Gift GB

I knew post war bombers like the B-52 carried bunks, but didn't realise the B-29 did. But guess it makes sense. And don't put yourself down, your doing great.

Most people on here are from the States. We have one or two from down under and then i am from the UK. Well, someone has to keep you colonials in order, right.

Yes they are...even though they were not part of the Z-8 of my wife's uncle, I thought I'd include them since the lower bunks were molded into the deck.

If you look close at one of the prop blades, you'll notice the yellow writing decal up close to the blade hub. I haven't done the other blades yet on the other props but will get to it tomorrow most likely. It was a test decaling at the time just before I took the image. The manufacturer of the blades decals are all in place. This kit has some very good detail which I'm enjoying the challenge of working on by instruction and by some adlibing on my part based off of old images I have. I dry brushed the center console knobs/levers and adding the yellow trim to the flight deck entry panel (top and bottom) just to mention a couple.

It's a little difficult with glasses and a 3x magnifying glass to do such intriciate work/paint by hand! the other night my wife came down to let me know she was going to bed and saw me with my face nearly up against the glass painting the silver ladder leading up to the crew transfer tube.

Her words: "Oh my, have fun"

I'm no where near the skill level of the folks here and no air brush, but I'm glad to be able to read and see how/what others are doing and how they are going about it!

From the roster of the build, where is everbody from? Most in UK? Any others stateside?

Thats some nice looking pit Z. I know what you mean about photo's. The ones i took of my recent 72nd build, the cockpit looked awful, but i know it wasn't nearly that bad. It is hard to get decent close up's of stuff this small.

Atre those bunk beds at the back.

Great looking progress going on BL and others...

Here's an update w/WIP on the 29 build...

Looks like the images/camera flash causes some distortion and paint blotchiness...even though it is all hand painted, it really doesnt look as rough as it looks in these images as it does in person. LOL

badlanguage, thats looking good. Taking photo's isn't my strong point, but i have learned a bit on here latley. I think lighting is one of the most important things. But you can see the detail and colours on yours, so thats the main thing.

Helo, thats some collection of Jag's your building up there. I think between you and me alone we could have a Jag GB. I have quite a few Flightpath ground equipment sets. I haven't used any yet, but the intructions do look good. Look forward to seeing how yours come together.

Nice work so far on your Gundam figure , Badlanguage

I decided to hold off on masking the Hasegawa GR-1 Jaguar as I rememberd about ordering the Flightpath RAF Jaguar GR-1 detail and weapons set from Hannants . The set arrived today and it's chock full of lot's of white metal , resin and PE for the Hasegawa kit , I also picked up two of the Italeri kits .

The two page instruction sheets are quite good in explaining where different parts fit

I also picked up the Pavla Martin Baker Mk.9B resin seat

I did go ahead and removed the wing fences from the top of the wings on my Hasegawa Jaguar

The metal over the wing missile pylons are quite nice

And they fit without any issue's straight on top of the wing

So lot's of goodies to add to the aircraft , the italeri kits have a nice set of weapons on their sprue and I can borrow one of the underwing fuel tanks for my Hasegawa build .

John .

More progress on my Gundam, though it's still slow going. Why does life get in the way of my modeling? I finished the head and part of the torso, as well as painting some of the bits that go in the arms and legs.

Sorry for the pic quality, I think I need another camera and/or photography skills.

Is that the Airfix kit. What exactly are you going to do to it.

im in with a 72 scale tsr2 thats going to get chopped up

Coming along nicely there guys.

I am looking forward to seeing your Jag with paint on, Jogn, should be a very interesting model.

I managed the flat coat on my Jaguar XJR-9LM tyres.

Cheers

Tony

ruddratt

Looks good John. I've never tried the Lifecolor line of paints, but your results are very convincing. Would you recommend a primer coat prior to spraying it?

Eric, very nice work on those tires. I've used that type of transfer before - have to say my results were nowhere near as good as yours.

I will definitly be using an undercoat of flat white first , my test spray was done in a bit of a hurry as I was curious as the actual colour of desert pink . Even though I got reasonable coverage with the pink straight over the grey plastic , I'll still be using flat white first .

Also the on-line  hobby store I bought the Lifecolor paint from didn't have any of the Lifecolor thinner listed  in stock but gave a brief description of the paint range and mentioned about using the brand name thinner , water or alcohol . I ordered some more Lifecolor paints yesterday for other projects and back ordered some thinner and a short while ago this morning the next lot of paint arrived along with the thinner

There's no mention on the bottle about paint to thinners ratio , I'll try 2 parts paint and 1 part thinner and work things out from there . I glued my Jaguar engine intakes into position . All is needed now is a light sand around the top and bottom of the intake join (they were in two halves) , rescribe a few panel lines lost in sanding and I can then start the masking .

