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Eaglecash867

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Posts posted by Eaglecash867

  1. It was about 2 years ago that I got the kit, and it was probably several months after getting it that I even opened the box.  That part is on me, I get that.  That being said, I could certainly forgive a defect here and there, but every part in that kit was like that.  That doesn't give me a good impression when such a large quality control escape happens like that.  .  I ended up buying resin burner cans for the Mud Hen from Two Mikes that I absolutely love (unfortunately he doesn't make exhaust tubes).  I bought those last summer, and Mike actually delayed production of my set because of the high temperatures in his area.  I don't know...I just really liked the extra effort he went through to get it right the first time.  Anyway, Nicholas asked for pros and cons, so I was just sharing my personal experience with their product that I bought.  Others have had better experience with them.  As Gil said, its a toss-up.

  2. I've gotta weigh in on this subject.  I purchased some of the GT Resin seamless exhausts for my Mud Hen, and with that money wasted, I think using the two piece kit exhausts is going to look acceptable.  The GT Resin ones are horrible quality.  Full of all kinds of pits and bubbles, and sections that just didn't seem to conform well to the mold they were poured into.  Generally, they look like something I could have made myself on a first attempt...certainly not worth the "professional product" pricetag.  Hopefully your experience will be better than mine.  I didn't even get around to working to make them fit since the overall quality and appearance is so awful, I didn't think it would be worth my time.  You can count me as one of the people who will never buy from them again.  Severely disappointing after working with the excellent products of Brassin and Aires.

  3. Not sure what scale you're wanting those in, but Wolfpack makes some 1/72 resin seats for the F-5E/F models.  Their products so far have been extremely high quality.  I bought one of their F-8 J-57 exhausts for a 1/48 F-102A.  It looks fantastic, is seamless, and fit right into my F-102A with minimal modification.  I'm thinking their seats are probably also going to be made to the same high standards.

    http://store.spruebrothers.com/product_p/wpd72082.htm

  4. Thanks Gil!

    Finally getting some modeling time again, but its gonna be sparse for a while.  I had to trim back my ambition a little bit and just focus on the Mud Hen for a while.  Still working on putting all of the switches into the side consoles, but the bucket, PE pedals, and pilot and WSO panels are finished.  Just ordered my styrene strips from Evergreen for scratch-building the throttle levers.  I think that's going to be fairly easy to get right, since I have a HOTAS Warthog right here, and the throttle in the A-10C is the same as the F-15E.

    hzfOuf.jpg

     

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  5. No paint pulling problems at all.  You don't have to push down on it very hard to get it to stay put, and if you roll it off it separates very cleanly.  Never tried the UHU stuff though, so I can't be certain that it has the same properties as the BluTack.  It made a beautiful Euro I camo pattern on the tail of the CAS F-16 I'm building, with smooth, feathered edges.  Damage to the paint came later when I tried applying home-made decals for the first time which had too much varnish on them and made a sticky mess on the nicely painted surface when I hit them with MicroSol.  GRRRR!!!  Oh well...it was a learning experience...but the BluTack did its job with a minimum of fuss.  If it hadn't been for my over-varnished decals, the paint work would have been flawless, even though I had even used that crappy Model Master acrylic paint, which tends to come off really easily.

  6. Beautiful job!

    Not sure if you've worked with the stuff, but BluTack works really well as a camo pattern mask too.  Its easier to shape and I find it stays exactly where you want it better than Silly Putty, without requiring as much pressure to make it stick.  When you remove it, you just start at one corner and roll it off.

  7. Finally got all the tiny handles attached to the Mud Hen panel, so it looks like I've got a good build technique to continue with on the other projects. I opted to ditch the Tamiya decals for the MPCDs, since they look a little cheesy, and just went with MPCDs that look like they're turned off. Used a layered approach with Alclad gold on the backs, and layers of red and green transparent paint on the front to give them the kind of gold/metallic/brown look they actually have when off.

     

    jYrQQ5.jpg

     

    Also got the grey viper's engine bay bulkhead and ADG painted and ready to attach to the engine bay. Intake tunnel components came out smooth and seamless using the white paint/dipping in future technique.

     

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    • Like 1
  8. Hi Mark,

     

    As far as I know, most of the newer compressors have a 1/8" BSP male fitting, and the Paasche hose has a 1/4" BSP female. Your airbrush itself, if its like my Paasche H model, should have an 1/8" BSP male fitting on it. What I ended up doing with mine was to put the old Paasche hose in storage and get a Master Airbrush quick disconnect fitting for the airbrush:

     

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001MKGOUM/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

     

    Then you just get a new airbrush hose with 1/8" BSP female fittings on both ends. Having a quick disconnect mounted directly to the airbrush is pretty awesome...you'll wonder how you ever got along without it.

