Red Dog Posted October 4, 2017 Author Share Posted October 4, 2017 (edited) It's going to be even better thanks to you, Lancer! Thank you Peter. Glad you joined You're right BM, thanks for your comment. I debated that one before painting and to be honest although I knew they are indeed light grey, i decided to paint them white anyway and give them a filter later on. Studying pictures, the difference between the light grey and the dirty white is really not quite striking. So I decided to paint white and tend towards grey at the weathering stages with filters Edited October 4, 2017 by Red Dog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
my favs are F`s Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 These pixels enter in a whole new dimension.... some curved shapes are visible on the display here... :))) Very very nice colors btw! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mr Matt Foley Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 (edited) On 8/15/2017 at 3:55 AM, Red Dog said: Having had so many issues with the main wheel bay, and complicating the matter even more with 2 different aftermarkets source needing to clear the front fuselage internal size, I decided to be extra careful with the installation of the nose wheel bay from Aires and the cockpit from CMK. The resin pit has about the same height and size overall than the kit's part so no big deal there. But the height of the front wheel bay resin part is a bit 1mm higher than the pit parts. I therefore expected 1mm of conflict that would prevent me to close the fuselage. And indeed it would. Although the kit's wheelbay doesn't have ceiling details which are moulded on the floor of the cockpit, the resin part does have the top moulded and that's probably the reason why the whole part is higher. You can't thin the top so you can only sand the bottom part by at least 1 mm to ensure a tight fit inside the fuselage with the cockpit. If you don't do that no way you can close the fuselage. Luckily not too many details are lost in the process. I'm really surprised Q&A guys from so experienced companies in aftermarket can let pass things like that. Or else there was no Q&A at all... Having the 1/72 Aires Pit and wheel bay sets, this problem you are having is exactly the same problem I had with the nose gear bay AND fitting the cockpit into the 72nd Tonka. I don't know if I have a bad sample from Aires or if it was just that poor fitting. Aires has been hit or miss for me. I love the details, but sometimes they are just poor fitting chunks of resin. Edited October 4, 2017 by Mr Matt Foley Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red Dog Posted October 5, 2017 Author Share Posted October 5, 2017 (edited) Matt, I could live with that problem because I was making my life complicated myself trying to match two different aftermarket sources. So I wouldn't have blamed either CMK or Aires for my issue. But if you had the same kind of problem with two AM kits from the same manufacturer, then that's clearly a lack of QA from them I guess that AM manufacturer need to quickly release stuff after the model has been published and IMHO quality is going down in a general way. I saw that from Aires (the main gear bay issue above is incredible) but also from Eduard which always had been flawless for me up yo my B-25 Big Ed with some nasty mistakes in it. I even wrote them but never got an answer. In this WIP the thrust reversers PE are not very intuitive, probably wrong and clearly the instructions lacks a lot and confuse more than they help. I won't spend time to point it out to them since they don't seem to care anyway. Guess it's a price to pay to have AM quickly and be able to build our freshly released models (which almost none of us do anyway) :) Edited October 5, 2017 by Red Dog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red Dog Posted October 6, 2017 Author Share Posted October 6, 2017 I needed to design a couple decals for this build: Mainly the tiger head logo and the web address for the tail. The rest of the decals will be provided by Hahen sheet 48047 The tiger head is yellow and from past experience I know that home printed light colours are too transparent, so It needs a white background. This was painted on the tail using masks: The decals were printed on a regular home printer with inkjet transparent decal paper, then protected with a coat of gloss (which I always tend to overdo) Then applied on the model with just a drop of Microsol The rest will be standard and applied easily ... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Peterpools Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 Amazing, simply amazing work Kerp 'em coming Peter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wolfgun33 Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 Great work on the pixel camo. It all looks really nice! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red Dog Posted October 7, 2017 Author Share Posted October 7, 2017 Thanks guys, all credits go to dnmodels. The masks are so great that it is very easy to make a great and original aircraft. It is the first time i use masks for anything other than serials or insigna, but i am grateful i did not have to do them with tamiya masking tape ! :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red Dog Posted October 11, 2017 Author Share Posted October 11, 2017 Plasticards were cut to shape, engraved and painted for the intake relief doors: and I started working on Werner and Hans (PJ phantoms pilots) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lancer512 Posted October 11, 2017 Share Posted October 11, 2017 A very nice touch with the intake doors open. You don't see many models with "running engines". Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red Dog Posted October 14, 2017 Author Share Posted October 14, 2017 Well I can understand that Dennis :) I was wondering how to proceed to attach the slats to the wings. Revell instructions have the hinges and springs glued to the wing first and then present the slats. But I decided to proceed with another method which proved quite easy: 1. Glue the hinges to the slats avoiding superglue but slower contact glue 2. Attach the slat to the wing by inserting the hinges into the wing's holes 3. then insert the springs in their location The flaps were easier than I thought and went in without much of a problem Here's a view with the full wing, slats and flaps deployed for landing and the spoilers out for braking action: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red Dog Posted October 14, 2017 Author Share Posted October 14, 2017 Some more work on the pit and Werner and Hans Working with PE seatbelts has never been my strong point, especially colored ones. I most of the time revert to painted lead foil. The seat belts are ready to connect to the pilots. No accurate rigging but the effect will be good enough once the pilot are seated. Each time something was added in the pit, I