graves_09 Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 (edited) Hello Here is my progress on my eventual submission for this group build. This is my first Hasegawa kit and so far so good. I plan to use the FTD VX-9 decals sheet. Please excuse some of the pics, my camera only has auto focus and it doesn't really like doing close ups. Scratch building on the ejection seats Instrument panels. I used acrylic gull gray to cover the panels and then painted enamel flat black over them. I then used a cotton swab with thinner to remove the black from the raised buttons. Set to work on the front office. Pilots in place. Detailed the helmets with coiled wire O2 mask hoses. Added the "bunny" decals to the helmets. Seat belts made from masking tape painted green and some scrap Pt wire bent up for buckles. Other arm added for the pilots and some filler added to the gaps in the arms. I have no idea how i am going to sand this?!? OH yeah, and I added future to the cockpit displays to make them shinny :) (see bottom right of pic) This is only my second "real" model using the tips and techniques seen on ARC. It will also be my first with an airbrush, so this could be a rocky one. Complements and suggestions welcome!!! Edited August 29, 2008 by graves_09 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 Off to a nice start! :) The cockpit and pilot figures look great. Nice idea to "future" the screens. Might want to try that on the pilots' visors as well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lgl007 Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Looking good so far... This may be a late suggestion but I would give the pilot's a quick black wash (Below the neck) then dry brush to bring out the details... likewise the seat belts that you scratch built... just to give it a bit more 'dimension'... otherwise looking to be a cracker of a build... :-) Here's what I mean in terms of adding more 'depth' to the pilots: -Greg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ThunderGrunt Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Looking Good Graves Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcat Tweeker Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 Very Nice Work!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
graves_09 Posted September 15, 2008 Author Share Posted September 15, 2008 Thanks everyone for your complements. I have some more progress to share now. Hopefully I can get some pics taken and up tonight. I might add that I ran into the one of the classic Hase F-14 problems: the main gear bays. they don't line up with the other side when the two fuselage pieces come together so there is a big gap to fill. now that i look into it seems like a common problem with newbie's building the F-14. Any tips for the future? Also I must say I have been somewhat disappointed with the Hase kit. I know there are tons of threads on this so i don't want to but i have to get it off my chest. I have never done a Hase kit so maybe I had some false expectations. It seems like there is a ton of flesh on lot of the pieces. most annoying is the canopy has a huge mold line down the center. the wheel bay thing might be my fault, but annoying too. also a lot of pieces arrived broken or broken off the spruce. fixable but annoying. although most parts have fit well, trying to include pilots in the canopy is impossible without lots of cutting and filing. the instrument panels in the rio cockpit didn't fit well either. the level of detail is great but some of these issues and the high price, i might have to try Revel next time. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
graves_09 Posted September 16, 2008 Author Share Posted September 16, 2008 Some more progress pics mpstly gluing stuff together and sanding %$#% wheel bays as described above fusaloge joined joined lines sanded and rescribed cockpit assembly complete nose gear bay painted Quote Link to post Share on other sites
graves_09 Posted September 16, 2008 Author Share Posted September 16, 2008 (edited) Sanded the engine fairing and assembled exhaust cans A what if tomcat with left over F-15 engines? Nah, just teasing. Those italeri cans belong in the trash!!! Intakes sanded and painted. I used the "pour lots of paint" down the intake method to paint. I didn't use house paint but tamiya acrylic. i needed a few coats but it worked pretty good Assembled LTS Started cutting out the resin Mk83's Edited September 16, 2008 by graves_09 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lgl007 Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 Oh man... that is looking so good! Keep at it. This is one reason I FEAR my Gawa F-14... it's just sitting there laughing at me to build it... I'll need to build up enough courage to tackle it one day :-) Still it'll be worth it in the end. Should be a real CRACKER!!! -Greg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcat Tweeker Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 Lookin' Good there!! The pit turned out real nice!!! Dave Quote Link to post Share on other sites
graves_09 Posted October 25, 2008 Author Share Posted October 25, 2008 I have more progress to report. It has been a while since i posted, my thread went all the way back to page 4 of 5. I starting painting parts some parts and also assembling landing gear fuel tanks weapons etc. the hardest part was the wing assembly. i decided to go flaps down to get the full use of the hasegawa kit. the wings turned out a little "rough" after i painted them. i am pretty sure the problem was not thinning the paint enough. i should have practiced on a plastic bottle first!!! I got it figured out for the other parts though. the gloss black is SHINY!!! i can see my reflection in it! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
POMPEO Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 nice work, the pilots and cockpit are cool [] Quote Link to post Share on other sites
graves_09 Posted November 16, 2008 Author Share Posted November 16, 2008 (edited) I finished painting and decaling my external stores. CTAM phoenix and sidewinder I was really happy with how the sidewinder turned out. believe it or not but it was all painted with masking tape and airbrush. no decals. the silver stripes were hand painted. Again the bombs were painted with masking tape and airbrush. aim-7 used FTD decals fuel tanks with FTD decals engines exhaust with petal decals. i am going to do one exhause open and the other closed. my plane has pilots to i am imagining it as taxiing after landing. painted the outlines of the gear doors by hand. they still need to be decaled and weathered. Edited November 17, 2008 by graves_09 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
