F-8E Crusader VMF(AW)-312: Done 2014.11.1 Summary Posted

[P Stoner]

Beautiful job on the cockpit. I really like the weathering, shows allot of depth. Great job Kai, she's coming along very good.

 

Paul

[Joe Osborne]

Kai,

 

That is amazing work on a cockpit. In fact, it's the best looking modern day cockpit I've ever seen. Any weathering tips you'd like to share? I'm about to finish off my A-7E cockpit and will take all the advice I can. 

 

Incredible job.

[marauderdriver]

Once again Kai,

 

    DAMN SON !!!!      

    

    I don't know what else to say.....Ya Got Skills Sir !  

 

    watch'in you

 

jack

[Martinnfb]

X2

[andromeda673]

holy crap balls man, it just keeps getting better and better. 

[LSP_Paul]

Beautiful Work Kai!  I love all the various tones and shading to make it look lived in!

 Keep up the Stellar Work!

 Paul  

[EmperorKai]

Thanks so much for the kind words!  It's starting to come alive with color which is why this is one of my favorite parts of the project.  

 

Kai,

 

That is amazing work on a cockpit. In fact, it's the best looking modern day cockpit I've ever seen. Any weathering tips you'd like to share? I'm about to finish off my A-7E cockpit and will take all the advice I can. 

 

Incredible job.

 

Joe-

For the cockpit, I did pretty much the same process that I showed for the wing center section.  I think the key in this case was the pin washing and oils.  Not sure if you've had a chance to play with those at all, but they are definitely worth the investment and time to get the hang of.  My steps were:

1. Brush paint the main color on the tub, Model Master Light Ghost Gray
2. Brush paint the seat and instrument panel/dash Model Master Aircraft Interior Black
3. Apply a heavy wash over all parts (see pic below).  It will look terrible, but don't fret.
4. Airbrush the same colors.  This will leave a nice base coat with alot of depth. 
5. Brush paint all the details- seat cushions, seat belts, side panels on the tub, etc.
6. Gloss coat with Tamiya Clear X-22.  This is a really important step as the next steps are oil based and they need to go on a gloss, non-oil based barrier and foundation.  Apply just enough for a satin finish, not shiny glossy.
7. Mix the oils (with low strength, odorless turpentine) and apply like a pin wash.  Let capillary action do the work.
8. When dry, use a small detail brush wetted, but not dripping, with turpentine and clean up the oils.  Keep the brush clean with a paper towel as you work.
9. For whatever is leftover and needs to be sharpened up a bit with more contrast, apply a pin was with Mig Dark Wash.
10. When all is dry and you are satisfied, lock it all down with a flat clear coat - Tamiya clear X-22 mixed with about 10% Tamiya Flat Base.  This won't affect the oil based washes like spray can Testor's Flat does.
11. The final step is fading.  I usually does this by either applying pastels (which come off when touched, so aren't always appropriate) or by airbrush, which I do by simply thinning the original base coat color a bit more than normal, lightening it up with light gray or white, and then "puffing" where areas need to be highlighted.  I like this step in that it brings all the different colors back together a bit and makes it look like they all belong together though care should be taken not to overdo it.  

Initial painting of the base colors.  No primer was used in this case mainly because I didn't want to gum up the detail, but you know how resin can be, so it might be necessary.  I also just used a brush since the subsequent steps will take care of any brush strokes or missed areas.

 

Here, the wash has been applied.  The wash itself is water based so it won't reconstitute the underlying enamel. 

 

Then airbrush the same colors, in this case MM Light Ghost Gray.  From there, just paint the details as you normally would.  Here, the detail painting is complete, but the clear coat, oils and pin wash haven't been applied yet.

 

This process works really well with lots of details like the Aires set.  I'll add a few extra pics in my posts to show different stages of this same process.

 

The only other thing I can add is that everyone has their own process and things that work for them.  I try to do at least one new thing on each project, and am still learning lots after building for 40+ years.  

 

Hope this helps!

 

Kai

Edited June 29, 2014 by EmperorKai

[EmperorKai]

Have a small update today, though I'm a little behind on pics.  

 

Added some details to the MER's

 

A close up here.  Have the Eduard's PE set for the F-8 Weapons, but the only pieces I've used from it so far are the 2 small stablizers on the MER's.

 

Finally finished the fin assemblies at the back of the LAU-33/35 launchers. 

 

And the completed Zuni's ready for paint.

 

For the most part, still focusing on whatever needs to happen to get the fuselage together, and should have an update soon on that

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Kai

 

[Martinnfb]

Stunning indeed   

[Girlscanplay2]

Kai

 

Awesome job on the weathering!! It's turning out Great!!

