Vietnam Air War GB - Extended!

looks great to me

Please E-mail me you completed builds so I can add them to the main page : tcepilot@gmail.com

Second f104 has been delivered so i am back in the game. Turning into an expensive build, lets hope norhing else goes wrong.

Hi Everyone,

After considerable thought I came up with a plan on how I am going to apply the Metalizer to the auxiliary air intakes and the avionics bay.

For the auxiliary air intakes I will mask off the engine which will be painted with the Metalizer and paint the green zinc chromate (enamel) with an air brush on the inside walls.  Then after the green cures I will mask that off and apply the Metalizer with an air brush to the engine.

For the avionics bay there is so little area that will need to be green I will paint it by hand with a brush.  So I will paint it first with the Metalizer (spray bomb, since that is all I have on hand at the moment) and hand paint the green afterwards.

Here in these first pictures are the auxiliary air intakes with the engine masked off:

 And here they are with the green zinc chromate sprayed on:

 Here is how they turned out with the masking tape removed:

 And here is the avionics bay with the Metalizer painted on:

According to the directions, it is supposed to be sprayed on as a mist.  But that spray bomb only comes out as a water fall!  It is already pretty shiny without buffing it.  The directions say to buff it after it dries which is suposed to only take an hour.  But as thick as it came out I will wait until tomorrow night.

Ken

Nice work on the bays!

Dogfish_7

Nice work on the bays!

Thank you Bruce!

Ken

Hi Everyone!

I got some rest last night, so tonight I was able to get some work done at the bench.  The Metalizer showed up today as well so tonight was a good night!

This first picture is a shot of the avionics bay after I buffed it.  It really shines up pretty good.

 In these next pictures I show the work I put into masking the auxiliary air intakes.  It takes a lot of patience, tweezers, and more patience!

 Here is what they look like after I painted the Meatlizer:

I will have to do a little touch up but not too bad.  I will buff them tomorrow night.  Then I will add a little color and contrast to bring out some detail.

Ken

youre doing a great job on this

eatthis

youre doing a great job on this

Thank you Eatthis!

Ken

I have more kits on the line for this GB. 1/72 O'' Mania is my mai9n focus right now and my A-24 Banshee conversion. I will be back to this GB shortly.

Hey Guys! Haven`t been around much lately but I have been working on 2 kits. I`ve finished a Monogram A-1H Skyraider and been working on an OV1 Skymaster.  Here are some pics....

......and some of the Skymaster.....

The Skymaster isn`t complete yet. I lost one of the clear parts for the landing lights and tried using clear parts/window maker from Testor`s...3 days and still not dry...lol...

I`ve weathered both A/C but it`s tough to see in the pics...a combo of the camera and poor lighting. I`ll take some brighter shots when the SM is complete. Thanks for looking!

Len

Very nice work there Len!      Top notch!

It is so good to hear from you!  So how have you been?  How is your house coming along?

Ken

Hi Everyone,

As promised I have pictures of my progress.  In this first one I show the "before and after" of polishing the Metalizer painted on the engines inside the auxiliary air intakes.  The one on the left has been buffed and the one on the right has not:

I started out trying to buff them using a Q-Tip.  But they are too large to get into the smaller areas.  I tried cutting them down.  That helped but they were still too big.  Then I remembered these:

 The fuzzy brush ends worked great!  Here is a close up:

I can get into the small nooks and crannies with these things!  I bought mine at Hobby Lobby for a couple of bucks a package.  You can probably find them cheaper some place else.

Take a look at the great job of shinning up the avionics bay I did with those things:

 Next on the avionics bay I painted what appeared to be insulation.  I am going by pictures from the book "The Modern Phantom Guide:  The F-4 Phantom Exposed" by Jake Melampy.  I did not have any paint on my shelf that was the color close to the shade shown in the book so I had to mix my own.  I used three colors shown here:

 Here is the avionics bay with the insulated areas painted:

 Next I painted the sidewalls of the avionics bay green zinc chromate:

It is going to take a couple of coats to get it covered so I will put on a second coat tomorrow night.

That is all for tonight.

Ken

Very nice work on your bays Ken!

Accomplished quite a bit yesterday on the 104. Fitted up the internals on the fuselage, painted the *** pit and glued up the fuselage after finishing out the fuel cells.

Thank you for the compliment Bruce!

You're doing a great job on that F-104C!  Nice detail work.     

I got the second coat of green zinc chromate on the side walls of the avionics bay.  Not much reason to post a picture of it.  I will put a different color on it tomorrow night!   

Ken

Hi Everyone,

I added a little color to the avionics bay tonight.  I need some semi-gloss black but I don't have any in acrylic.  I will stop by Hobby Lobby on the way home tomorrow night and pick some up.

Ken 

Hi Everyone,

I stopped by Hobby Lobby to get the semi gloss acrylic black paint but they didn't have any.  But they did have gloss.  So I bought that and mixed it with my flat to make my own semi gloss.

