MrPRRose

G'day YoungTiger! Thankyou for mentioning that, sadly I have been using Mr.Hobby aqueous and lacquer and they also have the FS numbers on the jar..my problem is the end result looked so different to what they should, probably a combination of the primer I use etc. This custom mix looks great to my eye ..which probably needs calibration!

Primed, awaiting paint. You can see the intake outer sections, the one on the right has been painted with the final light grey, makes the primer look very blue-grey indeed.

Paint sorted now its time to prime and paint the areas that will be almost inaccessible once the intake parts are in place.

As an aside, the C308 would be perfect for an F/A-18 with its blue tone.

So Tom I would start with Aqueous Hobby Color H315 and tint slightly from there anyone want to buy 4x new jars (one jar had 0.5g removed for my test) of Mr.Color C308 for a low low price?

Righto so the paint arrived in the mail yesterday, Mr.Color C308 and with high hopes of getting that light neutral slightly warm grey I gave it a go.. Disappointed it turned out much too 'blue'. So I decided to start again, back to the hobby shop and picked up H315 as it just looked so much less blue than everything else I've tried. Great success! While it looks a little green, so I mixed in 50/50 by weight of one of my previously lightened H306 batches and I'm really happy with it now. Who knows how 'accurate' it may be, since the FS numbers sure didn't work out, but as long as it look right hey?

G'day Ron that is looking amazing! What a stunning piece she'll turn out to be. Are you planning on putting it in a display case of some sort?

Thanks Tom Unusually Tamiya don't provide decals for the artificial horizon/altimeter/HSI and so I printed some from the net at a crazy scaled down size and applied the the instrument panel. They are so tiny that my poor laser printer hardly has the resolution for it but they add a splash of colour in the right place I think attached with a blob of Future.

A small update as I am pretty much stalled waiting for that grey paint to arrive in the post. I got to build up some subassemblies on this rainy day. Shot Alclad II grey primer/microfiller on seams and edges to check if I needed to do any more filling. This Alclad filler is great stuff - provided it is thinned quite a bit since my airbrush is 0.3mm nozzle. I thinned it with Tamiya Lacquer thinner almost 1:1 and it went on beautifully, airbrush nice and close (2-3inches from the surface) and air pressure down to 12psi. I was particularly impressed with how thinly and evenly it went down on tight areas like the moveable rudder inner leading edge - still allows full smooth movement and dries fast enough to paint both sides in the one session

Insanely great mate - what a job you've done! I hope wherever you display her a lot of people will get the pleasure of seeing! Crazy good, just such a credit to your skills

I did some experimental painting this afternoon, the piece on the left is the Alclad II grey microfiller primer which I first thought I might use as my final light grey - but it really looks far too blue. So the piece on the right is sprayed with Mr.Hobby aqueous 306 which is FS36270, too dark so I've ordered some Mr.Color FS36375 which mentioned in quite a few places on the net as being the 'right' F-16 light grey..here's hoping!

Thankyou Justin some photos of the belly would be brilliant! Thanks hugely for the paint details too, I will track down some compass grey and get it done so I can move on Thankyou also Jake no worries I shall forever be keeping an eye out for a copy of your book (beg/borrow/steal)

P.s. I know the nose-cone is not always the same colour as the underside, but the photo is from Jakes book and it is pretty much what I'm after for the underside and top forward section. Any help greatly appreciated!

FunkyZeit..I hear you mate re posting some more progress! So what's holding me up is that I am ready to glue the intake inner and outer housing to the fuselage lower half, only thing is that I need to pre-paint the upper area of the intake parts since they will be pretty much impossible to paint once assembled. For the life of me I can't find a suitable grey - I've tried the Mr.Colour FS36270 as is documented everywhere but its far too dark and really too blue! FunkyZeit what grey did you use for your barak '16 underside? It looks perfect - I must have it!

That's such an awesome idea for a display base!!! Came up beautifully too mate I'm always so impressed with human ingenuity and this hobby tends to bring it out in people

Hi Jake I'm wondering if its possible to purchase your other book - Building the scale Viper? I've heard amazing things about it but it seems kind of impossible to get hold of it! Thanks in advance

I just checked out your photos Jake - blown my mind!!! Thankyou so much from this very happy Viper nut

Jake, wow, so you've flown with them!!! You're an extremely fortunate man I'm enjoying your book so much, what a great resource. I take it around to cafe's and peruse in my free time - getting weird looks from all those reading fiction novels haha. Thanks again Jake

Thanks Tom I probably should have mixed in a little future.. would help with durability! Either way I like the way the Tamiya acrylic goes down when thinned with their Lacquer thinner (yellow cap), I thin 50/50 by weight not volume as its easy to do consistently on a micro jewellery scale. Thanks again!

Ok so a bit of careful sanding that piece of plastic down, no filler needed and a satin white touch-up, I think I'm done!

Filling that little notch with a piece of sprue, minimises filling! Will cut it down to shape obviously

Thanks Kev! So I'm around to gluing up the intake lip to the duct, came across that little notch & tab that is intended to locate the lip, well it does locate it but makes it awfully hard to get a nice finish since the colour goes from white in the intake to grey on the lip. I removed the tab, filling the notch and will touch up the white in the intake. Then I'll paint the separate lip piece grey and attach it carefully..should work out ok!

That last pic was a view from just inside the 'big mouth'