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Thanks for all the info Bro. Very good idea to scan and print the decals for a mask, i never thought of that and will add it to my tricks arsenal. I wonder if you can print the scanned decals on frisket paper for the mask ?
I am a security guard at the Daytona Speedway and all the pilots came through my gate together. I had the wonderful oportunity to chat with all of them and they where all a bright,personable,articulate and humble group of young men and women. They all loved flying the F-16 and called it a sports car you strap on rather than get in to fly. I literally got chills watching them fly-over the speedway. An experience I'll never forget.
I'm finally retired. Now time I got, money I don't.
Hey Jay Jay! Meeting the pilots sounds awesome. I haven’t found a specific reason why they wear red or blue uniforms yet but that’s a good question for them. Have looked several times and just don’t seem to have the right search words i guess. The instructions in the Tamiya Thunderbird kit give you the option of red or blue For the 2003-2004 show season. My other 2 Thunderbirds have blue uniforms so I took the red option this time. the bird i did is from the 2004 season. It’s the Tamiya Thunderbird kit as you indicated. Hopefully they will rebox this kit because it’s hard to find now.
What I did with the masks was to scan a copy of the decal sheet, then print it out on the plain mask paper. That made it alot easier to make clean crisp lines. I also used some 3M ultra fine line tape for some of the curves, like the red and blue on the nose where the masks were tough to get around the pieces sticking off the side of the fuselage.
let me know if i just created more questions for you lol, I’ll be glad to answer them :-)
In the pattern: Scale Shipyard's 1/48 Balao Class Sub! leaning out the list...NOT! Ha, added to it again - Viper MkVii, 1/32 THUD & F-15J plus a weekend madness build!
What a fantastic build and paint job !
I wanna do one too but i have a couple of questions and forgive me if I missed the answers in the text but I did read everything you posted 3 times.
First of all, which brand kit did you use ? i saw some 1/32 Tamiyas on Ebay for like 160 bucks...PHEW too rich for my blood.
You mentioned Maketar masks, are they for the over-all exterior blue T-bird and fine line stripes or did you make your own masks for that ?
I met the pilots in person and they all wore Navy Blue suits. Am I missing something here with the red flying suits that you depicted in the model ?
Thanks in advance for the info.
I finished up the final stand and presentation for the F-16. I had a picture from airwingspotters that showed the jet in a vertical climb with vapor trails coming off the leading edges of the wing. Here’s my attempt at duplicating it...
That looks great! Nice job.
Very nice! I agree on the panel wash. The gray shows just enough to be effective.
Chad
God, Family, Models...
At the plate: 1/48 Airfix Bf109 & 1/35 Tamiya Famo
On deck: Who knows!
Thunderbird Leader is all finished! What surprised me, and I am really happy with the effect, is that the gray panel line accent showed up darker after putting the clear coat on her. I use the classic Testors Clear. No matter what I've always had great luck with this stuff. You can just watch it flow and level out on the model.
This is the 1st red uniform I've done. Much harder to shadow red compared to the classic blue. I stuck with the instructions and so the canopy is removable. I like that with the detail in the cockpit but on it's own it is just a little shy of sitting down tight.
I spent some time on the fan trying to get a good worn look so I had to find a way to get a glamour shot. The intake isn't completely seemeless but it's close, you have to look to see it on the one side. I tried a method using cement to melt the plastic at the joint. With more practice I think i will work like the tutorial for me. The white really glossed up. I used RCW gloss paints and they make a great foundation to add clear too. Here's how the panel lines look in a close-up. Last, here is the tail with flame on! The afterburner exhaust effect I think turned out good on the finished model. I may add some fine cotton ball threads in there for some smoke effect once I clean up the stand.
I spent some time on the fan trying to get a good worn look so I had to find a way to get a glamour shot. The intake isn't completely seemeless but it's close, you have to look to see it on the one side. I tried a method using cement to melt the plastic at the joint. With more practice I think i will work like the tutorial for me.
The white really glossed up. I used RCW gloss paints and they make a great foundation to add clear too. Here's how the panel lines look in a close-up. Last, here is the tail with flame on! The afterburner exhaust effect I think turned out good on the finished model. I may add some fine cotton ball threads in there for some smoke effect once I clean up the stand.
The white really glossed up. I used RCW gloss paints and they make a great foundation to add clear too.
Here's how the panel lines look in a close-up. Last, here is the tail with flame on! The afterburner exhaust effect I think turned out good on the finished model. I may add some fine cotton ball threads in there for some smoke effect once I clean up the stand.
Here's how the panel lines look in a close-up.
Last, here is the tail with flame on! The afterburner exhaust effect I think turned out good on the finished model. I may add some fine cotton ball threads in there for some smoke effect once I clean up the stand.
Toshi That is just extremely awesome, The paint job is amazing! Do you use Tamiya tape to get edges that cleanly? Again, Awesome job! Your friend, Toshi
That is just extremely awesome, The paint job is amazing! Do you use Tamiya tape to get edges that cleanly? Again, Awesome job!
Your friend, Toshi
Toshi I use 3M fine line tape and Maketar paint masks primarily. The 3M fine line gets down into the finest panel lines and keeps anything from bleeding through...short of me not burnishing it down well, and makes curves(the larger curves I freehanded with the 3M). I use tamiys when I’m not worried about a crisp edge, like along a canopy rail or a wing root. I tried the green frog tape from home depot but it’s too thick to do more than straight lines. The yelow tape from HD works just like Tamiya tape I’ve found so i keep a big roll of it handy.
