RAAF Super Hornet. Finished.

[dodgem37]

That is one nice bird.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[ericg]

Eric! You're a machine mate!!! Outstanding! You get top votes from me!! I've said it before and I'm going to say it again: you should be doing the LSP review builds!! Masterclass modelling all around!

Cheers

Alan

 

Thanks for the vote of confidence!

 

I am sure Kev could re-route some of the incoming LSP mail from Melbourne to Brisbane in order for me to do so, eh Kev?

 

Eric.

[ericg]

I wanted to depict this model with the flaps all the way down. The small fairing that covers the flap to wing gap doesn't fit too well and I am sure that it was designed for when the flaps are up. There is a small gap near the wing root which had to be fixed.

 

 

I cut parts of the leading edges out and replaced them with plastic card and shaped to fit.

 

 

Much better.

 

 

I then scribed and riveted the fairings which otherwise would have been devoid of detail.

 

 

Here is the flaps and ailerons, I also masked and painted the the trailing edges.

 

 

I always wanted to try and capture a small, barely noticeable detail with the tanks. Visible in some photos is the layering of the material used to make them which forms a grid like pattern. I thought of various ideas on how to do it and then it occured to me that I might just be able to make it work using the black base method. By increasing the pressure on my airbrush and spraying thin lines very close to the surface to make them hard edged I came up with the pattern.

 

 

Here are the three drop tanks in various stages of painting.

 

 

Here is a picture of the aircraft that I will be depicting which gives many clues as to weathering and markings. Also visible is the pattern on the drop tanks.

 

[dodgem37]

Smart fix and painting.  Love it all.  Photo is supersonic!  Love that, too.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[FunkyZeit]

Wizardry! Nice Eric!

 

Justin

[Shawn M]

lovely work on the tanks, you captured the fiber wind well

[alaninaustria]

Outstanding!! I assume those drop tanks are spun kevlar weave? You've captured the details beautifully!

Cheers

Alan

[ericg]

I assume those drop tanks are spun kevlar weave

I assume so.

 

So, I am now up to my favourite part of a build....decalling, (although this stage usually brings moments of sheer terror when things can quickly go pear shaped.)

 

I gave the model a coat of my favourite clear coat (Tamiya X-22) to prepare it for the decals. i have been using this stuff for a while now after trying a few different types of clear and have found this the best.

 

 

Visible in this pic is the painted over crew names, some elements of weathering that I have started adding and also the inner canopy frame has been glued in place, as well as the outer framing painted.

 

 

A pic of the nose gear and some of the extra parts that I have been adding. There is plenty more to go in this area.

 

 

I can only hope that tomorrow will bring a day filled with a hassle free decalling experience, wish me luck!

 

[LSP_Kevin]

Looks fantastic, Eric! Big fan of X-22 myself.

 

Kev

[ericg]

Looks fantastic, Eric! Big fan of X-22 myself.

 

Kev

 

Thanks Kev.

 

I really can't understand why people mess around with trying to spray floor polish on their models when this stuff is much easier to use.

 

Eric.

[Simmo.b]

Clear coating is always stressfull, X22 is the go, let it harden buddy don't want the missus spotting any fingerprints!

[Guest Peterpools]

Eric

Awesome progress on the Hornet. I am always amazed at how not even the smallest details escape your eye and your uncanny ability to engineer them.

Right with on on the the Future debate: gave up using it a long time ago and settled into my go two gloss clears: Alclads and Tamiya X-22.

Keep 'em coming

Peter

[Out2gtcha]

Looks great!    As someone who is a tried and true lover of the MM lacquer clear coats, Im always open to new things..............

 

Is X-22, an acrylic clear? 

 

*EDIT*

 

Answered my own question...................is it readily effected by decals solutions?

Edited February 18, 2016 by Out2gtcha

[MrPRRose]

G'day Eric mate I've been following along and am very very inspired - living in Brisbane I see plenty of the Super Hornets from Amberley, and have always wanted to build a. a 2OCU classic Hornet and a Super Hornet.

In regards to your X-22 Clear coating, I'm also a big fan of it because hey its the same glossy gloop that's in the other 'X-' Tamiya paints.

One huuuuge piece of great advice I read was written by Matt from Doog's Models, it's as follows quotes from his website:

 

"Doog's clear-coating:

I've tried a lot of different glosses. You name it, I've probably put it through my airbrush. Gunze, yep. Testors, yep. Humbrol, unfortunately. Alclad, yep. Vallejo, AK, Ammo, even some weird s#%@ called Gaia.

 

My favorite is Tamiya X-22 Clear, thinned with Gunze Mr. Leveling Thinner. But here's the kicker…once it's down, it's important to go back over it with a very light, misted coat of straight leveling thinner. For some chemical reason that's probably awesome, this helps it go very, very smooth".

 

I've tried this guys and it is genius - I used to have issues when doing a gloss where due to the warm area I live (and adding paint retarded even) any spray that lands on the surface that's not part of the 'wet edge' resulted in dusting..Doog's clear idea re-glosses and solves this issue

It doesn't seem to matter even if you hit the surface a few times just to really gloss it up...love it!

[ericg]

Thanks for the input Mr Rose. I have been able to achieve fantastic results with just one coat of Clear. It is all dependant on the pressure sprayed and consistency of the mix, without having to worry about anything further.

 

I was able to get 95% of the decalling done today without too many dramas. The Ronin decals performed very well and I didn't encounter any problems with them. They will need to be faded into the paintwork a bit though as they are a little too stark for a war bird at this stage. There are a few compromises in positioning and alignment of some of the decals compared to the real thing, but that was to be expected.