Official Ground Attack Group Build

Seeing as the world didn't come to an end and this GB will deffinatly be running into 2013, i can now get on with my entry for this GB knowing it can be finished. I made a bit of a start on the pit a couple of days ago, but nothing worth any pics yet. Will hopefully have enough in a couple of days.

Thanks, Geof.  I've been working on it for most of this year.

Looks cool!

And here's the odd camo that I came up with for this aircraft....

I've been busy doing a bunch of detail painting and other necessary things- it's all coming together. 

I have the camo finished but I'll reveal that later when this is all done.  It's..  unique.

some visible details now that the masking is gone, but there's still a few things left to fix before I get to further weathering.

Prof & Dre, the A-10 and the Su are looking great so far!

And now she wears a light sand color and waits for green camo clouds...

first layer of Dark Tan over the preshading...

followed by light Sand and then a light Sand/Gloss White mix to post shade a little.

It really looks better in person...

I got the bare metal panels, the green panel and some detail work done late last night...\

professordeath

So, after a busy holiday weekend and going "Clark Griswold" on the house the past couple of day I was able to return to the bench today. Over the course of several short sessions at the beginning of last week I was able to get the decals done. One disadvantage to the kit (and all HB kits from what I can tell in the three I have) there are not many data stencils. While I would prefer to have more, I just didn't want to spend the money on AM decals. Besides, I really wanted to try the HB decals. I must say that they are actually pretty good. They are nice and thin. First of all, the decals that were placed over engraved detail began to sink into the detail on their own even before Micro Sol. I did Micro Sol them however, and they just snuggled down. The only real issue I had was with moving them around on the surface of the model for placement. That being said, I did use a new gloss coat (Krylon) that turned out to be sticky to the touch even after significant drying time. I believe this may have had more to do with the problem of moving decals around without them being in a pool of water. Usually I have to gloss coat over the decals to seal them in and help build up a layer to eliminate the raised look they sometimes have. With these that was not necessary. I put a flat coat straight down instead.

After decaling I popped out my AK Interactive dark brown wash and tried to do a panel pin wash, but the stuff just wasn't performing that great. Again, I attribute this to the gloss coat. I decided I would try a technique Fermis suggested, and that is what I am going with now. I ground up some black pastels and am brushing it along panel lines. I then use a wide brush to stump out the pastel in the direction of airflow and gravity. See the pics below for an idea of how this looks: 

BEFORE:

AFTER: 

I really like this effect. It appears to be a good way to give the panel lines some depth and to add some subtle grime and streaking at the same time. I work in sections, and I have only the under surfaces of the wings left to do. After that is complete I will seal it with another coat of Model Master Acryl flat coat. At that point I plan to use some light pastels to fade out some panels and will add some more deliberate streaking to the appropriate areas. 

This has become my favorite technique for panel lines these days. I read about it awhile back and thought I would give it a shot. It works really, really, well. Working on the Tamiya A-10 myself. Be-otch of a kit,  but should look pretty good when done!

The underside blue is on, and then oversprayed with a mix of Gloss Gull Grey to add a warm, faded effect to the blue.   Still need to do the metal panels around the gun...

This shows a little of the colors at work... once washed this ought to look the right kind of ugly.

Casper, if you have a Dremel power tool, then use a grinding bit to get rid of those cast stubs...  saves time and frustration.

I finally have gotten around to throwing paint at my Frogfoot- After shooting a little cockpit green/blue on the canopy sections I've used a flat black preshade followed with a Chocolat Brun for additional modulation as well since I plan on being fairly aggressive with this simple camo scheme.

I'm going to let this dry as I figure out my color palette for the sand and green camo.

Well, despite spending several hours on this kit already, I have still not glued or painted any parts.

It has been spent sawing off the resin blocks (grrrr hate this job, I'd pay double for a resin kit if the block had already been removed for me!), scraping both resin and plastic and hacking away pieces of styrene from the kit parts.

Slow work.....

Cheers

That looks great all finished up.

I promise that I'll get back to my Frogfoot very soon...  

Thanks for the feedback guys. It always helps! I really enjoyed this kit, not quite as intricate or puzzle like as a Tammy in this scale but fun nonetheless and looks great OOB

Here's a shot next to my Phantom II F-D

Cheers

Awsome build Casper, love it.

Ok, this bird is done!

Cheers

Thats looking really nice Casper. Thats a lot of paint on there.

Some nice work going on in here! Glad the end date isn't until the summer though, I'll need the time to get going on mine!!

Only two underside decals??   How many "No Step" decals are for the top?

Here's the top view of the Nighthawk. I must say the inclusion of PE intake grills from Trumpeter is awesome. It's hard to convey in a photo but if you look at just the right angle, you can see the intake fan sitting back behind the grill. The other PE parts were not see through so it really gives the model a boost. I tried to photograph this but couldn't get it

Cheers

Well all of the hard work with masking sure paid off. I'm very pleased with the results. Here is the underneath.

Only 2 decals to go on the bottom then I'll attach all of the greeblies before decalling the top. I want to avoid resting this bird upside down so as not to upset the paint work on the top.

Cheers

Well got the resin Avionix set for the Hasegawa 1/32 A-4F

Some really detail but looks like I'm going to have to hand paint the IP. Oh well, the challenge....

Cheers

I think that if I were to tackle this kit that I'd try to mask some of the panel sections and spray them in the different blacks in addition to the modulation that you've done here.

You guys want paint?? You got it!

almost 3 pots worth. I did the underneath with Tamiya XF-85 Tyre Black but wasn't that happy with the finish. I did the top with Mr.Colour H77 which is Rubber black and has a nicer sheen to it. Once this dries I'll apply gloss coat for the decals.

Cheers

I look forward to seeing the paint on this...  are you planning on any tonal modulation?

Masking complete. This took quite a longtime to do but because the F-117A utilises non-reflective radar technology, the panels and shapes are all straight and saw toothed with no curves. made it much easier to mask. Also decided there wasn't a tight enough seal between the canopy and office sill. I decided to paint the canopy separate and mask off the office.

Also the exhausts ports are painted matt black but the plane will be painted in tyre black. The subtle blue shade matches the real planes skin quite nicely.

Cheers

Dre

That is a large model!   What's the length on that bad boy?

I like the probe protector...  nice touch from Trumpeter.

The completed plane is just over 21 inches in length and just over 16 wide. Yes, I'm leaving the probe protector on as long as possible. Tamiya did the same with their 1/48 scale offering.

Cheers

That is a large model!   What's the length on that bad boy?

I like the probe protector...  nice touch from Trumpeter.

Well she's a big girl, got her sewn together. Nice to have the seam underneath and not cutting the fuselage in two!

Cheers

Jimmy, o boy that looks nice. Very nice.

Casper, coming along nicely there.