graves_09 Posted November 17, 2008 Author Share Posted November 17, 2008 Another update. Masked and painted the canopy. The area around the cockpit is flat black but it appears faded in most pictures so i added two drops of white to the flat black. I was crossing my fingers and to the modeling gods that the paint wouldn't seep through. I think it turned out great. ;) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
graves_09 Posted November 28, 2008 Author Share Posted November 28, 2008 I finally got the guts to glue together the main fuselage to the cockpit portion. I filled and sanded and it turned out pretty good. ARC is great for lot of things, but sometimes it makes things scarier than they really are. I painted the main body of the aircraft and started decaling other sections. Decals I was inspired by other ARC members' work to add some scratch details to my landing gear. I used scrap PEEK tubing we use in lab (360 um diameter) and scrap wire. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jonathan_Lotton Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 Ooo very glossy! Looks good, the fuselage/nose join didnt seem like it gave you too many fits. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
graves_09 Posted November 29, 2008 Author Share Posted November 29, 2008 (edited) Ooovery glossy! Yeah, i think i will dull it down some to semi gloss after I decal. I am sort of torn between realistic (ie less glossy) and what looks cooler (Glossy IMO). I will take the Looks good, the fuselage/nose join didnt seem like it gave you too many fits. I will take that as a complement! :lol: Thanks for looking! Edited November 29, 2008 by graves_09 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
speedlimit Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 Looking good there. Eric Quote Link to post Share on other sites
graves_09 Posted December 5, 2008 Author Share Posted December 5, 2008 All done decaling! I painted on the walkways using FTD masks. I brushed in a bit of baking powder with the wet paint to give a textured effect. I was very happy with the results. I just have to clear coat and do the final assembly. I can smell the finish line!!! Walkways Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DewaGanaZ Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 Looking good mate... I have a 1/48 F-14D as well which i dont have guts to torture it.. (yet..) Anyway, what's with the texture thingy?? Maybe a stupid question but i dont know if the cat have some rough texture... and i see lot of finger prints... carefull man.. i just remember one CSI episode ..the one with the miniature killer... :mellow: keep it up bro....... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
graves_09 Posted December 5, 2008 Author Share Posted December 5, 2008 (edited) Looking good mate...I have a 1/48 F-14D as well which i dont have guts to torture it.. (yet..) Anyway, what's with the texture thingy?? Maybe a stupid question but i dont know if the cat have some rough texture... and i see lot of finger prints... carefull man.. i just remember one CSI episode ..the one with the miniature killer... ;) keep it up bro....... I think the tomcat had anti-skid walkways that were sort of like sand paper. Maybe i overdid the effect some. I think the finger prints just showed up on the camera because of the glossy surface. I don't think (crossing my fingers) that they are part of the paint. I should (hopefully) be able to wipe the off before clear coating. Thanks for looking Edited December 5, 2008 by graves_09 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jimz66 Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 Almost there Graves don't give up now the end is near. Keep going. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Looking really nice! Thanks for mentioning your technique for grey buttons on instrument panels - I had never thought of that. How much time did you allow between enamel paint application and wiping off with thinner? Did you let it dry thoroughly? Do you know if leaving it too long before wiping off would prevent use of this technique? I'm not a Tomcat expert, but the matte "sandpapery" walkways look perfectly logical to me. Lots of aircraft have these, and the effect you have given them looks realistic. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
graves_09 Posted December 12, 2008 Author Share Posted December 12, 2008 Looking really nice! Thanks for mentioning your technique for grey buttons on instrument panels - I had never thought of that. How much time did you allow between enamel paint application and wiping off with thinner? Did you let it dry thoroughly? Do you know if leaving it too long before wiping off would prevent use of this technique?I'm not a Tomcat expert, but the matte "sandpapery" walkways look perfectly logical to me. Lots of aircraft have these, and the effect you have given them looks realistic. ALF Hi ALF--glad you like it. I am also glad my technique helped. I can't really take credit for it, I modified it from an article on the "tip 'n' tools page called "Painting Photo Etched Instrument Panels" by Robert Kwikkel. I can't remember exactly but i think i let it dry to the touch. maybe 1/2 hour or longer. I don't think the drying time would really effect it that much. Paint thinner will always remove enamel paint if you scrub hard enough, but it is probably better to whip it off sooner than later. although i would let the acrylic dry for a few days before applying the enamel. otherwise you might get some problems from paint compatibility. I am currently futuring my model. Hopefully it I can get're done by this weekend. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
graves_09 Posted December 15, 2008 Author Share Posted December 15, 2008 I am finally DONE :o Check the group build submission thread for the main pics Here are some more detailed pics: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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