Toshi

Very good effort in painting those seats. I'm sure you will do a great job on this huge beast of a model.

I have the kit and have to say that Revell should have done a better job in this area. The details are very minimal and sparse. I don't want to spend almost 3 times what the kit cost me for a G resin pit so I think I will go with an E pit which is way cheaper than the G one and just modify the rear IP a bit.

plasticjunkie

Toshi

Very good effort in painting those seats. I'm sure you will do a great job on this huge beast of a model.

I have the kit and have to say that Revell should have done a better job in this area. The details are very minimal and sparse. I don't want to spend almost 3 times what the kit cost me for a G resin pit so I think I will go with an E pit which is way cheaper than the G one and just modify the rear IP a bit.

 

I look forward to your build, will you please share this build with forum members?  I look forward to it!  Thank you sir, for the read and reply.

Toshi

I would NEVER have the guts to fly a Wild Weasel mission. Never-ever.

...........and here's Toshi again about to roll out another beautiful build. Good choice in aircraft buddy!

SubarooMike

I would NEVER have the guts to fly a Wild Weasel mission. Never-ever.

 

Thank you for the read and reply.

Toshi

mustang1989

...........and here's Toshi again about to roll out another beautiful build. Good choice in aircraft buddy!

 

Toshi

Bish

You don't skip a beat Toshi. Straight from finishing the Spit to this. I bet this thing is huge, look forward to seeing more of the build.

 

Toshi

Wow, a 1/32 modern fighter is gonna be a MONSTER !! I thought my 1/48 F4 was big but dang man, you'll need another house now. Looking forward to seeing this come togther.

BK

I have been eyeing this one at the local Hobby Lobby as well. Yours is looking good so far. I'll be interested to see how it turns out. The F-4 is one kit that hasn't made it into my stash yet.

Never, ever let your wife leave you. Ever. 

Haha. Actually, my wife is really supportive of my hobby too. Whenever Im in a hobby shop (especially on foreign trips) and I dont find anything that strikes my fancy, she would insist I stay and go around a few more times, and maybe Id find something.

Looking forward to your build.  Ive built a (much smaller -- 1/72) F-4G about a decade or so ago.  The last Phantom off my line.

What strikes me is that the Phantom is so big, it won't fit on my work station.  I have to build it in sections.  

I have a question?  I sprayed black/brown umber to highlight my panel lines, when it's time to paint the phantom.  The lines disappears.  Even if I do a very light coat with 50/50 AB mix.  What am I doing wrong?

Thank you,

Toshi

dirkpitt77

I have been eyeing this one at the local Hobby Lobby as well. Yours is looking good so far. I'll be interested to see how it turns out. The F-4 is one kit that hasn't made it into my stash yet.

 

Toshi

allan

Never, ever let your wife leave you. Ever. 

 

Haha. Actually, my wife is really supportive of my hobby too. Whenever Im in a hobby shop (especially on foreign trips) and I dont find anything that strikes my fancy, she would insist I stay and go around a few more times, and maybe Id find something.

 

Looking forward to your build.  Ive built a (much smaller -- 1/72) F-4G about a decade or so ago.  The last Phantom off my line.

 

Toshi

An update from yesterday, I'm slacking.  LOL!  I was glued to all the football games yesterday.  I have NFL Redzone in which I get to see every game being played.

Toshi

An update from yesterday, I'm slacking.  LOL!  I was glued to all the football games yesterday.  I have NFL Redzone in which I get to see every game being played.

 

 

 

 

 

How do your fellow forum members do it?

Toshi

Is that base coat a dark gray? If the base coat is a darker color it'll be difficult to get the preshade to stand out. I'm by no means an expert compared to others around here but after preshading I start in the center of panels and fill all those in first with my base coat. If you try to spray the entire surface with large passes you'll erase the preshade everytime just trying to get a good base color coat on. After getting good coverage on the panel centers I then go back and start to work my way closer to panel lines without actually spraying much paint over them. At this point i start to do sliglthly wider "blending" passes to blend the preshade with the base coat. This is where you have to be careful not to erase your preshade. Just takes pratice and patience to get it how you like it. I"ll try to get some step by step pics up here if I can (though you'll have this thing done long before that:) ).Hope this makes some sense and helps you out!

Toshi

 

 

Toshi

An update from yesterday, I'm slacking.  LOL!  I was glued to all the football games yesterday.  I have NFL Redzone in which I get to see every game being played.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gentleman and fellow builders, what am I doing wrong here?  I AB a mixture of black/brown umber to highlight the panel lines!  It always disappears when I lay the base coat.  I'm at 15cfm, mixed the paint to a 25/75 mix, I even went down to a 50/50 mix.  What Jedi mind tricks do I lack?

 

How do your fellow forum members do it?

Toshi

 

Toshi,

Have you considered doing post shading with pastels? This is my preferred method of shading / weathering. The nice thing about it if you make a mistake,a bit of water on a cotton swab takes care of it and you try again...Douglas

Toshi,

You're certainly a constant inspiration to me to keep on keeping on with my builds. Anytime I consider taking a little break from the hobby, there you are producing the start to another fine build, and this one is no exception.  Thank you so much for the posts.

Okay Toshi, here is what I have learned with AB panel lines. 