 

Teresa 

[EmperorKai]

Thanks all for the kind words and for having looked in!  After having taken a brief hiatus, I have some small updates.  

 

Focused alot on chasing loose threads so the fuselage halves could be glued together.

 

The bay for the speed brake was primered with Gunze Grey Surfacer 1500.  It still seemed a little short on the amount of detail that I felt was needed, so some additional work was done to spruce it up a bit more.

 

Here, the Killed USN White has been sprayed, and then a light airbrushed coat of straight Tamiya XF-2 White to cinch it.  Base color painting with a brush and a few more details were added afterwards.

 

An in-progress pic of the main gear bay.  Here, oil rendering is being cleaned up and almost complete.

 

A family photo of the bays that will be going into the fuselage.  From left to right, main gear bay, speed brake bay, front landing gear bay and the arrestor hook.

 

While test fitting everything, I found that the wing center section (which I made a bit longer than the original) would bump into the intake assembly.  So it was necessary to carve a small chuck of it back, which works out fine since it is all behind the small bulkhead. 

 

Here, the wing center section and the intake

 

At this point, everything is pretty much ready to go to finally glue the fuselage together.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Kai

 

[Youngtiger1]

Great update Kai. I love your painting and weathering process. Glad to see the issue with the center wing detail was resolved fairly easy. I sure do love it when things fall in place with minor adjustments. Well, keep up the good work my friend.

[EmperorKai]

Thanks Mike!

 

Have been away for a bit tending to real life, but have been still slowly continuing work on the Cruze in the meantime.  Will try to get caught up with a couple of posts...

 

At a point to finally close up the fuselage.  

 

After gluing the intake into place, it still seemed like it needed a bit more support since the wheel bay was removed from it to make way for the Aires piece.  A small piece of scrap balsa was CA'd into place to stabilize the end of the intake. 

 

For the most part, all sub assemblies were glued into place on the right fuselage half.  Kinda cool in that one starts to get a sense of a cutaway view into the internal layout of the aircraft.

 

A view of the aft section of the right fuselage half with the blocks for the engine mount tube.

 

The left fuselage half was barren except for the engine mount tube.

 

The fuselage halves went together in fairly straightforward fashion though additional attention was necessary to keep the intake join nice and tight. 

 

The Aires front landing gear bay was not a perfect fit and a few gaps resulted.  The side gaps will be obscured by the gear doors, so only the gaps at the front and rear needed attention.

 

A small piece of .020 sheet styrene was cut and used to shim over the gap.

 

The shims were then trued up for a nice clean edge.

 

I'll add a few more shots on a second post.

 

Kai

 

 

 

[EmperorKai]

Cleaning up the fuselage continued...

 

The bays on the fuselage underside needed some work.

 

While the fuselage seam at the front landing gear bay lined up, there was a slight difference at the speed brake bay that resulted in a small gap.

 

The gap was filled with sheet styrene and CA (apologies for the fuzzy pic)

 

The strap across the rear landing gear bays needed some attention as well...

 

A shelf of .030 plastic was needed to stabilize the strap at the aft end. 

 

The strap itself also needed some minor fitting- here a dovetail at the forward end

 

Finally, the Aires landing gear bays are a tiny bit short for the opening in the fuselage.  Lining up the bays resulted in a small gap between the landing gear bays and the speed brake bay that will be visible later.   Here the edge of the speed brake bay has been cleaned up with a small piece of strip styrene.

 

I'll do one more post regarding work around the nose area.

 

Kai

Edited August 14, 2014 by EmperorKai

[EmperorKai]

Cleaning up the nose area...

 

The upper lip of the intake didn't quite match up the the fuselage- here the gap on the vertical

 

and a view from the underside of the gap on the horizontal 

 

The gap on both planes was addressed with yet another shim and CA, which cleaned up nicely

 

The kit nose is slightly flattened on the sides and more reminiscent of an F-8C nose than the more bulbous F-8E nose.  Panels made from .020 sheet styrense were cut and then burnished to achieve the compound curve necessary to fit properly to the sides of the nose cone.  Here, one has been burnished, the other glued into place with CA.

 

The edges of the panels were tapered by carving with a new blade, then sanded to shape.  The join between the nose and the panels still wasn't completely sealed and smooth, so the the entire nose cone was coated with a layer of thin CA, which was then finished with very fine 800 grit sand paper.

 

 

The nose cone glued in place.  The silhouette from the side didn't change much... 

 

...however, from the topside, the nose cone now has a more proper bulbous shape.

 

The nose is also now nearly round instead of the oval shape provided out of the box.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Kai

Edited August 14, 2014 by EmperorKai