always checked that the canopy remained a tight fit. I've had too many of these surprises.... :) After seriously trimming their legs Werner and Hans have been installed in their seat. Werner stay focus on a distant point ahead to keep the aircrfat on the runway and Werner is thrown forward due to the reverse Hans just engaged. The canopy is ready to be closed but not before one last challenge must be mastered, the dreaded det chord... It's always been where I usually screw up the transparencies. So I decided to try something different and paint it from the inside. It's in relief so it should be easy enough. Unfortunately my brush painting isn't stable enough and screwing it is way too easy, so it's going to be airbrushed Step one, mask the inner canopy and make the line stand out with a pencil. At that point I still wanted to remove the tape and cut it along the drawing on the desk. But then I figured out I'd never be able to have the perfect matching contour. So I then ran a toothpick along the edges to make them stand more even more, put a new blade in my X-acto knife and lighltly cut into the tape following the contour as best as I could, and sweat a bit Airbrush out, light coat of H308 and remove the masking tape. Too bad I can't check from the outside, that will have to wait till the model is finished... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
murad Posted October 15, 2017 Share Posted October 15, 2017 werner und hans rulles! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Paddington Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 cant see any pictures :-( Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red Dog Posted October 16, 2017 Author Share Posted October 16, 2017 Well they are visible to me ... :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red Dog Posted October 17, 2017 Author Share Posted October 17, 2017 (edited) Next step was decalling. There's not a lot of decals to apply but they weren't easy to source. I finally decided to give a go to a german decal manufacturer I never tried before: Hahen. They have quite a bit of tornado decals and my choice was Sheet 48047 The decals are very fine but you have to cut them as close as possible to the artwork, unlike the industrial decals. That's the same when I do custom homemade decals anyway, so i didn't see the problem But I had some issues with the edge of the decal film not sticking correctly to the model. To be fair, I often have that with homemade decals too. And I wonder if it's not due to the way I cut the decal and it's support paper. Maybe I bent the decal film too much with scissors? Anyway these decal film edges gave me trouble because first silvering happens as the decal edge don't stick fully to the model and second when you weather the model the oil wash really makes that edge stand out with oil paint getting underneath and making it impossible to swipe it away. That further enhance the visibility of the decal film. A lot of these decals were removed, trashed and replaced. I usually weather after decalling, and this one was no exception, but I had to trash what was done , weather first and then decal to minimize the visibility of the decal film. In many cases the kit decals came to the rescue - especially for the maltese cross on the wings Remains the silvering effect that I sometime had. I don't use future but X22 tamiya gloss. Often that is not gloss enough for some decal brand. That's probably the cause of the issue here as well. The last issue with the Hahen offering is that the decals are very thin and suffer from colour difference according to the model paint on the background. If you can bypass the fact that the yellow on the german flag seems wrong from real picture references, it's also way too transparent and if placed correctly on the model will stand above a border of grey/orange paint and that will be visible through the flag. Not good! So I had to place the flag higher to ensure I didn't see colour background difference. So I have mixed feelings with the Hahen decals, on one hand they were only a few for luftwaffe tornadoes (I searched hard for the wingman offering but they were long OOP) but on the other hand the light colours are too transparent (a problem most homemade decals have) And I will take responsibility for the bent edge of films and the silvering effect. Edited October 17, 2017 by Red Dog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lancer512 Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 Have you tried to remove the decal film with a scalpel blade? Never had a problem with homemade decals, even in 1/144 scale. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red Dog Posted October 18, 2017 Author Share Posted October 18, 2017 Somehow i always use scissors for decals, I either need to change mines or try with a scalpel :) A landing aircraft needs a runway. Therefore I quickly made a very simple runway base: the rust oleum texturized paint is just perfect for that. Unfortunately it's becoming very hard to find over here. Glad i bought some spare the last time i could find them :) it doesn't need to be further painted as it's just perfect for a modern and clean runway (and walkways) the effect is very convincing. the white line was just masked and painted with Mr surfacer white. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red Dog Posted October 18, 2017 Author Share Posted October 18, 2017 I'm calling this one finished. I'd like to thank you all for watching. Thanks Dennis for your help with the ECR bits, Thanks Mitko for accepting to make the masks for this unpopular luftwaffe and short-lived scheme Here are the final pictures: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
my favs are F`s Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 This was always one of the most mystical planes for me... and in this config - definitely a sight to remember. Quite exuberant. Very nicely done! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red Dog Posted October 18, 2017 Author Share Posted October 18, 2017 Thank you Milan. From the master of moving parts on a plastic model, it's greatly appreciated ;) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
crackerjazz Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 Beautiful work, Red Dog! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red Dog Posted October 18, 2017 Author Share Posted October 18, 2017 Thanks A-7 Master :) (the other one on my bench is the trumpy A-7 as well) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Peterpools Posted October 19, 2017 Share Posted October 19, 2017 Absolutely brilliant work and a pleadure to follow. Fully agree about the decal issues and your treatment was spot on. One Gorgeous Tornado Peter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red Dog Posted October 19, 2017 Author Share Posted October 19, 2017 Thank you Peter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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