Two Vipers

[Niels]

12 hours ago, Thadeus said:

One more thing thing, and perhaps someone could help me a bit. It would seem the external tanks on the RNoAF jets are lighter. Along with the targeting pod adapter. Or am I mistaken? They seem a bit like 36375, or even a little bit lighter. I don't know about the other pylons - it would make sense if they were all same colour, but then again so would it make sense for the fuel tanks to be the same colour as the jet itself.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

RNoAF correctly have tanks and pylons in FS36375, while the F-16 otherwise is FS36270. Some argue FS26270, depending on how shiny you prefer you model? Nobody will kill you if you paint tanks and pylons in FS36270 too, I have for the one I am currently about to put decals on. 
As always, reference pictures is the way to go. 

[Mr.Happy]

Thadeus,

 

Thank you for posting this side by build review as it’s very helpful and informative.

 

Keep building,

 

Mr. Happy 

[Thadeus]

On 3/1/2025 at 7:40 AM, Memphis said:

Very interesting project! 

 

Thank You very much.

 

On 3/1/2025 at 9:03 AM, Niels said:

RNoAF correctly have tanks and pylons in FS36375, while the F-16 otherwise is FS36270. Some argue FS26270, depending on how shiny you prefer you model? Nobody will kill you if you paint tanks and pylons in FS36270 too, I have for the one I am currently about to put decals on. 
As always, reference pictures is the way to go. 

 

Thank You very much!! I was beginning to think I was seeing stuff that's not there again. And You know how it is - it might be the light, angle and everything with the photos. But pics from Afghanistan really show the lighter tanks. 

I did paint all the pylons and tanks in Gunze H306, so it's actually a 26270-ish. But I added a few drops of one of the dark grays, as the Gunze paint is just a touch too light. Just forgot which one. I'll probably go for a repaint.

 

On 3/1/2025 at 2:37 PM, Mr.Happy said:

Thadeus,

 

Thank you for posting this side by build review as it’s very helpful and informative.

 

Keep building,

 

Mr. Happy 

 

Thank You Very much. I do like comparing kits of similar subjects. The only downside (is it?) is You have to build two or more kits together. And I keep finding that in 1/48 it gets much harder than in 1/72.

 

So, how about some more paint stuff? I had a bright idea to paint my third Viper in stages. Normally, I'd go over the entire model with the lightest camouflage colour, or at least, where appropriate. But I've recently got a bit full of myself and figured I could pull painting spots in more or less proper places. I did something similar to my HB F/A-18D from VFC-12, and it did kind of worked.

So, first, the Vallejo Dark Ghost Gray (I know, I was quite surprised too!). I kind of like the effect. Of course it's way overdone. But I do find that with Vallejo they look a bit different after 30 minutes or so after painting. So I paint them in several thin layers.

 

 

Some more Vallejo... Ok, I'm noticing my faith in my abilities was a bit overestimated. But I do like the colour (71.318 if You're interested). Nothing was done with the paint other than spraying it in super thin layers. Again, overdid the weathering, but not that much as with the first colour.

 

 

 

And with some more blue colour. This one I did have most trouble with. Out of the bottle (71.111) it seems to be too dark. So I added a few drops of white, but I added like 5 per cup which was too much, so I sprayed the outline and added some more of the blue, which darkened it too much again, and added like 2 drops of white again untill I got what is presented here. I'm not too happy with lack of consistency of the camouflage fading, so I'll probably have to make some tonal variation to the derk blue. Mostly on the elevators and the front section.

 

As You can see, I didn't measure the gray too well with all the other colours.

I don't like repainting, but masking again is something I absolutelly hate doing.

 

 

Yea... This could be a weathering experiment, right?

 

 

Ok, it took me so much time to mask and spray this one so I went in and fixed some light blue areas and gray. And can You see all that tonal variation I did on the radome? Nice one, isn't it? Nom You don't see it? I don't see it either. Hey, at least I tried. It was supposed to be darker than the rest of the airframe.

 

 

Overall however, I've had the most pleasant session with Vallejo paints ever, except perhaps for the metallic colours, which I always enjoy spraying. The colour match was also quite nice. The lighter blue could be a bit more light and the darker one could be more vivid blue, but I guess for the scale effect this is quite nice. Of course should I paint them on the white or gray background, instead of using black as the base colour, this could all change and the colurs coud be more correct.

 

I do have the feeling I'll be revisiting the gray soon. I've not yet tested the fit of the decals, and there are some that are dual coloured.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

[Thadeus]

After some back and forth between the trio, I managed to get to the final painting stages.

 

I did discover that Kinetic Gold intake lip part doesn't fit nicely to the intake. Or at least I can't fit it nicely.

 

 

 

As You can see, I painted the radome and some additional small stuff on the model, and added another top layer of gunze H306. You don't see it right now, but I also repainted the fuel tanks and their pylons gunze H308.

 

 

Somehow, the gloss coat came out quite grainy, I hope gentle sanding will suffice to get it smoother.

 

 

Similar detailing treatment was done to the Kinetic Old kit. I added some tonal variation to the darkest blue as well. I have to say I dislike these older wingtip rails.

 

 

 

As for Tamiya, I cleaned up the front demarcation line, did some detail painting. I actually wish I had done the radomes in reverse colours with the RNoAF bird.

 

 

And the latter two got the gloss coat. Ready for decals!!

 

 

This is a place I would write my glorious plans for this build. Not this time, as I really want to finish them. I already have like 6 or 7 kits planned...

Thanks for stopping by