MiG Killers Group Build, 7/07 to 6/08

Hey Rand, absolutely great job on Showtime 100. It came out really great and I especially like the weathering on it. Well worth all the effort and extra work you had to put into it. Nice job.

Steve

deathrattler32 wrote:

Ok guys here she is.Her story is a F-15c from the eglin gorillas she shot down a mig on Jan.29th,1991 shot down a Mig-23 with a AIM-7 at 1700hrs. flown by Capt. David Rose southeast of kirkuk.It also has 2 SU-22s under its belt which was shot down on Feb. 7,1991.I hope you all like it and I hope the pictures are good enough took them outside but sun wasnt out so hope they are good enough. hope u all enjoyed.

You did a great job on the Eagle.  I was with the 58 TFS during Linebacker when we deployed to SEA.  I was the Crew Chief on F-4E, 69-260 (Too Sick Oh).  We called ourself the "Mo Gilla" outfit. 

All done... FINALLY! Three months of fustrating, pain staking work. I am posting this over in the Aircraft forums also. You guys can read my review of this kit there if you like. I am glad it's finished and now I can start another kit for this GB soon. Not sure what I will build next but rest assured that the mistakes I made with this build I will not make again.

Here are the pictures... Enjoy!

At least it won't make you take out the trash

Glenn

Well. I guess it's time for my progress update. Decals are finished at last. Took a lot longer than I expected but the results were worth it. Franken-phantom now looks like Showtime 100! At this time I am assembling AIM-9's and Mk-20's to wing pylons and will set them aside and get the landing gear, gear doors and AIM-7's on before I put the wing pylons on. I wont post any pictures until its finished, but DANG she looks good to me.

I told the wife today I was gonna divorce her and marry my "Model".  LOL.  

Great work so far, ya'll. I'm almost ready to shoot some color on my bird. This isn't a great picture, but I hope it shows where I'm going with it. I have to start getting the base and holder for it, so it'll fly once it's done.

Thanks Steve,

I'm hoping it'll still look real after I weather it. 

updated post

I wasn't quite happy with the burner cans and the area aft of it.  So I did some more masking and gave them some MM Exhaust.  The cans themselves got a good, solid coating.  The area aft got a bit of misting/fade.  Now I'm very satisfied and happy with how it turned out.  I hope you guys like it.

Semper Fi,

Chris

Outstanding work on the metalic areas of the tail. it is very convincing and looks the real thing.

Steve

The Phantom wasn't touched between Tuesday and Saturday.  I put in some work today, and I'm metalizered out.  The shiny stuff is Alclad Aluminum.  The Darker grey stuff (which I really like) is MM Burnt metal, and the lighter grey stuff (looks too blue to me) is MM Stainless steel.  There are a couple of blemishes in the NMF (I don't think I'll touch) and some parts which should be camoflauged which I'll touch up later.  Overall I'm satisfied.  I still have to paint up some exhaust stains.  

With and Without flash 

Semper Fi,

Chris

I used modelmaster interior blue/green. cant remember if it was french or italian but it was the closest i seen.It came out real nice with that color and from what people said it was close.

When i get a chance i will open the nose,and door by the nose and the gun bay and take some more pics to show more of the detail.

one thing i will do with the sol when i am using it and when i am at a decal that really needs to sink into a panel line or havin trouble with it is put some sol on it and take a damp paper towel and push the decal down with the sol most of the time that helps alot of people say not to touch the decal once u got sol on it but i do it but i do it right when i put the sol on when it is starting to wrinkle up that usually helps me.

Thank you all on the good feedback on the 15. I am thinking about doin another one but goin to do the skyraider even though i have already done one but i want to do a skyraider all decked out with a/m and pe just to have one.Will be awhile though cuz right now i have to take a break from modelling for some personal reasons but goin to get all stocked back up on models and paint in my time off to be ready when i can get back.

Rattler,

Great Job on the F-15!

Sid,

That's a sweet lil office even if it is decals. Looking forward to seeing more.

Now as for myself... yup, I am still working on decals. I wish now I had an aftermarket decal set for VF-96 because the kits decals wont take the MicroSet and Sol very well. I have had to drown them in the stuff to make decal sink into panel lines. I may switch to using Future thinned as a decal set solution since I've had better results with it.

Chris,

If your using a double action AB this will happen. I use a single action Paashe H and have had no problems unless forget to clean it after using it. I thin MM Acrylics with straight 91% alcohol at a 3:1 ratio and use windex myself to clean it. I think you may be right about it being the combination thing.

On another note, I am still putting on decals. Using the MicroSet and Sol has slowed me down cause you gotta wait for that stuff to dry before you can do anything else. The results will worth it though. I have about 45% of the decals done and it's going well. I should have this bird done in about a week.

I don't know if that'll help.  Windex (well, the store brand ammonia glass cleaner) is my usual AB cleaner.  I think it's just the AB/Compressor/Paint combination.  I used Tamiya flat black for the nose and it was such a smooth easy process that it seems worth it to go Tamiya whenever possible.  MM through the AB is just too much of a pain.  Tamiya even seems easier to clean out of the AB.    

Today I painted the nose and I prepped the areas which will get a metal treatment.   

