spyrosjzmichos Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 Great work! The amount of work on this kit so far is amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peterpools Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 eric Awesome work on never missing the details Keep 'em coming Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 Thanks alot guys. Very nice work as always Eric. How did you get the squarish hole cut so neatly? Is the area behind the cockpit an empty void so there was enough room for a file? These mirages you're doing are just fantastic! Craig Hi Craig, I cut the hole a little oversize and then tacked the part in place and then filled it with superglue mixed with talc powder and sanded smooth. There was plenty of room behind there for a file. Now that I had equal indents in the fuselage I had to find a way to make the D shaped pull handle. I made them out of thin copper wire shaped around a small file. Installed in the hole. I also made the retaining clip with some scrap aluminium. Once painted, I superglued in some clear styrene that sat proud of the surface and sanded it flush with the fuselage followed by a polish. Now all i need to do is to make up a small mask that is shaped correctly. . MikeMaben, Whitey, F`s are my favs and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClumsyDude Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Love it Eric ... superb improvisational scratch work. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peterpools Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Eric Beautiful detail work - looking so good Keep 'em coming Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 You're an absolute machine, Eric! I can't believe how many high-class builds you're juggling right now, but none of them seem to want for your magic touch. Kev Whitey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted March 29, 2017 Author Share Posted March 29, 2017 (edited) Thanks guys. One of the great features of the mask cutting machine, or more importantly its software is the ability to import a picture. I purposely made the small windows that cover the canopy jettison handles larger so that I could make up a smaller mask, and then use that to determine the exact size and shape of them I imported a nice clear image of the windows into the software. From there it was a simple matter of tracing around the shape using the rounded rectangle icon, then editing its points to change its shape to suit the oblong aspect of the real one. You can see the thin red line that I have placed around the window using the method outlined earlier. This determines the cut of the mask. It is then a simple matter of scaling it to size. Press the `Send to silhouette' button and then you have precision cut masks. I used the flip horizontally feature to copy and paste the window for the opposite side. Mask in place, with a coat of Tamiya fine surface primer. Pretty happy with the result. I scribed the fuel filler caps on either side of the fuselage. A(nother) small omission by Italeri. Edited March 29, 2017 by ericg MikeMaben, Whitey, F`s are my favs and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spyrosjzmichos Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 Eric, what Kevin said! Fantastic work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 I primed this model today. Firstly, I prepared the model by masking off and spraying the black windshield frames, the nav lights and masked all of the clear parts that I have made for the model. A nice thin coat of Tamiya Fine Surface Primer Once the primer had dried, I examined the model under a strong light and circled all of the imperfections with a lead pencil, such as surface blemishes, panel lines that needed a bit of deepening and other general seam lines etc. This functions as a `checklist` as such as by fixing the flaw, it gets rid of the pencil mark. Considering how many modifications this model has had thrown at it, it has come up alright and should be in paint very soon. F`s are my favs, Victor K2, Whitey and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTail Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 That is looking really stunning Eric ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackman Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 A nice thin coat of Tamiya Fine Surface Primer Hi, Did you spray this straight from the can or was it airbrushed on? I have a can of this stuff but am worried that the lack of control over the can's pressure may wipe out some delicate panel lines. Thank you in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted March 31, 2017 Author Share Posted March 31, 2017 Hi, Did you spray this straight from the can or was it airbrushed on? I have a can of this stuff but am worried that the lack of control over the can's pressure may wipe out some delicate panel lines. Thank you in advance. I almost always spray it from the can. Tamiya in their wisdom has made it just right to apply as such. I do sometimes decant it and spray it, but usually that is for purposes that may it may not have been designed for such as building up ribbing in a wing or similar. Onto the painting stage, and I have a race on my hands. One has the endurance but the other has the speed. Which one will make it to the display cabinet first? I painted the model black using a mix of Mr Surfacer black 1000 thinned with Mr Self levelling thinner. The surface of the model was then rubbed over with some black packing foam from an Eduard box to smooth it out. I applied the Gunze acrylic paint in a squiggle pattern all over the bottom of the model as per the black base method. I then thinned the mix considerably and sprayed 3 light coats of the base colour, lightened with a fair bit of white over it. 1. 2. 3. Whitey, Victor K2, cib2265 and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted April 1, 2017 Author Share Posted April 1, 2017 Onto the top colours. Our Mirages were re-painted many times during their careers and as such finding any standard way of painting the top colours is impossible. Even looking at photos of the actual airframe that is being modeled may show up a few variations depending on the year the photo was taken and where it was based. I have chosen to paint mine in a composite pattern taken from a few different pictures of A3-13 and some other aircraft that were painted in a similiar fashion. Some patterns were painted more flamboyantly than others and I guess that would have depended on who the painter was. I like to build up each colour in an organic way rather than paint the entire surface in the lighter colour with the darker colour painted over the top. This means that I will sketch each colour in with the airbrush close to the pattern that I want and then work with each colour individually, changing the shapes and patterns as I see fit until satisfied that it looks OK. Firstly the gray. This is a custom mix of Dark Sea grey, Extra Dark Sea grey, Intermediate blue and flat white. I always like the bluer tone of the Aussie Mirages and I feel that this is a good mix of the colours seen in many photos. I have sketched in the rough pattern. I then filled in the gaps using Dark Green, also defining the edges of the patterns with this colour. As can be seen, there are still areas between the two colours that have not been painted as I have changed my mind as to where I thought the patterns should flow and will come back to these later. Here is a closer view of the `first draft' Once I am happy with the pattern (I will think about it for a while) I will then go back and fill in the colours a bit more and tighten up a bit of the overspray, whilst retaining some of the black base look. Marcel111, Mark M, Guyman1 and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark M Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 just caught up with this, very nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simmo.b Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 Cranking it out, great stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now