Marine104

I agree, a Rafale may do well. I'm still surprised no one has touched the F-16A/B.....then the C/D. The market is wide open considering Tamiya's approach.

Ah excellent, thank you guys for the help!

Hi guys, Is anybody aware of a modelling custom mask cutting service? I'm painting a NMF Mirage IIIC and decided some of the markings would be much better painted, specifically the 'Mirage IIIC' text and tail numbers. I'm not sure if someone provides a service like this as most I guess have there own cutters when drawing up masks so no need. I can design them in inkscape (Just started to learn it-I'm a noob to all of this!) but not cut them out. Thanks for any help! Cheers, David. (mods- I *think* this is in the correct area to post this, sorry in advance if not)

I've used Mr levelling thinner for stripping paint well many times, the retarder in it helps I think. I did try Mr Rapid thinner and this started attacking the plastic on the Tamiya F-16 I was working on so I would not recommend that type! I guess it is a few notches hotter.

Yes indeed! Wow, some stories there! Hi Nick, thanks for the info. I'm thinking also now it is a custom penetrator. I'm actually building it in 1/48 scale atm for the very reasons you state, getting the required kit and aftermarket now in 1/32 is practically impossible. I'm almost using the build as a trial run in what I'd do to the 1/32 kit, in backdating the Block 25 C to Block 5 A standard etc... it's all the same process just different parts sources...Hopefully Tamiya sees the demand that is out there one day and releases their Thunderbird kit again. I did email Isradecal also about decals and yep no reply either. Yes absolutely on any info, I've found a few snippets about and one decent article that had some good info on the raid, I can share also if you want. I did look at the various Isradecal Netz books but as far as I gather, there are only a few pages dedicated to it and I don't think any more pics than I already have. I have the Barak and Sufa books but not the Netz releases. Thanks for the all the great info Thierry! I think the MXU-735 plug looks close indeed. The more I zoom in on the linked picture, to my eyes at least, it looks like a cylinder almost stuck on the front of the bomb, or a slight cone chopped off. There doesn't seem to be any light reflection from the front face, unlike the curved sides, maybe even suggesting the front was flat, but maybe I'm overthinking it! The underside of the black nose cap looks almost straight and parallel to the top. I'm seeing this shape (side on), either a flat face or slightly curved in red. (Excuse my poor sketch!) Hmm, given the lack of any other MK.84 pics or info out there that looks identical to the tip on the photo, maybe it was a locally designed tip and nothing I'm going to find more info on. There is a close looking tip on some GBU-31s on page 98 of the Isradecal Sufa book, hard to believe though they would be the same as used back in 1981. I think I'll scratch build it and and guesstimate what I'm seeing. Thanks a lot for the help guys! David.

Hi guys, I need a little help in identifying which nose type was fitted to the MK.84s used by the F-16s during Operation Opera. I found this pretty decent image showing them. The image link: From this twitter post here, https://twitter.com/IAFsite/status/1401856861054308360/photo/1 . I'm using the Eduard Brassin Mk.84s and this option doesn't seem to be present of the three options given. IIRC I read somewhere the Israelis used a modified nose to aid penetration of the dome, however I'm unsure if this was just a standard type of penetrating tip or something more special they designed at the time specifically for the attack. If anyone knows which specific type it is (assuming not in house Israeli design) I can then get hopefully a better close up and scratch build it for my mk.84s. My own searching of various Mk.84 options around the web hasn't found anything yet . Thank you for any help! David

I love everything you have done there, the difference in realism imho is huge between this finish and a solid block of Alclad colour. We 'weather' normal camo paint so for me the same ideas should apply to bring scale realism. Looking at real NMF F-104 pics, I don't think the grain is very obvious in most photos on the panels compared to other types such as a NMF Mirage III, so not going all out and adding the more prominent scratches all over is the best call. Top work. David

Thanks Chuck for the info! I know what you mean about the HGW rivets. I bought some a few years back (ironically for the prominently raised ones on the F-104's rear exhaust area) and was a little disappointed in how 'shallow' they are, practically as flat as a decal, which for this purpose works perfectly. Having played with them a little bit, getting that many on your F-104 without having obvious rivet gaps where they didn't stick is impressive alone. Spot shooting X-22 over the needed areas sounds like a good idea too, will do! Cheers, David

Just superb Chuck! The rivets are an undoubted success in my book, particularly in how they change appearance upon angle and lighting. How delicate did you go with the application of Microsol on the Alclad/X-22 surface? It looks like the clear barrier did the job perfectly. I'm going to do my Alclad job like this so any info on that is very helpful. Anyhow, what decal film?! I look forward to what magic you will work with these metallic washes . David

Lovely finish Chuck, reassuring now that when you touch the model nothing comes off anymore! Hmm, just spitballing here, would it be possible to airbrush an ultra-thin chrome filter over the near finished model once the decals/washes are on? The aim being to bring back a little bit of the true metallic reflection. I know after trying it you can thin the Alclad High-Shine paints with Gunze Levelling thinner and put on super thin 'metallic filters' (like 95/5 thinner to paint) but I'm not sure how it would go with Tamiya Lacquer thinner, that stuff is hotter than the Gunze levelling thinner. You will be back to the handling issues again but with the finish you already have underneath providing 99% of the metallic appearance, any slight damage to the 1% chrome mist would be unnoticeable. Maybe it might help in reducing some of the stencils' contrast also, IDK. I guess you would have to mask off all the non metallic areas/markings somehow or be super accurate with the airbrush close in. And maybe I'm talking a load nonsense! Not to say your finish isn't great, it's amazing already but just to bring back that 'metallic pop' a little more for the reasons you give in your clear coat theory in which I fully agree with. A shiny surface isn't quite the same as a metallic shine, despite bring very close here. Also, I may have missed it, what stores are you planning to go with (if any)? keep up the top work, David

