Tamiya Grumman F-14D Tomcat

[Rhino]

The afterburner cans look very convincing! Nice work!

 

[moon puppy]

Ditto the cans. That's why you sent me that Gold color Alclad. I was wondering.

Might I suggest a double mask on the canopy? I'll see if I can find a photo of what I did way back. Not finding it. You tape up the inside of the canopy and using the panel lines on the outside you cut mask inside. then mask outside. Paint the inside black then the interior color, then the outside per normal. Really neat effect.

 

[Greg Kimsey]

Ditto the cans. That's why you sent me that Gold color Alclad. I was wondering.

Might I suggest a double mask on the canopy? I'll see if I can find a photo of what I did way back. Not finding it. You tape up the inside of the canopy and using the panel lines on the outside you cut mask inside. then mask outside. Paint the inside black then the interior color, then the outside per normal. Really neat effect.

The kit comes with masks for the outside. I will make ones to mask the interior. Great idea, thanks!

 

[Greg Kimsey]

I did mask off the inside of the canopy and blacked the metal parts. I screwed up the lightning strike strip decals and took them off so these guys are screwed if they fly into a lightning storm. I finished out the cockpit and glued the canopy in place after taping off the outside. The black base is Mr Surfacer 1500 black. I am doing my standard silver marbling trick using AlcladII High Shine Aluminum. The airbrush is Iwata HP-C+ with pressure turned down to about 7psi. I removed the needle guard and put on the limiter knob adjuster to save some finger fatigue. It was very helpful.

This the beginning of the marbling process. It took 3 hours to do the plane and all of the extra parts

Close up of the marbling

I used the Vallejo Model Air 71276 USAF Light Grey to base the whole plane and extra parts straight from the bottle at 9psi, no thinning needed. It is a little blue because of the base I used so I will need to warm it up with a filter later.

The second pass really does the trick

So, the first color finish is very cool compared to the references. I will take care of that next.

 

[moon puppy]

Years ago it was modulation. Now we're marbling. This is fun stuff! Looks great, did I understand correctly that the marbling color is high shine aluminum?

 

[Greg Kimsey]

Years ago it was modulation. Now we're marbling. This is fun stuff! Looks great, did I understand correctly that the marbling color is high shine aluminum?

Yessir, high shine aluminum from alclad. Much has been done since those photos. Here are all of the colors used so far.

I compared some colors and did some tests and decided that RAF Rotal Light Gray would be the filter color. I diluted that more than 50/50 with Mr Leveler and coated all of the parts. I then added XF-2 flat white and hit the panel centers in a burst method where I had the trigger back so air was flowing then pressed down for a burst of patchy light areas. I used XF19 Sky Gray mixed with XF51 about 4:1 plus plenty of Mr Leveler and went over the panel lines and crevaces. I mixed a couple of drops of XF2 Flat Black to that and hit where I thought more dirt may accumulate. I am happy with the results.

I have the blue mixed but will let this cure for tomorrow and maybe put the blue on Monday. TTFN!

 

[Piet]

 

[moon puppy]

Really nice effects going on. I do wonder about the stains from the pivot point, the geometry doesn't look right. Burst method huh, Seems like any time I try that it looks like spittle.

 

[Greg Kimsey]

I am not done with the pivot point stains yet. I hope to get it looking right when I am through.

 

[paddy]

I think you mean trigger right down then pull back ?

 

[Steve Ski]

This is pretty wild, and the marble effect is pretty awesome!

 

[Greg Kimsey]

Thanks for catching the pivot blunder @moon puppy ! I sprayed out what I had done then taped off the wing limit, then using a pencil I held the pencil against the body edge and swept the wing to get the exact arcs of movement.

I have tried several colors and methods of application but am not liking any of it. Here is what I have at the moment but will likely redo most of that.

I akso textured the canvas airbag covers by using this extremely fine sand..

mixed with Gator glue and stippled over the canvas. I will use the same fir the anti slip treads which I started taping off but was called away. More to come later!

 

[Greg Kimsey]

I think you mean trigger right down then pull back ?

Actually you are probably right...

 

[Greg Kimsey]

The wing sweeps are defeating me. I should be able to match any look! I may hang with it later but right now I am moving on.

I worked on the canvas covers. I used Vallejo Model Colors 70951 White, 875 Beige Brown, 811 Blue Violet, 894 Cam Olive Green, plus Liquitex Raw Umber ink.

The walkways are ok. I wish I had used chipping medium underneath but I didn't think of it. I used the same colors as I used for the canvas covers minus the purple.

 

[moon puppy]

Not bad, go subtle...Funny, me saying subtle..

 

[Greg Kimsey]

Not bad, go subtle...Funny, me saying subtle..

Go more subtle on any particular part that I have done?

 

[moon puppy]

I think you're good. Press on

 

[Greg Kimsey]

She was blued last night and future'd this morning. I had the tail stabilzers on just to see if they matched and dropped the stupid plane, which, thankfully, only resulted in breaking off the pin on one stabilizer. Easy fix TG! The tail fins are held in place with sticky putty to make sure THEY matched. No mishaps occurred there. She's looking good!

To "subtle-ize" some areas I sprayed a mist of Royal Light Grey over the anti slip treads and the wing sweep marks and any other overdone weathered parts. It looks much better.
Question: I may forgo my standard oil paint weathering if y'all think it looks right "as is". It seems to look pretty weathered. What 'chall think?

 

[centaur567]

Great work so far!! Gary S.

 

[paddy]

Yea that works well I thought i built quick but you got me beat here