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1/32 Kitty Hawk F-5E Kicked Up A Notch. Oct 3/19 Finished!


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Congrats on the awards Chuck; I'm sure they're well deserved! I was not present at the show so I cannot comment on the fairness of the judging. However, at least for me, the best part of entering a model contest is to give the attendees an opportunity to see your work up close and personal. I've attended many model shows in my day and have seen many undeserving entries place, even ones with huge fingerprints visible to the naked eye. Because of that, I've lost most of my faith in competent judging as even in this corny hobby, you can't get away from politics!

 

Congrats again on your awards!

 

-Elmo

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Thanks Guys.  As I said earlier, I've learned that at model contests that you should expect the unexpected, and my Eagle was a perfect example of that.  Even the Gold medal winner told me later that my model was the real winner and although I have a hundred things to say, my comments would only come off as being a poor sport, so I'll just leave it at that.  My display cabinet is full of medals and special modeling awards, so I don't really need another one.  Fine Scale Modeler will be publishing the F-15C build in a book on aircraft modelling this fall, while I think the Spitfire will be in a regular magazine issue about the same time, which trumps a gold disk drink coaster any day of the week.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

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Hey Chuck it was really good to see you again and having our chats. I am always on the lookout for you at the local shows as it gives me a chance to see your models in the flesh so to speak. I know I do get to see them on line and your model photography is great but as you know real life is better.

You and I talk about judging all the time and I really do give the show organizers lots of cudos. It is easy for us to complain but I have learnt over time and attending lots of model shows that getting competent judges is very difficult when most of our local shows relay on volunteers. Judging is a very subjective task and I believe it does take experience and skill of what to look for. Don’t get blown away with all of the aftermarket and add ons.

 

I myself have judged at many shows and it is difficult. I know I have made mistakes but hopefully not too many. As a perfect example of crappy judging here is one. My friend told me about an incident at a model show we were both at. He was part of a judging team that was responsible for the WWI aircraft category. There were 3 judges in the group including him. Everything was going fine until one of the judges was going over one of the categories. As you know you start by eliminating models for very obvious flaws. One of the judges eliminated a Fokker D.VII. My friend asked why and the other judge simply stated that he did not like Fokker D.VIIs. What the heck. My friend told him they could not do that. Thank goodness he was able to stand up to the judge and it was back in. And the upshot to all of this was that the Fokker D.VII came in first. If my friend was not there that modeler would have been screwed for a simple reason of a judge’s preconceived biases.

 

So my point being is that crap happens and you hope it is a rare thing. However, I learnt long ago that what happens happens. Enter away and hope the judges are competent and get it right. These days when I enter a model at the competitions I do so for participation at the show and to support the organizers. Never expect anything as I know there are way better modellers out there than me. I take it as a learning experience and a chance to talk and see models.

 

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Chuck,

 

Even though I agree your F-15 deserved a gold! I’d like to think nonetheless, my F-15 Ra’am was a worthy opponent.

 

My Fw-190 placed silver next to your Spitfire, so I guess that makes us even.

 

Watching your mastery in your posts has pushed me to be a better model builder, you encourage me and I’m sure all of us!

 

See you next year!😉

 

Yuri

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9 hours ago, yurihul said:

Chuck,

 

Even though I agree your F-15 deserved a gold! I’d like to think nonetheless, my F-15 Ra’am was a worthy opponent.

 

My Fw-190 placed silver next to your Spitfire, so I guess that makes us even.

 

Watching your mastery in your posts has pushed me to be a better model builder, you encourage me and I’m sure all of us!

 

See you next year!😉

 

Yuri

 

Yuri.  What you have written above is worth more than a gold medal to me.  Thank you.  I am posting this same build over at LSP and this is what I wrote there last Sunday: 

 

"My F-15C coincidentally came in second to a very nice F-15I built by a very friendly guy who introduced himself as Yuri, who apparently follows my builds and knows about all of them.  Now THAT was Gold to me!    Congrats again Yuri if you read this post."

 

Your Ra'am was awesome and I think your FW-190 maybe even better, so you're right, maybe my Spitfire could have come second to it instead?  See you at future model contests and before we get too full of ourselves, our mutual friend Justin Ducharme is lurking out there with an awesome 1/32 Corsair in the final stages of completion, that we should all be worried about!  I can't wait to see it in person.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

Edited by chuck540z3
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June 18/19

 

 

Finally, I’m really painting.  A first coat of paint reveals flaws and with gloss black, they are amplified at least 3 times over a flat finish.  I always start painting on the bottom, just in case I have airbrush or paint issues, but in this case, Tamiya Gloss Black lacquer (TS-14) sprayed beautifully.  This paint was decanted from the rattle can then thinned with about 40% of Tamiya lacquer thinner.

