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lostagain Mongoose, there's a photo of a cardboard Christmas tree in your pictures... And the great red and white scheme is VERY christmasy... Looking good
Mongoose, there's a photo of a cardboard Christmas tree in your pictures...
And the great red and white scheme is VERY christmasy...
Looking good
Spoken like a true calvin and Hobbes fan! Too funny
In the pattern: Scale Shipyard's 1/48 Balao Class Sub! leaning out the list...NOT! Ha, added to it again - Viper MkVii, 1/32 THUD & F-15J plus a weekend madness build!
Well, X-mas tree or not it is coming along very nicely. I don't think I can recall ever seeing one of these in TB trim. Now I'm even more keen on seeing it come to life. Looking very good there Mongoose.
BK
On the bench:
A lot !! And I mean A LOT!!
2024 Kits on deck / in process / completed
14 / 5 / 2
Thats some impressive masking Mongoose, looking really nice.
I am a Norfolk man and i glory in being so
On the bench: Airfix 1/72nd Harrier GR.3/Fujimi 1/72nd Ju 87D-3
Looks awesome Mongoose! I assume she's an airshow plane since it seems funny to me to build a stealthy aircraft and then paint bright red markings on her!
And thanks, I used a pile of putty on this one. My first Kinetic kit, the detail was excellent but the fit was horrible. Thank God for Perfect Plastic Putty, I was able to put it on and then wipe away the excess with a damp cotton swab. If I'd tried to sand it I'd have lost a pile of detail.
"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen
Every build I’ve followed always talks about how much time is spent on masking. Now I really know what they went thru! I’ve got 6hrs invested in what you see here. Probably another 3hrs to go. Maybe I’ll have the blue on by Wednesday. That’s 3M fineline tape I’m using; 1 piece is for the color and the other 2 set the border so that the pin stripe starys a uniform width.
Here’s a refresher on the final scheme...
Wow that is truly awesome work with that masking Mongoose, it is going to look a-bloody-mazing! I can well imagine that masking soaking up hours and hours of your time. Very few of us can claim that level of dedication!
(Now, if you painted it green instead of blue imagine how christmassy that would look? just a thought...)
Wow Mongoose that's an awesome scheme!
Not sure if you're crazy or a total badass to try it!!! Maybe both?!?
It's going to look amazing when done.
Thanks guys! im feeling a little nuts for trying it at this point. I did not comprehend how hard the thunderbird on the lower half would be thoght i had plenty of time with a month to go before the group build was dne, haha was i fooling myself. Not rushing though. Going to take my time and try to do this with clean, sharp lines. I used CAM decals on my Phantom. They look good and went down well, but it’s hard to avoid any ovelap of the many pieces and that darkens it in those areas plus you lose some level of detail...see that’s the crazy logic that started this fiasco of a masking event. Ok, enough rambling its time to lay more pinstriping!
I'm just taking it one GB at a time.
Hey Gang, here’s tonights progress. I’m getting excited about this now, you can see the silhouette of the Thunderbird really well now!
I laid the exhaust nozzle in there for effect. Another day before i can spray the matt varnish on it.
One again- amazing masking job there Mongoose. She's gonna look incredible!
And here’s the big reveal. Another 3-1/2 hours to mask everything beyond the pin striping and put down the blue. Finished up baout 130am. Going to be a 2 coffee morning
Mongoose, I am speechless that is a truly amazing piece of work
Just WOW!!
Now that is impressive. Amazing masking job never mind anything else.
Just simply fantastic Mongoose!
Don't think I'd said it before but I love the idea of a Thunderbirds F-35!
Love your work Mongoose, that's a great outcome on a difficult and tedious job.
Cheers
Tony
WOW !!! Excuse me while is pick my jaw up off the floor. That is one heck of an amount of work, but holy cow did that turn out incredible. I never thought about how this would look when I saw the red and knew it was a TB bird. Simply amazing. Pat yourself on the back on this one for sure, you deserver high praise.
