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1/32 Trumpeter A-10C Hog- "Putting Lipstick on a Pig of a Kit"


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I think Zacto stuff is the best resin on the market. Everything I've ever had of his has been amazing, and the AIM-9Ms appear to be the same.

Great work with the paintwork, Chuck. You sure did them justice.

Jake

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Hi Chuck,

Superb work on the ordnance so far. I don't think I can remember seeing a crisper, sharper AIM-9 anywhere. Combine the awesome skills of Alexander Rogal and Chris Wilson with the meticulous attention to detail of one of the world's top scale plastic modellers and bingo,......true modelling magic!

The best I've seen.

Great work, keep it up.

Cheers,

Edited by geedubelyer
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You're on a roll Chuck, keep it up! You're hard work & fine attention to detail REALLY paid off on the AIM-9's and AGM-65's. Gotta love those Sierra Hotel wheels, they look like a vast improvement over the Cutting Edge OOP offering... I recently placed an order on their website and I'm hoping that they are still in business pray.gif It's almost done my friend, soon you'll be able to reap the rewards and close another chapter in master model building 271.gif

/Jesse

Edited by JesniF-16
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Thanks a LOT guys! Those compliments are really going to my head! :P As mentioned many times before, my apologies for not replying to every response, but I do read every single one and I very much appreciate the words of encouragement. These build threads are enough work without worrying about missing somebody, so I avoid the long replies to try and focus on the build. I distract myself enough already with vacation and bear pics as it is. :rolleyes:

A bit of back-tracking from ordnance, but I just HAD to build and paint the new Sierra Hotel wheels. As you will see, they are awesome! To see what they look like before paint, see Post #911 above. Here they are all painted up with a touch of weathering wash to make them look used, but not filthy....

SHWheels1-1.jpg

A close-up. The central hub on the main wheels can be painted grey, black or plain metal according to many pics I looked at. I went with Alclad Steel for the main hub with Alclad Gun Metal for the hub collar, which looks black in these pics. The circular holes and lug nuts were painted flat black- very, very carefully!

SHWheels2-1.jpg

These wheels have the correct tread pattern, with the wider tread on the inboard side of the tire. This is the left and right tire respectively....

SHWheels3.jpg

How do I know which is which? Sierra Hotel has marked the inner brakes for left and right, which are mirror images of each other, rather than just some random shape. Curt from SH tells me that they made this detail directly from a pic of the brake assembly lying on a bench, rather than peering around a wheel with all sorts of hydraulic lines blocking the view.

SHWheels4.jpg

How much better are they than the Cutting Edge or kit parts? See for yourself, with the kit one on the left and the CE one in the middle. Now that I've made up these SH wheels/tires, the CE offering looks pretty sad. The SH wheels even have a tiny valve stem, which you can see at about 10 o'clock.....

SHWheels5.jpg

Same thing on the inside brakes. I have no idea what Trumpeter was thinking with the fantasy brakes on the left.....

SHWheels6.jpg

The front wheel contrast is not as sharp for CE to SH, but the SH wheel has the correct hexagonal wheel nut, rather than just a circular hub.

SHWheels7.jpg

What I really like about the SH wheels is that they are literally "plug 'N play" with the kit metal landing gear. A perfect fit and no alignment issues.

SHWheels8.jpg

These wheels blow away what I was using before.....

SHWheels9.jpg

Even the front looks better, and more accurate......

SHWheels10.jpg

I give the Sierra Hotel wheel/tire resin kit a rating of 9.5/10. Now if only you could actually buy them? :whistle:

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Great looking wheels!!!

Just one question Chuck...how do you paint those fine details on the Sidewinders and Wheels with Alclad? I never tried using a brush with Alclad...and I doubt it will work...But how do you paint such details like the hubs???

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Thanks a lot guys. I won't have any updates for a few weeks due to summer vacation, etc., but I hope to really get this big bird finished sometime in the early fall.

Just one question Chuck...how do you paint those fine details on the Sidewinders and Wheels with Alclad? I never tried using a brush with Alclad...and I doubt it will work...But how do you paint such details like the hubs???

Good question- and one I asked myself when I first decided to add the metallic detail. If you want a nice smooth metallic finish, there are no shortcuts, so here's what I did:

Sidewinders

For the front head area and rollerons on the rear wings, I masked off the main missile body and around the rollerons to spray a base coat of Krylon gloss black lacquer, which I always use for an Alclad base coat. Without a lacquer base coat, the Alclad will rub off with handling, so you need something to stick to the plastic that the Alclad will "bite" into. Masking around the rollerons is tricky with many pieces of Tamiya tape cut into small strips. It takes a lot of time and for 2 missiles I had to cover 16 sides, which I did with the wings off the missile for easier handling and smoother painting. The front of the missile was an easy masking job, since it all was painted with Krylon as were the front fins- again while off the missile. When the paint dried for one day, I applied Alclad Steel to the front, Stainless Steel to the fins and Duraluminum to the rollerons. When this dried, I masked off the collars around the missile and painted them Stainless Steel, which is much lighter than the Steel color, providing a nice color contrast. Using tiny strips of Tamiya tape, I masked off that dark flap-like panel that is between the front fins on the same side as the arming handle and painted it in Alclad Gun Metal, which is almost black. When all this paint was dry- maybe a day or so- I masked off all metallic bits and sprayed the Light Ghost Grey of the missile body and wings. To do this to the wings, every single rolleron had to be masked off separately with tiny bits of Tamiya tape again, which is very painful and slow to do for the first one, but using what works as a template, I cut out 15 more for the rest of the rollerons which went much faster. One might ask why I didn't just paint the wings first then mask off the rollerons and paint them Alclad later? The reason is that the enamel grey paint will partially fill some of the fine detail and it's rougher than lacquer paint, so the final result would be a lot cruder. If you want a smooth metallic finish, you only want smooth lacquer on the resin or plastic.

