Global Scale Modeller

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2017 11:08 pm

It makes me wonder where the $200 jump in price is...it can't be that much more plastic between 1:48 & 1:32

Nice sunny morning here in melbourne
Got the missiles, bombs and flir clear coated with some x22 in prep for the decals



And the part I missed from the front gear bay

Spent the afternoon playing around with some paints... ive had the Vallejo primer, only used it once with horrible results... have since learned I was spraying at too high a pressure
I had tried spraying it like my tamiya acrylics.... at about 29psi.... I have since found out that Vallejo needs to be sprayed down around the 10 -15psi mark... whoops
Got a test piece out and tried it at the recommended pressure, much better

So with my new found confidence in mind I shot some primer at my build....

Omg please excuse the blurry photo

The nose repair seems to have worked a treat


Although being black... you can't really see much in the photos... I really didn't think this through very well huh?

But jeez she looks good in black.... more planes should be painted all black.

Might go and try to get some better pics for you all

Alright take 2 on the photos

The nose job



And the overall shot

Nice work, she does look good in black
You are a risky fella shooting the big V primer...sooooo many people have the hate on for it. Not sure I would have the guts
Ultimate primers are almost idiot proof, so I fit right into those

My new Mr Hobby paints smell like hell

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Sun Feb 26, 2017 6:44 am Nice work, she does look good in black
You are a risky fella shooting the big V primer...sooooo many people have the hate on for it. Not sure I would have the guts
Ultimate primers are almost idiot proof, so I fit right into those

My new Mr Hobby paints smell like hell

Yeah I know... I really want the Ultimate black primer.... but im in the middle of my pay fortnight so I can't get it just yet....
Hopefully after I get paid....
Thankfully it turned out ok... I did have left over parts from the F14 which served as a test shoot first.... and I have the tamiya fine grey as a back up if I wasn't happy.

They lacquer based I take it?
When I shot the testors on my phantom then smell almost knocked me over

Fridgy wrote: Sun Feb 26, 2017 6:52 am

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Sun Feb 26, 2017 6:44 am Nice work, she does look good in black
You are a risky fella shooting the big V primer...sooooo many people have the hate on for it. Not sure I would have the guts
Ultimate primers are almost idiot proof, so I fit right into those

My new Mr Hobby paints smell like hell

Yeah I know... I really want the Ultimate black primer.... but im in the middle of my pay fortnight so I can't get it just yet....
Hopefully after I get paid....
Thankfully it turned out ok... I did have left over parts from the F14 which served as a test shoot first.... and I have the tamiya fine grey as a back up if I wasn't happy.

They lacquer based I take it?
When I shot the testors on my phantom then smell almost knocked me over

Oh yeah, they are lacquer...unholy godawfuly smelly
I will wait for the spray booth before I open those up again

Smart to do a test shoot first.
Just be real careful handling the plane and taping anything as one complaint is it just peels off right down to the plastic.

Happy Sunday

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Sun Feb 26, 2017 4:14 pm

Oh yeah, they are lacquer...unholy godawfuly smelly
I will wait for the spray booth before I open those up again

Smart to do a test shoot first.
Just be real careful handling the plane and taping anything as one complaint is it just peels off right down to the plastic.

Happy Sunday

Hmm crap I hadn't heard about that happening....

Good thing I don't need to mask much for this build

Enjoy your Sunday..... the downside to a +11hr timezone is that it is now Monday morning

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Sun Feb 26, 2017 6:44 am Ultimate primers are almost idiot proof, so I fit right into those

Awwww man don't you just hate it when your favorite hobby store doesn't stock the Ultimate products you want??

Nice progress! Do you always use blue tack to mask the cockpit and engine bays?

I would think it is difficult to remove all of it after painting.

Elve1984 wrote: Mon Feb 27, 2017 2:09 pm Nice progress! Do you always use blue tack to mask the cockpit and engine bays?

I would think it is difficult to remove all of it after painting.

I usually use a mixture of tape and blu tack. I have seen people using sponges.... but im not sure I trust that method, knowing my luck I would use the wrong type of sponge and ruin my work

I use sponges aswell. i use the type that comes with computer hardware as a packing material. I used it aswell on my F-18 to mask the cockpit. I taped the cockpit Wall's and then inserted a piece of sponge. it is visable on one of my pic in my Build threat.

Elve1984 wrote: Tue Feb 28, 2017 2:00 pm I use sponges aswell. i use the type that comes with computer hardware as a packing material. I used it aswell on my F-18 to mask the cockpit. I taped the cockpit Wall's and then inserted a piece of sponge. it is visable on one of my pic in my Build threat.

Ahh yes I did see that
To be honest this is the first build I have really gotten into the hobby fully (filling and sanding gaps and steps, pe belts etc) and to be honest I'm a little worried about trying new masking techniques (I have some sponge material that an a/c pc board came in) and I would hate to mess up my cockpit at this point.
I have a 1/72 airfix P51 that has parts missing... I might build her up as a test bed for the sponge masking and see how it works

Got some compressor time this afternoon

OMG model air sprays beautiful!