Here is tonight's progress:

Tomorrow I will finish with some bronze and call it done!

Ken 

Hi Everyone,

Well I am calling the avionics bay done.  I added some touches of brass to mimic where pipe had been brazed together.  Here it is:

Next on the agenda is the Aires resin engines!

Ken 

Hi Everyone,

I completely missed this.  Yesterday was Vietnam Veterans Day.  It was 40 years ago yesterday, March 29, 1973, the last of our combat forces departed the country of Vietnam and the final release of American prisoners of war.

I wish to thank all of our Vietnam Veterans for their time served, and wish them a big "Welcome Home!"

Ken

Hi Everyone,

I painted the first round of green on the inside of the exhaust cans.  From the pictures I have, it appears that the green got lighter as it got closer to the end.  So what I will do is once this coat is set (Model Master enamel takes 3 days to set completely), I will add some white to lighten it and spray it at the ends.  It should give me the effect I am looking for.  Here is a picture of how they look after the first color coat:

 Ken

Hi Everyone!

Tonight I painted the exhaust turbines and the exhaust nozzles with the Model Master Titanium Buffing Metalizer.  I am going to let them dry overnight and will buff them tomorrow night.  Here are some pictures:

I am still blown away by the detail that Aires can put into these things!

Ken

Still waiting for our Rainy Season to end, so I can get in the garage and put some paint on

Thanks Ken. Would also like to enter my Douglas A1-H Able Dog USAF 56th SOW.

She's ready to go into primer:)

Greetings Everyone!

I have finally grabbed a chance to sit at my workbench!  I polished the painted exhaust turbines and the exhaust nozzles that I had painted with the Model Master Titanium Buffing Metalizer.  Here are a couple of pictures:

I also painted the ends of the exhaust cans a lighter shade of green to give the effect of "wear" that they normally would exhibit.  Here is a picture of those:

I got the effect I was looking for here; a non uniform spotty effect toward the ends where the color green was getting lighter towards the ends.

Next I will mix up some wash (a dark green color) to bring out the lines.  I like to use a darker shade of the same color for a wash since the effect I am going for is to make it appear the shadow of light is making the lines appear.

Since I have to go into work tonight I will have to wait until tomorrow for the wash application.

Ken 

Hi Everyone,

I have applied the wash to the exhaust cans.  Here is how they turned out:

I probably should have gone a little lighter on the shade of green but I am not going to change it.  If you care to know the formula that I use; it is approximately 2 parts Model Master Acryl to 1 part Model Master Acrylic Thinner and 2/3 part dish soap.  I let it dry for a few minutes and then rub it off with a cotton swab.

Ken

Finally, after a kit disaster and buying a new one I am back to where i was and a little bit further. Its is (hopefully) going to be a during take off model with the gear part retracted. we will see.

flappy suction whatever they are doors from the outside

27 by omgpainful, on Flickr

and inside showing them boxed off

26 by omgpainful, on Flickr

Aires can

07 by omgpainful, on Flickr

and how it looks installed

36 by omgpainful, on Flickr

Aires main wheelbay sprayed with alclad and a grey wash.

18 by omgpainful, on Flickr

front Aires bay 

33 by omgpainful, on Flickr

Altered bulkheads andmain bay in. secured with CA and five minute epoxy

White nylon bush is for the clear acrylic rod of the stand i am doing for it.

38 by omgpainful, on Flickr

pit assembled. 

25 by omgpainful, on Flickr

quick check to see if  it fits. it does thank heavens.

34 by omgpainful, on Flickr

resin underwing tanks with fins attached by ally tube, ill fill it with milliput tomoz.

44 by omgpainful, on Flickr

Nice work Talentless!  Great detail work!!  That looks great!   

Ken

Hi Everyone,

I had an episode with the photo etch that came with the Aires exhaust set.  It didn't fit, so I thought I would try to trim it down to size.  To make a long story short, I ended up destroying the photo etch which left me very disappointed.

While researching a solution, I came upon the discovery that Eduard Brassin had a set of exhaust for the 1/48 Hasegawa F-4.  Looking at the reviews and pictures, it looked like a better set than the Aires set so I ordered it.

It turns out that the Eduard Brassin set's detail is much better and accurate than the Aires set.  Here is where I am so far with the new Eduard Brassin set:

I painted all of the engine exhaust parts tonight.  Now I just need to wait for them to dry.  Here is one of the exhaust turbines (it is painted with Model Master buffing Metalizer, so it still needs to be buffed):

 Next is one of the exhaust nozzles, also painted with Model Master buffing Metalizer, so it too still needs to be buffed:

And finally one of the jet pipes with its high temperature green paint coating on the inside liner:

I will have to wait for this to dry 3 days since it is enamel before I can add the wash to it.  I will be polishing the Metalizer the next couple of days while I am waiting.

Ken 

Nice touch with the resin engine parts!