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1/32 Revell RF-4C 14th TRS


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Lots of big parts glued together with still more prep work.  I have started on the exhaust base coats and color experimentation on a test plane.

 

Gluing the body parts together has been brutal.  I haven't seen such huge gaps in a long time.  Basically where light and grey plastic meet there will be lots of body work.  Low score on the fit and finish on this model.  There will be another week or more making this right.  And its just not gaps, its elevation as well.

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The little triangular NACA intake forward of the right side auxiliary air door has been filled (white triangle).  And still more body work.

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The nose is fitting pretty well.  Some minor sanding and maybe a bit of checking the panel line depth and it will be good.

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Its starting to look like a Phantom.  Seeing it like this after many months feels pretty good.

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Fuel tank re-enforcement made from left over brass.  It wasn't very straight and required a bit of work.  Still not perfect but well on the way.

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Last of the rear deck wiring was completed.  Now just to add some details, clamps, rivets and retainers.

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My first attempt at scribbing was less than desirable.  I will have to do it again.......and probably again still..

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This kit was traded for as mention prior. This kit has had at least three missing parts.  And with that comes some challenges.  Such as it is, I have been making the missing pieces.  It was time to learn and so far my initial attempts have been ok.

One of the missing pieces was the right side avionics intake scoop.  I cut it out of stock plastic and shaped as need.  The inlet hole for the scoop was cut with with an exacto blade and is very shallow.  I am still working on a method to get a deep cut in the thin plastic without messing up the part.  I also need to take  a mm off the bottom to straighten out the lower edge. 

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The left stab was missing so again I took a stab at making the stab...see what I did there?  initially just a flat sheet that I cut to shape and bent to replicate the shallow downward angle of the stab. The joining tab was just some excess that I doubled up and super glued so I can recreate the standoff of the stab to the fuselage with some realism.

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I added a second sheet and blended to recreate the thickness of the stab nearest the fuselage.  I cut the arrow shaped reinforcement plate, for top and bottom, out of the thinnest sheet I had and will give a light sanding to thin it a touch.  Pictured here it is just placed for reference.  Now to scribe and prime.

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She now has legs.  The brass landing gear is absolutely fantastic. The hydraulic actuators for the main landing gear need a little work as to their attachment to the main wing.  Now that I have proper reference books and new found confidence,  I would like to rip out the landing gear bays and start over.  The next model of choice will surely get the full treatment.

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Upon putting on a good even primer coat (Mr Surfacer 1200 diluted 50/50 with lacquer thinner) I realized that I had to pay more attention to some body work.  I will spend the remainder of tonight touching her up.  Its the first time I have ever used a primer for the whole of the airplane.  I am hoping to make it easier for the white under fuselage coat to adhere using less paint.  And to spot body work imperfections, so far on target for this one.  The primer eased some of the sharp panels lines I had scribed prior.  And made them look better than what I had originally produced. 

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She will have the SEA camouflage scheme when done.  I am thinking of black basing the tan and lighter green camouflage areas.  And then use a wash to pull the panel lines out, ever so.  What and how much weathering is being looked at in detail.  I have some thinking to do on how this is going to happen. 

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I have been doing a lot of studying on the Phantom as it was around 1970 when at Udorn Thailand.   I found a great web site, Picciani Aircraft Photos, to look at the many faces of the Phantom at service.  If you go to the website and look you will find Phantoms in many states of up keep.  As an example, some Phantoms have two, even three types of tan or light green on them.  You will also see varied colors, olive drab used in some cases and large areas that have been repaired using varied colors.  Many are very weathered and many are looking as though they are pretty fresh.   I have also looked at various other builds, sources and books.  And what I found is the possibilities are many (Imagine that....).  I dont know if certain paint schemes, such as how the wing fuel tanks were painted, were phased in over time or was it a free for all?  The rabbit hole of how things came to be, when or why became very deep.  So finding a path in the near term was to topographically scan the options and deciding on a plan of action.  I also noticed the Phantom doesn't seem to lend itself to very defined panel lines.  I dont know if this is an outcome of how its built, paint scheme, lighting and or photo effects.  Testing my capability and learning new things have been very much the them of this model. 

For Christmas my wife bought me a new Iwata HP-CS.  My my beloved Passache had seen many faithful years and I had ruined the fine needle ages ago and had to go to the medium tip.  So the addition of the Iwata was a god send, and to be honest I was excited about the possibilities.  The Iwata has not failed to please.  What a great brush.  So I began to learn about black basing.  And of course tried a few versions on my trusty test plane, a P3 Orion. 

