Vietnam Air War GB - Extended!

I have the tan of the upper camo applied now. Taking a break from airbrushing at the moment. I am doing two planes and this is a time consuming process...

Im not working but ill keep coming back to see how your planes are going. They are both real cool.

Nice to see I am not the only one here working as well ;-) I am really liking your F-4G- especially in that experimental camo. Very unique!

Good to see I'm not the only one laboring along.

I got some decals on the F-4G and some more stuff painted.  I also managed to break of the fuel dump again.  I think this was the third or fourth time.

Thank you sir. Yes it is certainly taking shape now. I am feeling the urge to rush and get it done, but then I know it will not come out properly if I do....

Glad you are still going with 104 its really starting to take shape and im looking forward to seeing it finished

Well yesterday I forgot to photograph the wheel and speed brake wells... so here...

today I masked that off and painted the lower surface Humbrol camouflage Grey 36622

and I applied a new coat of Flat Black on the improved IP hood. I also hollowed out the screen of the RHAW scope with my Dremel, but it did not show up here well...

MMMMmmmmmm Bombs!!!!!!

Well after some sidetracking over the past few weeks, I was able to resum some work on my F-104 today. Based upon the photo here,

http://www.i-f-s.nl/udorn-ecm/

I saw that the RHAW gear that I added had some pretty prominent scopes under the windscreen. So I scratchbuilt something resembling them and added them in place.

More to follow in the next few days....

I got back to the Phantom plus a lot of bomb making.

is this just aircraft or can NVA FLAK joi?. i have a ZSU-23/2 in the stash

OK!  I'll hopefully post some sprue pics after the game today.  Go 'Niners!  

Well it was used in vietnam, so  even if its not on the list i dont see why not :-)  i would like to see it too asi have not seen one before

tcepilot

Anyone can join anytime. I have just been busy with school.

Completely understandable!    I just wasn't sure if my choice of aircraft (U-1A) was OK since it wasn't on the list. 

Thanks for the heads-up stikpusher.

Well, I'm going to build it regardless.  I guess i will just snap some progress pics and post them if he comes back and accepts me.

tcepilot has not been on here in some time.

Hey tcepilot,

I would like to join with a U-1A Otter, but I don't see that listed.  Am I in? 

If so, it's a Hobbycraft 1:72 kit.

Thank you sir. I did some white primer work today on the sped brake & wheel wells & doors. I need to pick up some Tamiya gloss white tomorrow at the LHS on the way to AMPS.

Thats brilliant, cheers! I have never come across a starfighter with that equipment before. It certainly makes yours a special, very nice :-)

The decal sheet that I am using, Orion "Starfighters in Combat" pointed me out to the system. I did a web search and came up with this.

 http://www.i-f-s.nl/udorn-ecm/

stikpusher - i looked a t loads of pics from vietnam (da nang mainly) but never saw a C with the the apr-26 or the two tail thingies. could you share a link to a pic so i can see plz? was it just used on the ground attack aircraft?

Major progress up to and including today. This is what I accomplished during the week: intakes and tip tanks glued in place, and seam work sanded- looks like an F-104C

now a close up of the intake work

and of the shim work that I did on the lower surface of the wing where the tank meets the lower surface

so this afternoon I added the landing gear struts and associated arms in the wheel wells, Sidewinder rails and 20mm spent shells chute to the lower surface

and then I scratch built the APR-26 RHAW antennas that the F-104C carried in Vietnam.

Nose fairing- still needs a little more sanding to get the proper profile

and the tail antenna fairings, need to do a little filler work on where they meet the fuselage

and I glued the radome in place so this is how she looks now

Ready now to start some serious paint work here in the next few days.

Just a tiny update today- painted the end of the intake area Flat Black.

true, cooler temperatures do tend to slow the drying time, especially with gloss paints. But the ones that I used yesterday did not remain tacky longer than normal for gloss enamel paints. On speed builds such as the Weekend Madness, I tend to work with Acrylics more due to their quicker drying times.

I do the same thing and use the same thinner but most of the time I find their gloss remains tacky for a while like it takes longer to cure.  When its warn out I will place whatever I painted outside when dry to try and speed up the letting off of the solvents.

Had this problem recently in the Weekend Madness GB and decaled/cleared anyway.  Things turned out ok though.

I just stir it thoroughly with my handy dandy stir stick and thin it with Testors Universal Enamel Airbrush Thinner (Red Can stuff) and no problem today.

Do you have a trick for getting their white gloss from being tacky for a long time?  I actually think its all of their gloss enamels now that I think about it.

OK, back on with this one. Nothing major today, but I did get the intake interiors painted in white- a primer coat of Flat White then a top coat of Gloss White after a short wait for the primer coat to dry a bit. Both Testors square bottle.

Mine is going to be in the SEA Camo, so no need for a gloss black undercoat.

Lol, i thought it looked a bit dull for a gloss black finish :-P must be my failing eyesight.