     

    Eagle

  9. Thanks for the comments guys! WHEW...its been a rough couple of months which has curtailed my modeling time quite a bit, but I did manage to get some progress done on my Vipers. It took a lot of experimentation with different techniques for dealing with what is probably the biggest pain for most jet modelers...the intake tunnels. I ended up making my own sanding tools for getting the seams on the insides down to a tolerable level. I took a chunk of a wire coat hanger and wrapped the loop part of some low-profile velcro around it...and then cut strips of micromesh sanding sheets and put the hook part of the velcro on the backs of those. That way I could take the strips on and off of the coat hangar by wrapping them in a spiral. Just chucked it up in a cordless drill and went to work.

     

    Then came figuring out how to paint the insides. I ruined one Hasegawa intake tunnel by trying the "latex paint pour" method I read about on-line. Not very good results using that method, since there is nothing, chemically, in the latex paint to form a good bond with the plastic. It was very easy to accidentally make a hole in it when polishing, and then it would start peeling away at that hole. I ended up trying something that I hadn't read about yet on a new intake tunnel...using Plasti-Dip and pouring that into the tunnel. That worked really well. It has Toluene in it, so it bonds like crazy with the plastic. Instead of using tape to cover the bottom of the second tunnel while I poured, I used a MUCH simpler method. I cut the finger off a latex glove and stretched it over the end...then just cut it when it was time to drain the Plasti-Dip...the whole thing was then easily slipped right off and disposed of without getting Plasti-Dip everywhere like with the tape method I used with the first tunnel and latex paint. Its acceptable, but if I had to do it again, I would dip it next time after masking the outside. The pour method was a little too quick and trapped tiny air bubbles in a few spots. Still looks pretty darn good though.

     

    Also used the Archer panel line transfers for the first time to put the raised panel lines back on the center portion of the intake tunnel exterior. I had pretty much erased both lines that go back from the sides of the nose gear well while I was removing the seam. They worked GREAT, and were actually really easy to apply.

     

    The Tamiya intake I'll post when I get more visible progress on that. That one I airbrushed, and then dipped in 6 coats of Future...that looks just about perfect.

     

    Here are a few pics of the progress on the CAS Viper, with a couple of close-ups of the intake tunnel.

     

    RBwQf5.jpg

     

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  10. Nice work as always Gil! Just one suggestion. If you're ever planning on making a diorama with it, just be sure to put the huge puddle of jet fuel underneath it to give it that final touch of realism. :smiley2:

     

    Eagle

    • Like 1
  11. Hi Martin,

     

    Have Glass 5 Vipers are also stationed with the 148th FW in Minnesota, 169th FW in South Carolina, and 85th TES at Eglin AFB, Florida They're the overall FS36170 color as far as I know. The radome is FS36118, which is the usual radome paint. They can't use the same radar absorbing paint on the radome, or most other conventional paints, due to the metallic components in most paints...it'll make the radar very unhappy.

     

    Haven't seen one up close and personal yet, but I'm told the new paint doesn't hold up very well and is constantly flaking off and needing attention. A lot of them look pretty beat up already. Not sure if that's the paint itself, or the new "environmentally friendly" primers being used on aircraft.

     

    Eagle

  12. There's some good info in this thread

     

    http://forum.ipmsusa3.org/index.php?/topic/18295-re-sizing-images-decals/

     

    The Tactical Air Command shield on the acetate test sheet in my post there was inserted into my drawing of the tail code and serial number using the "insert reference drawing" in the Draftsight program I link there. You can print in different scales once you get the size right. Two great things about that program. 1) Its vector-based, so you don't get jagged, pixelated printouts like you do with low-cost or free photo editors. 2) ITS FREE! :D

  13. Getting more modelling time again, and the time needed for things to cure and so forth was just seeming like a lot of wasted space in a project. So, I've gotten going on 3, all 1/32 scale.