Wheels

The best part of painting the SH wheels is that they are separate from the tires, unlike the CE ones which have to be masked off, which is a huge pain and hard to do. Other than the inner wheel on the front wheel/tire which is one piece and needed masking, all the wheels were painted with smooth Krylon gloss white lacquer, which also provides a good primer base for Alclad. When the wheels dried for 2 days, I used small strips of Tamiya tape within the wheel to sort of isolate the central hub, while covering the holes in the outer part of the wheel. This provided a nice solid base for Micromask, which I carefully spread around the hub, being careful to not get any on the hub. I then painted the entire hub assembly with Alclad Steel and when that dried, I put a blob of Micromask on the hub cap and sprayed some Gun Metal to darken the collar of the hub, which is almost black. I could have used Micromask alone to mask everything, but in my experience, once it gets attached to fine details like the wheel studs and holes it becomes a bear to remove, so I only use Micromask where it's smooth.

For the tires, I used plain old enamel flat black. When that thoroughly dried and cured, I used Tamiya "Oil Stain" pastel powder to dull the finish and provide a more weathered look than a brand new tire. I may have added a bit too much of the pastels when I look at these pics, but with the naked eye away from strong light, they look like real tires, so I think I'll leave them as is.

Edited by chuck540z3
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Chuck great work my friend.

Can I ask if it is not a lot of bother to point on the sidewinder photo the different metal paints?

Thank you

Certainly!

I'll break it up into two pics to show some of the color contrasts you can't see with only one pic. First of all, there is variability in the color of the front metallic area according to many pics I reviewed before selecting my colors. Although I chose Alclad Steel, sometimes this finish has an almost green color to it, sometimes it's dark, sometimes lighter and the front fins can look dark or light too, depending on the lighting and how they reflect the color of the missile head. The "collars" as I call them, are always stainless steel looking and the front seeker head is usually light grey to almost white with a translucent look to it, so I mixed some light grey acrylic paint and Future and carefully dipped each missile into the mixture to the first line engraved in the resin. The rear rollerons are bright metal, but not as bright as the collars, so I used Alclad Duraluminum, which I also used for the second ring at the front.

AIM-9MColors.jpg

There's also a little "flap-like" darker feature at the front between the fins, which has a little circular window in it, so I painted this with Alclad Gun Metal and then filled the little window and the ones between the collars with clear Future. In the strong light I used to take this pic, you can't see the clear glass-like qualities of the windows very well, but to the naked eye they shine quite nicely and look almost real. This different angle shows the shine of the fins which contrast with the missile head and really make them "pop" as separate missile parts.

One other thing about the metallic surfaces. All of the Alclad was sprayed on a base coat of Krylon gloss black lacquer. Other lacquer bases work as well, like Alclad's own black primer, but you need a lacquer base coat for the Alclad to stick to the resin or plastic. Otherwise even casual handling with your oily fingers and masking tape will remove the Alclad. With a nice smooth metallic finish, you can go directly to decals without a coat of Future with no problems. I try to avoid using Future on metallic surfaces because I think it makes the metal look fake for some reason. If you want to seal the paint or decals, use Alclad's own gloss or flat coat, which is compatible with their products.

AIM-9MColors2.jpg

Edited by chuck540z3
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Chuck,

I have been following your build along but have not posted in a long time. I can only offer what many others have said; simply outstanding. The amount of work you have put into your build is obvious and I am absolutely certain that the end result will put your Hornet, Phantom and Mustang to shame.

Excellent work sir.

Mike

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Chuck,

I have been following your build along but have not posted in a long time. I can only offer what many others have said; simply outstanding. The amount of work you have put into your build is obvious and I am absolutely certain that the end result will put your Hornet, Phantom and Mustang to shame.

Excellent work sir.

Mike

Mike, thanks for the kind words and, more importantly, retaining your sig pic.! Anybody who complains about it, especially directly to you, is a dope with nothing else in their life to do. You have responded in the General Forum with class. :thumbsup:

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  • 2 weeks later...

WOW! I have spent about 3hrs going through this thread and I am both in awe and envious of your skill and results. The A-10 is my favorite plane and I have a couple in 1/48 in my stash to do. I recently was asked if I was interested in buying this Trumpeter kit but I am unsure. I don't have your skill nor the aftermarket particularly the cutting edge sets- as it appears to be impossible to get now, so I am thinking may just give it a miss.

Can't wait for your next update!

Cheers

Anthony

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