matt_1185

I've assembled the armament, tanks and pylons. 

Some of the vents that I created . I did use Fanch Lubin some of the stuff he did create like the API exhaust and intakes for the lower fuselage 



 

Still working on it. Worked on the air intakes. Painted the fairings. 

Prepared various dodgers and small things. I masked and glued the light. Air intakes painted from the inside, became in place. Figured out the pylons. And here is an unpleasant surprise. The kit does not provide adapters for missiles. I'll have to change the whole concept of armament. How exactly, it will be after painting. The main pylons prepared, they are very crooked become with gaps and misalignments, and here will have to adjust. I will put them, except for the outermost ones, right before priming and painting. 

I tried on the air intakes. It's not all smooth sailing.  I haven't glued them on yet. Fuselage spackled. Ahead of sanding and restoration work on the fuselage. 

Finished the brake shields. 

Yes indeed! It was very straightforward to assemble main and nose wheel details in during my 1:48 scale Revell build. I enjoyed during that build a lot:






 

Moving onward, canopy closed and masked. Primed , pre shaded and paint done.  Not entirely happy with colors tho. I used what was told for the low vis colors but I think the Dark ghost grey is too bluish and not dark enough shade 🫤  let me know what you guys think?? 
 





 
and the decals look to dark imo for low vis that or my paint colors are too light …. lol maybe weathering will help darkin up the colors 

Small update.  At first I was happy with my results, but the more I look at it I think I went to far … what do yall think ? 
 
tinting the center section of the windscreen I looked all over for pics and the ones I could find it seemed more bluish than green as I see some people paint there’s.  
 



 
maybe it won’t looks so bad once it’s all painted and windows makes are off. It none the less, that much closer to closing the cockpit up…   Next update I’m hoping to have it all closed up then I won’t get to see my figures for a while haha

Got the fuselage half’s together as well as did some dry fitting of wings and stuff, look how tiny my 1/48 T-6 Texan II is 


my T-6 Texan II I built and donated to be displayed on the USS Lexington, in Corpus Christi TX
 
 well on to the Pilot and RIO!!
 


all done I didn’t get much progress pics on the figures I was in the zone haha 




All glued in! 
 

 
 
Well that’s it for now guys  I need to order a few things like transparent paint for front windscreen before I can close up the canopy.  So will see you again soon! 

The cockpit  I went with redfox studios for the instrument panels. 
 


 
Then decided to do a little work on the leather dash covers I used metal tape then painted. 
 



 
then added some dark earth wash to help give it that leather look..
 

 
same process on the front dash. 

Hey guys ! I’m back to working on this beast! 
 
decided todo an inflight build,  so everything is getting closed up .
 

New kit came  forgive me for all my wips lol 
 
this will be my first large jet build and I’m sure will take me a while but wanted to get a wip thread started for it. 
 
first impression: it’s huge lol  I’m very excited about it tho! 
Im also looking into upgrade parts for it as well
 
 
 

 
you can see my Revell 1/48 kit on the left   

New kit came  forgive me for all my wips lol 
 
this will be my first large jet build and I’m sure will take me a while but wanted to get a wip thread started for it. 
 
first impression: it’s huge lol  I’m very excited about it tho! 
Im also looking into upgrade parts for it as well
 
 
 

 
you can see my Revell 1/48 kit on the left   

Hey guys! Got a little bit more done. got water effects done on the base. I used Vallejo water texture acrylic paste  that dries clear. Tired to make it look like the ocean from 5,000+ ft  elevation, sadly this is where it will stay for a while, as I need to get back to work on a few commission builds 😮‍💨  hopefully we will see yall again soon 🤘🏽
 






 
thanks for stopping in ! 

Hey guys! Got a little bit more done. got water effects done on the base. I used Vallejo water texture acrylic paste  that dries clear. Tired to make it look like the ocean from 5,000+ ft  elevation, sadly this is where it will stay for a while, as I need to get back to work on a few commission builds 😮‍💨  hopefully we will see yall again soon 🤘🏽
 






 
thanks for stopping in ! 

Hey guys! Got a little bit more done. got water effects done on the base. I used Vallejo water texture acrylic paste  that dries clear. Tired to make it look like the ocean from 5,000+ ft  elevation, sadly this is where it will stay for a while, as I need to get back to work on a few commission builds 😮‍💨  hopefully we will see yall again soon 🤘🏽
 






 
thanks for stopping in ! 

Hey guys! Got a little bit more done. got water effects done on the base. I used Vallejo water texture acrylic paste  that dries clear. Tired to make it look like the ocean from 5,000+ ft  elevation, sadly this is where it will stay for a while, as I need to get back to work on a few commission builds 😮‍💨  hopefully we will see yall again soon 🤘🏽
 






 
thanks for stopping in ! 

I'm sad to announce that Zactomodels is now permanently closed.
 
After having surgeries on my hands and lots of physical therapy, I've concluded that I can't do this work anymore.
My fingers just don't work the way they used to. I am numb in both thumbs and suffering arthritic pain.
I can't do the detail work and definitely can't handle the labor involved with casting.
 
I am hoping to at least regain enough function to build and paint some models for myself at some point. There are so many I want to build!
If things improve enough in the future I may end up selling limited quantities on eBay, but that is still TBD.
 
My apologies to those who have tried to contact me. I haven't felt motivated enough to keep up (this has been depressing) and my email got completely over-run with spam from the contact page on my website.
I will be keeping the same email address and once the website is down (Sept 30) and will try to keep up.
 
Thank you to all of you who supported and helped me on my venture. It was a good run...
 
Chris Wilson (a.k.a. Zactoman)
 

Matt
 
I am not normally a jet fan but that Tomcat looks tremendous.  The super-close-up pictures really show the high quality of your work.  This is a gem!
 
Kind regards,
Paul

Got a bit more work done.  Got all the marker lights done.  Not my strongest area, but they are done. 



 
got one of the master brass probes installed  will do the nose probe very last ( so I don’t break it off ) 

 
Added a layer of UV Resin over the pod lens that I tinted. It gave it more clarity ( when gluing the factory part in I got glue on the clear part, so it didn’t look well).  UV resin fixed that issue.

 
Taking a break from the tomcat and will try and work on the base as I’m nearing the finish line and boy howdy! Where am I going to put this thing! Haha
31” base as I wanted it to accommodate the huge tomcat.
 
im thinking at trying to recreate a pic from desert storm ? 
 

 
and here is the beast on the rough cut wood base… lots of work ahead …. 
 

 
Hopefully next update I’ll have the acrylic rods bent and fuselage roughly mounted for mockup 😅  Have a good week everyone! And happy Veterans Day to all who served our great country 🇺🇸

Well while my thread is fresh at the top, I also worked on the sensor pod. I tinted the lens before installing.  I know it’s probably not correct but it give it some character 
 

Well decided to work the Exhaust a bit.  Won’t do to much detail as there will be acrylic rods running threw… 
 
any tips on weathering the exhaust nozzles ?? 
 

Decals are done. I ordered some PE parts for the slime lights  as decals are not going to cut it … I know a little backwards in the todo list but better late than never lol   Also attached is a photo of the real deal.  Time to start working on ordnance my least favorite part lol 
 
and I still need to make a base for it as well 
 

Hey guys! Got a little bit more done. got water effects done on the base. I used Vallejo water texture acrylic paste  that dries clear. Tired to make it look like the ocean from 5,000+ ft  elevation, sadly this is where it will stay for a while, as I need to get back to work on a few commission builds 😮‍💨  hopefully we will see yall again soon 🤘🏽
 






 
thanks for stopping in !