Bradley25mm

Thanks so much James. Never thought of that. I’ll try it tomorrow and let you know how it turned out. Chris

All, I’m in a bit of a pickle. I have a canopy from an old MiniArt kit. The front of the canopy is fine, but the back is horrible. The only way to get it to lay flat is to tape it down to a flat surface. Any ideas on how to fix this, without finding an old one? Thanks in advance Chris

I’ve only been a judge one time at our local invitational. (Figures). If I saw a plane with the worn, chipped effect that was convincing, I wouldn’t disqualify it for that. That’s accuracy. Isn’t that what we modelers strive for? Every judge has one area that they are set in stone on. (Crisp/clean paint lines) Nothing wrong with that, but I would rather reward the modeler for a historic presentation rather than Disqualify them. That’s just my two cents. Chris.

Great presentation. The finish turned out great!!. Chris

Well, she rolled off the assembly line two days ago. As far as I’m concerned, this kit is an excellent build. Designed very well. After the decals were applied, I did a pin wash over all the recessed detail. I wiped off the excess with mineral spirits. The base is 3/4” plywood. To simulate concrete, I cut up squares of 100 grit sandpaper, and attached them with contact cement. Once built, it was airbrushed with several shades of Tamiya gray, and tan. To add oil and grease stains, I splattered Tamiya accent colors with a large brush. I taped and sprayed Tamiya yellow and black to simulate the lines. I decided at the last moment to add an aircraft tug from Aerobonus. The remove before flight tags are from Eduard. I had to scratch build the optical covers for the GBU-24’s, and GBU-10’s. Chris

She turned out great. A really good idea to use a sponge to apply the paint. Nice results. I’ll have to try that sometime. Thanks for posting this. Chris

Mark, they all look great, but by far my favorite is the Maritime search plane. Really cool subject! Chris

After a small break, I’m back at it again. 1. Assembling the fuselage components. One thing that came to mind from building this kit before, was how well things fix together after a little sanding. Some parts required no filling or sanding. I used Tamiya regular white putty when I did need to fill something. 2. Priming,Paint, pre/post shading. I used Tamiya regular primer for all the parts. Before priming, I wiped everything down with a cloth dampened with mineral spirits. This guarantees that any oil will be removed from the plastic prior to painting. I wore latex gloves while doing this. After the primer was completely dry I applied pre-shading to all the parts. I used Tamiya flat black to go over all the recessed line. There’s no need to paint a perfectly straight line over the recess detail. This can be gradually covered up by your fuselage color. I did not want to go over board with the pre-shading. Slight variations in the panel lines is what I was shooting for. I added the fuselage color gradually so that you could see just the right amount of fading. Once I got the effect that I wanted on all of the parts and the fuselage, I finished with post shading. I simply took the fuselage color and added a little bit of white to simulate really faded spots. 3. Adding the rear landing gear. The gear is more than strong enough to support the model. It went together very easily. When I built the first one, the wheels didn’t sit flat. They were angled out a Little. I made sure that wasn’t the case this time. If you like 1/32nd scale F/A-18’s, this would be a great addition to your collection. Chris

That is one eye popping paint scheme!!!. Really like everything you’ve done with this one. Can’t wait to see it roll off the assembly line😉. Chris

Thanks a lot Ed. Very tedious painting. Gil, here’s the exact process I used. Step one, painted everything was Tamiya white, X-2. Just a few drops of Mr. color leveling thinner. Waited one day for everything to dry well. Step two, applied Tamiya panel line accent color black. Waited for this to dry completely. Step three, took a Q-tip, dipped it in a small bowl of mineral spirits, squeezed the excess mineral spirits out of the Q-tip by rolling it between my fingers. Starting to wipe the wash off in the direction that would make sense. In my case, where each door would attach to the aircraft I would start at the top, and wipe down. Continue wiping the wash off until you get the effect that you want. It’s a good idea to have a couple of Q-tips on hand once the one you’re working with is saturated with the wash. In the event that you wash off too much, go back and reapply the wash, let it dry, then wipe off again It’s a good idea to keep a pair of sharp tweezers, to pick off any strands of cotton left behind by the Q-tip . Step four, Seal it with your preferred brand of flat clear. For me, I prefer Testors dull coat. I hope this helps. Chris.

Was able to get a couple more things done this week. All the landing gear was painted with Tamiya Gloss White. A wash was then applied with a small brush. After it dried, I removed the excess with mineral spirits on a cotton swab. Chris

Really interesting build Fred. You’ve got a great start on this one. Chris

Thanks guys. Carlos, I used bare metal foil. Chris

Back at the build table. All the small parts have been removed from the sprues. I’ve built all of the sub assemblies that I could. Personally, I prefer to attach each part to the end of a toothpick, with a very small amount of ca. This helps me when it comes to painting, and adding weathering. When I’m finished, I can easily pop off the parts with an X-Acto knife. This kit is being built straight from the box. The only modifications that I have made are the ankle restraints on the ejection seats , and have added the thermal protective coating to the bombs.I did use Bare metal foil for the landing gear struts. More to come. Chris