Semper Fi,

Chris

ridleusmc wrote:

I got some more paint down.  Overall, I don't like Testor Model Master Acryl Paint.  I decided to use it was because they have matching FS numbers.  However, the stuff just isn't as user friendly as Tamiya Acrylics.  It's working, but I often have to clean the AB needle of congealed paint.  Experimenting with different amounts and varieties of thinner haven't resulted in much success.  Even overthinning results in congealed paint.  So far I've tried Testor's thinner (manufacturer's recommendation), alcohol, and even Tamiya Thinner.  I'm just going to keep painting and clearing the AB periodically, but next time I'm sticking with Tamiya Acrylics. Here's a couple of pics, my paint delema hasn't resulted in any tradgedies.  Semper Fi, Chris

Chris,

I used MM acrylics also and have not had your problem. The trick here to run Windex through your air brush each time you stop spraying or change colors as this helps keep the tip and needle clog free and lets the paint flow. Fill a siphon feed jar with Windex and spray it through airbrush until it just sprays the Windex and let dry for a few minutes before spraying paint again or changing colors. I have even used Windex as an acrylic paint thinner and it worked pretty well for me.

Very nice work on the F-15, nice detail. A lot of good building going on here.

I have finally broken open the box and got started. As I said earlier the detail on this AMT kit not very good. Cockpit has no detail whatsoever, and thankfully the kit comes with decals for the IP and side consoles. No raised detail at all and it's shape is questionable compared to the Hasegawa kits. I have broken the kit into mini asemblies, so small progress on construction side of things. I hope to have the front office finished soon but until then here is the progress so far.

Even the decals and parts were not the same shape?. Still a lot of work to do. Thanks for looking and any comments welcome.

Steve

Great Looking Eagle.  I can see there's alot of hard work in that.  I like the cockpit area.  From the pic I can see the area behind the seat and it looks great.  The exhausts look used, but not abused. The weapons loadout looks intimidating.  The camo is also cool.  I didn't know that one plane claimed 3 enemy aircraft in Desert Storm.  Was it the same pilot for the Su-22's?

Great work,

Semper Fi,

Chris

Ok guys here she is.Her story is a F-15c from the eglin gorillas she shot down a mig on Jan.29th,1991 shot down a Mig-23 with a AIM-7 at 1700hrs. flown by Capt. David Rose southeast of kirkuk.It also has 2 SU-22s under its belt which was shot down on Feb. 7,1991.I hope you all like it and I hope the pictures are good enough took them outside but sun wasnt out so hope they are good enough.

hope u all enjoyed.

I got some more paint down.  Overall, I don't like Testor Model Master Acryl Paint.  I decided to use it was because they have matching FS numbers.  However, the stuff just isn't as user friendly as Tamiya Acrylics.  It's working, but I often have to clean the AB needle of congealed paint.  Experimenting with different amounts and varieties of thinner haven't resulted in much success.  Even overthinning results in congealed paint.  So far I've tried Testor's thinner (manufacturer's recommendation), alcohol, and even Tamiya Thinner.  I'm just going to keep painting and clearing the AB periodically, but next time I'm sticking with Tamiya Acrylics.

Here's a couple of pics, my paint delema hasn't resulted in any tradgedies. 

Semper Fi,

Chris    

ridleusmc wrote:

Rand, are you doing decals right now? Semper Fi, Chris

Yup, I started decals yesterday, planning to take my time to apply them and make sure they go on right since I am using MircoSol and Set with kit decals. I have not used this stuff in years but so far so good.

Sweet, we're looking forward to seeing the Eagle.

Semper Fi,

Chris

Lookin good man,glad u likin the results to me that is the best way to do camo since they sprayed out in the field anyway makes it look more realistic that way.When i first got my airbrush the salesman told me that was the best way to learn how to use a airbrush was doin camo like that.

Now to the eagle decals are on letting the sol set on some of the decals maybe put another coat on tonight and then goin to spray again with future and then with flat coat and be done i waited to put the tail wings on until last so it was easier to manuever it around and i need to put them on so tomorrow there will be pics of the beast on her for u all to look at.

I haven't been getting much done on the Phantom lately.  Today, being Saturday, was the perfect chance.  Unfortunately, the maid didn't show up, I had to clean the appartment myself.  Free help is impossible to find. 

So all I did today was touch up some of my Medium green.  I like the pencil freehand method.  Deathrattler was the first to recommend that I do the camo freehand, but I had my doubts.  Well, Deathrattler and the rest of you guys were right.  So far, I like the results.  I still have to add the dark green, but here's how she looks right now.

Rand, are you doing decals right now?

Semper Fi,

Chris

I'm glad you listened to Berny,

The engine/exhaust area looks better now. Even Though, It looked pretty darn good before.  You've made some real good progress, and we can't wait to see it finished.

Semper Fi,

Chris 

Once again Gents, I have been a busy little bee. Detail painting is all finished and I am ready to prep for decals and hope to have that done this weekend. I hope to have this beast finished by end of next week. I took Berny's advice and did go back over the tail section and get the metal colors corrected and it came out pretty good. Some panel line detail is going to look dark, I did correct this after I took the pictures.

Now for your viewing pleasure, here are the pictures of my progress. Comments welcome.

Enjoy!

They also had a new episode entitled "No Room for Error."  One part featured Col. Olds' F-4 getting his 3rd and 4th Mig Kill.  I watched it while I was tracing out a camo pattern on a 1/32 Col. Olds' Phantom.  I love that show, and I love my DVR.  The Skyraider episode is great too.   It's more proof that it's the man, not the machine.     

Semper Fi,

Chris 

Hey Guy's the History channels Dogfights is on tonight and it is a repeat of the Mig killers episode. It is the one with the A-1's downing of a Mig-17 and I think also Showtime 100's great day. Hope ya get to see it.

Steve