 

In the many possibilities theme....On the above mentioned web site there are many examples of both the "straight edge" paint job, "wavy" paint job and completely colored wing fuel tank for the phantom.  Also examples of the pylon remaining white, partially white or painted the same color of the tank.  I chose white pylon, straight edge tank based on what I had found on the 14th.  I will likely go back and soften the edge by free handing it. 

I was disappointed to have the white paint come off in a few places even using Tamiya tape, this has never happened to me.  The pylon will be properly covered during the repair of the tank.  I also need to bring down the dark shades a bit. 

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This begins my experimentation with varied types of and black basing in general.  I am sure many are wondering if I have any sanity.  My wife will tell you there is little and what remains is clustered by high priced whiskey, prolonged field operations and bouncing off the ground from high altitude during airborne operations.  What you are seeing in this picture is the phantom that has been "black based" by spryaing paint through a Scotch Brite cleaning pad that has been cut along its horizontal axis and further thinned by using scissors to thin areas for better paint penetration (Yes I said penetration, you can stop laughing.....:D...Clunkmeister.)   I learned this on another plane based web site from another modeler, and have been experimenting ever since.  I have further this by using lighter and darker colors and integrating standard black basing techniques.  Creating what I see as a truly random color adjustment, integrating what I can best determine to be true weathered effects. 

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On the right intake you can see where I started to fill in some of the less busy places with standard black basing.  I didn't want to go overkill on the panel lines as the phantom doesn't really lend it self to highly defined panel lines to the best I can determine.  And I plan on doing a panel line pin wash with a undetermined color.   

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You can see here where I started to apply a slightly modified dark tan (Testors MM  Dark Tan with a little dark sand and minute flat black.) using the black basing technique and filled in as appropriate.

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Various shades of the above techniques with a lightened formula on the top parts (horizontal) of the fuselage to recreate sun bleaching. 

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I was working on using very fine sand paper (1500 and greater) to work out additional fading or shean creation of weathered panels.  Here along the in the transition between the dark and light green.  I darkened up the light green with olive drab and a little flat black.   I also began to ready the base layer for vertical weathering "stripes".   The overall paint job was done free hand.  While I started off horrible, I ended better than what I started.  so I will have to go back and tighten up color boarders.  I forgot to be very mindful of the direction of my spray gun as it relates to the target.  I was quickly reminded when the green paint road the vortex of air in to the seam of the dark yellow. 

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A general look at the uncorrected first pass and a long day....

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The white under fuselage was also black based using the same method as above.  I will be adding grease smears, panel lines and a million decals so my thinking was it was going to be very crowded.  So in the end I smoothed it out more than I had originally intended.   The landing gear wells were given a nice even coat of white as I will go back and give them special attention.

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Lots of learning and lots of experimentation.  I often got tired during painting with all the new attention to detail and had to stop a few times to let my arm muscles relax and eyes re adjust.  All in all a great time.Any input is greatly appreciated. 

 

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Lots of ground covered over the last couple days.  I have found myself with a bit more free time than usual and have spent some of it on the work bench.  Lots of paint shading and detail on the fuselage.  Many hues of of the camouflage were experimented with.  In the end I am very happy and eager to see the final harmony of it all.  In some areas I did get a little loose with maintenance wear and tear.  More on that later.

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I spent some time looking at the flare dispensers for fit and finish.  I noticed that after all the re scribing and riveting alterations and modifications I made on the plane, I failed to make the changes in this area.  I dont think I am going to re do the work.  I will at least sleep on it. 

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I turned the paint being taken off from the tape in to chipping.  And did some real chipping.  . 

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The center line tank and some experimentation.  More to follow.

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For the tires I had to make custom masks from Parafilm.  The center of the main landing gear is actually painted in the old testors rubber color and not flat black.  Its going to end up with a much more rusted look and the testors rubber paint already leans that direction.  A little chipping was also applied.   Dry brushing and pastels to come.

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I will come back tomorrow and give more detail.  Time for bed after a good day on the bench.   Thanks for looking and all the fine advice.

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I am amazed how deep the hole can be when one is tracking down information when striving for a painfully accurate build.  I have began to understand the pain of those we call bolt counters.  The below work took a good bit longer than I had expected.  Just to put a few placards on I kept finding different or incomplete information.  The main wheel well cover had a multitude of varying examples.  By the time I said "Screw it, get it done!" about 4 hours had passed as I tracked various references and online sources.  The Eduard placards had incorrect colors for the afore mentioned placard for the RF-4C.  Which led to a little looking around.  The speed breaks are very much straight forward. 