A 50/50 mix of model air and distilled water.... a few drops of my newly aquired retarder, air pressure set at approx 15psi and even with my cheap Chinese airbrush it came out so beautifully. Had a little tip dry while I was inspecting for parts I may have missed or needed another coat.... but hey its 34C this afternoon. Nothing that I little water on a cloth couldn't fix though

Anyway that's enough of me gushing about paint here is the pic. Underside coated in Vallejo 70.990 (Fs36375 light grey)


Topside will hopefully get masked up tomorrow and shot with model air 71.120 (Fs36320 dark ghost grey)

Ok so with the hot weather here, I was able to mask and get the topside painted tonight. Again the model air sprayed beautifully. Will get photos up tomorrow morning.
One thing I did notice, at this stage it is a very subtle difference between the 2 shades of grey

Indeed, don't do anything you aren't comfortable with. Nice paint job by the way.

Well here she is....
Not the best phtoo, but hey late start for me today and haven't had my 2nd coffee yet

Smoooooooooth
I would do a Tamiya tape test on some scrap styrene and see how that primer holds up
Has a bad rap for peeling away

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Wed Mar 01, 2017 11:18 pm Smoooooooooth
I would do a Tamiya tape test on some scrap styrene and see how that primer holds up
Has a bad rap for peeling away

So far so good mate.
I was a little nervious with it, so I sprayed the underside colour way over where it needed to be so that when I had to mask the primer was all covered and I haven't had any problems (touch wood) only have the spine to do in Oxford blue now and some small detail painting left to do

And all the main colours are complete!

Was able to shoot the Oxford blue this afternoon, I must admit though, Oxford blue looks very purplish to me



Just need to unmask the cockpit and canopy and clear coat everything then I can move on to decals

Started some of the detail painting

Got the vents, chaff ports, engine vents done

It's looking good!

Thanks guys

so im thinking I might redo the topside grey... as mentioned before, there really isnt much difference between the greys top and bottom as it is
not overly sure though, might have to ponder/research a bit more

where as you can see in this pic, it is quite a contrast between the lighter grey on the underside to the topside grey

Ok so I have resprayed the topside to bring it closer inline to the above photo. I also changed the lay out of the blue on the spine. The instructions had it a lot thicker that the photos of the real plane. Will post some pics tomorow when I can get some better light

Looking good. The PE really pops.

So pics as promised

All masked up... again


And voila!

The spine colour I made a thinner stripe to be more in line with the real aircraft. You can see in the photo above how much thinner I made it.


A much better contrast between the 2 greys now




The colours are now,
topside: 71.277 dark gull grey fs36231
Underside: 70.990 light grey fs36375
Spine 70.807 Oxford blue

Comments and feed back are always welcomed

...and then you add kangaroos, koalas and dingos on the tail, Ya???
wait, what, huh, was that a boisterous stereotype I typed????

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Sat Mar 04, 2017 1:04 am ...and then you add kangaroos, koalas and dingos on the tail, Ya???
wait, what, huh, was that a boisterous stereotype I typed????

Nah... maybe a kangawallafox or 2, some aussie pride flags and some Bogan southern cross tattoo's (ahem decals)

Fridgy wrote: Sat Mar 04, 2017 1:07 am

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Sat Mar 04, 2017 1:04 am ...and then you add kangaroos, koalas and dingos on the tail, Ya???
wait, what, huh, was that a boisterous stereotype I typed????

Nah... maybe a kangawallafox or 2, some aussie pride flags and some Bogan southern cross tattoo's (ahem decals)

Uh ya, right...you were speaking English there, no???
Damn, I forgot boomerangs. How did I forget boomerangs it should have come back to me right away
I am watching silly videos on kangawallafoxes now...thanks for that

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Sat Mar 04, 2017 1:16 am

Fridgy wrote: Sat Mar 04, 2017 1:07 am

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Sat Mar 04, 2017 1:04 am ...and then you add kangaroos, koalas and dingos on the tail, Ya???
wait, what, huh, was that a boisterous stereotype I typed????

Nah... maybe a kangawallafox or 2, some aussie pride flags and some Bogan southern cross tattoo's (ahem decals)

Uh ya, right...you were speaking English there, no???
Damn, I forgot boomerangs. How did I forget boomerangs it should have come back to me right away
I am watching silly videos on kangawallafoxes now...thanks for that

You should try drop bears next.....

Spent a little time at the bench yesterday.

Got the radome painted. Mixed my own colour for this, it's a 50/50 mix of sand yellow 70.916 and green brown 70.879
I think it turn out ok


And redid the vents on the topside again

Got the cockpit rails and inside frames of the canopies painted black


Then as it was a beautiful day here in melbourne the better half and I went and had a picnic

Looks lovely
I am off for a dog walk in the snow and then shovelling
Who the F ordered more winter
enjoy your sun

Finally found some time to spend at the bench today

Got the arresting hook, refueling probe and probe door painted





Got some vents on the underside painted... which I didn't get photos of

And managed to get the topside gloss coated in prep for decals

Got the decals finally started






Really must admit I am not a fan of these decals
Once soaked in water there is a waxy type of substance lifting off the paper.... seems to not have effected them but it is a pain in the butt to clean up

Also the low vis stencils are grey on the decal sheet but after soaking them come out white..... might have to switch to the kit supplied stencils

Decals are always such a pain in the buns
But they do bring the aircraft to life....she is looking gorgeous
Love the tail decals

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Mon Mar 13, 2017 3:02 pm Decals are always such a pain in the youknowwhat
But they do bring the aircraft to life....she is looking gorgeous
Love the tail decals

Thanks buddy
With all the house hunting we have been doing i haven't had much of a chance to do much work on her

Wow!
13th of March was the last time I got to spend on her... really going to have to get the new house sorted so I can finish her off..... and find time to build my egg plane.....

Pulled her out of storage today

Got the refueling probe installed and the aim 120c's on board



And the landing gear on. Still need to do the doors for the MLG yet though

You have been a busy boy
At least not destroyed or lost in the move
Happy to see F18 's return

One thing I have noticed about this kit... and it may well be operator error...

But the panel lines are not very deep after a coat of primer, base colour then clear coat.

Basically the tamiya panel liner is just wiping off/out of all the panel lines

This maybe be my own fault, perhaps I have put too much paint down??

The external stores have taken the panel liner beautiful as has the landing gear

Interested if other people who have built kinetic kits have had the same problem??

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Mon Apr 17, 2017 5:45 pm You have been a busy boy
At least not destroyed or lost in the move
Happy to see F18 's return

Yeah she survived, in fact the all did. Just had 1 casalty with was one of the pillons on the F14 came off in the move. Will be an easy fix when I get around to it

Fridgy wrote: Tue Apr 18, 2017 3:57 am One thing I have noticed about this kit... and it may well be operator error...

But the panel lines are not very deep after a coat of primer, base colour then clear coat.

Basically the tamiya panel liner is just wiping off/out of all the panel lines

This maybe be my own fault, perhaps I have put too much paint down??

The external stores have taken the panel liner beautiful as has the landing gear

Interested if other people who have built kinetic kits have had the same problem??

just catching up with this build, youve done some great work.

im currently building my first kinetic kit (harrier fa2) and im having the same problems with panel lines. a lot of them are very soft. most annoying is that on one side they are ok but on the mating half they go really soft!

the fit hasnt been very good either, i was thinking about buying the same kit you have, but after seeing the amount of work involved, i think i'll pass!

i have another kinetic kit in the stash (s-2 tracker), i just hope its better.

its so annoying that the kinetic kits seem to be sub-par, as they choose some great subjects.

anyway, good luck with the rest of it buddy

chief5437 wrote: Tue Apr 18, 2017 5:08 am

Fridgy wrote: Tue Apr 18, 2017 3:57 am One thing I have noticed about this kit... and it may well be operator error...

But the panel lines are not very deep after a coat of primer, base colour then clear coat.

Basically the tamiya panel liner is just wiping off/out of all the panel lines

This maybe be my own fault, perhaps I have put too much paint down??

The external stores have taken the panel liner beautiful as has the landing gear

Interested if other people who have built kinetic kits have had the same problem??

just catching up with this build, youve done some great work.

im currently building my first kinetic kit (harrier fa2) and im having the same problems with panel lines. a lot of them are very soft. most annoying is that on one side they are ok but on the mating half they go really soft!

the fit hasnt been very good either, i was thinking about buying the same kit you have, but after seeing the amount of work involved, i think i'll pass!

i have another kinetic kit in the stash (s-2 tracker), i just hope its better.

its so annoying that the kinetic kits seem to be sub-par, as they choose some great subjects.

anyway, good luck with the rest of it buddy

Cheers chief. Glad to know it's not just me

She has taken a bit of work. The biggest issue I've had was the front windshield fitment. No matter what I did there was a step there to be dealt with. And the instructions leave a lot to be desired

Applied a wash to the topside this afternoon.... hopefully it will stick into the panel lines

If not, then atleast it will make her look a little dirty....

Ok so the wash didn't work

So I cracked on with her and have got the MLG doors on


The missiles and external stores on


Boarding ladder attached


All I have left to do is attach the canopy and take some glamor shots of her

And she is done!!







And now she is now sitting proudly with her big sister F4E on the top shelf


Will get some better photos tomorrow afternoon out in the sun.

Overall it was a good kit. Let down by only a few issues
1) the step at the front windshield
2) very shallow panel lines on the fuselage
3) instructions are quite vague in places