Second Strike: Viper GBII June 2012-Dec 2012

Howdy,

Passing through the internet and saw your viper models... From someone who has always appreciated models but never had much of a knack for building them without destroying them... You all are incredible. These models... amazing. I had to make an account just to tell y'all--I hope that you realize how insanely beautiful these models are--real talent.

Really looking forward to see how the 149th bird comes out--in about a month I'll be lucky enough to fly with the Gunfighters, but I'm telling ya, your models look prettier than some of the vipers on the flight line. Really great, when I get some spare time I'll have to grab a few issues of that magazine and sift through here picking up tips. I'd love to be able to a tenth of the talent you guys have. Take it easy!

Many thanks, guys, it's good to have it done at last. I'll be putting up a blogpost about it in a few days, too.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Looks good T-Bolt.  At least you got it done, and I'm glad to see it.

Cheers

Tony

Looks good!  I like it!

Hi all,

Well, looong after this GB was officially over, I managed to finish my Hasegawa -CJ/50. It has just left the bench and entered the display case, but better late than never. I thought you'd appreciate a look! It was not a comfortable build, the scale is small for my dexterity, and both the kit and its decals could have been friendlier. Here the centreline station is left empty, I was concerned about ground clearance, the way the gear settled into place, and I wanted to photograph the wash relief in the bay as well.

blkhwkmatt -- funny you should post about Keeping at it, after a rediculous hiatus involving an overseas trip and a housemove from hell, I have recently got my -CJ/50 together and would be painting by now if not for the discovery that the AM resin seats I got are in fact so full of bubbles they look like they were carved from a scotchbrite pad... What to do? Use the kit seat which is structurally fine but looks nothing like an ACES II, or  use the AM because it's a scotchbrite pad shaped like an ACES II? :-)

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Well - in the spirit of not giving up, I have finally glossed and decaled my viper.  Next step is another gloss coat followed by a good wash.  Pics to follow soon.

Lovely job, love the shading, come out really nice.

Alrighty, I'm calling this one DONE!  Hope you enjoy it!:

The plane sat somewhat higher on the left side.  So I filed down the wheel to get the wings level.  This was a mystery considering how well engineered this kit was.  That plus the fact that this is my second Tamiya F-16 and the other one didn't do this.  Oh well:

I should mention that I completely stripped the wheels and repainted them.  I just wasn't happy with how they turned and I just couldn't let 'em be.  Also, there's a small antennae just ahead of the refueling receptacle.  I accidentally fed the part to the carpet monster and had to scratch build a replacement.

Thanks prof.  

I ended up spraying the entire model with Mr. Super Clear Gloss to cover the decals and seal them in.  Then, when I sprayed the flat they all blended really well.  The decals on the tail still show up a little bit but you have to shine the light on it at a certain angle.  I'm pretty happy with the results.

Yeah, $30 for on of these is a good deal.  I had a chance to get one at Hobby Lobby for $18 and I didn't do it!

Ok, here are the latest pics.  I finished the landing gear, applied Mr. Super Clear flat (first time using it) and attached the pylons.  The Super Clear really helped to tone down the hideous Tamiya decals.  I also attached the burner can:

As I post this the Viper is 99.9% done.  Everything is attached and pretty much finalized...just need to attach the static wicks.  Should be done and and posting pics tomorrow!

Thanks!

Yeah, these decals weren't that good.  The detail was fine but man are they thick!  You can see it in the pic of the red tail.  Look right above the "188."  And that's after two more coats of Mr. Super Clear on top of the decals!  The hog is even worse.  Its a two part decal so it ended up being really think.

Alrighty, here she is with some decals.  Gotta say that Tamiya's decals leave alot to be desired.  They are thick and have a matte texture to them.  I should have gone with AM decals:

Up next will be a wash in the wheel wells, landing gear and gear doors...then a flat coat....then attach all the stuff...then finish up the bang seat.  I can see the finish line!

Good lookin' Viper so far Matt.  Colors look good to me.  

Got some work done on my F-16.  I did some weathering out of order to see how it would turn out.  I like to do oil dot filters and streaks but its difficult to do over a glossy surface.  So before gloss coating it I applied the oil directly to the flat paint.  It turned out really good.  

First I brush over the area with some odorless turpenoid.  Then I apply a dot (or several) of oil where I want the stain.  Then I take a brush dampened with the turpenoid and streak the oil stain bak in the direction of airflow.  Doing this over the flat base coat of paint allows the oil to stain the paint better.  I only did a little bit since the USAF F-16s tend to be pretty clean.

You can see the effect behind some of the hinges of the leading edge flaps and behind the wheel wells.

Then I gloss coated it with Mr. Super Clear.  Love this stuff:

The white wheels are the spare kit wheels that I didn't need.  I placed them there to protect the little nubs from getting any gloss coat or paint on them.  Its a pretty tight fit for the wheels already.

On to the decaling!

