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1/32 EA-18G VAQ-132 Operation Odyssey Dawn


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Thx Steve, Andrew, Vincenzo, Chuck!

Beautiful paintwork Marcel- as always! Why don't you use enamels any more? Fumes?

Yes. My wife made me move away from generally using enamels, she said I was pretty stupid for putting the hobby before my health and she was right. The Phantom was my first Acrylic build, I now only use enamels for metallic finishes and the final flat coat.

I am very glad I made the change, I really can't stand using enamels now, it's kinda weird but the smell of thinners or turpentine now gives me an almost instant headache. I also get a far smoother finish with Gunze paints than I ever did before, I no longer rub the model down to smooth out the paint (as you and I had previously discussed). Acrylics do take some getting used to, as with this Future/cracking issue, but it's mostly little and manageable things.

:cheers:

Marcel

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I am very glad I made the change, I really can't stand using enamels now, it's kinda weird but the smell of thinners or turpentine now gives me an almost instant headache. I also get a far smoother finish with Gunze paints than I ever did before, I no longer rub the model down to smooth out the paint (as you and I had previously discussed). Acrylics do take some getting used to, as with this Future/cracking issue, but it's mostly little and manageable things.

Marcel

My solution to the fumes of enamel and lacquer paint are two fold:

1) Full chemical respirator

2) Paint booth in the garage

I really don't smell a thing, other than maybe a bit when the parts are drying inside. If I had to paint in the house, enamels and lacquers would be a non-starter. I've tried acrylics before, but I never got over how quickly they dried the spray nozzle and I found them hard to clean up.

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What a nice build Marcel!!! My compliments!

By the way you should know that Gunze as well as Tamiya are not true acrylics so you should be also careful wearing a mask while spraying! Also be aware that Gunze and future dont get along too well, i would say never use future over them espacially over glossy ones!!

Again my compliments!!!

John

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Thx guys!

My solution to the fumes of enamel and lacquer paint are two fold:

1) Full chemical respirator

2) Paint booth in the garage

I really don't smell a thing, other than maybe a bit when the parts are drying inside. If I had to paint in the house, enamels and lacquers would be a non-starter. I've tried acrylics before, but I never got over how quickly they dried the spray nozzle and I found them hard to clean up.

What a nice build Marcel!!! My compliments!

By the way you should know that Gunze as well as Tamiya are not true acrylics so you should be also careful wearing a mask while spraying! Also be aware that Gunze and future dont get along too well, i would say never use future over them espacially over glossy ones!!

Again my compliments!!!

John

Yeah, I still always wear a mask.

John, what clear gloss do you use over Gunze in that case?

Looks very very nice. It's flawless!

Thx... but they simply never are :wacko:

:cheers:

Marcel

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Thanks for all the encouragement!

I finally got some modeling time in, the Growler is now washed and flat-coated:

DSC_0870%202_zpsbi1ows2l.jpg

DSC_0873%203_zpskv7eypft.jpg

I'll now need to flat-coat the touched-up areas, and then I can finally remove the windscreen masking.

271.gif/>

Marcel

Man, ole man; You're really doing a beautiful job with your Growler 70.gif !

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I've just went through the entire thread... damn what a nice job.

Still, I've one question, shouldnt there be notches on the inboard edge of trailing edge flaps? They look perfectly rectangle to me. I've noticed this on other Trumpeter Super Hornets too.

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Thx Sieste, thx Thadeus!

Still, I've one question, shouldnt there be notches on the inboard edge of trailing edge flaps? They look perfectly rectangle to me. I've noticed this on other Trumpeter Super Hornets too.

If you're talking about what I think you're talking about then no, the Supers and Growlers don't have those inside flap cut-outs that the legacy Hornets have (if it's something else that I missed, I'd rather not know about it at this stage of the build).

:cheers:

Marcel

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nice build! :cheers:/>/>/>/>/>

Thx!

Here is some progress. The exhausts are in, they are from Olimp, which based on Loftycomfort's comparison with the Aires exhausts are more realistic in that they are not closed as much. The stabs are just dry fitted, hence the big gaps to the fuselarge.

DSC_0890_zpsxa5vsbmk.jpg

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The Olimp exhausts take a bit of work to clean up and assemble but the end-result is quite good.

I painted the outside with a base of Modelmaster gun metal, I wanted to get a flat basecoat down since the real things are pretty flat in appearance. After that, I layed down a coat of Alclad (mix of steel and pale burnet metal).

You can see how flat the real things look from this pic:

DSCN7547_zpsmgxdokrs.jpg

Olimp supplies decals that simulate those little plates on the inside of the exhausts. They are tricky to get on but look pretty convincing in the end. I used MM gunmetal on the inside of the exhausts, these exhausts are not the light ceramic color we have gotten used to with F100, F404's etc.

After applying the decals and flat-coating, I dirtied things up a little with Tamiya weathering pastel (oil stain).

Here is a comparison to the real thing.

DSCN7548_zpsocspp5yf.jpg

By the way, the outside metal color on my Growler in the close-ups above appears a lot lighter than it really is, the pics are over-exposed so that you can see some of the inside detail.

:cheers:/>/>/>/>

Marcel

Edited by Marcel111
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Thx Steve!

Very nice Marcel.

What colors did you use on the tails? (The browns)

Anthony and I had an offline chat about this question, thought I'd post my response here in case anybody else is interested:

"I just knew I should have noted this down, I believe I used Gunze H310 which is FS 30219 i.e. the tan in the standard Vietnam camo, as well as a darker brown like XF-10 from Tamiya, plus red. If I was you I would just go out and buy some dark brown, some tan and some red from your favorite brand and mix... the brown on that tail are actually very red. I can email you the template I mixed to, I generated the template from a photo I thought had very good color and light balance."

:cheers:

Marcel

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Thx Anthony!

I added the sway brace feet on the bottom of the pylons. You can see what I am referring to on this pic:

DSCN7545_zpsra7zgwkx.jpg

Also note how the blue positioning light turned out.

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With HARM launcher attached:

DSC_0872%204_zpsx2jzmdwh.jpg

I completely rebuilt the tailhook, the Trumpeter rendition is pretty bad (it has an almost 90 deg bend at the front end).

DSC_0871%203_zpsbw0wwprx.jpg

And a quick pic of the cockpit... yes, that still needs a lot of work.

DSC_0900_zpsn7qun062.jpg

:cheers:/>/>

Marcel

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The ALQ-99s are finally finished!

I had custom decals made for that prominent black lettering on "grilled" side sections, the lettering was true to the lettering I have seen on reference pics. I had finished the pods yesterday morning but could see some slight silvering on those decals... not even using Future as decals setting solution could meet that decaling challenge.

Here is what that looked like. Not that bad but considering all the effort Harold and I have invested in these, I wasn't satisfied.

DSC_0877_zpsvvfzjhka.jpg

I then went ahead and dislodged all 12 of those panels. I had a spare of the Eduard photo-etch, I then redid the panels and used some paint mask stencils to introduce black letters.

DSC_0875_zpswmrmbfdx.jpg

The letters I ended up with may not make sense (who knows) but I am now satisfied with the overall look.

DSC_0873%204_zps4bmk2wgw.jpg

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DSC_0874%203_zps1fzgcptv.jpg

Next up: Finishing the AGM-88s and AIM-120s.

:cheers:

Marcel

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