I don't lol, well I really want to do it as close to the picture as possible so I guess I will remove what I've done a shame but I really want to make it as realistic as possible. So I wonder It does look good with the stencils but not as realistic? soo and some of them have silvered FFS so I think that's  the decider. No stencils. I used super glued one pence pieces as nose weight so I will be using scale aircraft conversions landing gear as plastic I think will not be strong enough.

True, I almost wonder if they use a lower-quality paint for most stencils, filly expecting it to be worn away or overpainted during maintenance. I don't often bother with stencils on my typical small-scale kits. It's a pain and the decal film is just as likely to be noticed as the actual stencil in 1/72 scale.

You can always tone down the look of the stencils with a fading overspray- I used one on the Flanker and it added a nice, subtle faded look to the upper surface markings- the red stars look a little paler and pinker than factory fresh.

Also, some of them are in yellow, so they might be there but hard to see and quicker to fade than other colors..  

I removed them all and have used Tamiya rust around the rivets the painting is most important on this model so I will really dirty it up and try not to over do it lol, easy to do.

I really want to see some photos of this....

I have tried to post them but I'm getting a new camera on Friday so I promise I will get some up online Friday night after a trip to the beer tent outside City Hall lol.

I just saw my Mig 23 got published on the reader gallery! Very pleased with that!!

Magazine-published, or website-published?? I'll have to take a look at it, have been increasingly interested in the MiG23 lately for some reason.

Congratulations!!  

Website

Thanks Dre, that's 9 now, they're probably sick of me by now lol.

Why?   From what I've seen of your work, you should have them in print.   That Flogger still stands out in my mind.

Thanks Dre, well I have to say the Flogger was a very popular model, I took it to a show in Belfast and it was on display in the Model Shop there, I am hoping one day FSM will put a picture of mine in the magazine, but having said that I probably need to reach a higher standard, I have been thinking for a while about doing a build and writing it up and sending it in as a contribution that would be really really great. But I have no time currently, another 12 hour day beckons ahhhhh, see you guys tonight.

When your time permits, then you ought to do that.   If anything, the process of writing and photographing the article might give you some new insight or clarity of vision...

The Flanker is gone, some of the kids thought it was really cool, a few of them couldn't believe it was OOB and most were happy to dose off while I rambled on.   Several of them from the last class stuck around to ask modeling related questions and seemed eager to learn a few things about getting a better model.  

There were close to 100 aircraft of various scales hanging from the ceiling and a few showed some nascent talent for the hobby but most were obviously completed by first-and-last time builders.  The USAAF/USAF/USN were abundantly represented with a brace of German 109's and a French Mirage of some sort.   Someone had rigged a parachutist jumping from a C-130, some commercial jetliners, a few WWI biplanes with rigging and a nicely rigged Wright Bros. Flyer.  

It was interesting to see that the completed student kits were overwhelmingly built for OOB accuracy and only a few done in "that looks cool to me" styles... the blue Stuka, a harlequin bomber and a pink A-10 were the stand-outs from that school of thought.  

I believe that I failed to adequately stress the importance of patience... I forget that teenagers have a different idea of time than do I.

I can't believe you managed to get teenagers to listen to anything lol, well I'm glad to see your Flanker was well received and the kids liked it.

Yep, time to move on to finishing up some other stuff...

Dre

When your time permits, then you ought to do that.   If anything, the process of writing and photographing the article might give you some new insight or clarity of vision...

The Flanker is gone, some of the kids thought it was really cool, a few of them couldn't believe it was OOB and most were happy to dose off while I rambled on.   Several of them from the last class stuck around to ask modeling related questions and seemed eager to learn a few things about getting a better model.  

There were close to 100 aircraft of various scales hanging from the ceiling and a few showed some nascent talent for the hobby but most were obviously completed by first-and-last time builders.  The USAAF/USAF/USN were abundantly represented with a brace of German 109's and a French Mirage of some sort.   Someone had rigged a parachutist jumping from a C-130, some commercial jetliners, a few WWI biplanes with rigging and a nicely rigged Wright Bros. Flyer.  

It was interesting to see that the completed student kits were overwhelmingly built for OOB accuracy and only a few done in "that looks cool to me" styles... the blue Stuka, a harlequin bomber and a pink A-10 were the stand-outs from that school of thought.  

I believe that I failed to adequately stress the importance of patience... I forget that teenagers have a different idea of time than do I.

HS group project?? Cool!

No, they are tasked with building a model and writing a short paper on it, or the pilot, and why they selected that particular kit.   The kits were from all the previous USAF JROTC classes that had completed their assignment- this class has not yet done their kits.

It was cool to see so many aircraft hanging from the ceiling, it was far less heartening to know that 98% of the builders will probably never do another one...   it reminded me of come LHS's that I knew as a kid- models, models everywhere!

Keeping this alive since I have a lot of Soviet aircraft underway...

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 while I figure out my color palette for the sand and green camo.

I kinda like it with just the primer & pre-shading... :)

Thanks, I've gotten the underside blue on and then oversprayed areas with that mixed with Gloss Gull Grey to add a warm, faded effect.  Once washed, this should look the right kind of ugly.

Dittos on the pre-shading Vance; it looks so cool that way, almost a shame to cover it!

Hopefully the finished paint job will be worth the preshading ....

got some more work done last last night....

That look is sheer awesomeness Dre!

Thanks, it's getting there.   I need to wet-sand the green panel a little once it cures to lessen the brush marks.   I couldn't get a clean mask there so I hand painted it...

Hi guys sorry I didn't get any pictures up, I have been ill these past few days and am feeling awful I have had no time for anything lately, I'm still with this just man been sick since last week and many more work hours mean I have no real time at the moment, I will do my best to get something up, I have a few pictures of the Flanker I gave to the Belfast Model Shop so I will try and post them.

Take your time and when you get back on your feet, we'll be here.

By the way Dre that Frogfoot looks fantastic, is it a large kit?

I don't think that it is all that large for the scale.  Here's an older photo.. perspective might lead one to think that it is similar in size to the Su-27, but it's smaller all around.

Very nice Dre! I'm very curious to see what the finished product is going to look like on that Frogfoot with all that pre-shading!

I've not yet broken out the airbrush to start on the MiG-21 yet...I'm a bit nervous. I haven't airbrushed anything in about a year, since leaving for basic training. I hope its just like riding a bike!