Tamiya F-15C Kicked Up A Notch- Dec 1/17: DONE!

[Joel_W]

Chuck,

  I'm looking forward to your painting update. It should be something real special for sure. 

 

 I've never used Plasticine, so I'll have to google it. If you're referring to making worms with Blu Tac/Poster Putty, I'm still using Silly Putty without any issues.

 

Joel

Edited June 27, 2017 by Joel_W

[ChuckT]

Can't wait Chuck.

[dsahling1]

I'm following most of your build log here Chuck and have been working on my F-15C for a few weeks off/on (I've got a couple other projects going too), last night I finally took the big step of gluing the forward fuselage halves with the hybrid Avionix and Aires F-15C cockpit into it.  I started working on the intakes and and afterburner tubes, and while there's still a lot of work to do I'll show you some of the progress I've made.  First I got finish my F-16A OCU conversion, and then I'll start a WIP for the F-15C.  Keep up the good work!

[FunkyZeit]

I suffer the same paint flaw OCD!

 

Looking forward to the update - missed you at Nanton!

[skydivin]

pins and needles....pins and needles... Can't wait!

[Mr Matt Foley]

"As for priming, I never actually "prime" my models, but I do apply a very thin coat of the primary color (MM enamel) to check for flaws.  After I fix them, I go straight to a thicker coat and I'm done.  This is why I spend so much time getting the surface of the plastic so smooth in order to minimize the number of coats of paint required, which can fill the tiny details that I have tried to create.  With all due respect to those who use them, Mr. Surfacer and other "Micro-fillers" are not for me.  Micro-fillers also fill micro-details, so I'd rather spend time on the plastic to make it smooth than use several coats of paint."

 

Chuck, do you only use Testors MM paints? In your process of painting, what do you use to smooth the painted finish?

[chuck540z3]

"As for priming, I never actually "prime" my models, but I do apply a very thin coat of the primary color (MM enamel) to check for flaws.  After I fix them, I go straight to a thicker coat and I'm done.  This is why I spend so much time getting the surface of the plastic so smooth in order to minimize the number of coats of paint required, which can fill the tiny details that I have tried to create.  With all due respect to those who use them, Mr. Surfacer and other "Micro-fillers" are not for me.  Micro-fillers also fill micro-details, so I'd rather spend time on the plastic to make it smooth than use several coats of paint."

 

Chuck, do you only use Testors MM paints? In your process of painting, what do you use to smooth the painted finish?

 

 

Sorry for the delay in replying.  I'd like to show my painting work to answer this question with pics, but I'm struggling to find enough time to get it to a stage worth showing.  To answer your question sooner than later, if your plastic finish is super smooth, 2 coats of very thinned MM enamel creates a smooth finish to begin with, but I always "sand" the paint with micro-mesh cloths to get it even smoother before applying a gloss coat for decals.  I don't use acrylics, which can be equally smooth, but some of them have adhesion issues so a primer coat is often necessary, which can fill detail.  MM Acryl, for instance, won't stick to anything!

 

So far I am VERY happy with the results, but it will still take a week or so to demonstrate what I'm talking about.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

Edited July 6, 2017 by chuck540z3

[Joel_W]

Chuck,

  I for one am really looking forward to your painting update, as well as your tutorial on painting. I'm sure that I will surely pick up a point or two at the min, as there is always something to learn.

 

 And as you said, MM Acrylics stick to nothing. I tried them, and tossed all of them in the trash. 

 

Joel

[dsahling1]

Chuck, for the gun bay I noticed there is some wire mesh underneath the vent, do you know a good place that sells different size mesh for such a job?  Nevermind, luckily the hardware store at the end of my block solved this problem with 2 feet worth of mesh for about $1.67 vs $8.00 Eduard wanted

Edited July 10, 2017 by dsahling1

[Ironwing]

Chuck,

 

Summer here at the Jersey Shore. So with a cold Shandy, I sat on the patio and went through your updates. I must say, the tough and attention to detail, coupled with innovation and flawless execution, is, as always, a pleasure and wonder to behold. Just too freekin amazing...

 

Geoff

Edited July 9, 2017 by Ironwing

[Marcel111]

Beautiful and stunning update! Let the paint flow 😀

 

Cheers,

Marcel

[oppenheimer]

Chuck, some day you should try Mr paint, i know they are acrylic but is amazing the finish , and they bite pretty good on the bare plastic, i switched to that paint, i am not using any more MM paints, the good thing about it is that you get a really smooth finish and is a satin finish, so you dont need to apply a gloss coat for decals , also you can work the weathering product directly without any gloss coat at all.

 

Jorge

[Lucio Martino]

 

... waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, and waiting...

[chuck540z3]

... waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, and waiting...

 

Alright Already!  

 

July 10/17

 

Hi Guys,

 

Thank you all very much for your kind encouragement.

 

After about a month since my last update- and 15 months since I started this model, I have a big update today, with the majority of the camo-painting finished.  This took much longer than I anticipated, with at least 40-50 trips to my paint booth (I'm not kidding), mostly for touch-ups. Thankfully I have generated a pretty efficient routine of painting and air brush clean-up that can take as little as 5 minutes, otherwise this painting phase would be torture.