Lovely work, the camo looks brilliant! The Astra decals can be a little tricky in places (even if you have a great gloss layer like that), I think I even went with the nuclear option on one or two decals with tiny strokes of Tamiya extra thin to eliminate the silvering. Anyways I look froward to seeing it finished! David

Phwoar, outrageous finish! Well done Chuck, you nailed it! A top effort in getting all the rivets on, better yet, getting them all so well spaced and placed, I admire the patience needed for that and think it goes a long way. I look forward to the next steps. David

Thanks Chuck, if any of it helps I'm happy. Yep, there is not so much difference in shade, I would say the polished aluminium is a bit brighter/whiter, straight out of the bottle a little too much for a model. I've not tested the Gauzy stuff yet, but agreed on when airbrushing a clear, the X-22 is the best all rounder. David

Thanks for posting this info Chuck, a lot of interesting testing there! I've done a big reply here but some testing I have been doing maybe useful and interesting to you below. How old is your bottle of Polished Aluminium (PA)? I ask because these 'High-Shine' types 'go off' after a few years or less and spray less reflective and more granular. I've had to buy 2-3 bottles of PA these last years because of this problem, I find after a year or so they become useless for the highly reflective job. I'm not sure if it's a temp thing as I store my paints also outside in my garage in negative temps. I'm doing some testing for my own NMF TF-104 atm after your motivating work, where I'm not trying to get a mirror shine but a medium between the Hi-shine and normal Alclad range. Anyhow, here is a result of a fresh bottle of Alclad PA on the left, also on the right is AK Xtreme PA, both over Alclad's gloss black enamel. The surface was not prepped in the slightest and was kinda rough as I use it for testing things, I was just in fact testing durability over the enamel primer. The below pics aren't doing the PA justice tbh, it is very shiny. The reflection is pretty good even with no surface prep, I think, looking at your PA test spoon, it has the classic 'gone off' appearance where as you say, it becomes pretty much the same as white or standard aluminium. The AK, whilst certainly more durable than Alclad, doesn't have anything like the shine but it is maybe more scale for a more worn, used appearance. The grain is also noticeably larger than Alclad's. I prefer Alclad tbh. Reading your prior posts about any clear coat reducing the reflection simply by being present, I fully agree. I think also the interaction between any type of solvent clear does something to these Hi-shine Alclads, a kind of frosting happens as the lacquer thinner (say X-22/LP-9 or the like thinned with MLT) re-activates the surface ever so slightly, re-orientates and roughens the lay down of the metallic flakes and results in a rougher and slightly cloudy appearance reducing the reflection. I know you hate spraying Aqua gloss, I do also, but after some testing if you brush it on you get much better results imho, no orange peel and the appearance has the smallest change in anything I have tried. I tested it with some Winsor & Newton Flow Improver added to reduce brush strokes which helped but this was on a small test piece and brushing over a 1/32 model is just another story. Now another paint I've experimented with is this thinned with levelling thinner: I've found you can get two distinct results with it. Over a gloss black lacquer you get a decent Alclad Airframe Alu/Chrome type appearance, however it is not as good/reflective as you can see on the spoon. Apply it over standard Alclad shades such as 'Aluminium' and you get a type of polished aluminium that is not as shiney as Alclad PA but does give quite a nice middle ground shine, overall it is reflective but not as good as Alclad. The main reason I like it is you can mask it no problem, it doesn't come off and you can handle it. Downside, decal solutions still mark it and it needs a clear varnish unfortunately. However after testing X-22 over it, the difference in appearance is small and that is probably partly due to it not being as reflective as Alclad in the first place so the appearance reduction is less noticeable. If you want, I can get some pics of the test pieces to show my results. Two other clear varnishes I've experimented with are MRP 048 super clear and MRP-127 super clear matt. The gloss does not do so much to the shine due to it probably being the thinnest clear of them all, however as it is so thin it doesn't hide the decal edges either. The matt is pretty cool, maybe mixed with some clear, because you can vary the reflection of select panels where it doesn't change the metallic appearance of the standard Alclad paints whatsoever, impressed with it. Another curveball that might be something to thing about that has bitten me in the past. Depending on the decals, sometimes I've needed to add a clear varnish layer before and after decals. The difference in reflection between the decal film over no clear + a final clear over the top can highlight the clear film, the reflection coming through the decal film is different than the surrounding surface. 'Neutralising' the underlying decal surface by putting a clear varnish before decals has stopped this for me before a final sealing clear. This does depend on the decals however but is a sneaky thing that can happen. I'm not sure that there is so much difference between adding one and then a second clear varnish to the NMF, once it is compromised the further degradation is slight. Finally, a little thing I found is adding levelling thinner to the standard Alclads results in a smoother and more reflective finish. Not only this, you can really thin it and mottle various shades just like normal paint to give a varied appearance. It also can be added to the Hi-shine types, they spray better but I'm undecided if the overall refection results are better, it might make them more durable though due to the binding of the metallic pigment and the base lacquer primer the lacquer levelling thinner gives. Maybe some of that is helpful or useful IDK, anyhow a fascinating thread seeing someone who actually knows what they are doing coming up against some of the problems I'm having! Cheers, David edit...I ordered some of the Gauzy gloss also and will test it.

Thanks guys for the kind words! Taking some life like photos sure helps the models come alive compared to what they look like in reality I assure you! Cheers, David