Official Natural Metal Finish Group Build

Blkhwkmatt have been wanderin what happened to you welcome back Cant wait to see your finished pictures so dont make us wait too long Matt.

I have been gone for a couple of months with work and come back to see some amazing builds completed here.

I have completed both the F-86 and the Mig-17 however I havent taken any pictures of either yet.  I should be able to do that later on tonight or sometime this weekend.

Matt

Wow nice work guys! too bad I didnt come back to the forums sooner, I wouldve joined this GB.  Maybe next time.

Sherman1111 Glad to see you back my friend ! Congradulations on your second place win at the fair too. I am tellin ya when I saw your build the first time I knew it was a winner. I can't tell you how much I hated having to DQ it from the build along with a couple of others. I am very sorry to hear about your back, was really pullin for ya. But just think about all the models you can build now Maybe even 2 a day now lol. PM on the way to ya Sherman.

Neu Thanks for the info, I did take the liberty of adding it to my lil notebook that I keep for referance.

Sherman congrats! that flagon looks amazing. Those early 60s and 70s fighters always catch my eye.

vetteman42 wrote:

Neu Looks like you do have your work cut out for you, I dont think I could sit down and do all that sanding and shaping. The right wing looks good to me I must say. Do you use the same kind of putty we plastic guys use for filling or is it a silicone type putty. I havent messed with much resin in my building other than wheels and small details like that, so I will more than likely be asking some bonehead questions as I follow your build.

Don't worry about it...
Resin really is a different medium altogether. It takes alot more patience and forethought as pieces invariably aren't perfect and usually require reshaping to make it look right. That means sanding and lots of it.

Putty is important, and I use two. The first is for everyday stuff and thats Tamiya's normal stuff. Good, but it isn't that strong, so I can't use it to connect stuff. I think its designed to be used on styrene so that it gives it some strength, and since it doesn't react at all to the resin its not the best. The other stuff I use is this japanese poly putty called Mori Mori. The stuff is famous and there is no equivalent product. Its a two part resin which has just the right hardness so that it will hold a panel line when you score it without chipping. I can't not rave about it, the only problem is that it tends to require big batches to be made, and it cures somewhat slowly. On this model I used it to fill the landing gear bays.

Hi guys, sorry been gone for so long haveing more back problems and have to go on perminate disability. Remember in the begining i did a Su-15 , but didnt have any build pictures. I was in a hurry for the Orange county fair. I won 2nd place im my division. Here are some pictures

 

Neu Looks like you do have your work cut out for you, I dont think I could sit down and do all that sanding and shaping. The right wing looks good to me I must say. Do you use the same kind of putty we plastic guys use for filling or is it a silicone type putty. I havent messed with much resin in my building other than wheels and small details like that, so I will more than likely be asking some bonehead questions as I follow your build.

Thats a great tutorial Richard. Lately I've been saving snippets of information on an wordfile so I can easily reference back to them. Yours definitely gets to be saved on it. Also I want to build a dakota in the future so I'm watching your build with interest.

So I took a slight break from my seafang to start work on the VF-11. I made a slight change in my plans for it: its no longer going to carry its space fast packs and its going to be a clean atmospheric version. The parts were just a little small anyway so I decided to do away with them completely. Nevertheless, its going to be a bit of a slog with this one. I've Been working on the wing roots, which the sculptor took some liberties with. This is what its supposed to look like at the back;


Notice that the wing root is almost flush and there is little space at the end of the root... only enough for the wing to swing in at high speed. With the model, none of this exists wing isn't flush with the root and whole assembly just ends flatly. So this is the view of the right side been sanded down quite a bit, and the left not at all.



And this is what it looks like when it starts to be sanded down.



Hopefully I'll get some time this weekend to finish most of the main sculpting so I can give it a base coat and start on the cockpit by next week.

Ok Randy, glad i could persuade you to try it. You will find it it very forgiving and easy to work with the watercolors.

Just a last minute tip:

1. You will find your q tip will pick up the watercolor fairly fast so you will start to notice you are dispersing the paint rather than remove it. DONT worry, you can either use the other end and start with a fresh tip or either you are able to remove or move stuff with a cloth or your fingers just as long as your surface is moist.

DONT use alcohol to do this. It will totally ruin your future coat and the (acrylic) paint underneath. Stick to water! Your surface will be ready for q-tipping as soon as the water looses it's shine and starts to dry.