 

The ALQ-71 has completely false numbers and decals on it.  I couldn't find many period examples.   I was going to have to make some decals but instead opted to us some remainders to achieve an effect.  Now I feel like I have cheated on a test....I will probably have to go back and make actual decals to assuage my mind. 

Still I have learned so very much.  Having said that, my next build will probably OOB.

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SapperSix,

 

I worked F-4's at Spangdahlem for two years from 80 to 82 and one thing is for certain, not every airplane had every placard or important decal everywhere on the plane.  The ones most commonly omitted were the stenciled panel info ones.  "NO STEPS" were most commonly found on the G (Weasels) models but I worked D's, E's and G's and there was wide and varied, uh, "coverage" when it came to those things.  I never asked but I supposed in my own little head that certain ones were more important than others and had to be there.  Others were of lesser importance and could be omitted at the discretion of the MajCom.   Sometimes, the base painted its own planes while others came back from depot with fresh paint but lacking only the tailcode and Ser No and squadron color fin-flash. 

 

Back then, there had been a concerted effort by SOMEone high up to "de-glorify" everything and to also go "subdued" on everything so the bright squadron emblems were slowly reduced to a smaller stick-on emblem and less pronounced fin colors, or...covering a much smaller area.  

 

Then in NATO, the really hardliners hit and "everything went black".  Our uniforms did too.  The bright colored patches we all wore on on fatigues were redesigned to have no stand-out colors and backgrounds that matched the OD green of our uniforms. 

 

On your model, if you omit some stencilling, no one can say if it is accurate or not.  the placard on the speedbrakes...I saw dozens of jets without it.  The landing gear almost always had the placards and the big black and yellow "map key" on the nosegear door was always there as well.  Ejection seats had all of them, as they were maintained by the egress shop. 

 

I'm not telling you how to build your model...and it appears to be coming out really well...just that they didn't all get the "golden crew-chief" award for their placarding.  Yes, it was covered by AFR whatever but not to a devoutly religious level. 

 

Some omissions can happen and sometimes they even peeled off based on improper adhesives used.  That sometimes happened as well.  Not the painted on stencils, of course but the sticky-backed decals.  I've seen stars & bars that have peeled halfway off, other 'stickers" as well.  If you've ever seen the "decals" used on the real machines, they are usually made at the base's "print shop" (the flightline one, not the base t-shirt shop) and are silkscreened on a vinyl like material with pinholes in them about every inch and a half.   The holes are there to help eliminate bubbles when applying them. 

 

HTH to some degree.  Your model will be a very nice museum-level piece.  

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9 hours ago, VADM Fangschleister said:

SapperSix,

 

I worked F-4's at Spangdahlem for two years from 80 to 82 and one thing is for certain, not every airplane had every placard or important decal everywhere on the plane.  The ones most commonly omitted were the stenciled panel info ones.  "NO STEPS" were most commonly found on the G (Weasels) models but I worked D's, E's and G's and there was wide and varied, uh, "coverage" when it came to those things.  I never asked but I supposed in my own little head that certain ones were more important than others and had to be there.  Others were of lesser importance and could be omitted at the discretion of the MajCom.   Sometimes, the base painted its own planes while others came back from depot with fresh paint but lacking only the tailcode and Ser No and squadron color fin-flash. 

 

Back then, there had been a concerted effort by SOMEone high up to "de-glorify" everything and to also go "subdued" on everything so the bright squadron emblems were slowly reduced to a smaller stick-on emblem and less pronounced fin colors, or...covering a much smaller area.  

 

Then in NATO, the really hardliners hit and "everything went black".  Our uniforms did too.  The bright colored patches we all wore on on fatigues were redesigned to have no stand-out colors and backgrounds that matched the OD green of our uniforms. 

 

On your model, if you omit some stencilling, no one can say if it is accurate or not.  the placard on the speedbrakes...I saw dozens of jets without it.  The landing gear almost always had the placards and the big black and yellow "map key" on the nosegear door was always there as well.  Ejection seats had all of them, as they were maintained by the egress shop. 

 

I'm not telling you how to build your model...and it appears to be coming out really well...just that they didn't all get the "golden crew-chief" award for their placarding.  Yes, it was covered by AFR whatever but not to a devoutly religious level. 

 

Some omissions can happen and sometimes they even peeled off based on improper adhesives used.  That sometimes happened as well.  Not the painted on stencils, of course but the sticky-backed decals.  I've seen stars & bars that have peeled halfway off, other 'stickers" as well.  If you've ever seen the "decals" used on the real machines, they are usually made at the base's "print shop" (the flightline one, not the base t-shirt shop) and are silkscreened on a vinyl like material with pinholes in them about every inch and a half.   The holes are there to help eliminate bubbles when applying them. 