Now that my Su-37 is complete (for the flankers GB), I have been able to focus more on my viper.  The 1/48th tamiya kit is very nice, almost falls together, i think that the only gaps/seams that I have are completely my fault.  I will be using a Legends productcion ejection seat, and a steel beach intake cover.

my first coat of paint, not quite the right color but close:

my second attempt, much better along with some post shading to add some depth:

Im glad to share my progress, although it is not looking as clean as some of the othe builds I have seen here.

Matt

I started back on my "Night Falcon" today.   Nothing big.  It really isn't what I originally wanted to build, so other than the True Details seats, box stock.  Since the canopy is a one piece affair, more would be kind of wasted anyways.

Very plain jane compared to the others, but I think it will come out all right in the end.

Cheers,

Greg

Fly-n-hi: Looks great!!

All: sorry I have been away. Thanks to medicman for helping keep up the encouragment! Too many things keeping me away lately!

Anyone else I may have forgotten to mention sorry. I tried to get on and play catch up this weekend but the site was down. I have been plugging away on the Hobbyboss kit and now have come to a major hurdle! Has anyone built this kit? If you haven't I would stay away! The only redeaming feature is that it gives you 2 options of verticle stabilizer for the"C" models. I got the kit body together and that is where the problem comes in! The way the halves go together you end up having a "Cliff" at the joint. Forget seam line! I will have pics tomorrow for all to enjoy! Oh how I miss the easier Hasegawa F-16 kit (of which I have several in the stash). i may have to start a new, but at least I know the kit will "fall" together compaired to this!

Keep up the work. I will go back and review anything i may have missed. Any finished builds will be placed on the front page. As far as the time line goes....no worries and your host won't even make that!

Travis

Well the paint arrived and I was finally able to get the base coat on.  I applied it lightly so that I wouldn't cover up too much pre shading but I ended up doing my usual post shading as well.  Here she is with the first layer of dark post shading:

Then I went with some lighter post shading (fading) followed by some blending.  There is a little detail painting as well:

The flash really brings out the contrast in the shading.  In normal light its more subtle.

I also hand brushed some Future into the intake to give it a semi gloss appearance.

Got the wheels, tires and landing gear bits done:

Yeah.  40% off a Tamiya Viper would be nice.  I had a chance to get one for $18 with a 40% coupon and I didn't do it!  I thought "I've got 2 already.  I don't need another one."  

I swore off pre-shading because I feel like post-shading gives the same effect except with a better base coat.  So I pre-shaded this one.:

I was bored and I ran out of the Mr Color Light Ghost Grey so I figured what the heck.  While I'm waiting for the paint to arrive I'll pre-shade it.

Sorry. Been busy at work this week. Here's a pic of the almost finished ejection seat of my Viper.

That's the HB A-10 for the Ground Attack GB, right?  I'm curious to see how that kit goes together.  Do you plan on going OOB or are you going to add some AM?

I'm starting to get lonely in here!

I'm moving along pretty quickly with this one.  I've had some time off from work so that helps,

I've got most of the exterior stuff filled and sanded.  So I put on some Tamiya primer.  Here she is with all the parts loosely attached:

Since its a Block 32 airframe I added the reinforcement plates (the "scab" plates) from the Tamiya F-16 PE detail set.  I didn't take a pic before they were painted and now they blend in.  Sorry:

The plates on the nose were very difficult to bend to the correct shape.  So I cut out some of my own from an aluminum can.  The were alot easier to bend:

These are just pics of the primed model:

Am I the only one building a viper?  I feel like I'm hogging the tread!

Anyway, I got alot done on the AN/ALQ-184 and the LITENING II pods:

Here's the LITENING II pod all masked off.  This was alot of fun

Here they are with the details painted on:

And glossed up and decaled:

Here's the burner can.  The first thing I did was prime the outside with Tamiya primer and then brush Tamiya flat white on the inside followed by pastel weathering:

Then I sprayed some Alclad II Gloss Black Base (which is great stuff, BTW!):

Then some Alclad II Stainless Steel:

Then I masked it...

...and sprayed some Alclad II Steel between the petals, masked it a little more, and sprayed some Alclad II Gunmetal.  I also sprayed Alclad II Aluminum around the ring that attaches to the fuselage shroud (to match the fusealge part):

Medicman71

Wow. Looking great already Fly-n-hi. Can't wait to see more.

Here's where I'm at with the exhaust:  I cut the part that carries the flame holder at the base.  This will allow me to paint the interior of that part much easier:

I cut it so that when the flame holder is placed back into it there won't be a visible seam line:

I painted the inside of the exhaust with Mr. Color 316 which is an "off white" color.  It has just a hint of cream in it.  Then I airbrushed very thinned black paint in streaks followed by a brushing with Tamiya Soot weathering powder.  I painted the flame holder Alclad II Jet Exhaust and detailed it with the Tamiya burnt red, silver and blue weathering powders: