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Meng 1/48 F-35 and AFV F-CK-1


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I clicked on the Meng F-35 and didn't see it at 40% off. 

7 hours ago, Vaildog said:

No one likes the F-35😔

 

I know, the new generation of stealth fighters are butt ugly and boring.

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So let's say there is no counting for taste and I like the stealth planes, so I bought the Meng at 40% off and then tacked back on the 40% price by buying the IsraDecal sheets for the RAM panels. Now I have no idea how the #%$*^ decals work! Any help here would be more than stealthy. :crying2:

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45 minutes ago, airmechaja said:

Now I have no idea how the #%$*^ decals work! Any help here would be more than stealthy.

 

I would think the instructions should show you where each RAM Tape decal is placed (It is the special tape used on the F-35 that is being represented here). The Isradecal site says there are 4 pages of instructions.

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2 hours ago, airmechaja said:

I guess I was mistaken about these decals. So you would still have about 30 hours of masking the panels anyway?

 

The basic fuselage color is 36170 and has a metallic sheen (called Have Glass) to it. See the thread below for an in depth discussion on the various paints available. The RAM tape is a lighter color and does not have the metallic sheen. Also, if you look at photos you will see that certain panels are painted in a slightly lighter tone. It up to you if you want to represent these or not as it seems to vary from airframe to airframe. Many builds do not.

Of note is the fact that the most current color scheme does not have the lighter colored RAM tape. The aircraft is all one color (36170). It all comes down to the specific aircraft you wish to model. Find photos if you can, to determine if it still has the different colored tape or if it is all one color.

So, your question about RAM panels does not really apply. Find an FS36170 Have Glass paint you like, paint the whole model and then apply the decals.

Make sense?

 

 

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Thanks. I have read the thread. My point is that the ram panel decals are darker than anything I have seen for the 36170 color.

 

I am going to a color corrected monitor and pull up FS36170. If IsraDecals is correct on the colors, very few if any builds have it right. 

Thanks for your help.

Edited by airmechaja
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2 hours ago, airmechaja said:

Thanks. I have read the thread. My point is that the ram panel decals are darker than anything I have seen for the 36170 color.

 

I am going to a color corrected monitor and pull up FS36170. If IsraDecals is correct on the colors, very few if any builds have it right. 

Thanks for your help.

 

Well, if the decals are too dark you certainly may have a problem. Do be aware that due to the metallic sheen of the Have Glass paint, in some photos the RAM tape can look darker than the Have Glass paint. Here's a decent pic of an Israeli F-35.

Israel-F-35-Adir-Debut-Profile-1-1024x640.thumb.jpg.3f7bef02a6e1440632979ae0237f61c9.jpg

The RAM tape is definitely lighter in color. You can also see the metallic sheen of the base color.

P.S. Just looked at some pics of decals on Sprue Brothers and if the pics are representative of the color used, they do look too dark to me. Bear in mind, these are pics designed as representations of the product for the purposes of advertisement. They don't necessarily represent the actual colors used.

 

Edited by Mstor
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BTW, I noticed that most of the photos in Richard's thread were missing and I contacted him. He has restored them (server issue), so take a look at the thread again if you have not already.

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9 minutes ago, airmechaja said:

And again I couldn't use these decals with any of Richard's base colors. No one could. I guess I will raise a stink with IsraDecals but the last time I tried that, I didn't get a response. 

 

That's a real bummer. I wonder if Isradecal had a bad batch with the wrong color go out. Seems awful strange that they would make RAM tape decals in a shade that is essentially the same as the base coat. Good luck with your communications with Isradecal. Let us know if you get a response.

P.S. If you are on Facebook, you might try their Facebook page. I find that Facebook messaging is usually a faster and more reliable method of contacting vendors.

Edited by Mstor
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Okay, I have a couple of responses from Ra'anan Weiss of IsraDecal.

This is his first response.

 

Thanks for your email.
When I approached this project I faced few dilemmas. You correct that the shade of the RAM is FS 36134.
The decal was printed in PAN 424 which is almost FS36134. This is also what Wolfpack decals did with their earlier decal for the Kitty hawk kit.
Even if I was printing the exact 100% shade it wouldn’t do better since there is a white background which lighten the result. If there was no white it would be partly transparent and be influenced by the aircraft background color so in that case you won’t have the correct shade. My dilemmas where about the appearance of the model since in every photo you look the shade of the RAM or the rest of the aircraft looks different. In some the RAM look much lighter in some angles it looks very dark, some time even darker the aircraft’s background color.
My solution is easy. After applying the decals, I’m taking the background color I sprayed the model with  (FS 36170), I thin it with gloss clear varnish and thin this formula to spray with the airbrush. Then actually I have like a dark varnish based on the aircraft color. I start spraying over the complete aircraft covering slowly in layer the RAM without influencing the aircraft color. When you think it is dark enough, stop spraying. This is the most authentic to do it.

I’m attaching photos of an F-35I I did so you can see how it looks. Some with want it higher and some will like it darker.
I hope my English is clear enough.

All the best

Ra’anan Weiss
Isradecal Studio

 

 

The photos of his build are GREAT. I sure don't have any right publishing them here so I won't.

My next logical question to him was of course , what are you using as a base coat 36170?

 

I’m using enamels. The best match(exact match) for the FS 36170 is RAL 7012.
I have RAL 7012 from Revell, Humbrol and Xtracolor. I prefer xtracolor since the paint is gloss and give better surface for the decals and it is much smoother.
I spray on top a coat of Johnson Klear or Future floor finish. The decal I’m putting with the same material and it works perfectly.

All the best

Ra’anan

 

So I need to chew on this info for a while.

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Wait a minute. I thought you said the decals were too dark. It sounds like Ra'anan is assuming the decals are too light and he is offering a suggestion on how to make them darker. It looks like there is a communications failure here.

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Now that I think about it, he said that Wolfpack had their first set printed in the same Pantone color. Everyone complained about them and Wolfpack re-printed them lighter - no more complaints. That was for the KH kit. :bandhead2:

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2 hours ago, airmechaja said:

They are too dark but if you can find the right base color like he suggests they'll be fine. His build looks great. I will see if I can show you his base color of RAL7012.

 

This still doesn't make sense. You stated in your original posts that the decals were darker or as dark as 36170, which according to Ra'anan is the same as RAL 7012. Now you are saying that if you use RAL 7012 (36170) then it will be OK. I looked up RAL 7012 and it does look close to 36170 on the monitor, though one would need to compare paint samples to be sure.

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Okay. How can I take pics of his instructions and post them without infringing on copyright? On the instructions you will see two colors represented. The 36134 and 36170. On said instructions, the 36170 color is the darkest blue grey you have ever seen. It's almost black. The 36134 is a perfect match to 36134 but the decals are not printed in a 36134 color as he admitted above. They are printed in a Pantone ink just like what  was done on the first printing for Wolfpack's decals for the KH kit. Are you still with me?

If you PM me with your e-mail address, I think I can show you the conundrum. 

Edited by airmechaja
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