dsahling1

I did a Trumpeter 1/32 MiG-29 Fulcrum C in the Ukrainian Digital Camo, lots of fun to build and paint, the touchups can be time consuming but overall it'll look great in the end.  I really though that Trumpeter 1/32 MiG-29 is a highly underrated kit as it came together really well, about the only place it needed a little work was where the intakes/nacells meet with some of the landing gear bays.  I'm planning on another one of these in Russian Sea of Avoz unit camouflage.  Anyhow, really nice work youre doing, landing gear looks great!
 
Dan

I just finished a super detailed Tamiya 1/32 F-14D Tomcat conversion I spent 9 months working and I used ReedOak for the pilot and RIO and they look simply fantastic, really adds a new level of realism and detail on an often neglected part of models, the crew.  

This is amazing I've always been so impressed by your skills with modeling, I love your 1/32 EA-6B conversion (maybe a 3D printed conversion set for production? :-).  Im already so impressed by all the wonderful new aftermarket 3D printed parts coming, and seeing things so amazing as this; this new technology is really going to take our hobby to a new level.  My dream of a 1/32 YF-23 Blackwidow and 1/32 Su-34 Fullback are seeming closer to reality...speaking of which anyone here able to do a 3D printed 1/32 F-8C Crusader conversion since unfortunately Fisher Models had that fire, I'd be very interested.

This is a real work of art Rom, your attention to detail, airbrushing, weathering, oil paints, all, I mean Im just speechless.  I hope I can do something like this one day.  You should write up a little bit on how you did the weathering and airbrushing.  One of the best models I think I've seen, Bravo!
 
Dan

I'd keep at it with the thinner solution you were using, it might take time but it's better than scraping a beautiful plane and paint job like you've done.  After trying really hard with that you could use some heavily thinned/lightened base color/white/light grey, etc to "blend" some of it in, and then additional weathering might even enhance the look as you could try to make it a little more weathered to get it to work (stencils do weather and fade especially on a USN bird so I think you can salvage the project.  I had something similar happen with a UH-1Y venom build i tried a few years back, very frustrating.  One thing comes to mind, I noticed you mentioned "Decided for a sludge wash, you know some waterbased dark gray paint, water and dishwasher, what can go wrong."  I think using water-based actual paint may be your trouble spot as those usually tend to be acrylics difficult to remove, especially with a sludge wash.  Have you tried Florymodels clay based washes (over tamiya x-22 clear)?  I use oil paints with mineral spirits, over a well cured coat of Tamiya X-22 clear and that works really well.   If your primer and/or base paint are lacquers you can do a heavily thinned enamel paint wash (see Masa Narita's 1/32 Tamiya F-14D build for details on this)
 

I'd keep at it with the thinner solution you were using, it might take time but it's better than scraping a beautiful plane and paint job like you've done.  After trying really hard with that you could use some heavily thinned/lightened base color/white/light grey, etc to "blend" some of it in, and then additional weathering might even enhance the look as you could try to make it a little more weathered to get it to work (stencils do weather and fade especially on a USN bird so I think you can salvage the project.  I had something similar happen with a UH-1Y venom build i tried a few years back, very frustrating.  One thing comes to mind, I noticed you mentioned "Decided for a sludge wash, you know some waterbased dark gray paint, water and dishwasher, what can go wrong."  I think using water-based actual paint may be your trouble spot as those usually tend to be acrylics difficult to remove, especially with a sludge wash.  Have you tried Florymodels clay based washes (over tamiya x-22 clear)?  I use oil paints with mineral spirits, over a well cured coat of Tamiya X-22 clear and that works really well.   If your primer and/or base paint are lacquers you can do a heavily thinned enamel paint wash (see Masa Narita's 1/32 Tamiya F-14D build for details on this)
 