     

    I usually start with cockpits first, but I just couldn't resist getting the tails going first on the two Vipers. I was inspired by some pics of the 50 Years of YGBSM Viper scheme on the Shaw AFB web-site, and actually found the full decal set for 1/32 scale from Two Bobs. Couldn't wait to get the tail going, because the decals are just so cool. I had to do some modifcations to make it accurate. Removed the ASPJ air scoop, and used Bare-Metal Foil to fabricate a decent-looking BLOS SATCom antenna cover on the base of the tail. Also added the extra static wick to the tail cap by using one of the extra static wicks that came in the Tamiya Block 50 kit. Started using the thinned oil paint/turpentine technique technique for panel lines on this one...and I think I've found my new wash method, at least for AF aircraft that are MUCH cleaner than Navy aircraft.

     

    Mq6XoZ.jpg

     

    Not much to report on the green CAS Viper yet. Had to make a few mods to the tail first. The CAS Vipers didn't have the ASPJ scoop during testing, and I accidentally broke the tail cap static wick off, along with the sensor tube near the top of the leading edge. So, I repaired both items with two different diameters of brass rod, primered it, and just finished laying down the Medium Green base color. I'm making custom decals for that, since they don't exist in this scale. Nothing worth showing on that just yet.

     

    The Mud Hen is getting its cockpit done first. That's going really slowly, because I'm experimenting with kind of a "hybrid" technique between the kit details and Eduard photo etch. In this case, I'm only removing the kit detail from the areas that will benefit from the photo etch. Generally speaking, photo etch is too bright and too two-dimensional, so I'm only using it where the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Eduard has you remove all 3 MPCDs on the pilot panel, all the way to the base panel itself. That takes all the depth out of it. So I did a lot of surgical detail removal, and cut some tiny grooves in the bottoms of the MPCDs to allow the Eduard photo etch panels underneath to slide up into them. I also cut a small, rectangular hole in the center pedestal for the CCPO vent, so it now looks like air might actually come through it, instead of seeing the grey of the instrument panel through the louvres. Still have a few things to do to it, but its coming along.

     

    XfQuWX.jpg

  14. The good thing about the Silly Putty or the Blue Tack is that you can just peel it off, roll it into a ball, and re-use it on your next project. Don't worry too much about the accuracy of the camo pattern. It varied from aircraft to aircraft, and lots of random patching and touch-ups happen along the way which changes each scheme even more. Just as long as your colors are correct, and the distribution of those colors follows the basic SEA camo layout, it should look pretty good. I just got done laying down the base color for an F-16C I'm doing in the 1980s Nellis Test Range Euro 1 camo scheme. On to masking with the Blue Tack in a couple of days.

     

    Hopefully some relief from the heat will come soon. We're supposed to get snow overnight here in Denver.

     

    Eagle

  15. Hi Martin,

     

    If you were painting the whole model one, solid color, leaving the wings off wouldn't be a problem. When you start getting into camouflage schemes, if you don't have things completely assembled, you're going to run into problems with the patterns not quite lining up right...edges of straight areas having a little thicker paint on them than the straight areas of adjoining pieces, which results in slight variations in the perceived color of the paint along a very noticeable line...it just won't look like it was painted as a whole aircraft, no matter how hard you work. You've probably already done this, but I start by painting the entire, assembled model with the lightest color in the scheme. Then go to the next darkest color after masking the areas that get that color, then the next darkest color after masking off the previous 2 colors, and so on. That way you don't end up with these weird little lines of a different color that may end up showing up along the edges between colors. I've never really used paper masks of any kind for camo patterns, because the edges between colors end up being unnaturally sharp, and real camo schemes have a feathered appearance to them. To produce that, a lot of people like to use silly putty, and just lay down those irregular lines. I prefer to use Blue Tack instead of silly putty. It stays put quite a bit better, so its not as frustrating to use as silly putty which tends to slide off when you're painting sometimes. Since you spent the money on the paper masks, you could lay them onto the model and use them as a guide for where to put your Blue Tack. When you paint, since the Blue Tack won't be of uniform thickness along its edges, you'll get that natural, random, feathered look of a camo scheme on a real-world aircraft. Lots of other techniques out there, which I'm sure the other guys will add to the discussion. Just remember to give sufficient cure time for each color before doing any masking, and you should get a pretty good result. Don't worry too much about totally even coverage. Camo patterns on real-world aircraft always show a lot of bleed-through of the other colors and random patchiness on them.

     

    Eagle

  16. It also really helps to have software that gives you precise control over the exact placement of text and graphics in custom decals that you make. I was using photo editor programs, but the printer output from those was always a little jagged and muddy if you looked at it closely. Using a CAD program fixed all of that. I'm using Draftsight to design my custom decals. You can download that for free from the Dassault Systemes website at https://www.3ds.com/products-services/draftsight-cad-software/free-download/. That also allows you to print your drawings in different scales, so you can easily scale up or scale down anything you design. If you're doing any modern USAF aircraft, don't forget to download your Amarillo USAF font for tail codes and serial numbers. I recently made custom decals for the tail of a 1/32 scale F-16 to make it a CAS viper from the 1980s...I used decals I had for a 1/48th F-16 CAS viper. Made a trial run on clear acetate.