 

 

FlRPuO.jpg

 

 

I expected a few flaws underneath, because this is where the kit parts do not fit very well, but I did not expect to still see so many seam lines and other flaws.

 

 

hZbAMa.jpg

 

 

The rear, however, came out looking great.  With that shiny coat of X-22 over the Archer rivets, it almost looks like metal already with the smooth reflection.

 

 

zHicfG.jpg

 

 

Back to the drawing board…..

 

 

pEgobb.jpg

 

 

And another coat of paint.  Much better now.

 

 

5uNBok.jpg

 

 

A close up to show that those seams lines are now filled and other flaws repaired.

 

 

L5IeXN.jpg

 

 

There are so many surfaces that from this angle, it almost looks wrinkled.

 

 

IFQX4I.jpg

 

 

In the background, I’ve been busy cleaning up, assembling and painting other parts that will be attached later for ease of handling.

 

 

mgoEOc.jpg

 

 

The landing gear, doors and hardware are ready for final assembly.

 

 

DherVe.jpg

 

 

And here’s my first shot at painting the exhausts, which have gone from this:

 

 

HKLpEO.jpg

 

 

To this, using Alclad Stainless Steel.  For the inside, I used Alclad Steel, followed by a dusting of rust to replicate reference pics.

 

 

6Dkjbh.jpg

 

 

L6U0he.jpg

 

 

Although I’m getting near the end of this build, I still have a lot to do.  Missiles, the main fuel tank and dozens of tiny bits still need to be attended to.  I’m a bit nervous about decaling, because I normally shoot a good sealing coat of X-22 over the decals to seal them in and reduce decal film edges.  On this nice gloss black finish, X-22 might make the finish look too artificial.  I guess time will tell!

 

 

Cheers,

Chuck

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7 hours ago, Collin said:

Beautiful Chuck. How do you combat dust?  A finish like yours above would be a challenge in my man cave. 

 

Cheers

Collin

 

Thanks Collin,

 

Good question, because I still struggle with dust all the time.  After cleaning up sanding dust and other contaminants as much as possible, I always used compressed air on the surface just before I spray paint, which helps a lot.  After that its many, many spot repairs of individual pieces of crap, which is seemingly never ending.

 

Looking at my pics above, I still have that big seam line where the two fuselage halves come together, as shown below.  Although some modellers leave this as a panel line, it doesn't exist on the real deal, so it must go.  I found sanding CA glue at this junction very hard to do, which is why it still exists I guess.  There is very fine detail like the access doors and rivets nearby which will be harmed by sanding, so I need to tread lightly while covering the detail with masking tape to protect it.  With CA glue you really need to dig to remove it, so hopefully with care I can eliminate this seam while retaining this detail.

 

 

 

 

X4JHt4.jpg

 

 

Later,

Chuck

Edited by chuck540z3
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26 minutes ago, Slartibartfast said:

You're leaving the sink mark on the port LEX?

 

Yup- and a few other ones as well.  One problem with this detailed photography- with a light source at an angle on this glossy finish- is that it reveals every imperfection, some of which are not noticeable with the naked eye under normal lighting.  The LEX sink mark is one of them.  That, and the fact that this can only be seen underneath, makes the fix not worth the hassle.  Now if it was on the top, and I bet I find some more later, they will all be repaired for sure.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

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Chuck

 

Beautiful work as always and as far as shows go it's all politics. I have never entered a show but have judged at show's and it sometimes comes down to if the builder is a club member or not (club member always wins) at certain shows.

 

Don

 

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July 19/19

 

 

Well that didn’t take long.  That seam flaw, among other small items was driving me crazy all day at work so as soon as I came home, I got right on it and had them fixed in about 1 ½ hours.

 

 

First, here is the offending seam and why it’s such a pain to fill and create a smooth finish.  This is probably the worst fit on the entire kit, and there are many!

 

 

Iy83sn.jpg

 

 

And after paint.  Still there and since I’m doing surgery anyway, I may as well fix that sink mark in the LEX that I was going to leave alone since it’s on the bottom anyway.

 

 

ve8OUA.jpg

 

 

Fixing it after paint is not so easy, but after too much experience with this situation, here is what I did.  First, I masked off the small detailed areas so that I could sand the seam without eroding them off.  Note that the paint is attracting dust already!

 

 

iILUBy.jpg

 

 

Since the CA glue is tough, especially after drying so long, I used fairly coarse 400# sandpaper until I had the black lines of the seam and sink hole revealed.  I then added CA glue to these black marks, let it dry, then sanded it down again.

 

 

DabZ2R.jpg

 

 

I then used 1,000# sandpaper and smoothed out the sanded area and the paint on the fringe to eliminate any sharp edges.  Once that was done, I masked off another area near the intakes for further repairs.