 

HTH to some degree.  Your model will be a very nice museum-level piece.  

That explains what I was seeing. 

 

I really appreciate your first hand knowledge.  And for taking the time to impart that to me. As I have no real world experience its been hard to determine reality.  The information you passed on will surely help focus on whats important.  Thank you for your time and input.

 

-SapperSix

 

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On 4/29/2019 at 5:13 AM, JackMan said:

 

Wow, your weathering & black-basing is very good!  Very realistic :thumbsup:

Thank you very much.  Its a first pass on many of these efforts.

 

 

On 4/29/2019 at 6:49 PM, Mstor said:

You are really making a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Great work.

I haven't heard that in a few years.  It has been a chore.  Thank you for your kind words.

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I was getting ready to put some primer on the NMF tail of the Phantom.  That's when I noticed that the rivets are all wrong, far too small.  The reference picture verses what Revell did.......big difference.  What to do?  So looked at some other builds.  The examples I found were few. 

 

Enlarging the rivets in the tail section would be a multi part process.  I did choose to use the diameter of 2MM for the new rivets, not to scale, but I already had the 2MM drill and some wire or plastic round tube at the same diameter.   I wasn't willing to place another order for a punch or more stuff.  So I will have get rid of the small Revell rivets and replace with a large diameter washer and rivet.  I am using the 2mm hand drill to get a MM deep or so.   Then cutting some lead wire, putting it in the hole to be lightly sanded later to replicate the washer.  I cant decide how I am going to recreate the actual rivet (If thats what it is).

 

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Making the new holes, and looking as to how I am going to plug the old small ones.

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All the rows of larger rivets are now drilled. Two of them with the first lead large rivet attempts. 

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If someone else has any ideas on this I am open to learning.....

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Here's a tool that I have found very useful in making small circular indentations like those found in flush rivets:

http://www.modeldesignconstruction.co.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/ModelDesignConstruction/_E32005/54282/Rivet maker 1%2F32

 

That is MDC's version and only comes with two sizes of the part for making the actual indentations. The tool itself is actually a beading tool and can be found at many jewelry tool sellers. They come with up to 23 sizes:

https://www.esslinger.com/stone-setting-beading-tool-set-with-hardwood-handle-stand-23-pc/

 

This tool would be perfect for making the circle with a circle of the large rivets in the area you are working on. I've seen models that the builder used one of these sets to rivet the entire kit. A very tedious task, but very realistic results.

Alternately, I have seen people use small brass tubing with they then grind the end down to make a sharp edge. They can then press that into the plastic to make the circular indentations.

 

Just some ideas to think about. In any case, as I said, I really like what you're doing with this kit.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

 

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Man'o'man am I getting a bit of a butt kicking.  I have never worked with Alclad despite having it in my possession of many years.  Just didn't have the guts to do any NMF work.  Well, I have to say I love the product as it really works well, very well in fact.  What I didn't count on is the primer showing every little tiny bit of CA glue that is in, on or around the custom made rivets on the tail....Sooooooo many little specs or CA that oozed out from under the rivet to make it look horrible.  So.......Off it goes.  I was planning on complete removal and starting all over again.  I didn't want to get a punch set just yet, but I did.  (I have caught the disease.  Just have to wait for it o be shipped.)  As I was using the CA de bonder I noticed it may be removing the wild glue specs and maybe complete removal may not be necessary.  Jury is still out.  A complete repainting of the NMF tail will be required and it looks like the de bonder may be roughing up the plastic a little.  I will know more tonight.  Off to cook dinner for my wonderful wife and family.

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I spent two days on the feathers.  Lots of experimentation.  The left is finalized with a soap based sludge wash.  I love the sludge wash as its easy to take off its not right. 

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On 5/6/2019 at 4:41 AM, Mstor said:

Here's a tool that I have found very useful in making small circular indentations like those found in flush rivets:

http://www.modeldesignconstruction.co.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/ModelDesignConstruction/_E32005/54282/Rivet maker 1%2F32

 

That is MDC's version and only comes with two sizes of the part for making the actual indentations. The tool itself is actually a beading tool and can be found at many jewelry tool sellers. They come with up to 23 sizes:

https://www.esslinger.com/stone-setting-beading-tool-set-with-hardwood-handle-stand-23-pc/

 

This tool would be perfect for making the circle with a circle of the large rivets in the area you are working on. I've seen models that the builder used one of these sets to rivet the entire kit. A very tedious task, but very realistic results.