 

Before I start, as I have read about many times here in the last few days, I am also trying another photo hosting site other than Photobucket.  Like most of you, I have had many issues with PB over the years and I have stuck with it, mostly because I hate change and with a little fighting, I could achieve more or less what I wanted.  The maximum size of 1024 pixels across has been my biggest gripe since almost everyone has big monitors these days, but PB has been getting slower and slower over the years and I often lose what I have recently uploaded and I have to hunt around to find my pics.  What is really frustrating is that I have always been a paying customer in order to minimize pop-up ads, so I have a right to complain.  Apparently I'm one of the “lucky†ones since I was paying $30/yr, so my image hosting is safe until December, 2018, when they plan on jacking up my fees to $72/yr (Plus 50 Plan).  Not going to happen.   If PB worked OK I might consider it, but it is already inferior to the free sites, so why pay for crap?  Anyway, I'm trying “ImageShack†right now which costs about $40/yr, which has the look and feel of PB years ago when it worked properly, so let's see how it goes with up to 1,600 pixels wide, which is the size I always create after editing.  Yes, I tried “imgurâ€, which is free but I find clunky and “Smugmugâ€, which is a bit complicated and is meant more for pro photographers.

 

Here's a last minute item that is often missed:  Navigation lights.  I have found that most of the clear plastic lights that come with kits don't fit very well, which is likely why many finished models have clunky lights on them.  Nobody wants to sand a nicely painted wing to accommodate a last minute kit item like a light, so it's better to fit them now before painting.  With a sanding stick and some dry fitting, I got them to fit fairly well so that they will be easy drop-ins later.

 

 

 

 

 

Before I did any painting I did a little research on two key things: 

 

1.  What is the camo pattern exactly and how is it applied?

 

2.  What are the exact colors?

 

 

For #1, I have at least 200 pics of Aggressor Eagles, most of which I took myself.  I was surprised to find that the overall camo pattern is “standard†for all of them, with subtle changes to demarcation lines, especially on the vertical stabilizers.  For my subject, AF 80-0010, I was having some difficulty connecting the demarcation lines from pic to pic until I realized that this jet was re-painted at least once, so the camo pattern was different, depending on the year of the pic, much like the antennae top and bottom that changed over time.  I also found that the paint was clearly applied “free-handâ€, with lots of fuzz of overlapping paint and fairly choppy outlines.  Once I discovered this, I chose the paint patterns I liked the most, combined with a few personal tweaks that made painting a bit easier.

 

Number #2 was much more complicated.  The two key colors are FS 35109 for the dark blue, which Model Master makes (# 2031) and FS 35450 for the light blue, which MM does not make, nor does most of the other paint manufacturers.  Some decal instructions call for MM #2131, which is USSR Flanker Med. Blue, which is wrong with a greenish tinge, but it's a good start to mix from.  After a lot of trial and error and comparing my results to my pics of the real deal, I came up with the following formulae that I finally used on my model.  Note that I used a LOT of flat white, otherwise the colors were way too intense.  For reference, 4X and 3X means 4 parts of one color and 3 parts of another.  Also, the Grey is for the leading edges of the control surfaces and the fuel tanks, which is a standard modern F-15 color:

 

 

Radome         FS 36176         Dark F-15 Grey           2036   8X

                       FS 37925         Flat White                   2142   1X

 

Dark Blue       FS 35109         Blue                             2031   5X

                       FS 37925         Flat White                   2142   3X

 

Light Blue      (FS 35450)       Flanker Med. Blue       2131   6X

                       FS35183          Bright Blue                  2032   1X

                       FS37925          Flat White                   2142   4X

 

Grey               FS36251          Navy Agg. Grey          1794   8X

                       FS 37925         Flat White                   2142  1X

 

 

 

If you mix your colors like I did above, make sure to make extra paint, because you might not be able to match it later for touch-ups. 

 

Here's a few reference shots to show you how the jets are painted and what the various colors look like in real life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now some pics of the painting procedure.  Please excuse the cluttered background which are parts of my small photo-booth that has worked very well so far for part assemblies under 12â€.  At 24â€, this Big Bird has grown out of its photographic nest!  Getting the white balance and colors correct was tricky too.

 

 

Since the demarcation lines are a bit fuzzy, I used the old poster putty trick to form the lines and allow the paint to be slightly dispersed along the boundaries.  First I sprayed the light blue, with no masking of the dark blue areas since overspray can be easily removed with solvent.

 

 

 

 

This was followed by the dark blue, where I did mask off the light blue to avoid overspray.   While some might spray the entire model light blue then just spray dark blue over the light blue where required, I wanted to avoid paint build up.  Each color took two coats of paint thinned more than normal, to lay down flat, wet and avoid “orange peel†lumping.

 

 

 

 

After many, many back and forth trips to the paint booth to fix demarcation lines, overspray and other imperfections, I used another old modeling trick to paint the details:  Kitchen trash bag masking.  After masking off the areas you want painted….

 

 

Edited July 11, 2017 by chuck540z3

[chuck540z3]

You stuff the model into the plastic bag and cut slits where you need to paint, further masking off the edges of the bag.  Seal the bag carefully, otherwise you can create a wind tunnel within causing all sorts of overspray within the bag.

 

 

 

 

This shows the overspray on the outside of the bag-  where it belongs!

 

 

 

 

This painting process can take several different iterations to get all the small details painted properly.  I'll be doing another round when I paint the titanium panels at the rear later.

 

 

 

 

The Results!  I still have more details to paint like the flare and chaff dispensers, etc., but this shows how smooth the paint is before further sanding and gloss coat.  Some of the rivet detail was redone to bring it back, but about 90% of this fine detail is untouched.  The colors do not photograph very accurately, but to the naked eye they look very close to the real deal.  For instance, the dark blue looks lighter than it really should due to light reflection off the smooth surface.

 

 

 

 

 

Minute details still show through