Floyds F-22 Raptor

[floyd]

Standard Earth Greeting One and All... This shall be my first entry into a SIG, so bare with me!
For this build, I intend to make my best effort at Hasegawa's Egg F-22 Raptor. So without further ado lets get on with it shall we?

The obligatory box/ sprue/ destructions pictures....


This apparently is what it "should" look like!


Bag of goodies...


Instructions & paint guide.




Sprues out of their bags.



If time permits (and more importantly my skill holds up) i also hope to make a small base, possibly a runway, for this to sit on. I've never attempted one before, so it should prove fun!

Thanks for stopping and having a look!

[floyd]

UPDATE NUMBER 1.

Ok then, so on with the build...
After washing the sprues in soapy water, the main parts were removed from the sprues and cleaned up ready for priming.



You can really see the detail in the fuselage here...


With not having made a choice over which pilot i am using yet, both were assembled...


Parts were then primed using Vallejo grey primer and Alclad gloss black primer and micro-filler...


Close up of Boris & Doris. Thinking now that I will be using the open faced figure. I've never painted figures before, good job theres two!


I had (Stupidly?) made a decision at this point that it would be easier to paint the jet exhausts before gluing them into the fuselage, then mask them off whilst painting the rest. I have a feeling this may come back to haunt me, but this is a learning experience for us all!

Thanks for looking!

[Thumboy]

Nice start there floyd looks like a good kit with lots of surface detail.
I would have painted the exhausts seperate as well

Good luck with the rest of the build

[floyd]

UPDATE NUMBER 2.

Thanks for the vote of confidence thumboy much appreciated!

Not much to report today, but finally got round to getting some color onto the beast. As i'm contemplating a move from Vallejo Model Air to Mr Hobby Aqueous, I am trying to use their paints as much as i can for this build. I also have Academy's F-35 Lightning waiting to be built, so i will also be attempting to replicate the metallic sheen that these aircraft appear to have in certain lighting conditions. The painting guide gives directions as to how to accomplish this, so only time will tell...

So i started off preshading the upper and lower surfaces using Vallejo US Grey. I don't want the shading to be too stark, as these aircraft are relatively new, and the paint surfaces are supposedly high maintenance and are kept immaculately clean.





Once the shading had dried, Mr Hobbies H315 Grey FS16440 and Mr Metal Color 211 Chrome Silver were mixed 1:1. Been unable to get SM04 Super Stainless, this looked like the next best thing! After mixing the paints I have to admit i was a little apprehensive, as the resultant color looked far too metallic for what was required.

After spraying a couple of light coats this is the final result:


Got to admit, i am pleasantly surprised at the results. It has a light graphite tone, and when caught in the light does show the metallic effect well. If i was to repeat this though I would probably only use about half the metallic paint to slightly lessen the effect.

[m0rce]

Looking good Floyd, the sensible version.
Look forward to seeing what this kit is supposed to look like
Regards
Sergio

[Hillbilly]

The pre-shading came out great.

[Twokidsnosleep]

The pre-shading came out great.

Absolutely!
I vote the sexy eyes pilot to fly it!!!

[floyd]

UPDATE NUMBER 3.

Hello everyone, hope all is well.
My apologies for not updating in a little while, so this is going to be a bit of a long one!

So after the base colour had dried fully, I started masking for the darker grey camouflage colour. I started off by penciling in the outlines of the areas following the paint guide. This would prove to have its own problems, but more on that later...
After that was completed I started going over the pencil lines with thin strands of Blutack.

Rolling out the Blutack.


After its applied to the airplane.


After it was all applied I masked off all the spaces that i didn't want to paint. My airbrushing skills are not that good to attempt to paint without masking everything off first!!
Mr Hobby H317 Grey FS36231 and Mr Metal Color 212 Iron were then mixed 1:1 and applied in thin coats. I have to say that I'm not so sure that this has the same metallic effect as the base coat even though its mixed to the same ratio.

Once all the masking was removed this is the result.


Once the paint had dried the laborious task of masking the leading and trailing edges began. Looking at the paint guide and where the light colour runs along the upper and lower surfaces, I decided to use some thin blue masking tape I got from eModels a while ago to try pinstriping on another kit as it almost fit the dimensions of the lines exactly. Having never used this tape before (the pinstriping never got done!) I later realised that this stuff sticks like the proverbial to a blanket, and is difficult to remove.
So anyway... using the blue tape as a guide, I went around all the surfaces marking out all the areas that would be painted light grey.


As I said earlier, the pencil lines would prove problematic. As can be seen, when trying to remove them I have managed to also remove some of the paint as well as buff the metallic content of both paints!! Hopefully some of this can be hidden later on.
After this was complete, I infilled the rest of the airframe with Tamiya masking tape cutting in with a sharp blade against the blue tape as a guide. Once this was completed for both upper and lower surfaces the blue tape was removed, leaving a crisp edged area to be painted. It took me HOURS to do so if anyone knows a quicker way of doing it I'm all ears, I have a "proper" version of this in my stash and don't fancy doing it again any time soon!!