Alternately, I have seen people use small brass tubing with they then grind the end down to make a sharp edge. They can then press that into the plastic to make the circular indentations.

 

Just some ideas to think about. In any case, as I said, I really like what you're doing with this kit.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

 

Mark,

Thank you for the information.  I did break down and buy a punch set. Man no I have to try to be patient, not an easy task in my case.  Thank you for the kind words and your input.

 

 

On 5/13/2019 at 9:20 PM, Major Walt said:

I like how you’ve done the blackbasing. I’ve never tried it but you have inspired me. Great job overall on that F-4!

MAJ,

Black basing is really interesting.  I hope you give it a go as I think it has real potential to add nuance to the model finish.   There is plenty of UTube video to give you ideas.  You kind words are much appreciated.  Its been a real challenge and learning experience. 

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Beautiful paintjob. Especially love the jetcans — wow! 

 

It's probably not important but IIRC Phantoms provided all electrical power to jamming pods so they didn't use the nose turbine on the ALQ-71. That was more for F-105 Thuds. ALE-40 pylon chaff/flare dispensers were not fitted to USAF RF-4Cs, but you could probably get away with it. Sorry to be a PITA.

 

Tony

 

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9 hours ago, tony.t said:

Beautiful paintjob. Especially love the jetcans — wow! 

 

It's probably not important but IIRC Phantoms provided all electrical power to jamming pods so they didn't use the nose turbine on the ALQ-71. That was more for F-105 Thuds. ALE-40 pylon chaff/flare dispensers were not fitted to USAF RF-4Cs, but you could probably get away with it. Sorry to be a PITA.

 

Tony

 

Tony,

Not a PITA.  The shear amount of learning that has been created in terms of modeling and the Phantom is significant.  In many ways leaps and bounds on a personal level.  Its insight such as what you provided that has helped to make me model better.  Your input is much appreciated.  I can make the change pretty easily. 

 

The deeper I get, in regards to my Phantom knowledge base, the more I see things I have to change or adjust.  Some of the information has come too late and I am not willing to go back and make the change.  One thing is clear I do appreciate the air frame and will make other Phantom models.   Thanks for the help!

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  • 2 weeks later...

The exhaust and the cans have been a learning curve for me.  I can not emphasize enough how much I have learned while making this model.  My tool and product purchases have also been undergoing a considerable increase.  All equaling a joy for the hobby as never before.  I do want very much to make clear that I appreciate the many people, all over the world, that have have offered advice and knowledge both publicly and through PM's. 

 

Below is an example of the general reference I have been using for inside exhaust coloring.  My book from Reid Air, The Modern Phantom Guide, has been providing and enormous amount of detail. 

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Below is the Phantom GT Resin kit that I have spent the last week detailing, messing up, starting over and having another go. 

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In the references the green goes from a darker green to lighter as the distance from the burner increases.  This picture tries to capture that variation.  It was lots of patience during the dry brush process.

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The detail in this resin product is very well done.

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A light black/green wash will fill in the secondary air holes.  I did it a small section with black only and the contrast didn't appeal to the eye.  A bit of dry brushing to the cans and some pastels will finalize this effort. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Progress has been slow but productive.  I finally figured out a path to the weathering for the war weary tail.  Using Oils (burnt sienna, burnt umber, cadmium red, ivory black) a black and red brown  wash, and Tamiya smoke.

 

I re drilled the rivets and plugged them with a small piece of lead as noted in prior postings.  After I sealed the base, post initial weathering, I went back with a bead tool to shape the lead plug.  While I am sure there is a better way to do this, my initial push in to this lead down this path.  In the end the initial shaping with the bead tool doesn't look too bad.   My only complaint would be that the newly created rivet looks a little big compared to the washer.   This picture shows the first lead plugs being shaped compared to the others that have yet to be shaped.  Once shaped it will expose the lead color of the rivet making it easier to detail after a little clean up.

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Right side complete prior to detail and clean up.

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left side complete prior to detail and clean up.

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There is much still to do here.  lots of clean up and detail. The aft section, past the tail hook, needs to be done up with rivets.  Maybe I can figure a way to make the rivet smaller compared to the washer.  In the end it will be blended with pastels to make sure its blended and given a much more flat look. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aft Section....The pressure of the beading tool spit the seem again...(sigh)

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  • 1 year later...
On 6/9/2019 at 11:24 PM, SERNAK said:

I've been scale modelling for more than 3 decades and this is one of the best "realistically" painted aft-fuselage/engines' areas I have ever seen!!!

Thank you Sir!!  I very much appreciate your kind words.  It has been a real learning experience.

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