I can't believe it's done!! Well, pretty much as I should put some clear coat over the decals. I am so thrilled with how this turned out Each one I do is getting better and better; I improve on something that looked horrible on the last one and ... I continue to struggle with canopies LOL Maybe somebody can do some airbrushing on my photos that get too close to the front of the cockpit . So here's a bunch of shots. I'll put more detail shots here for those who are following along and then post a whole slew of them over in the Ready For Inspection thread. This is nearly all out of the box, a few scratch built parts to add some detail in the cockpit is all I added.
I decided to do tribute to the outgoing F-16 and I found the perfect art on the USAF site. This poster was created by SSgt Jon DuMondof the USAF Thunderbirds and they had a 3mb file available for free download, perfect. The key for me was the 2 F-16's outbound in the visor reflection. I used watercolors to blend the photo into the base and wrap it up into the F-35A Thunderbird.
They do show the shadow of the screen over this port but I'm not sure I like it. I was happy with how the pE formed though. I took a piece of clay that I used for sandbags on one of my tanks and formed it over the vent. Then after it dried for 2 days I laid the PE over the clay and slowly rolled it into shape. I think the nozzle turned out pretty good to. At least it has the color gradient and some of the shadow between petals that I tried to apply. I used the kit part but it took so much work to clean up and even then I still don't think it looks very good. After the Thunderbird graphic this is the part I'm proudest of on this build - The joint for the vertical stabilizers and the fuselage. No putty! I massaged it and taped up the area prior to starting paint. Kept the tails off the whole time then assembled them after everything was done. it was also way easier to apply the decals to the tails on the table rather than when they are angled down away from the vertical. You can see the glass isn't very clear. I tried using something different and it looked good for 3 days so I figured it worked...but when I took the masking tape off the whole picture had changed. What'd I do, I used RainX headlight polish on it. I already sent Italeri an email so I can get a new clear sprue. What does look pretty good I think is the PE from a 20cal shield for the detonator on the canopy. I hope you enjoy these. I keep learning from everyone elses posts so I I've tried to add detail that may be useful to others. If you see something you'd like to know more about drop me a line. And if you know the secret to the perfect build, or even a few of my model building dilemmas as detailed here feel free to post it up. Chris
They do show the shadow of the screen over this port but I'm not sure I like it. I was happy with how the pE formed though. I took a piece of clay that I used for sandbags on one of my tanks and formed it over the vent. Then after it dried for 2 days I laid the PE over the clay and slowly rolled it into shape.
I think the nozzle turned out pretty good to. At least it has the color gradient and some of the shadow between petals that I tried to apply. I used the kit part but it took so much work to clean up and even then I still don't think it looks very good. After the Thunderbird graphic this is the part I'm proudest of on this build - The joint for the vertical stabilizers and the fuselage. No putty! I massaged it and taped up the area prior to starting paint. Kept the tails off the whole time then assembled them after everything was done. it was also way easier to apply the decals to the tails on the table rather than when they are angled down away from the vertical. You can see the glass isn't very clear. I tried using something different and it looked good for 3 days so I figured it worked...but when I took the masking tape off the whole picture had changed. What'd I do, I used RainX headlight polish on it. I already sent Italeri an email so I can get a new clear sprue. What does look pretty good I think is the PE from a 20cal shield for the detonator on the canopy. I hope you enjoy these. I keep learning from everyone elses posts so I I've tried to add detail that may be useful to others. If you see something you'd like to know more about drop me a line. And if you know the secret to the perfect build, or even a few of my model building dilemmas as detailed here feel free to post it up. Chris
I think the nozzle turned out pretty good to. At least it has the color gradient and some of the shadow between petals that I tried to apply. I used the kit part but it took so much work to clean up and even then I still don't think it looks very good.