     

    Here is a thumbnail to the pic of the test fit with the acetate.

     

    Ptvutf.jpg

  17. FINALLY DONE!

     

    Probably not gonna win any trophies or anything...I'm still getting my techniques worked out, so I made a lot of mistakes.

     

    They're all thumbnails, so just click to make them full-size. :)

     

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  18. As far as masking tape goes, I've had really good results with Great Planes striping tape. Its a vinyl tape that is extremely thin and flexible, so it pulls down to the surface with minimal effort. So far I have had zero bleed-under problems using that tape. You still need to allow the paint to fully cure, like Gil said, before putting any masking tape on it. I generally wait about 48 hours before masking on any fresh paint. I also recently experimented with a new primer mixing technique to get your primer coat to bond really well to the plastic. I had been using the Testor's spray can lacquer primers, but I found that spray cans cause paint layers to get way too thick, way too quickly. What I use now is Mr. Hobby's Mr. Surfacer 1200, and instead of using their lacquer thinner, I have started using MEK to thin it. MEK is really nasty stuff, so make sure not to let any get on your skin...you can protect your hands with latex gloves. Don't use vinyl gloves, the MEK will immediately melt them...but it doesn't do much of anything to latex. Also, if you use this primer method, it is for airbrush only. Any other application method will result in the MEK taking too long to evaporate, and it will eat your model. With the light coats from an airbrush, even the finest details on the surface won't be harmed. Just be sure to use good judgment and make sure you have good ventilation. That primer mix is ready for painting/masking in 2 hours, and I found in my experimentation that not even Dymo tape could pull it off the plastic (I deliberately stuck some on a long, flat surface that I had primed, knowing how strong the adhesive is. Ripped it straight up, and not a single speck of primer lifted.). Other, traditional paint layers though will take much longer to cure before you can mask. Haven't gotten an exact time on that, but I've found that 48 hours is usually safe.

     

    Eagle

    • Like 1
  19. I was able to successfully reshape the canopy with a heat gun after a lot of experimentation on scrap canopies. I pressed the canopy frame edges of the two pieces down onto a couple of pieces of double-sided mounting tape to hold them at the correct width, then gently heated them up to 230 degrees. Remove the heat, let them cool, pull them off the tape...and they now hold their shape at the correct width. 230 degrees was the magic number. Anything lower doesn't do anything...anything higher causes crazing to start. Got the join line removed from the canopy, and just dipped in Future...just waiting for the Future to cure. Finally gonna be able to put the last couple of pieces on this thing and call it done! :D

     

    In the mean time, I'm starting a build on 2 1/32 scale F-16s. I have an old Hasegawa F-16A+/C kit that I partially built...stopped when I was 16 (I think)...still have it after all these years. I'm making that one an F-16A CAS aircraft with the Charcoal Lizard paint scheme. Have to make my own tail code and serial number decals, which should be interesting. The second one is the Tamiya F-16CJ that I just got. I'll post the final Tomcat pics when its done.

    • Like 1
  20. Thanks Gil!

     

    Ran into a major problem with the canopy today. The strange alignment problems I experienced earlier in the project with the forward fuselage have come back to haunt me again. The surfaces that the canopy and windscreen are supposed to mate with somehow ended up slightly wider than the canopy and windscreen. I have a Steinel heat gun coming, which I needed for work anyway, so hopefully I can use that to make those pieces just pliable enough to widen a little bit. I tried gradually warming them in the oven today. Bad idea...I forgot these old 80s technology ovens don't control their temp very precisely...melted them both. Really glad I have a whole kit of spare parts. I needed it anyway...turns out the "molding line" I removed on the inside of the canopy was actually the front and rear visual reference lines that the real thing has on the inside of its canopy.

     

    Has anybody ever tried reshaping a canopy with a heat gun? The one I have coming has a digital temperature control on it that can go as low as 130 degrees in 5 degree increments. Really don't want to screw this last step up after all this time, so I'm wondering if anybody has had any success reshaping a canopy like this. Its a fraction of a milimeter off, so it doesn't need to be widened much. If not...I guess I'm gonna be the reluctant "pioneer" of the technique. LOL

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