I see most everyone currently working on kits is in the painting phase. That gloss black under the alclad should come out really nice on the old Korean war bird.
Have to say that the skull and bones F-18 is looking super nice!
Hey Ortiz "O", that pale camouflage on the AH-J is wonderful. The finished build is clean and sharp, GOOD JOB!
Hey FF, regarding the color fade, it is hard to tell in the photo. Lighting can play tricks in pictures, specifically hard or soft light, direct or reflecting lights, artificial or natural light, etc. So it may be just right and as you intended. Most important is that it is up to you and your opinion regarding the tone of the paint. (2) If you gloss coat the color (especially if it is flat or satin) it will darken up some too. Personally I like it and the sprayed panel relief underneath the color.
I also like the care and detail going into the A-4. During the Nam era, it is one of my favorite aircraft. I'm looking forward to see how she turns out.
The A-10 is moving along too and the false canopy is a really authentic touch. Is it going to have a full combat load of ordnance; LGB's, Rockeye, etc?
Jarrod and I have gotten the AC-119 gloss coated and have laid down the decals. I am very surprised with how few kit decals this model has. The whole set consists of only 4 insignias, 2 sets of tail numbers, 2 matching 3 digit numbers for the front landing gear doors, 1 broken line box and 2 different nose art 2"x3" total. The I looked at all the various pictures of the AC-119's and I was amazed to see that they really do not have many markings. I would say that this might be one of the least stenciled aircraft in the USAF inventory!
From the top there is little to no markings for walk ways and "No Step" areas, no markings for fuel fill location on most versions, etc. The only stencils I found on some photos are for the aircraft data up by the left side canopy, red warning stripes by the jet engines and on the fuselage for the props, and two small warning stencils by the radar domes. I was fortunate to have some decals in my spares to make these items up.
Look close and you can see the red stencils mentioned above in this photo:
In comparison, the civilian and USAF C-119 versions are loaded with markings, stencils and color:
I'm sure the lack of markings was due to the tactical night missions in which it was used. With all this said, I am still surprised by the lack of basic stencils on the AC-119 variant, after all... those big white letters and numbers on the tail were not that tactical anyway.
We are now ready to seal the decals with the gloss acrylic clear coat and then the flat finish over the three tone camouflage. I hope to show some images soon, till then keep up the wonderful work in this GB. The varieties and colors are making this a nice GB!
Ben and Jarrod