Mike C Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 (edited) OK... I got bitten by the crazy bug again. After I finished my last project (Su-47 Berkut), all of a sudden I got this urge to rebuild all the models that I built when I first got into plastics almost 3 years ago. I found myself going into autopilot... I picked up the very first F-22 Raptor that I built... Italeri's 1/72 version. I haven't quite decided what I'm going to do with this bird. All I know is I will end up building this as another WHIF/fictional bird. This kit was originally built wheels down, with all the missile bays open. The first thing I did was brushing fairly generous amount of mineral turpentine over the wheel and missile bay doors to "unglue" 'em. Took a few tries over several days before they came off... along with the Sidewinder bays and one of the main gear bays! :D With sheer luck, both Sidewinder bays fell out, but the main gear bay is still rattling around inside the plane! :lol: When I first built this bird, I just started using airbrush. I painted the whole plane with Tamiya acrylics, so stripping off the old paint was pretty easy. I simply rubbed it all off using methylated spirit. The plane wasn't in a great state before I started "bashing" it, and it got worse when I was done stripping off all the paint! Funnily enough, the thing that upset me the most was losing one of the front wheel bay doors! Here are some pics that I took after I reinstalled the missile bay doors. I've done a bit more work since I took these pics but haven't got the chance to upload 'em yet. I'll do that tomorrow (hopefully). Edited October 26, 2017 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted April 10, 2011 Author Share Posted April 10, 2011 (edited) I used Milliput to plug the large gaps on main missile bay since I lost the original parts that were meant to go there. I also decided to use Milliput to plug the gaps on the top of the jet intakes, as well as to fix chipped plastic. As I mentioned previously, I lost one of the front wheel bay covers. Rather than trying to scratch build it, I decided to simply fill the front wheel bay with more Milliput. Looks pretty bad, I know, but... I know that I don't have the patience, nor skill, to scratch build the lost cover anyway. Edited October 26, 2017 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 (edited) Been chipping away at this thing slowly.... Like the F-15D rebuild, I came close to running out of steam on this. Since last update, I decided to finish off the left-over Tamiya Grey Surface Primer on this bird, and found more need for putty and sanding in quite a few places... Did a bit more puttying and sanding today. I then gave it a quick rub with 1200-grit sandpaper, then gave it a quick wash. I'm still unsure what colour scheme I'll use for this bird. Anyone got any ideas? The more colourful, the better! Edited October 26, 2017 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Eric2020 Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 How about an Japanese Aggressor bird? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MattC Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 What about the "Miss Demeanour" hunter scheme? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 Thanks... I'll put them on the list.... Keep 'em comin'! I've just thought of something... I might try to spray an eagle silhouette on the back using a stencil, or.... something akin to GDI logo carrying a thunderbolt on its claw. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MattC Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 (edited) Oooh ooh an idea, you know the USN Aggressor birds with a MiG 17 outline stencilled on as the camo? http://s362974870.onlinehome.us/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=229627 Why not do it grey, and then stencil an Su27 onto its back with the ukranian blue/grey splinter scheme? http://img509.imageshack.us/i/su272va7.jpg/ Edited April 24, 2011 by MattC Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted April 24, 2011 Author Share Posted April 24, 2011 Oooh ooh an idea, you know the USN Aggressor birds with a MiG 17 outline stencilled on as the camo? http://s362974870.onlinehome.us/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=229627 Why not do it grey, and then stencil an Su27 onto its back with the ukranian blue/grey splinter scheme? http://img509.imageshack.us/i/su272va7.jpg/ Hoooollllyyyy..... WICKED!!! The masking for Flanker's splinter scheme will most likely drive my crazy, but... DANG! That is something I MUST try to do!!! In fact........ I might even do something like that to my F-15D rebuild as well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted April 29, 2011 Author Share Posted April 29, 2011 (edited) OK.... I'm beginning to doubt that I will make an attempt to stencil another plane's outline over this, as suggested by MattC. As cool as that would be, I seriously doubt I'd have the tenacity to pull off something like that. Instead, I will most likely just use weird colour scheme on this junk. I've already got some plans forming in my head. But you'll have to wait a bit before I disclose what it may be... In the meantime, I used this bird to test Citadel's metallic paint. OMG!!!! I think it's even better than Mr Metal Color!!!! For me, it's the perfect metallic colour. I mixed roughly 3 parts of Chainmail (which is somewhat similar to Mr Metal Color's Stainless) with 1 part of Codex Grey, thinned with distilled water at 1:1 ratio, then airbrushed over this bird. Astounding result!!! In my eyes, the coat looks extremely close to actual Raptor coat (at least the ones that took part in Avalon 2011 Air Show). The pigment on the Citadel metallic is soooo fine! No wonder Citadel paints cost almost twice as much as Gunze and Tamiya, and almost 4 times as much as LifeColor. At the moment, I'm trying to find the closest alternative to Codex Grey in LifeColor range for cost reasons. I have a hunch that LifeColor's FS36118 might be the closest.... Edited October 26, 2017 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted June 5, 2011 Author Share Posted June 5, 2011 (edited) I haven't really worked on this that much since I could not quite make up my mind on what to do on this thing, until recently.... I now know what I'm gonna do, but not sure how it'll turn out. Anyway... masked and sprayed Tamiya Titanium Gold on the nose, then using Blu-Tack, masked and sprayed the centre upper fuselage with a little concoction that I hope to use as the dark metallic grey camo on my future Raptor build (got a Revell and an Academy in the stash). Up next (I think/hope) is more Blu Tack masking and light misting of... something (haven't decided on the colour yet). Thanks for looking! Edited October 26, 2017 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted June 14, 2011 Author Share Posted June 14, 2011 (edited) Over the course of a week or so, I gradually put on some Blu Tack sausages across the fuselage. Made the paper mask tonight. Thanks for looking! Edited October 26, 2017 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted June 20, 2011 Author Share Posted June 20, 2011 I've finished spraying the top part of this bird, but I'll hold off posting pics to keep the suspense.... I'm still deciding what to do on the bottom part...... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted July 10, 2011 Author Share Posted July 10, 2011 (edited) OK... I'm declaring this rebuild project as finished. I won't bother putting these pics on The Display Case thread Thanks for being a loyal follower of this thread. Edited October 26, 2017 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aigore Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Wicked flames!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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