First, prime the surface

Second, using a darker color that the primary color, usually black, paint the panel lines

Third, using your color of choice, paint each PANEL, not the panel line, seperately

Fourth, once the individual panels are all filled in, spray the whole surface lightly and just enough with your base color to give an even look WITHOUT wiping out the preshading panel lines. Just as they seem to begin to disappear STOP. They will comeback just slightly as they dry.

This is how my X-wing came out with this method.

I have found that spraying first overall, then post shading is more difficult and I tend to loose my panel line preshading. So, I reversed the process and it worked wonderfully.

I hope this is of use to you. I am sure other, more experienced AB'ers have great advice also.

BK

Your X-Wing fighter looks awesome!  Thank you for the tip.  I'll try that with this build.

Thank you brandonk

Toshi

Thank you sir, I'll try this technique on the Wild Weasel build!

Toshi

roger_wilco

 

 

Toshi 

 

Toshi

An update from yesterday, I'm slacking.  LOL!  I was glued to all the football games yesterday.  I have NFL Redzone in which I get to see every game being played.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gentleman and fellow builders, what am I doing wrong here?  I AB a mixture of black/brown umber to highlight the panel lines!  It always disappears when I lay the base coat.  I'm at 15cfm, mixed the paint to a 25/75 mix, I even went down to a 50/50 mix.  What Jedi mind tricks do I lack?

 

How do your fellow forum members do it?

Toshi

 

 

 

 

 

Toshi,

Have you considered doing post shading with pastels? This is my preferred method of shading / weathering. The nice thing about it if you make a mistake,a bit of water on a cotton swab takes care of it and you try again...Douglas

 

Thank you sir,

Toshi

Jay Jay

Toshi,

You're certainly a constant inspiration to me to keep on keeping on with my builds. Anytime I consider taking a little break from the hobby, there you are producing the start to another fine build, and this one is no exception.  Thank you so much for the posts.

 

It also helps me greatly with my cognition.

Thank you JayJay

Hey Toshi, there's both directions there you can go in, either darkening the panel lines or highlighting the centers of the panels. It gets you to the same place in the end so it's mostly just a matter of trying both and seeing which one works best for you. I've never tried the pastels though, so that's a third solution. 

What seems to work for me is: 

1). Paint model in base colour (whatever you want to end up with)

2). Spray a grey slightly darker than the base colour to the panel lines. 

3). You can highlight the centers of panels here if you want as well. I don't do it that often.

4). Spray a couple of light misty coats of the base colour over the whole thing. The misty coats should blend everything together and kill any sharp demarcation in the different shades. Get it almost there and then carefully look the model over. It's easier to add one or two more mist coats than to go too far and end up having to paint everything over again. 

5). You can then 'streak' the model with some thinned lightened base coat applied with quick streaks from front to back following what would be the air flow over the real plane. I picked this up from Lawdog though my attempts still don't look anywhere near as good as his.

Again, there's so many ways to do this, my advice would be to try them all and see which you like best.   

I see the situation at hand.  Thank you!

Toshi

Gamera

Hey Toshi, there's both directions there you can go in, either darkening the panel lines or highlighting the centers of the panels. It gets you to the same place in the end so it's mostly just a matter of trying both and seeing which one works best for you. I've never tried the pastels though, so that's a third solution. 

What seems to work for me is: 

1). Paint model in base colour (whatever you want to end up with)

2). Spray a grey slightly darker than the base colour to the panel lines. 

3). You can highlight the centers of panels here if you want as well. I don't do it that often.

4). Spray a couple of light misty coats of the base colour over the whole thing. The misty coats should blend everything together and kill any sharp demarcation in the different shades. Get it almost there and then carefully look the model over. It's easier to add one or two more mist coats than to go too far and end up having to paint everything over again. 

5). You can then 'streak' the model with some thinned lightened base coat applied with quick streaks from front to back following what would be the air flow over the real plane. I picked this up from Lawdog though my attempts still don't look anywhere near as good as his.

Again, there's so many ways to do this, my advice would be to try them all and see which you like best.   

 

Toshi

Let me throw my take on pre shading. There was a discussion on this method on another thread and some of the responses given was that real planes don't have pre shade lines painted and therefore they are unrealistic. Of course real planes don't have pre shade lines painted on, that is not the idea or the answer. The idea behind the pre shading is to fool the human eye into seeing those subtle differences on the surface of the model, and to break up monotone colors to add interest. Pre shading, IMO  has to be very subtle and to just give a hint of texture and color varience. This can also be accomplished by doing post shading, which is spraying a lighter version of the base coat on the panel centers.

I do not pre shade all models so it's a matter of taste, and time spent. I like to shoot gloss black because it tends to flow better than flat colors, diluted 40-50%. I use enamels so I set my Badger Renegade that has a xtra fine tip to shoot at about 5-10 psi. Once I have the job completed, I spray very thin coats of what ever color the scheme takes, over the entire plane but making certain that I do not completely cover the pre shading. Then I go back to each individul panel and begin to lay a heavier coat from the center out and making sure that the preshade is visible as a subtle shadow.

Here is a 1/72 scale F-4J with raised lines which will benefit from the pre shading.

Notice how the pre shading helps to break up the monotone grey and white scheme and adds some interest and texture to the scheme.

SEA schemes are hard to pre shade cause the top coat colors are dark and can easily overtake the pre shade effect so it just takes a bit more AB time to get it right. I see pre shading as the DOT filter method, where the oil paint is wiped off about 98% or so, just leaving a hint.

Toshi this is a little more complex painting method but with some practise anyone can do it.