US CARRIER AVIATION GROUP BUILD 2013

Thanks Greg and Clemens. It's coming together slowly but surely. Man I think I'm actually gonna finish this thing this year!

Great work, Joe! I don't think those numbers were perfectly staight on hte real planes, so don't worry about it. They look perfectly aligned to me anyway!

Greg: Yeah, it is over acrylic paint. Doug (Rigidrider) posted something about this technique in the 190 GB.

Hey Joe, when I saw your pic last week or whenever it was of those decals cut up and ready to apply I thought "Yikes!!!"

You did GREAT, mate!

Can you tell me more about the light 70% isopropyl alcohol app, please? News to me. Would that be over acrylic?

Thanks Ed and Carlos! Will be moving on to the gloss coat, a dull coat mixed iwth gray for the sun bleached effect and then off to a light , and I mean LIGHT, application of 70% isopropyl alcohol for the super dull effect.

Agreed... Harumphh! Harumphh! Harumuphh!!!

Looks good from he.

Well folks I applied the squadron letter/ numbers to the sides. I'm sure somebody here has attempted applying individual decals in a row before and knows how meticulous that is! I looked at this thing from every conceivable angle , looked at it sideways, looked at it mean , looked at it worried , looked at it dismayed and made all kinds of adjustments and finally I just  accepted them the way they were. It seemed like every time I looked at them again that one of the letters, numbers or the dashes looked crooked. I think I have it all together now though. Here goes:

Thanks Clemens. Almost there!  

She's looking great, Joe!

Thanks for 'splaining the toned down wash, Joe.

Thanks stikpusher! Yeah its the one I painted the tail end and sides of the scheme after so I might as well use the codes.

The wash looks real good there Mustang. Nice to see that the decals arrived. I had a feeling that those were gonna be the codes you were gonna use.

Thanks for the comments MAgather! I started this thing last December and tucked it away so I could build my Eduard Fw190 A8 for the Butcher Bird GB and brought it back out because unfinished stuff bugs the crap out of me. We're gettin' there though.

Really looking good.  I love that it is coming together.

Thanks gregbale and Greg! I merely used a MIG productions dark wash and after not liking the heavy wash application, I waited on it to dry and hit it with a light application of MIG wash thinner. It tamed it back down to where it is now.

Wow, that looks great, Joe. What kind of wash was it, and how did you 'tone it down'?

mustang1989

This thing took a wash application really well with the rivets holding on to a bigger portion than I wanted so this morning I applied wash thinner to lax things up a bit. I'm alot happier with the new results.

That looks magnificent. Really excited to see this one come together.

Hey guys! I applied a wash several days ago but was not really happy with it overall because it was too heavy. I got up this morning and toned it down a bit and cut out the squadron numbers/ letters from the decal sheet that I received in the mail yesterday.

This thing took a wash application really well with the rivets holding on to a bigger portion than I wanted so this morning I applied wash thinner to lax things up a bit. I'm alot happier with the new results. Heres the latest on that:

and the decals that are cut and ready for application:

68GT: Coming along nicely and like the reference photos. As stikpusher likes to say, "A picture is worth a thousand words."

It was a short term experiment to see if the green camo worked any better.  Results were apparently inconclusive and stayed with gray.

The yellow on the flaps and ailerons was Tamiya tape that I incorrectly masked the white color but the splotches are Olive Drab.  Just the varying of the shades of the under coat and not putting a thick base coat down does wonders.

I fixed the white flaps

This one is relatively clean

This one is pretty weathered

68GT

I was told they used a water based paint that didn't hold up for long.

Water based paint on a carrier plane?  No wonder it didn't

I was told they used a water based paint that didn't hold up for long.

Good looking GT, gonna be a used bird for sure.

Looking good indeed 68.

I've not tried preshading yet and very much like what you've done here. Posting the pics of the preshading and the results helped me to see how it works. Thanks! Interesting how those subtle spots of yellow lightened the green, too.

Looking real good there 68. I have always been a fan of those short lived green Navy camo schemes. I am curious if they did use the colors used by the Marines, either the dark bronze green from their armor, or the medium green used on their helos. Both colors would have been in the Navy supply system already. As opposed to the 34079 and 34102 which were in use by the Air Force at the same time.

Thanks,

It is all Model Master enamel and the pre-shading was with black and olive green where the base is 34079 dark green.  A lot of the callouts were for 34102 but from the photos I had seen and what I was visualizing the 79 I felt would be better.

Found a photo of the upper side and will have to paint the flaps green also.  I thought they stayed white.

That's a very nice looking F-4! I really like the preshading!

Thats a good lookin' F-4 Ed!! What shade of green is that?

So I got back to the Navy F-4G.

Rebuilt the fuel dump that broke off and disappeared.

Preshaded

Painted some green.

I'd be willing to bet that I'm the slowest builder on the planet. :)