Greif8

Beautiful build and it looks like it is a superb kit.

Sorry to hear about the accident. The build looks great thought especially the IP and Sutton Harness.

I am at a stage in the build when there is not anything photo worthy; just a lot of cleaning up of small parts. On the other hand I did a fair amount of work on the figure. Under each of the photos below I will outline what I did and why I did it. If anyone has questions or would like more information please just ask and I will try to give a sensible answer. The most important part of the figure is the head. I have sprayed the base coat using Tamiya's Buff color which I think gives a nice flesh toned base. I will gently rub the face down with an old t-shirt once it cures. As I said in the previous post, this is a pretty good casting and you can already see the face coming to life. The crisp delineations will make it easier to lay in the shadows and highlights when the time comes. You can see that I have covered the flesh areas with Parafilm. I do this before spraying the base uniform colors. One could also paint the uniform by hand - I have done that many times in the past - but airbrushing allows you to get a head start on the shadows as you will see in the next photo. Putting Parafilm around the flesh areas is pretty easy and a usually don't have to touch up any of them afterwards. I don't recommend using a blow dryer to speed up the drying of the paint as really hot air and Parafilm don't mix too well. Don't ask me how I know that! Black basing for figures! Just as with aircraft, or armor as well, having a black base coat allows you to adjust the depth of your colors and helps with the blending process when it is time to lay in the highlights and shadows. I never do this for faces or hands, arms etc. because the contrast is too stark in my opinion. A 1/32 scale face is a bit larger than a pea and you don't have a lot of space to get the transitions from light to dark to look right. Also you want to keep the layers you will be painting on the face to a minimum to avoid too much paint build up which will make the face look like a lifeless blob. Even more Parafilm. I decided to leave the pants a charcoal shade of black and the boots just a bit lighter than that. I will be painting the blouse Feldgrau, so I needed to cover up the lower extremities. I also covered up the center part of the cap as the upper part will also be Feldgrau. Again this is pretty quick and easy to do, and the payoff is definitely worth it. Base painting complete - well almost! You can see that the black base does a nice job simulating the shadows and gives me excellent target areas to lay in the shadows further with oils. One could just paint the highlights and leave the shadows as they are; the direct lighting of my work bench is pretty strong and overwhelms the shadow effect somewhat. However, I like the ability to generate subtle transitions with artist oils. You can also see the subtle difference in shade between the pants and the boots. You can also see the Feldgrau on the upper portion of the cap on the figure's head. I did manage to get a tiny bit of Feldgrau on the left hand, but that is easily fixed. Finally a close up of the head. I will finish painting the cap by hand. Afterwards will come the most challenging part of painting a figure - bring the face to life.

Awesome job all around! The 250 KG bomb looks very real.

Very nice work.

Beautiful work Brett!

Fantastic build Eric. I enjoy builds that are connected to a pilot and/or actual event.

I will do my best to do a good SBS. Thank You!

Thank you Alain, I sure hope it turns out nice!

I finished the wings about an hour ago. The decals, both the kit and the Aviattic ones, went down very well and turned out pretty nice. The matt coat took a lot of the vividness out of the colors which is what I wanted. I still think I will spray a thin brownish glaze coat on the wings though, mostly to see what it will look like. One of the cool things about the Aviattic decals is that they take on a "fabric" appearance once the matt coat is sprayed which looks pretty realistic to my eye. Overall I am pretty satisfied with how the wings turned out - of course I still have to install and rig them - so there is still plenty of time to screw something up! The final two photos show the figure I plan to use with this build. It is a mechanic, and I plan to put the barograph in his right hand and position him in such a way as to simulate a portion of the preparation before a flight. I thought I would do a small SBS so others can follow along with how I "do" a figure. Hopefully I am not coming off arrogant here by assuming folks will want to see me construct a figure - believe me, I am no Shep Paine (may he rest in peace) or Calvin Tan, but I can turn out decent figures and thought some of you might want to "look behind the curtain" to see the process I use. The entire crew together for a group shot. Close up of the rudder, you can make out the texture fairly well. Top of the upper wing. The texture effect is very evident in this shot. Body of the figure after basic construction. I have cleaned up any seams and flash. I still have to putty the shoulders and will use Vallejo's putty for that task. It is easy to apply and you can add folds and creases to it so it is a good putty for figures. The Barograph will actually go in the left hand and cigarette will go in the right hand. The head prior to final cleaning up. This is normally a simple and quick process that I use a tooth brush and/or steel wool to do (gently). I then wipe the resin or plastic with alcohol to give it a final cleaning. Just as with the model, this prep is important, especially for the head so that it is as clean and smooth as possible for the base coat to be airbrushed. If the face is not clean and smooth it is nearly impossible to do the blending required to give the face life with shadows and highlights. This face has some good potential by the way, being crisply cast, always a major plus.

What a beautiful build!

Wow, continued awesome work!

The cockpit looks great Andy. Sometimes taking a break gives one a better perspective and new motivation.

Continued top quality work Aaron. I wish I could scribe so well.

Thank you Gaz! I really like the Aviattic decals. They go down well and are slightly "stretchy" when warm so you can nudge them into corners or onto edges that need a little more coverage. If these look as good as the D VII ones did once I matt coat them they well look very realistic. Ernest

I completed putting on the Aviattic decals a while ago. Before I started I thought they might be a bit more challenging to put down then the lozenge decals I put on the D VII due to the shape of the wings - and I was right. It took some work to get the decals to conform to the curvature of the wings, but it was not too much of a struggle and they turned out alright. Like the D VII I did not get everything 100% perfect, but they look pretty good from all viewing angles and distances, with the exception of extreme closeups in a couple of areas. I can live with that. The following photos are not the best I have taken, but give a decent impression of what the wings look like now. I still have to gloss coat them and then will put the wing crosses on. These decals are much more vivid than the ones I used on the D VII so I will be toning them down a bit.

That Mercedes looks the biz!

Thank you John, if I can get my builds to look 3/4 as good as your's I would be a very happy man!

Thank you Tom. Coming from a master builder like you that means a lot.

Thank you Mark. I am nearly finished putting the Aviattic Lozenge decals on the wings. Due to the shape of the wings, especially the upper one, the process has been a bit more challenging than the D VII. I have managed a decent effort and will post photos later today.

Great news. The Val and Havoc will be 100% purchases for me.

Welcome to the forum. Very nice hand painted FA-18!

Very nice Hartmann 109.

Nice work Neo!

Wow, very nice build!