Richard

Kermit thanks I will be trying your weathering methods on an F4F in the Guadelcanal GB, I did pick up some water colors today. I think the color choices will be perfect for weathering, the only color missing from my set would be black but I can pick that up later. Now all I have to remember is to be more agressive with weathering.

 

Do you clear coat before you weather with the water colors and the Tamiya pigments, then seal it with a second clear coat ? I have to learn not to be so tenitive with my weathering me thinks. Last question : How do you build em so fast ?????? would have taken me 2 weeks to get to the point you are at now.

About the futuring... Yes, it would be advisable to have some kind of coat on your paintwork. It protects your paint but also makes the wash flow in better. I did not future my engine housing as i made em so dirty a lot of the paintwork isnt visible anymore. But on a visible place, for instance some panellines on the outside i would definately be more careful and coat it first.

You can put another coat on top of all the weathering but do give it at least a full day to cure to prevent bleeding and try to spray stuff on as opposed to brushing, just in case

About your second question... it DID take me two weeks.... I just started the moment my sabre went into the booth. Had to wait anyways so might as well spend my time useful LOL.

Thanks for the compliment. You will be weathering and "Randyfying" in no time at all

Richard

Kermit WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cant believe the amount of work you have gotten done in such a short time ! Looks great too ! Thats a huge build judging from the pictures I am impressed. Ok you have convinced me to get some water colors from the local craft store, I have been making my washes from the tamiya paints I use. The water colors look like they clean up better than the acrylics do. Now for some questions LOL

Do you clear coat before you weather with the water colors and the Tamiya pigments, then seal it with a second clear coat ? I have to learn not to be so tenitive with my weathering me thinks.

Last question : How do you build em so fast ?????? would have taken me 2 weeks to get to the point you are at now.

I will try your method on my next build Richard a beat up war torn F4F-4 Wildcat. Better see if I can find some of those Tamiya Pigments too, havent seen them at the LHS.

All in all a good build you have in progress and thanks for taking the time to write and photograph the Tutorial for us.

 

Tonight's update will be slightly different...

There will, again, be alot of pics but i kept them small so it will be less of a impact on your internet downloads...

I have been having quite a few remarks about weathering lately and thought it would be interesting for you guys how i try to achieve the results you have been seeing. Call it a "kermiefying 101" if you will.

Now,.... by no means i consider myself to be an expert on the subject and i have seen much better results by other modelers outthere, but i will show you how i do it and how you can get interesting results with a little bit more effort.

For my little tut i will be trying to weather the engine housings of my C47 as it is the next step of my build. When i think engine housing i think dirt, oil and scratched paint,....right?

Heres how i progressed:

First of all, what do we need...

In this pic you can see different brushes, cotton swabs, paints, a teacup holder, piece of cloth and various other things i will need during the "kermiefying":

The interior green is already in place and cured so next step will be accentuating the edges using a drybrush with flat white, this example being with courtesy of humbrol enamel:

Dip a small but flat brush into your paint and try to get off as much as you can, then wipe it over a piece of cloth untill you can see no more paint coming off. Wipe even more at this stage.... Takes a bit of practice to discern when your brush is "ready". In general there will likely be a place where you can "test" your brush in this stage on the part you will be drybrushing. I am still learning myself to be honest...

 

You will see i took off slightly too little myself this time, but in the end result it will be hardly seen. Now use your almost dry brush to wipe over all the edges and things sticking out on your subject part:

In this case i have treated all surfaces likewise, redipping my brush and wiping it clean for every new part:

After i left this for a while (it was enamel so it needs a few) it was time for the next stage: applying a wash to create dirt around the edges. Normally i use a tealight holder and add a drop of paint. In this case i have opted for the easiest way: Watercolors in a tube. Very easily to come by, easily handled and darn cheap on top of it:

I am fortunate to have a family member into nursing so it is easy for me to get ahold of syringes for mixing up my paints. This is not neccessary but makes life easier and helps you be precise in mixing paints exacly like you did before. I use it this time to add tap water to the paint. For this size of drop you can add 3 or 4 ml of water for a basic wash...

Add a drop of dishwashing agent, shower cream or any other kind of household detergent for breaking up the waters surface tension (it will flow better) and mix it up. You end up with a kind of a coloured water rather than dilluted paint:

At this point i take a long pointy brush and apply my mixture over the edges of the part. The mixture should find its own way around all edges, recesses and things by itself. Be generous:

Leave this to dry for a few... (i generally wait untill the shine of the water wears off, telling me it is dry enough)

At this stage you can consider getting either one of these while you wait. In my case i took both and also had a chat with the Mrs.....(isn't she cute....):

Showtime!...