After the Thunderbird graphic this is the part I'm proudest of on this build - The joint for the vertical stabilizers and the fuselage. No putty! I massaged it and taped up the area prior to starting paint. Kept the tails off the whole time then assembled them after everything was done. it was also way easier to apply the decals to the tails on the table rather than when they are angled down away from the vertical. You can see the glass isn't very clear. I tried using something different and it looked good for 3 days so I figured it worked...but when I took the masking tape off the whole picture had changed. What'd I do, I used RainX headlight polish on it. I already sent Italeri an email so I can get a new clear sprue. What does look pretty good I think is the PE from a 20cal shield for the detonator on the canopy. I hope you enjoy these. I keep learning from everyone elses posts so I I've tried to add detail that may be useful to others. If you see something you'd like to know more about drop me a line. And if you know the secret to the perfect build, or even a few of my model building dilemmas as detailed here feel free to post it up. Chris
After the Thunderbird graphic this is the part I'm proudest of on this build - The joint for the vertical stabilizers and the fuselage. No putty! I massaged it and taped up the area prior to starting paint. Kept the tails off the whole time then assembled them after everything was done. it was also way easier to apply the decals to the tails on the table rather than when they are angled down away from the vertical.
You can see the glass isn't very clear. I tried using something different and it looked good for 3 days so I figured it worked...but when I took the masking tape off the whole picture had changed. What'd I do, I used RainX headlight polish on it. I already sent Italeri an email so I can get a new clear sprue. What does look pretty good I think is the PE from a 20cal shield for the detonator on the canopy. I hope you enjoy these. I keep learning from everyone elses posts so I I've tried to add detail that may be useful to others. If you see something you'd like to know more about drop me a line. And if you know the secret to the perfect build, or even a few of my model building dilemmas as detailed here feel free to post it up. Chris
You can see the glass isn't very clear. I tried using something different and it looked good for 3 days so I figured it worked...but when I took the masking tape off the whole picture had changed. What'd I do, I used RainX headlight polish on it. I already sent Italeri an email so I can get a new clear sprue. What does look pretty good I think is the PE from a 20cal shield for the detonator on the canopy.
I hope you enjoy these. I keep learning from everyone elses posts so I I've tried to add detail that may be useful to others. If you see something you'd like to know more about drop me a line. And if you know the secret to the perfect build, or even a few of my model building dilemmas as detailed here feel free to post it up. Chris
Chris, where to start? That is a bloody ripper!
Superb work with the complex masking and gloss finish.
Great set up and a magnificent base to bring it all together
A build you should be extremely happy with!!
WOW, she looks friggin' amazing Chris!!!
Love the F-35, love the base, love the concept, just fantastic all around!!!
Thats some really nice work Mongoose. Congrats on the improvement that you perceive, I thnk your models are great.
I thought that was a cool kit before I saw the base. Holycow, that is incredible. What an amazing build. You need to see if you can get that posted on the site. Super cool, Mongoose.
Thanks,
John
I got going on my Dragon 1/72 He 162 last night. It's got a reputation as a fiddly kit, and it is. I'll try to take some photos tonight.
I'm going to finish it in French post war markings. THey ended up with one to play with, but I haven't researched the history yet.
Mongoose, that is completly brilliant. Stunning work on the paint job, the masking has really paid off. Thank you for shareing this.
Just a brief update on the Cobra
I have finished with the work on the exhaust shroud (pipe still needs to go inside the shroud) glued on the winglets and glued the tail boom and back half of the fuselage together. This means I can fill and sand and fill and sand without worrying about rubbish getting in the cockpit; that can drop in last thing when I close up the front half
Also started on the modifications for civilianising the Cobra up the front end; here you can see the fairing over the gun turret and my method for filling in the nose. There is a bit of weight added in before the epoxy putty is formed over the top, roughly getting the shape of the nose, that can be sanded down or filled up as required next time
Lostagain that’s my favorite whirly bird. Can’t wait to see how it turns out. Looking good so far (oh wait, that’s an F-14 phrase lol)
Lostagain, I too, am enjoying watching you transform this whirly bird into a civilian version. This is gonna be a one of a kind.
She's coming along great LA. Nice work!
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