50th Anniversary Vietnam War Group Build

Got some minor progress tonight. Sealed the front half of the fuselage around the cockpit. I had to pry out the front seat to allow the fuselage to close. No probs. It went back in just fine. Sealed well and I don't think there will be any putty needed. Maybe just a minor bit to seal the spine on the rear fuselage, but, we'll see after it sits overnight. My only real issue so far is the shallow panel lines usual with Hasegawa along with Hase's hard hard plastic. I will prob spend a few hours running over all panel lines with the scribing tool. I fear the molds are getting worn? 

silentbob33

I have a quick question as I'm getting ready to start putting paint on. Was the camo on SEA Phantoms a soft edge or hard edge? I ask because I usually hand paint canopies because I don't trust my masking skills that much, and at the moment I can't afford to spring for a set of canopy masks. If it's a soft edge, I may have to suck it up and mask the canopy so I can keep the soft edge of the camo on the frame.

As a general rule, all US aircraft camo is sprayed with a feathered demarcation edge. If you look at the photos I posted this past weekend, you will see some good examples. On USN/USMC aircraft where you see hard edges on the control surfaces, that is not from masking, but from those items and areas being painted separately during production prior to final assembly. Masks and templates are used for insignia and markings, not base color camo.

Bob- No reason you can't pain the canopy seperately with a brush. It would still look just fine once glued in place, regardless if the fuselage is painted with soft line camo.

Rob- Nice work. Coming along quickly. At least with Hasegawa's hard plastic it scribes real well, unlike the latest Italeri Stuka I'm working on, and ICM's kits for that matter. Scribing through that plastic is like trying to scribe through a dang candy bar...

Thanks for the info Stik. I should have noticed that, I guess it was wishful thinking on my part. Looks like I'll be masking the cockpit up when I paint.

Masking the canopy on a Phantom is not too hard. There is not much framework to worry about...

Here is a tip, invest in Tamiya 1/4" tape, although expensive it is vey good masking tape and does not bleed under.

Theuns

Hello!

As for the soft edge on the camo - look at your references! Like this picture:

Dou you see the soft edge here? Yes it's there, but the colour transition has like one or two inches. It scales to under 1 mm in 1/72 - hard to do freehend, isn't it? But it's doable, you have to mask the colours, but raise the mask edge some. Some people take thread and put it under the tapeto raise the tape edge. I personally use long, thin rolled strips of stuff called patafix (flexible, sticky plastic used to put posters on the wall, etc) for the edge and fill the area to be masked with tape. This way, when you spray perpendicular to the surface, the area under the roll of patafix automatically gets the narrow feathered ege. This is what I got using this method:

Hope it helps, good luck with your projects and have a nice day

Paweł

Thanks for the help everyone.  I should have guessed it was a soft edge, but I wanted to be sure.  So far I've only been able to find one picture of the aircraft I'm modeling, "Sugar Foot III" of the 12th TFW.  It's in black and white and not of super great quality.  I wasn't sure if there was some variation with this or not.  I looked at some pictures and saw that it was definitely soft edged, but in some it looked harder.  Probably the distance from the subject and/or lighting that made me think there might have been differences.  Thanks again.

Early 12th TFW Phantoms arrived in country in Gray over White in 1965. The survivors of those were camo'd in country on the flight line as the orders to do so took effect, and many showed rather soft color demarcation lines. The rest would have been factory camo'd and have had a better tighter job done.

Thanks Stik, you have a wealth of information.  The markings for my particular bird was at Cam Rahn Bay in 1969, but I have no idea when the plane itself actually arrived in country.  I'm not too worried about getting the soft edge on the plane, just the canopy.  But as you said, the framing isn't too difficult so I think/hope I can manage masking it good enough.  I got it primed the other day, hopefully tonight I can preshade panel lines and start getting paint on later this week.

Wow, Rob. Your F-4 cockpit is really impressive; hard to believe that it is in 1/72nd scale!!  Looking forward to watching your progress!!

Dave

Hey Pawel,

Good information on your painting technique.  Your Skyraider looks outstanding; one of my favorite schemes: The Proud American.  Well done, sir.

Dave

Thanks Dave, gonna be a long build for me, me thinks

Would this be a Mk 84 2000 lb'er on this Thud?s41.radikal.ru/.../0ffcdb4622fb.jpg

Also interesting to see the outboard pylon is in NMF.

I have found a set of 2 low drag bombs that measure (in scale) as the Mk 84, so maybe this is an option....

Theuns

no, that is the M-118 3000 lb bomb. If you are looking for a Mk.84 loadout, I did come across a photo that had the centerline tank, a single Mk.84 on each inboard pylons and single Mk.83 on each outboard pylons.

Got a bit of progress tonite...she's starting to look...plane-ish 

Getting that double ugly F-4 look now ;)

I use to love the weird angles of the F-4, untill I heard they were all "fixes" for poor aerodynamics and handling LOL (says the guy building a Thud ....with the intakes the "wrong" way round!)

Theuns

Hey now, the F-105 looks fast even when sitting still in the ground. Those intakes do not detract from her lovely lines...

Hook, line and sinker hey Stik?  ;-)

Theuns

Oh yeah ;)

I think the F-4's lines are dead sexy!! Yeah, Theuns, she was a bit of a brick in the air at first for sure!!

Here in SA I am just use to seeing (when I grew up) mostly Mirage 3's and F-1 ......the guys at Dasaullt really has an eye for style :-)

Theuns

Now the F-1C.... there is one sexy sleek machine.... while pure deltas such as the Mirage III and Delta Dagger/Dart may look 50's style ultra modern, the F-1C took style to another level.

well you know what they say....you look good you fly good

Strangely I prefere the deltas over the F-1. The deltas just look so stylish while the F-1 looks more like "war planes".

We also had the locally built Aermachi MB 326 Impalas, they also have nice lines.

If we are talikng pure good looks, the US planes I love are still the F-104c and the A-4 scooter of all things LOL

Theuns

For your viewing pleasure tonite, I came across these photos of F-105s staging thru Hawaii (Hickam AFB I would wager) on their way to Vietnam, probably late summer 1964.

No,no no!!  Now you put the idea in my head to do NMF!!.

OK ,note to self...., just calm down, go sit still untill the feeling goes away LOL

Theuns

OK, here's some discouragement for you on a silver Thud (they were not NMF at the point, but aluminum lacquer)- you have to back date any kit to early configuration. No side engine cooling scoops, or back up hydraulic line conduit on the fuselage spine...

but they sure were pretty before warpaint