John . 

Looks good John. I've never tried the Lifecolor line of paints, but your results are very convincing. Would you recommend a primer coat prior to spraying it?

Eric, very nice work on those tires. I've used that type of transfer before - have to say my results were nowhere near as good as yours.

I've been wondering about Lifecolor, thanks for the investigation John.

Here's my update on the Hasegawa 1/24 Jaguar XJR-9LM

I've used the stencil decals on the tyres. These are different to normal decals, you apply the decal to the tyre and then add water to removed the film, which is actually on the front of the decals. They've had a subsequent coat of Future, but some tidy up and then a flat coat  is warranted. I like to add a droplet of black to the flat coat, it just tones the lettering down a bit.

Cheers

Tony

I had a go airbrushing the Lifecolor paint 

First I tried mixing the Desert Pink with some distilled water ( 2 parts paint + 1 part water) and sprayed the left rear stabilizer . Then I tried mixing the Lifecolor with isopropyl alcohol 50/50 for the right stabilizer

Although the right stabilizer is only a tiny shade darker than the left stabilizer , it seemed to me that the paint mixed with isopropyl alcohol airbrushed a lot smoother than the one mixed with water .

I thin all my Gunze Sangyo acrylics with isopropyl alcohol it appears so far from what I can tell the same can be done with the Lifecolor paint .

I'll glue the intakes into position next and shouldn't be far off airbrushing the Jaguar .

John .

Beckyhead , that's a great start on the underwing stores and landing gear struts from your F4D Skyray

Tony , I'm looking forward to see how your Jaguar Racing Car comes together ; I certainly admire your modelling diversity !

I picked up the Squadron Signal book 'Air War Desert Storm'

Most of the photo's in the book are of U.S. military aircraft but there was a page with a couple of GR-1 Jaguars pic's

The top photo above doesn't have the over the wing missile racks fitted , so it appears some Jaguars did not have them .

The Lifecolor Desert Pink acylic paints just arrived

I'll have a test airbrush with some and see how it goes .

John .

Here's the latest on my Jag XJR-9LM. Just some flat black, rather boring really. I have glossed the tyre side walls ready to except the 'Dunlop Denloc' stencils.

I'll probably use a Tamiya rattle can for the gloss white, then airbrush and Humbrol enamel for the purple bits. Heaven help me when I get to the decals, the last time I build one of these they were very fragile. I think I'll protect them first.

For the record, I do use Future on my aircraft prior to applying an oil wash over acrylic paint base. I just figured it gives me a known, consistent result regardless of the paint brands I may be using. I also only use Humbrol enamel thinner in washes, as it seems less aggressive than some other brands. It also fits in the logical sequence of my finishing technique, as I like to apply the wash prior to decaling, to ensure the stupid wash doesn't think the decal edge is a panel line that it should highlight.

I don't think it's a must for me, but once I get onto something that works really well for me, I like to stay with it.

Cheers

Tony

Great stuff fellas!

Tony - that's a sweet looking kit! I'll be watching that one closely - gloss finishes are not my strong suit, so I'm curious to see how you pull it off.

Beckyhead - great start on the Skyray! I'm another advocate for enamel washes, and a coat of Future works wonders underneath them. A friend of mine recently threw a few jars of Citadel washes my way. I've never used them before, but I'm willing to give them a shot.

John - the Jag looks better with every update! - and man, did I learn a ton just now playing catch-up here. It's probably my favorite aspect of GB's - the sharing of knowledge.

Been making slower progress than I'd like on the Fokker, but was able to get about 6 hrs into it today, mainly on the engine and the ignition wiring. Should have some pics up soon.

interesting. I have not heard that before. I use enamels so if i am useing an oil wash, usualy on armour, i have to protect it with future. I know what you mean about protecting it, so it seems like a good practice anyway.

Bish, I've had too many problems with the oil wash actually being absorbed by the acrylics, hence changing the value. This is really bad with Tamiya flats. Maybe there is something I am doing wrong with the airbrush process. In addition, I use the future to strenthen the finish...I got tired of a finish wearing off in my hands through normal handling.

To many Jags, no, i don't think so. That looks a nice kit, looking forward to this.

Interesting discussion on the Jag, as I'm doing one of these for the Gulf Wars GB at some stage. I had also intended to show the above the wing missiles.

Anyways, I'm into my Hasegawa Jaguar XJR-9LM, in 1/24.The kit I have includes the tobacco sponsorship decals, which is good.