Take a q-tip/ cotton swab and dip it into water. You want it to be moist not wet... Wipe it over your part on places where you see no edges. The swab will get black and make your surface dirty again quickly, just take a new one and repeat the process untill you are happy with what you see. You want clean surfaces and dirty recesses/ edges.

Nice and dirty recesses and worn off paint kinda edges... starting to get there....

Next and final stage will be dirtying up the places you just wiped clean. You can use a whole lot of things for this,... maybe another wash but this time a brown one... but you can also use what i do: my tamyia weathering set (couldnt live without it) and some basic chalks i picked up at the local art stroke hobby store. I believe the ladies use it for their artful greeting card hobbies... Anyways..it was cheap and easy to work with.

Most of these kind of "make up" boxes come with a kind of applicator makeup kind of swab. It will do nicely.

In this case i used the "rust" of my tamyia weathering set B and the dark brown chalk in the other box and ended up with this result:

Here we have one very dirty (slightly overdone for tutorial purposes) engine housing, ready for assembly and taking in the actual engine.

Hope you peeps liked my little "hell, i've got nothing better to do" tutorial thingy and see you guys next update. Happy to answer any and all comments and questions you might have...

Richard

Ah because I'm a scale purist, I build everything in 72 and can't bring myself to build anything else. There are some pretty good sabres out there in this scale so maybe I'll get to one in the new year. Thats a really nice skytrain there too.. I like the metal waring effect.

I'm almost done my seafang so I've restarted some work on the VF-11... pictures coming soon.

Neu,

Thanks buddy Nice to hear one can inspire fellow modelers. But why not do a 1/48 sabre? There are a lot of VERY affordable kits outthere. Academy and Revell aren't expensive and are very representable to name but a few brands... Looking forward to see you "in action"

But now for something COMPLETELY different... My Skytrain!!!... lol (yay...)

While i was waiting inbetween spraying jobs and drying times for the sabre i did quite some work on the C47 already. So to get you guys up to speed i will post quite a few pics this time. My apologies for this...

Since the entire interior was mostly interior green i could start off with spraying almost half of the parts already making a quick start possible.

First of all, the box and sprues. Really nice molding, almost no flash whatsoever and a GREAT set of decals too. Even more impressive if you realise this mold is from the seventies:

Like i said, ALOT of parts were interior green so here are a bunch of pics from them after spraying and weathering them a bit with aluminum paint i dotted on and drybrushing them with flat white. After that i applied a black wash to age things even more (it's a cargoplane so i wanted it to be scratched worn and used):

After all that paintwork it was time to attach everything to the fuselage and adding clear part windows before sealing it all up:

Theres even a little latrine and sink inthere. Cute innit?:

And after all that it was time to close up the fuselage. Because of the sheer size and number of parts that took a bit of fiddling but i managed in the end. Seams are not too bad at all and nothing i can't handle later on.

For fun purposes and to give you an impression of the size of my model i took a pic of it sitting on my (messy) workbench. Don't be alarmed, i can actually find things back in that jungle:

Again, apologies for the large amount of pics this time. Hope you like my work and see you guys back soon

Richard

Randy, Richard:

Seriously guys, stop putting the rest of us to shame; those are some beautiful models. They kinda illustrate how two different methods can produce some amazing results. The P-38 looks fantastic while the Sabre makes me want to build one in 72 now as well. You've convinced me to use the paint on stripes method Richard.

Randy: CMK makes a cockpit upgrade for Hasegawa starfighters... (found one here for you as an example) you might want to consider it as they tend to shimmy in quite well with a bit of effort.

Randy, thanks buddy. Always nice to get the attaboys after a completed build. Everything you see is straight out of the box, with exception of some decals wich were from aeromaster (tail, roundels and nose blazes). Cleaned the canopy before masking inside and outside and never handled the inside again to prevent greasy fingerprints.

GREAT to hear you will do a starfighter. It served in the royal dutch airforce too where it appearantly was referred to as "homesick angel" because it could climb very fast.

Found some pics for ya but i kinda lost your email after cleaning up my pc recently. Send me a PM with your email adress and ill send em over.

And thanks to all who commented on my build. Appreciate it boys.

Richard

Dioramator and Smokinguns3 thank you for your kind words gentelman.

Brett Yes it feels great to have finished this build, was a battle all the way to the end. I dont think its one of my better builds but I learned alot, it came out well, and I beat a kit that was beating me big time. I am happy with it. I remember your build, and a sweet one it was, I have to say isnt it a great feeling to have someone appreciate your work so much, that they are proud to display it ? I gave my first one away not too long ago, an F4F Wildcat, to my heart Doctor. I have never seen anyone get so excited over one of my models. He wanted to know all about the plane, how I went about building it, LOL we forgot all about my appointment. Funny thing was he had never heard of the modeling hobby, so I told him all about it. Anyway I did feel 7 feet tall when I left his office, when I was last there it was displayed in the waiting room with a card under it saying Built by..............

I am doing a decompression build now but will be back very soon with my next build the F-104 Star Fighter by Testers in 1/48 scale. This kit has no cockpit detail at all !! So I guess I will be scratch building one. I have searched the net, Goggled it, and found nothing I could use in the way of cockpit pictures. So do any of you guys know where I could find some ?

 

 

Kermit Aww man what can I say very very well done indeed. Hope you arent still cross eyed from all those decals. Love the finish, the canopy is flawless, infact this time I cant find anything to critque at all. Did you use the kit canopy or vacuform ? I blew up the picture I put on the front page and wow the cockpit detail is there clear as a bell. A masterfull job.  Oh and I hope you dont mind Richard but I lightened the picture for the front page, it just looked too dark when I resized it.

PS I am still upset all the nice work you did on the engine is hidden from view.

Hey and thanks for your kind words on my build. Maybe one day we can share a beer. The canopy was to be truthful the easiest part of the build. I used foil for the frame by placing a strip over the canopy and only burnishing it down on the frames, then used an excato knife to cut the frames out,( use a new blade when cutting the canopy frames so the foil wont tear ), the excess just about falls off. I have even used foil for masking painted airplanes. The rivets are surface detail in the kit, I did lose a bunch of that cleaning up some of the fit issues. One bad thing about foil is any mistake you may make on your surface prep will show up like a sore thumb, unlike paint which will hide some imperfections. Gotta talk you into tryin foil Richard it isnt as hard as it sounds just different. Hey while you are here in the states stop in at the LHS and pick up some Microscale Metal Foil Adhesive

Well shall i say theyy both look good. well done.

well done to both you guys, the builds look spectacular!

Don't you love that sense of achievement you get when you finally finish a project you have spent the last (4) months working on.

My Mustang has now gone off to my brother in laws as the pride of his showcase, but my wife was so impressed she wants me to build the same one for her, (I told her to make sure she gets the Trumpeter kit next time). I've also told her she will have to wait about 12 months before I will start it, as I would like like to get these (armor) dioramas that I am currently working on, out of the way.

Brett

 

And here are my final pics, randy just beat me by mere hours

Decalling took me between 5 and 6 hours total and they are a combination of the AMD and Academy decals. I am especially pleased with the way the tail decals fit like a glove with the help of a bit of set and sol ofcourse. Way better than my mustang.

Weathering was kept to a minimum since i think that the ground crew of the highest scoring Korean war ace were proud of that and wanted to have their top man fly a well maintained jet. Only the exhausts, wheels, wheel wells, undersides and panellines were lightly touched with brown and black pigments.

Just like Randy i am very pleased with the canopy as well. Since the mustang fiasco (forgot the tiny gap aft of the canopy so some paint accumulated inside) i have paid special attention to this particular part of the build. I could comb my hair, or whats left of it using the reflection

[disclaimer mode] Yes, it still needs a layer of semi gloss. I couldn't wait to show off my latest. What you see is the future shine[/disclaimer mode]

And ofcourse the final trademark sepia pic, like i always do:

EDIT: Before i forget... The NMF was again done with revells aluminum paint number 99, this time it was enamel based. For everything else i have mostly used the revell acrylics and one or two enamels by humbrol. Weathering is provided by tamiya (weathering set) and chalk powder. Decals are a combo of AMD's "sabres over korea" and OOB acedemy ones (crappy as hell but i needed them as amd did not provide the little text decals that go on the hatches and panels)

Randy, let me be the first one who congratulates you on a fine build!. Amazing how that foiling works for a model. I wonder though... the rivets show after foiling or did you have to do them yourself?

The canopy sure looks darn nice, must have been a real pita to mask the framing on it. Was it foil again or paint?

Seriously, i'm impressed with your model because i know personally how crappy the fit is on it. I take my hat off for you, you've earned yerself a beer there buddy!

Richard

Finally after 4 months I can call this build finished ! I did learn a bunch on this build, nothing and I do mean nothing fit as it should have, right down to the wheels. I think I will be building another one one day and will do a few things a bit differantly. Anyway I weathered it a bit with a final semi gloss clear coat to tone down the shine some and I think that worked out well. Fuel stains were done with raw sienna oil paint and details were brought out a bit with burnt umber. I think next time I will use a dark grey. The exhaust staining was done with tamiya smoke before the final clear coat then toned down with pastels. I think the best addition I made was the vacuformed canopy I used over the kit parts, I can actually see all my detail work in cockpit. So here are some pictures of my lil nightmare build as always comments are welcomed.

 

Now to decide which pic to put on  the front page.

vetteman42 wrote:

Kermit Wow Richard you painted those stripes on there ?? I am impressed, truly, they look better than any decal I have seen. Well done my friend.

Flying in the giant tube may just ruin you so watch yourself lol. Then you will have to try flying one of the little ones.

Like i said i will be flying a ten hour non stop flight to Seatac and after 8 hours of waiting on to a small, 1 hour flight to Walla Walla. I am supposed to pass mt. Rainier real close so that would promise to be awesome to see close up and personal

The stripes werent that daunting, just thin up your paint enough and spray close up with lowest pressure possible to be able to build up gradually and you'll be ok.

Richard

kermit wrote:

Im really pleased with the decision to do the stripes myself. It takes a bit of work masking it all (30 mins for 2 mins of spraying) but all the hard work pays off in the end i promise. Suggest you use acrylics for them because of the shorter drying time. Richard

Kermit Wow Richard you painted those stripes on there ?? I am impressed, truly, they look better than any decal I have seen. Well done my friend. I was hoping you would be coming thru LAX but then I remembered I wouldnt be able to get into the terminal you would fly into. Flying in the giant tube may just ruin you so watch yourself lol. Then you will have to try flying one of the little ones.

I just have to paint the antiglair panels do a bit of aging another clear coat and my build will be finished.

Neu - Thanks mate. Its always good to hear you inspire other peeps to do stuff per your own example

Im aware of the Seatle museum and i will be having an 8 hour stop at seatac. Really gonna try to get a few minutes inthere... Just dont't know what state i will be in after 10 hours non-stop..... Will be arriving at my final destination at around 9pm but it will be like 6 am the next day my own time...

Im really pleased with the decision to do the stripes myself. It takes a bit of work masking it all (30 mins for 2 mins of spraying) but all the hard work pays off in the end i promise. Suggest you use acrylics for them because of the shorter drying time.

Richard

kermit wrote:

I will be visiting friends in Washington state. Can't wait to go as this will be my first peek across the pond and also my first flight EVER. Might as well do it right the first time Everybody keeps asking me if im afraid to fly but i'm very confident i will LOVE it. After the first turbulence i might walk up to the pit and ask for another go Richard

While you're over there you really need to visit the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field and the Boeing's Tour at its Everett Facility.... If you're an aircraft nut they are "must visit" sites.


By the way your sabre is looking awesome... I'm thinking of using the same paint striping strategy as yours on my VF-11 and I think you just sold me on it.

Hello my friends, time for yet another update. Finished all painting and construction at this point and my sabre is ready for decalling once the paint has dried sufficiently, hopefully can make a start somewhere today.

Have some spare time to do it as i had some serious dental work done today so ill be home for a few, giving me time to work on stuff, pain and circomstances permitting

Since my last update ive done heaps of time consuming little stuff and took quite a lot of pics as well but ive narrowed down the selection to show the most important stuff, taking our modeling friends who are still on dial-up into consideration:

After all the major assembly was done i took my sabre into the booth and first gave it a black layer, finishing up with future to protect it and make it glossy at the same time:

After that dried overnight it was time for the NMF layer, again using the revell aluminum paint and yet another coat of future for protection and shine. Yet another night of drying and it was time for the yellow and black fuselage and wing striping:

IMHO this went quite well and looks better than using academy decals this size. Would have probably looked much worse....

Once i retouched, futured and dried those i went on with final painting chores such as the interior green wheelbays, the black nose, gunmetal gunbay panels and little stuff like that...:

Gonna let this dry for a bit longer before i start decalling. After that i will attach delicate things such as the pitot tube and wheelbay covers and we will be nearing the finishline on this lady

Thanks for watching,

Richard