Hobbyboss 1/48 F-111D/E Aardvark

Post by **Paul** » Mon Nov 18, 2013 11:33 pm

Great job ben, the engines look great which metal paints did you use?

The mk2 dark dirt is much better eh?

Post by **Coen** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 1:28 am

This is first rate work Gupp!!
Great use of tricky metal finishes buddy!
No easy task.

Post by **Nige201980** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 6:59 am

Engines look superb mate.

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 7:13 am

Paul wrote:Great job ben, the engines look great which metal paints did you use?

The mk2 dark dirt is much better eh?

Cheers dude I used citadel boltgun metal and chain-mail. Shame they don't make these any-more they airbrush really well.
Yeah the mk 2 is great stuff.

Coen wrote:This is first rate work Gupp!!
Great use of tricky metal finishes buddy!
No easy task.

Nige201980 wrote:Engines look superb mate.

DC87 wrote:Outstanding Ben, those washes have done a superb job - nice metallic finish too

Thanks guys shame these wont be seen but was good practice.

http://www.youtube.com/user/longlance67 · Post by **longlance67** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 8:43 am

Stunning work Ben,

just been catching up on this build, and been enjoying every page, so much detail

great work my friend

Shane.

Post by **Radzy** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 8:45 am

Whoa! Those engines kick ass! Great finishing on them mate.

Post by **UKscalemodeller** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 9:45 am

some great work going on there, the internals look nice.

Website · Post by **Gav0909** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 11:39 am

Gupp, the engines on the Aardvark look sweet dude, excellent work!

Post by **chief5437** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 2:22 pm

Good skills mate! Looks great so far.

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 6:21 pm

Cheers guys expect more tonight

http://m.youtube.com/user/MrBobsBuilds · Post by **Rob** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 8:59 pm

More tonight? Excellent!
Lovely stuff Ben. More please!

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 10:19 pm

Right time for the promised update.

Most of the large pieces have now been fitted.

Upper fuselage fitted with no issues to report.

Cockpit and rudder in place

The rest of the control surfaces in place.

The jet exhausts dry fitted and they fit perfectly.

Front canopy glass masked and fitted

Also fitted intakes and some small detail on the upper fuselage.

So this is how she stands after tonight. next will be adding all the smaller detailing parts etc.

Not long before the paint can start going down and really happy so far.

As always comment and criticism/suggestions welcome.

Post by **spruecutter** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 11:03 pm

T3hGuppy wrote:As always.....suggestions welcome.

Just one - you need a bigger bench.

Looking good mate:thumb2:

Post by **JayCub** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 12:02 am

Just browsed the work log Guppy, and i really like the amount of detail you have captured through-out and comments you made to show the real highlights, terrific stuff

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 1:39 pm

Cheer guys reply enjoying this one now it's looking more like the finished article spurring me on to get it ready for paint. More updates tonight!

Post by **Paul** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 2:01 pm

Looking good Gups, I've said it before she's a big old bird

Website · Post by **Gav0909** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 2:32 pm

Man that's a good size isn't it! Looking good there mate, excited to see this thing get some paint on it now!

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 10:57 pm

Doing a bird this side is a good challenge and really rewarding.

Hopfully I want bugger it up doing something stupid lol.

Anyway tonughts progress. all about the details now so not much change.

Pylons done not sure what I want to mount on them yet but 3 for each wing will make for a nice loadout.

Main canopy masked and fitted. also some small pieces to block off the join between the wings and fuselage. these took some delicate positioning to fit flush.

Adding underside details still a few more to go.

So not much more to do construction wise.

Front and main landing gear.
Bay doors.
Armament.

Then will be on to painting!!

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Thu Nov 21, 2013 9:26 pm

Right tonights update!!

First I fitted the one and only after market part I bought for this kit the pitot tube.
This is from Master-model a Polish company I picked this up at Telford.

And yes I have already stabbed myself with it TWICE!!!

So on with this updates main show!
The armaments.

And you get plenty of choice with this kit. 6 sprues just for the bombs missile and other stores.

The instructions have a nice table and diagram to so what goes where.

Took me a while to decide what I wanted to do.

The finished load-out should look impressive on the finally product.

So next I need to check her over and fill a couple of gaps from mistakes Ive made in construction.
I am going to leave the landing gear safe on the sprue for now.

As always comments and criticism welcome.

Post by **Paul** » Thu Nov 21, 2013 9:52 pm

That thing is certainly well armed

Looking good, nice bit of AM too

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 7:23 am

Paul wrote:That thing is certainly well armed

Looking good, nice bit of AM too

Yeah and plenty of choice and extras for the bits box.

I will deffo be using master model again good prices and very high quality work.

Post by **EasyEight96** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 11:49 am

Wow its very huge

best of luck completing it guppy

Post by **Nige201980** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 2:40 pm

looking great mate and you are spoilt for choice with the bombs and what have you lol

http://www.youtube.com/user/longlance67 · Post by **longlance67** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 2:43 pm

guppy,

lovely work, she certainly is a big bird

great work mate

Shane

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 7:55 pm

Thanks for the comments guys.

Will deffo be doing something smaller for the next build lol.

So update time. Heres what was done over the weekend.

Cockpit colour on the canopy (Finally remembered to do this on a build!)

Primed grey did this over a day due to the size of it.
Managed it in the end though

Alittle bit of pre shading

so many rivet and panel-lines.

So this will be it on the main bird till I get paid on wednesday and can order the colours I need.
Plenty to work on though landing gear to be built and weapon load and jet nozzles need some paint.

And as always all your tips/comments welcome.

Post by **Nige201980** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 8:08 pm

it really is a big bird mate great job on all those panel lines.