 

 

tnOsbu.jpg

 

 

This area was just sanded, along with other small flaws that I found later.  Finally, everything was smoothed out with Mr. Laplos polishing cloths in 4,000# and I used compressed air to remove most of the dust.

 

 

CZKSUi.jpg

 

 

I am happy to report that the seam is now gone, along with the sink marks and other small flaws.  There is still a small step at the junction of the intakes and the old seam, but that would take a huge effort that just isn’t worth it underneath a model that will never be seen.

 

 

BQjYQZ.jpg

 

 

The funny thing is, almost all of this will be covered with the big fuel tank anyway, but I’m glad this annoyance is behind me.  Next up when this dries, the top paint!

 

 

Cheers,

Chuck

Edited by chuck540z3
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On 6/18/2019 at 6:43 AM, chuck540z3 said:

The landing gear, doors and hardware are ready for final assembly.

 

 

DherVe.jpg

 

Cheers,

Chuck

Hi Chuck,

 

Do you plan to add some wiring to the landing gear legs?

 

Cheers

Bill

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9 hours ago, SERNAK said:

Hi Chuck,

 

Do you plan to add some wiring to the landing gear legs?

 

Cheers

Bill

 

Yup, but nothing crazy, since the gear doors are on the outside hiding most of the gear leg.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

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July 20/19

 

 

When I’m in the modeling zone, I am possessed, so another quick update on painting 3 days in a row.  After finishing the bottom of the jet and getting a procedure and rhythm of what I should do, I got after the upper part of the model and low and behold, that bloody fuselage seam was worse up top!  Back to the drawing board all over again.

 

 

xrWnzp.jpg

 

 

And this is why.  Nothing really fits front to back…

 

 

xG4jd3.jpg

 

 

fjSUVT.jpg

 

 

So after a few hours of careful sanding this evening and re-painting, it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.  I took a little heat earlier for painting a “plain black jet”, but I think this baby will look awesome with big red Soviet stars and bright red placards and other markings.  I’ll just let the pics do the talking now….

 

 

ZvJh1B.jpg

 

 

PUQsh7.jpg

 

 

With poor fitting gun doors, this area turned out great as well….

 

 

MM7tNd.jpg

 

 

O9LCZp.jpg

 

 

CWDz3l.jpg

 

 

tYDvre.jpg

 

 

jJyyBX.jpg

 

 

d5nlYl.jpg

 

 

 

I still have a few small flaws, but I’ll let this dry for a few days before I try to repair them and get my sticky fingerprints on the nice shiny surface.

 

 

Cheers,

Chuck

Edited by chuck540z3
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that paint finish...AMAZING.  are you just decanting Tamiya gloss black from the rattle can and spraying it through your airbrush?

whatever it is the finish is flawless.

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My god Chuck! I can't believe my own eyes what you have accomplished with this kit. With those kinds of fit issues etc., I would have just finished it for a dark shelf somewhere or thrown in the towel. That is one of the best gloss finishes I have had the pleasure to gaze upon.

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11 hours ago, dylan said:

that paint finish...AMAZING.  are you just decanting Tamiya gloss black from the rattle can and spraying it through your airbrush?

whatever it is the finish is flawless.

 

In a word, Yes!

 

 

For those who might have missed it, this is the template, although nobody makes decals for this VFC-13 jet, so I'll have to compromise with a bit of a "what if" and use VFC-111 decals instead.  Note how clean and shiny it is- and I don't care that it's likely that way just for the air show.  If it looked that way for even 5 minutes, that's what I'm going to try and replicate.

 

SRdWbs.jpg

 

KUj1ea.jpg

 

 

Cheers,

Chuck

Edited by chuck540z3
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12 hours ago, chuck540z3 said:

July 20/19

 

 

When I’m in the modeling zone, I am possessed...

 In the zone?  According to the date you posted, you're in another dimension!  🙃

 

Spectacular work and finish, Chuck.  And to the person(s) that gave you grief over the black finish...😒.  Try to please everyone and not everyone will like it.

 

Keep up the terrific work sir.

 

Mike

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Well...how sexy it is...a lot; how beautiful those red soviet markings are... I'd always prefer the us markings :) but the edits of all those misalignments and fit issues - well done! Absolutely fantastic. I wonder how you didn't edit them before though, even before the riveting and the describing...those were some pretty bold seamlines or at least they look like that in the closeups.

Congrats again on this....juicy "finish" :)

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Thanks Guys.

 

12 minutes ago, my favs are F`s said:

Well...how sexy it is...a lot; how beautiful those red soviet markings are... I'd always prefer the us markings 🙂 but the edits of all those misalignments and fit issues - well done! Absolutely fantastic. I wonder how you didn't edit them before though, even before the riveting and the describing...those were some pretty bold seamlines or at least they look like that in the closeups.