I've just made a start on the wheels, cleaning up the rims and using a sanding stick to reduce the seam on the rubber tyres, and depict the 'grippy' look of racing tyres. Next I'll future the sidewalls and add the stencils. The rims have subsequently been sprayed flat black, as has the cockpit insert, dashboard, seat and steering wheel.

This is my fourth Hasegawa XJR Jag, and from experience the only internal that can really be seen is the seat.

Are there too many Jags in this GB ?.

Cheers

Tony

Some nice work there. Just a point on adding the oils. You don't need to protect Acrylic paints before useing an oil wash. Might just save you one step in the future.

Nice work on the undercarrage as well, thats coming along nicely.

Hey group, made some progress with the Skyray this week. I decided to work small until my detail kit from Eduards arrives. So, I focused on the ordinance, landing gear, and other stuff.

I assembled the ordiance external pylons, drop tanks, generator and AIM-9s. I painted them with Tamiya FLat Whte, then prtoected the finish with Future. When the Future dired, I did a panel wash with oils (Burnt Umber).

For the rocket pods, I painted the disks that represented the launching portion Valleyo Aluminum, and the casing Tamiya Dark Green then assembled the those pieces. I also made custom decals for the Sidewinders from decals ledt overfrom previous kits. The banding represents that AIM-9 from that particular era.

(Sorry about the bad pics!)

For the landing gear, I added hydraulic brake lines with copper wire, but I drilled to small holes at the base of the gear to insert the lines.

When complete, I painted the gears (main and nose) flat white, used Bare Metal Foil for the oleo and weathered with a mixture of Burnt Umber and Ivory black oils. (This picture kinda sucks, too. I will try to get better ones). The wheels where painted with a mixture of black, brown and grey to get a "tire" color.

It certainly does add some confusion. I can't tell if the wing fence has been removed or if the missile rails are sitting over it.

I guess its worth as much as your willing to pay for it. £50 certainly does seem a lot. I have found a couple in the UK. One is the Revell kit at £50 buy it now, the other the Matchbox starting at £30.

I am not sure, but i think the two kits are one and the same. I believe Revell re boxed a lot of matchbox kits.

This pic is from a wiki site and adds a little more confusion about what to do

On another note , while searching around google for GR-1 Jaguar images , I just spent the best part of two hours looking for a 1/72 Revell Handley Page Victor K Mk 2 kit . I can't believe there sold out everywhere I looked and ebay had two of the earlier Matchbox offerings up for grabs but their priced at $76.00 ...............WHAT ; is this what the kit is worth , are they that rare . I was hoping to get one for my RAF Gulf War stash but I'm not so sure now .

It's a nice looking aircraft and I would really like one but how much do I have to pay ?

John .

I see now. It says to remove them for the Jag International. This was the version sold to foreign nations. Your building the GR. Mk 1. It also says that upper wing missiles are fitted to the Internaional, but as the photo's show, these can be fitted to the Mk 1 as well.

It does look like that pic of the model, he seems to have got it wrong. This pic shows an RAF jag with the wing misslies which have been fitted to the wing fence. So if you wanted to add that missile, it would seem you just remove the bottom section of parts C15/16.

To be honest , I'm a little reluctant to file off the wing fences as well Bish .

Hasegawa's instructions do suggest to do it though ;

I checked an online hobby store here in my neck of the woods where I buy most my acrylic paint from and they have a brand called LifeColour and there is a desert pink colour available . They also have a Italeri two seat jaguar kit available !

I like the pic of the finished model , particualry the intake doors in the open postition .

I'll hold off on removing the wing fences for the time being and look for some more reference pic's ;

Thank's for posting the pic's Bish ...

John .

John, i know your useing Acrylics there, but i just woundered if you knew that Xtracolor does an RAF desert Pink. As to those wing fences, i don't think they should be removed. I am pretty sure they are a part of the wing.

 i have never seen a pic with them not on. I have also found one of a model of the aircraft

your building with upper wing missiles on board.

To be honest, i didn't realise the RAF used this feature, but i did find some pics of real RAF Jag's with missiles up there.

Heres the model i found.

Yes , mum really like the desert pink colour scheme , so it's a perfect opportunity to gift wrap a couple more RAF jets and helicopter kits .

Anyway , here's another small update on the Jaguar .

I had a go at mixing some gunze acylic for the desert pink scheme

Firstly I tried a mix of H-44 90% + H-17 5% but this looked too brown on the paint stirring stick , so then I tried a mix of 2 parts H-44 flesh with 1 part H-19 pink .

It's close but maybe a shade too dark

I'll try lighting a little and see how that looks .

Something else I just noticed is that I forgot to sand down the wing fences on top of the wings where the missile pylons sit before glueing the wings on

I'll mask around the top of the wing to avoid any careless scratching while I file down the fences .

John .