Mongoose, that is really something. Layer after layer to look at and enjoy. You should be very pleased. Top drawer build sir.
Just keep picking away at it...
On The Bench: Revell 1/48 B-25 Mitchell
Married to the most caring, loving, understanding, and beautiful wife in the world. Mrs. Toshi
Very nice! Can't wait to see it all finished up. I did a 1/48 back in 2016 before I knew what I was doing in the hobby. It is begging to be trashed and a new one built. But first I must do another Harrier, and shoot the first example, lol.
She's ready for her top coat! To quote a cult classic, Down Periscope with Kelsey Grammar, She may not be the youngest girl at the ball... but she'll turn a head or two...
Best model I've ever built. Now wish me luck with the clear coat please. I practiced on a test part I've been using through the whole process and it looks good, even the decals had no problem, so I'm optimistic.
Everything is out of the box except the flag and the stop watch on the instrument panel. Here's a few shots prior to the big unveiling this coming weekend. I'll pull the tape off the canopy once the clear is on and then take some shots with a uniform background. Let's start with the money shot...
Edited due to Smugmug error
Jay Jay you're too kind. I've seen your work which makes me really appreciate the compliment!
I built a 1/72 T-bird that I was proud of until I viewed yours here. GEEZ I'm not going to show mine to anyone now. Fabulous work Mate.
Mmthrax im glad you enjoyed going back and looking thru the build! Thanks for the engine coment btw. I kinda figured it was one of those personal preference ideas and so no one was commenting. Glad you liked it.
tanker-builder you know the only reason I ventured this toute was i hated the decals on the F4, wherever there was a curve they overlapped and that changed the color.
Toshi thanks for your support, I’ll keep posting!
The paint job is just amazing!!!
Well;
I just don't understand it . You are doing in paint what I couldn't do with Decals . Not fair ! No , Really she's looking beautiful !
Hello Mongoose,
I just went through this build. You are doing some incredible work. Mind blowing detail in the cockpit! I love the engine treatment too. WOW! Two thumbs up! Watching this space...
Keyda it seems like every time I turn around there's more little stuff to do.
Got the wings all fitted up tonight! Put the smoke piping on the tail, found another spot of blue to fix (fortunately I can brush it), and repainted the exhaust nozzle after doing something stupid and scratching it
Looks great! I gave up on painting the pilots a while ago, lol. I would always land up making a mess of them anyway. Can't wait to see it all finished!
Returned from a week of travel and finally got a chance to finish up the colors. Most of it is still in pieces so it'll be later before I post any big picture updates. For now I've got a first look at the cockpit. Going to gloss coat the pilot, do a pinwash, and then add the decals to his shirt. I used 3 diferent shades of red on him but once I looked at the closeup I could tell it really wasn't showing. I think the pinwash in brown will do it. That will finish up the office!
Thank you gang! I can offer up this, it really feels good when you see the finished product. Makes the time up front worth every minute...It is a struggle in the moment though.
will be finishing up the red this weekend and then the engine and little finishing details
Looking very nice!
That masking job seems like it turned out great, definitely better than using a decal/s. I have an unbuilt 1:32 Mirage IIIc to do, so I'll definitely follow this thread!
Kien
Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkcc2P3-PluSdehvVCEKLdw
I find that an incredably ambitious masking project and my hat's off to ya for your dilligence and ability to pull it off ( no pun intended)
Keyda I have to be honest, twice I thought about using the decals! I bought all the paint so that really drove my motivation. Definitely a lesson in patience, , just have to take it one bite at a time!
Wow, you must have a super high amount of paitence! I did a 1/48 Tamiya one, and it was all decals, that annoyed the crap out of me, lol. It didn't turn out to well either. I'll have to build another one of these days. It's looking great!
Thanks Tanker-Buider glad you’re enjoying the build. Here’s some more eye candy for everyone...
The masks took way longer than I thought, 3hrs yesterday and 5hrs today. Cutting out the reverse pattern to cover the white became a challenge around the very fine pin striping. I ended up using a combo of the Maketar masks and 3M pinstriping tape. Even when using the scissors I couldn’t get a smooth, uniform edge.
I clear coated the edges 1st, then sprayed the blue. I have 4 coats on it to cover the white primer. It amazes me though that even spraying everything at once i have some sections that look somewhat different, the section behind the nose vs the intake is an example. A couple spots didn’t adhere well and i had one spot where the tape came up and I didn’t catch it. I’ll have to make some touchups for sure. This was more difficult than the F-35 which is the opposite of what i thought when I started. Overall pretty good all things considered. I clear coated the tape edges all around and had almost zero blead through of the dark blue. An improvement over the F-35 I did recently. Here’s the top side, all ready for red and adding the cockpit.
I clear coated the edges 1st, then sprayed the blue. I have 4 coats on it to cover the white primer. It amazes me though that even spraying everything at once i have some sections that look somewhat different, the section behind the nose vs the intake is an example. A couple spots didn’t adhere well and i had one spot where the tape came up and I didn’t catch it. I’ll have to make some touchups for sure. This was more difficult than the F-35 which is the opposite of what i thought when I started. Overall pretty good all things considered.
I clear coated the tape edges all around and had almost zero blead through of the dark blue. An improvement over the F-35 I did recently. Here’s the top side, all ready for red and adding the cockpit.
Oh Boy !
Went through here going Ollie Chit ! ! You are doing one fine job . I had the large Tamiya one years ago and I went loopy on the Gun bay . Back when it first came out . Niiice ! !
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