I'd keep at it with the thinner solution you were using, it might take time but it's better than scraping a beautiful plane and paint job like you've done.  After trying really hard with that you could use some heavily thinned/lightened base color/white/light grey, etc to "blend" some of it in, and then additional weathering might even enhance the look as you could try to make it a little more weathered to get it to work (stencils do weather and fade especially on a USN bird so I think you can salvage the project.  I had something similar happen with a UH-1Y venom build i tried a few years back, very frustrating.  One thing comes to mind, I noticed you mentioned "Decided for a sludge wash, you know some waterbased dark gray paint, water and dishwasher, what can go wrong."  I think using water-based actual paint may be your trouble spot as those usually tend to be acrylics difficult to remove, especially with a sludge wash.  Have you tried Florymodels clay based washes (over tamiya x-22 clear)?  I use oil paints with mineral spirits, over a well cured coat of Tamiya X-22 clear and that works really well.   If your primer and/or base paint are lacquers you can do a heavily thinned enamel paint wash (see Masa Narita's 1/32 Tamiya F-14D build for details on this)
 

I'd keep at it with the thinner solution you were using, it might take time but it's better than scraping a beautiful plane and paint job like you've done.  After trying really hard with that you could use some heavily thinned/lightened base color/white/light grey, etc to "blend" some of it in, and then additional weathering might even enhance the look as you could try to make it a little more weathered to get it to work (stencils do weather and fade especially on a USN bird so I think you can salvage the project.  I had something similar happen with a UH-1Y venom build i tried a few years back, very frustrating.  One thing comes to mind, I noticed you mentioned "Decided for a sludge wash, you know some waterbased dark gray paint, water and dishwasher, what can go wrong."  I think using water-based actual paint may be your trouble spot as those usually tend to be acrylics difficult to remove, especially with a sludge wash.  Have you tried Florymodels clay based washes (over tamiya x-22 clear)?  I use oil paints with mineral spirits, over a well cured coat of Tamiya X-22 clear and that works really well.   If your primer and/or base paint are lacquers you can do a heavily thinned enamel paint wash (see Masa Narita's 1/32 Tamiya F-14D build for details on this)
 

So I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a 1/32 Su-37 Terminator, and I know the Radome is a little bigger and has a slightly different shape than a regular Su-27, I was wondering if anyone has experience with 3D printing if they may be able to assist me with such a request?  I would of course be willing to provide compensation please let me know
 
Dan

Really really nice looking P-51 Mustang you've done there, the weathering is just perfect and nicely detailed, your should be proud of a job well done.

I recently finished a backdated Tamiya 1/32 F-14A to a Block 70, VF-1 “Wolfpack” and it took about 10 months to finish, so I know what you mean it takes a lot of work but the Tamiya kit I think has the best “shape.”  I ended up rescribing all the panel lines and had to carefully find and check references for them, scratch built the 7-vent gun panel, scratch built the intake bypass ducts (next time the ramps go down to hide it), had to modify the wing sweep device to make them fit and still move, redid the canopy with a combination of kit, resin, photoetch, and scratch built parts, cut off the tail widened the fuselage, and scratch built the “boat tail” of the early blocks, used a whole bunch of resin items like a cockpit, exhausts, resin missiles, added detail to the phoenix’s pylons and zactoman front phoenix pallets, had custom vinyl masks made for the wolf head and stripes on the fuselage and vertical stabilizers, stars and bars, and some various lettering, and other various upgrades like having to heavily modify the air brake, detailing the landing gear, etc.  I like to think it came out really quite good (gotta upload the photos).  But man was it a lot of work,  What I think would be really cool is if Tamiya updated/scaled up the 1/32 F-14 to look like the current 1/48 I’ve heard so much about.
 
The next time it’ll be a Tamiya F-14D from the last catapault shot “112” from VF-31 from 2006 updated as I won’t have to mess with the gun vent, intake bypass ducts, canopy closed, and tail left as is.