Post by **fly1ngdutchm4n** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 8:20 pm

Dang!

she grows up beautiful!

Nice work guppy

Post by **Radzy** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 8:23 pm

Nice progress, Gupps. These preshading lines look like veins

Cheers,
Radek

Post by **JayCub** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 10:14 pm

That is a really big bird, when i saw it in the spray-booth it dawned on me the scale of it, great updates Guppy

and waiting for more.

Post by **Paul** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 11:37 pm

Great work gupps

Post by **spruecutter** » Wed Nov 27, 2013 12:27 am

I can imagine it was a bit of a job to move it around in the spray booth. The pre-shading looks like it will give a nice effect with the base coat on.
Great work

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Mon Dec 02, 2013 7:53 pm

Right guys an update.

So I started the paint work.

First the red for the flap interiors.

Went on nicely but did show me an error I made during the build with the left side front being in the fully closed position.
(But I have a plan to explain this on the finished bird).

Then it all went horribly wrong.

First the light brown went on and could not get the paint to spray right atall.

Got it mostly down.

Then the green

First colour was way to dark and second way too light.

So I had enough of the green and decided to come back to it latter.

The brown.

This did spray nicely and went on okay.

This this is where I'm at and really not happy with it atall.

Thinking I might be able to reprimer as my layers are pretty thin.

Going to put it aside for awhile whilst I decide what to do. But not a happy camper atm!!!

As always comments welcome and any suggestions too please.

Post by **Nige201980** » Tue Dec 03, 2013 8:11 am

looks ok to me mate but i know what you mean about not being happy at this stage i was the same with the mirage but has it was brush painted i couldn't repaint it hope you have better look if you do.

Post by **Radzy** » Tue Dec 03, 2013 10:21 am

Great update, buddy.
That one11 comes along really nicely, good work on this camo pattern.
Cheers,
Radek

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Tue Dec 03, 2013 9:07 pm

Cheers guys I'm sure I can make it work somehow.

So with the main bird on hold I thought id crack out the Mr Metal buff-able paints.

The spray very well straight from the bottle.
To a matt dark grey finish,

Then I set to the buffing with some paper towel.

Bit of a comparison shot before and after.

And the finished nozzles.

Word of warning the paints didn't smell too bad with my spray booth on but the thinners stink really badly for clean up.

I will deffo be using these again and I do have a few other colours to try.

Tomorrow I am going to start work on the bombs and other stores.

As always comments and criticism welcome

Post by **Paul** » Tue Dec 03, 2013 10:10 pm

Great job gups, try using your finger to buff them too I think it gives a better effect

Post by **UKscalemodeller** » Wed Dec 04, 2013 10:19 am

loving the camo

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Wed Dec 04, 2013 9:52 pm

Paul wrote:Great job gups, try using your finger to buff them too I think it gives a better effect

Gave it ago and really does give a more natural finish.

So tonights progress.

Spent the time getting the base colours down for the armament.

Decided on the white to practice some finer airbrush control and blend it on top of the grey base coat.
Not really needed but I kinda like the finish

Once details gloss coats and decals are added this will tone down a fair bit.

And thats the lot for today. Planning on re priming the bird tomorrow ready for camo try number 2 at the weekend.

As always any comments welcome and encouraged.

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Mon Dec 16, 2013 10:49 pm

Right so update time.

I haven't forgotten this one she stares at me accusingly in her re-primed state lol.

(Paint me!!!!)

I have been working on the stores for this one and pretty happy with the look of them so far.

These are all klear coated and ready for decals.

That's it for now I plan on restarting the camo on this bird soon with a slight change in colours that might not be as accurate but more to my liking.

As always comments welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 7:55 am

Time for another update on this one.

Got the tan colour sprayed.

And started work on masking it off with good old white tack worms.

Decided to mask to get a harder edge on this one.

Tonight will be finishing the masking and getting the green down.

Post by **Tiger131** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 8:00 am

sorry i missed all your build thread thats one big ass jet..and love the build and paint work so far guppy i will keep up with this now bud

Post by **Paul** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 11:00 am

Good,luck gupster

Post by **jmar829** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 2:22 pm

Good luck with the paint re-do. The first brown color looks like it treated you better this time. Amazing work on the wheel bays.

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 6:21 pm

Tiger131 wrote:sorry i missed all your build thread thats one big ass jet..and love the build and paint work so far guppy i will keep up with this now bud

Lol sometimes theirs so many posts some can get missed lol.

Paul wrote:Good,luck gupster

jmar829 wrote:Good luck with the paint re-do. The first brown color looks like it treated you better this time. Amazing work on the wheel bays.

Yeah paint went down much petter this time. Thank they are not 100% to my liking yet.

Post by **chief5437** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 11:53 pm

Good recovery mate, hope the rest of it goes to plan! Can't wait to see it finished, keep it coming!

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Tue Dec 31, 2013 10:28 pm

Right so finally after a slightly longer break than expected work has restarted on this big bird.

Finished up the base colours for the camo.

Next job will be to go back over and lighten the panels and tidy up a couple of spots of bleed.

Might even get this finished before the group build is over.

Post by **Paul** » Tue Dec 31, 2013 10:38 pm

Camo looks great mate, you gonna be done in time?

Post by **Lee** » Wed Jan 01, 2014 8:04 am

That's a beast Ben!

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Wed Jan 01, 2014 9:42 am

Paul wrote:Camo looks great mate, you gonna be done in time?

It gonna be a close one I think but should be able to get it done. got today and 2 weekends left!!

Post by **Nige201980** » Wed Jan 01, 2014 1:02 pm

That camo looks ace mate really hope you can manage to get it finished.