I only remembered how to get there... :wacko: Nice paint work, sir. I like what you've done. The clear coat should darken things up nicely. Look forward to more progress. Hope work isn't interfering too much? Mike For sure it looks good with the Future applied. Update coming tonight - decaling is underway. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted September 14, 2012 Author Share Posted September 14, 2012 I've tried something new, here. This is a link to a chunk of video that I recorded back in 1999, when I flew the prototype T-6A-1 Texan II in Wichita. The quality is unfortunately a bit poor - it's an old Hi-8 tape I had hanging around, which I just digitized last summer. You can hear the company test pilot from Raytheon as he makes the video, while I wander around and take pictures. At this point we were recording the anti-collision, position, and landing lights, to help the visual system engineers get the effects correct in the simulator. It was a hot day in Wichita - about 34 Celsius, with very high humidity. We were sweating in our flight suits. At one point the Raytheon guy (I would use his name, but I have lost contact with him and don't have permission to name him here) was sitting inside the aircraft in the sweltering heat in the hangar, canopy closed, with a black cloth over to block out the light, filming the lighting and recording the audio with the warning system test tones, etc. I was very impressed by how helpful and selfless he was to make sure we got some great video. Here's the video. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted September 14, 2012 Author Share Posted September 14, 2012 Decaling is now underway. The Future certainly darkened up the blue nicely. I think the colour looks pretty close to the real thing. Here you can see I have applied one of the most difficult decals - the long white fuselage stripe. Caracal decals did a great job on this. The length is perfect, according to my refs, and it doesn't shatter or rip when you apply it - nice quality for such a long skinny stripe. Here is a close-up of the canopy detonation cord (canopy fracturing cord), made from a neat little decal. The microset clouded the Future a bit, but it should clear up when I reapply the Future afterward. Now back to decaling! More progress in a day or two. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted September 16, 2012 Author Share Posted September 16, 2012 Done! Here is the end result. Thanks for following along! Up next - not quite sure yet. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Nicely done, squire! That looks very good. Like the Corsair, I like how the clear coat darkened your colour coat. I think it's a very close representation of the actual colour. Great job, ALF. As for the next project, put all your kits on the floor. Have Max look at them all. The kit he sits or lays down beside is your next endeavour. Good luck with your next build. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted September 17, 2012 Author Share Posted September 17, 2012 Nicely done, squire! That looks very good. Like the Corsair, I like how the clear coat darkened your colour coat. I think it's a very close representation of the actual colour. Great job, ALF. As for the next project, put all your kits on the floor. Have Max look at them all. The kit he sits or lays down beside is your next endeavour. Good luck with your next build. Mike Thanks Mike! Just one small flaw in your plan... Max may decide the box is a treat, and drag it off to chomp on it in private. I'm actually thinking of either a Voodoo or CF-104. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Great work on the T-6! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted September 17, 2012 Author Share Posted September 17, 2012 Great work on the T-6! Thanks! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neo Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Grea work came out a beauty Quote Link to post Share on other sites
KursadA Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 (edited) I think it looks great! The Canadian scheme is the best T-6 II scheme in my opinion. Edited September 17, 2012 by KursadA Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Thanks Mike! Just one small flaw in your plan... Max may decide the box is a treat, and drag it off to chomp on it in private. I'm actually thinking of either a Voodoo or CF-104. ALF ALF, Drat! Foiled again by Mighty Max... Either choice is nice. Good luck! Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
-Neu- Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Excellent build.... I'm really impressed. I particularly like the detcord in the canopy... Its also nice to see that the color also worked out. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted September 18, 2012 Author Share Posted September 18, 2012 Grea work came out a beauty Merci! It's kinda pretty... I think it looks great! The Canadian scheme is the best T-6 II scheme in my opinion. You know, I think both Canadian and American schemes are nice. The dark blue is very cool, but having flown the USAF style scheme personally, I have a soft spot for it as well. Excellent build.... I'm really impressed. I particularly like the detcord in the canopy... Its also nice to see that the color also worked out. Thanks Neu! The kit decals have a few little gems like the det cord. It's a little touch that adds that little extra bit of realism. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.