I recently finished a backdated Tamiya 1/32 F-14A to a Block 70, VF-1 “Wolfpack” and it took about 10 months to finish, so I know what you mean it takes a lot of work but the Tamiya kit I think has the best “shape.”  I ended up rescribing all the panel lines and had to carefully find and check references for them, scratch built the 7-vent gun panel, scratch built the intake bypass ducts (next time the ramps go down to hide it), had to modify the wing sweep device to make them fit and still move, redid the canopy with a combination of kit, resin, photoetch, and scratch built parts, cut off the tail widened the fuselage, and scratch built the “boat tail” of the early blocks, used a whole bunch of resin items like a cockpit, exhausts, resin missiles, added detail to the phoenix’s pylons and zactoman front phoenix pallets, had custom vinyl masks made for the wolf head and stripes on the fuselage and vertical stabilizers, stars and bars, and some various lettering, and other various upgrades like having to heavily modify the air brake, detailing the landing gear, etc.  I like to think it came out really quite good (gotta upload the photos).  But man was it a lot of work,  What I think would be really cool is if Tamiya updated/scaled up the 1/32 F-14 to look like the current 1/48 I’ve heard so much about.
 
The next time it’ll be a Tamiya F-14D from the last catapault shot “112” from VF-31 from 2006 updated as I won’t have to mess with the gun vent, intake bypass ducts, canopy closed, and tail left as is.

What about a 1/32 F-16B/MLU? with the 'Blue Splinter' scheme, there's lots of NSI (normal size intake), P&W exhausts.  KASL hobby just released the "older" wing tip launch rail (they're more gracile compared to the new/bigger/thicker ones on todays vipers), they even make the light weight landing gear and gear bay doors and such, KASL and a few other aftermarket places like 'Isracast' do make the older style vertical stabilizers or at least parts to modify them, you can use some academy parts from their F-16I kit to backdate/modify for the cockpit, specifically the rear cockpit version, there's also a resin 1/32 F-16A cockpit (although I can't remember the manufacturer)?

Nicely done Chuck!  Those DN masks are fantastic I just finished a build I spent the past 1+ year on and there masks really "made" the build....just gotta get some photos of it...  So any thoughts for your next project?  I assume it may be a jet?  Anyhow, congrats on a job well done, the weathering is just right.

Nicely done Chuck!  Those DN masks are fantastic I just finished a build I spent the past 1+ year on and there masks really "made" the build....just gotta get some photos of it...  So any thoughts for your next project?  I assume it may be a jet?  Anyhow, congrats on a job well done, the weathering is just right.

Really nice job on the weathering, very convincing effect, one thing I noticed from some of my reference photos was that on some sections of the forward fuselage near the radome seem to have small traces of the bare metal showing through. But overall, I'm slightly jealous and tempted to retouch my old 'Blue 38'. Keep it up!

Wow, you're taking this one to a new level, this should really make the faded and worn paint areas stand out even more

Nicely done!

Apologies if you had previously mentioned which gloss and flat coats you had used.  But I use mostly acrylic paints, either Mr Hobby or Tamiya most of the time and then use Tamiya X-22 for the gloss coat (and then to seal the decals again) and Vallejo acrylic Matt Varnish with vallejo acrylic thinner and I haven't had silvering problems with the decals.  I'm sure other people here might have some good ideas on how to fix it, but would spraying some gloss coat over the decals get rid of the silvering and then use a different flat coat?  Sorry it didn't turn out how you were hoping.  I once ruined a big decal on the tail of a 1/32 F-15 with Walters solvaset that literally melted it off.

Apologies if you had previously mentioned which gloss and flat coats you had used.  But I use mostly acrylic paints, either Mr Hobby or Tamiya most of the time and then use Tamiya X-22 for the gloss coat (and then to seal the decals again) and Vallejo acrylic Matt Varnish with vallejo acrylic thinner and I haven't had silvering problems with the decals.  I'm sure other people here might have some good ideas on how to fix it, but would spraying some gloss coat over the decals get rid of the silvering and then use a different flat coat?  Sorry it didn't turn out how you were hoping.  I once ruined a big decal on the tail of a 1/32 F-15 with Walters solvaset that literally melted it off.