Fully masked off.


Ready to paint.


The light coat was then applied by airbrush, this was a 1:1 mix of Mr Hobbies H314 Grey FS35622 and H334 Barley Grey BS4800/18B21.
This is the result:




So thats where I'm at for now peeps, got the dio started and I'll post picks and build info in my next update. Hope your all having as much fun with your builds as i'm having!
Until next time!...


Oh... And just for Twokidsnosleep........

[Twokidsnosleep]

Hey, I am loving it
Great paint work on the camo and the pilot chick!!!!

[peppie]

Beautifull paintwork, if I may say so..

[TommyKillander]

Top notch paint job!

Cool trick with the blue-tac, I understand you freehand airbrushed inside the masking-"rings", right ?

[floyd]

Top notch paint job!

Cool trick with the blue-tac, I understand you freehand airbrushed inside the masking-"rings", right ?

Hi TommyKillander.
To answer your question, no it's not freehand. I placed masking tape over the areas not been painted to prevent over spray with it being so small. I have used the same method when painting the camouflage patern on a 1/72 hurricane and with it being that bit bigger you can get away with free hand painting into the spaces. Just roll the blutack a bit thicker to give yourself bit more of a barrier.
Hope that helps!

[TommyKillander]

Top notch paint job!

Cool trick with the blue-tac, I understand you freehand airbrushed inside the masking-"rings", right ?

Hi TommyKillander.
To answer your question, no it's not freehand. I placed masking tape over the areas not been painted to prevent over spray with it being so small. I have used the same method when painting the camouflage patern on a 1/72 hurricane and with it being that bit bigger you can get away with free hand painting into the spaces. Just roll the blutack a bit thicker to give yourself bit more of a barrier.
Hope that helps!

I was just curious; I would never been able to do that without masking tape

Anyway, it looks really really good.

Cheers

[floyd]

UPDATE NUMBER 4.

Good evening everyone, hope you all had a productive weekend.
I can finally say I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Just praying its not a train coming the other way!
So with a final flurry of masking done, the office was painted flat black, and the jet exhausts were given a coat of Mr Metal Color iron and aluminium. I spent an hour and half masking the exhausts to paint the aluminum stripe over the iron, only to look at the painting guide to realise i had masked off the wrong part!! Moral of the story; CHECK AND CHECK AGAIN BEFORE YOU MASK AND PAINT!!!
I'll save you the agony of looking at yet more pictures of yellow balls of masking tape and just show the finished product:

Oh, i also installed the jet intakes! These were painted the same light grey/ blue as the leading edges with a flat black inner.




Got to love the shine you can get with these paints!!


And just for the hell of it (and because I love this angle!)


So I then masked the canopy and airbrushed the frame. This took a little time as although there appears to be a raised frame no surface ridge actually exists on either the inside or outside surface so I placed the masking tape as best as I could from one side and then carefully repositioned it whilst looking through from the other so i could see the edge of the frame (sounds confusing but I know what I mean).



Whilst that was drying, the wheels were brush painted with tyre black. If i have one criticism of Mr Hobbies paints it's that they don't like being brush painted. Or atleast I cant seem to get a decent coat out of them anyhow, even if i thin them down.



Once the black had dried, having been previously painted gloss white, the wheels and undercarriage were given a liberal going over with Ultimate Concrete wash.





This was allowed to dry for 15 minutes before being removed with a moistened cotton bud/ cue tip. The results speak for themselves (another product that will be seeing a lot more use!! )







SO... With all of that done.... It's time to get the Extra Thin out....



I am REALLY IMPRESSED with how this is looking I just have to do the decals now without stuffing the whole thing up!
I'm also into building a dio for her to sit on and I'll post the build in my next update (I know I said that last time!), but now i have some real progress to share on it.

Thanks for looking in and for your continued support!!

[floyd]

UPDATE NUMBER 5.
DIO BUILD!!!

Good evening folks. So here it is as promised, the much anticipated diorama build...
So I started by sketching out an idea of what i wanted the final dio to look like. I have to admit I borrowed the idea of using a CD case from OutbackModeller's Hasegawee Egg-16 build (they do say the imitation is the sincerest form of flattery). This is what I came up with. Its done to the same dimensions as the CD case, so I know roughly what space i have to work with.



I then began the physical build of the dio by fixing a piece of plasticard to the top of the CD case using plenty of CA and a load of clamps.



Once the glue had cured, I marked out a 1" grid pattern over part of the base that would become the runway using a ruler and pencil. I then scribed this pattern into the plasticard using a Tamiya scribing tool.



Using some grey DAS Modeling Clay I then built up a small embankment to add some background detail and height. I also plan on adding a sign to the banking, but I'm keeping it a secret as to whats on it until later... I also sketched out some of the detail just to see how it would look.



Thanks to my Dad, I have some brass (PE?) lettering and numbering sets kindly donated to the build that will be used for the sign.