Congrats again on this....juicy "finish" 🙂

 

Well, I thought I did.  Here's the fuselage join before paint.  The join is behind clear CA glue, so it's very difficult to see what is totally removed and what is partially removed.  Also, without making excuses, 90% of these seams would not have shown up on a regular flat finish.  The gloss black magnifies everything like 5X magnifying reading glasses.

 

y7pDTr.jpg

 

Cheers,

Chuck

Edited by chuck540z3
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I was asked at LSP what my painting procedure is, so here it is again in sort of chronological order.

 

  • As with all good paint jobs, the most important thing is to have a smooth and clean surface to begin with.  You can’t spend too much time sanding and smoothing the plastic.

 

  • I bet many of you guys thought I was nuts with all the fairly deep and prominent rivets that I re-punched and scribed all over the place, because it was sort of looking like an overdone Trumpeter kit.  I overdid this detail on purpose, because after a few coats of paint it gets filled by at least 50%, so you need a bit of overkill to still see it after painting.

 

  • I used decanted Tamiya Gloss Black Lacquer in the TS-14 rattle can line of paints.  After decanting the paint and letting it sit overnight with a loose cover, I add about 40% Tamiya lacquer thinner, because I know it is very compatible.  This paint sprays very smoothly and it dries to the touch very quickly.

 

  • I usually use my ultra-fine Iwata airbrush with a tiny 0.18 mm needle for most of my painting of small parts or any Alclad, but for broad spraying of the entire aircraft, the more commonly used 0.3 mm needle works much better, so I use another Iwata airbrush for that.  The smaller needle will work OK for a minute or two, but then it will start to sputter, while the bigger needle rarely does.

 

  • Before you start to paint, remove as much dust as possible and then use compressed air from a rattle can to get the remainder off.

 

  • I set the shut-in pressure on my compressor to a bit higher than normal at 23-24 psi, which sprays at about half that pressure in the 12-16 psi range.  Experiment with the pressure on your setup, because a pressure too high will cause air turbulence and “dust balls”, while a pressure too low will sputter over time.  This spraying pressure is also influenced by a host of other variables, like humidity, air temperature and how much the paint is thinned.

 

  • Fill the paint cup of the airbrush with a pipette at all times, because you don’t want any crap from the lid to get into the cup.

 

  • Have really good light and also directional light, so that you can see reflections to see if the paint is wet vs dull.

 

  • After blowing a clearing shot of paint elsewhere, start spraying near your body and move away from it in one direction.  Get the paint WET, but continue to move on once it is.  If the paint isn’t wet enough it will orange peel and if it’s too wet it will run.  You will find the sweet spot with practice.

 

  • Paint in a continuous motion and always near where you just were.  It might be tempting to stop and paint other areas, but if you do, you could leave ridges of dry paint behind.

 

  • Paint just one horizontal surface at a time so that gravity is working for you and not against you.  This allows you to get the surface nice and wet without any fear of runs. If you’re painting the top (or bottom), don’t paint the sides until the top is dry enough to handle.  When doing the sides, hold the surface horizontal, or 90 degrees to normal.

 

  • The first coat should be quite thin and just enough to cover the model to check for flaws.  When the paint is dry for about 24 hours, fix the flaws, then re-punch rivets or re-scribe surface detail lost in sanding.

 

  • Apply a second coat of paint after removing all dust, but this time thicker and wetter than the first.  When dry, spot check and lightly sand out any crap that always manages to find its way onto the surface.  Spot paint the repaired areas, but not the whole model, to reduce paint build-up in the details.

 

  • Let dry for about 48 hours before handling it with your hands for any length of time.  While seemingly dry to the touch, oil on your hands can create fingerprints that need to be sanded out and repaired.


That’s about it and like all painting, practice, practice, practice to come up with a routine that works for you.

 

HTH,

Chuck

Edited by chuck540z3
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Chuck,

   Fantastic progress as per your usual standard!  I know you mentioned markings weren’t available for the specific airframe pictured above.  Have you ever considered custom vinyl masks to get the markings/identification numbers you are after? 

 

Steve

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19 hours ago, Falconxlvi said:

Chuck,

   Fantastic progress as per your usual standard!  I know you mentioned markings weren’t available for the specific airframe pictured above.  Have you ever considered custom vinyl masks to get the markings/identification numbers you are after? 

 

Steve

 

Thanks Steve,

 

Yes I have and have used them before as shown below, but most of the placards are way too tiny for masks.  If I'm going to use some decals, I may as well use all decals, but I have a plan to make the edges of them disappear- or at least be less noticeable.

 

oRB59E.jpg

 

wPcigy.jpg

 

Cheers,

Chuck

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