Apologies if this was covered or mentioned already.  One idea in regard to the clear coat prior to the decals, is something similar to what I will do when sealing decals if I'm trying to avoid a thicker clear coat filling in panel lines and detail all over is I will only spray the clear coat over the general decal area (thereby keeping most of the clear coat thinner and will take to washes easier).  I say 'general area' to prevent a small 'step' from forming over the decals.  To apply to your model, what Im trying to say is after you've laid down the alclad, very carefully and slowly build up a clear coat only over the areas where the decals will be applied, a 'feathered edge' will help 'blend' it in to the overall alclad very subtly.  It certainly won't be perfect, but if viewed from a little distance away you hopefully will keep that wonderful 'gleam'/'shine' from the alclad but won't have any silvering of the decals.  And obviously same technique with sealing the decals.  
 
Also, I know you like to alternate jet/prop with each subsequent build, if you haven't decided already I would highly suggest considering Tamiya's 1/32 Mosquito Mk. VI, the engineering and fit is without comparison, a real joy to build and it turns into a beautiful plane.
 
Keep up the good work, also, I'm going to be starting work on a 1/32 F-14A, I was curious what you used for panel line references on the upper fuselage for yours (I know it was a B and D), but I imagine the panel lines are mostly the same, with possibly the exception of the beaver tail region.

As a fellow modeler currently punching out thousands of tiny rivets for my three 1/32 Su-27s, one tool I can you makes a WORLD of difference is to have a good lamp with a movable magnifying glass attached to the base so you can adjust the positioning depending on the task.  It makes riveting much easier, sadly it doesn't solve the tedious part :-).
 
Dan

First, really cool subject, its about time someone did a 1/32 MiG-29 here.  In regard to the problem of the LERX, I have an idea.  I encountered a somewhat similar issue with 'Projekt Flanker' (A large Kilp Yavr Russian Air base diorama, with (3) 1/32 Su-27 Flankers (loaded with all the aftermarket), (1) 1/35 Mi-8 Hip, and various ground vehicles, equipment, tarmac, a little terrain that I will try to add my first WIP entry here this weekend, its been well underway for a while now and I have 2 of the Su-27s almost ready to prime, I have to go back and add rivet and panel line detail to one I started painting so its like the other two, to make them look uniform and realistic) anyhow, sorry I digressed there for a moment.  Please see below for my idea.
 
You see, the kit leading edge slats of the Su-27s lack the little 'bulged' 'extensions' near the wing root so I mixed some superfine white milliput (finer grain white allows better sanding) and made a little larger VERY rough shape of the extension (it aligns with a panel line so its a little easier getting the position and shape right) and then I drew in pencil where I wanted the leading edge of the new bulge to be, to aid in sanding it uniformly on both sides.  I then VERY slowly began sanding it down to shape until it seamlessly blended with the slat.  
 
You could try taking some milliput and apply it larger than you'd need as a long 'snake' and put it there for where the LERX extension shims are and then sand it to the shape you want, the stuff dries ROCK hard (think like CA glue does).  Or you could cut little 'bulkheads' that would outline the  cross-section of the shape you need and attach those to the kit and then add the milliput.  The bulkheads would act as a guide for how to sand it.
 
In case you weren't aware Zactoman has some really great 1/32 MiG-29 stuff for the NEW trumpeter mig-29s you might want to check out.

Yes, the one that I use is a little different, it has the light separate, but the overall purpose is the same, i don't know how i would handle some of the detail, scribing, and rivets without it.  Isn't riveting fun?  Not tedious, especially with 3 planes, especially with 3 planes, especially with 3 planes :-)
 
Keep up the good work!
 
Dan