The base was then primed using Vallejo grey primer (my primer of choice), and left to dry for 24 hours.
I then went over the scribed areas with Mr Hobbies Flat Black to add some pre-shading before lightly going over it with Vallejo US Grey. This was then allowed to dry overnight.
Light weathering was then applied first using a Humbrol enamel black wash applied into the scribed detail. Once dry this was followed by a liberal brushing of Ultimate Dark Dirt wash over the scribed areas and part of the surrounding area. This was allowed to dry for 20 min before being gently cleaned up with a moistened cue tip/ cotton bud in a streaking motion. I was a bit rough in one area, but the raptor should cover it when its finished.



Whilst waiting for that to dry, the banking was airbrushed using Vallejo dark dirt (I think? ) to give a base colour to the grass once applied. I also added some small cork chips using PVA glue. These were then dry brushed with various earth tones to simulate small stones to break up the edge of the banking and make it look more natural.



Once everything had dried off, summer meadow grass was applied to the bank using PVA glue and a puffer bottle. For anyone that hasn't had the pleasure of using a puffer bottle, it's akin to a talcum powder bottle that you squeeze and the air blows the grass out. Sounds good in theory, but its a bugger to fill and goes everywhere when you use it!! But, it gives reasonable results...



The more observant of you will probably notice that the decals have gone on at this point too..
So next up was to start with the runway markings. When scribing the paving slabs, I purposely made one of the lines run directly down the middle of the runway (Unrealistic I know, But at what point did realism enter this build?) so all of my measurements for the lines can be taken from this point.
I started by marking out the boundary line and the broken taxiway line.



Once masked out they were airbrushed with gloss yellow.



I then used my sketched plan placed over a stip of masking tape to create a template for the center lines by cutting through both layers with a sharp scalpel. This was then lined up with the centerline of the base and stuck down. A light coat of gloss white was then applied to give the appearance of slight weathering and wear.



Once this had dried the solid line for the taxiway and the curved line for the runway exit to taxiway (what's the correct name for this line? does it even have one?) were masked off and painted. The curved line was cut using an Olfa compass cutter, cracking tool, but would be better if it could do smaller circles.





SO there you have it... one diorama... with the exception of the sign.

The Raptor has had the decals applied, and is almost good to go! Just a panel line wash and the vertical stabilisers fixing on and were all done...

See you on the other side!!...

[m0rce]

Great job with the proper raptor paintwork
Base looks fab too.

[Aliktren]

Beautiful work, just really mind blowing, I wish I could mask like that

[floyd]

UPDATE NUMBER 6.

Thanks for the kind comments, very much appreciated

Ok folks, this is the last update before the final reveal!

So to conclude the build, I have made a small sign that sits atop the grass banking. The back of the sign was cut from a piece of mahogany timber left over from one of my Dads builds (he builds period wooden model ships, HMS Diana, Endeavor and the likes). The legs of the sign were cut from lengths of brass rod. Two holes were drilled into the bottom of the wood to insert the brass rod into, the fit being so tight to glue was necessary to secure them in place. To try and remove some of the grane from the wood, it was given a couple of coats of Mr Hobbies surfacer 500. This also served as a primer for later painting.
Once the surfacer had dried and was sanded back, a coat of light grey was applied over by airbrush.
I then started on the lettering for the sign. These were removed from the sprue using a sharp scalpel blade and a Small Shop Photo Etch Cut-Off Set to stop me feeding the carpet monster! When removed they were cleaned up using a Tamiya Photoetch File, and stuck to a piece of masking tape.
They were then primed using Alclad Gloss Black Primer before being given a couple of light coats of Alclad Mirrored Gold.

These are the results:


Once the paint had dried, the lettering was then gently removed from the masking tape by sliding a sharp blade under each letter to gently free it.
I then took measurements from the back of the sign and made myself a template on which I could space the letters, and take measurements from before permanently fixing them to the sign. This was the best layout I came up with; Langley Air Force Base, 192D Fighter Wing (thats where this girl lives and who it belongs too).



I then took measurements from this template, and using masking tape, a couple of clamps and a ruler fashioned a jig for placing the letters on to the sign. They were secured into place using PVA glue. How well this will hold them on for is anybody's guess, but they were that fiddly to get hold of and place i didn't want to risk using CA and fluffing the entire job



When the lettering started going on, I have to admit I was considering binning the damn thing. In my eyes with gold lettering against that grey background (wanted it to look like a main gate sign from an air base) it looked like it belonged on a railway!! No offence to railway enthusiasts, but I wanted something a bit more upmarket than that! BUT I persevered, and thankfully, it looks somewhat how I envisaged.

The legs were then given a coat of AK Interactive True Metal Dark Aluminium, and installed into the Dio.....
But you'll have to wait for the reveal for finished pictures!

Thanks for the comments and support, and ideas i may have borrowed from other builds!

[Twokidsnosleep]

I like the lettering a lot, have to look for those
I have used dry press decals, but like the 3D look of your brass lettering
It is fiddly, but Great Job