Tomcat launch dio 1/48 - DONE AFTER 4.5 YEARS!!!

[ClumsyDude]

Thanks Andromeda! Haha have to laugh, I really don't know what to do when I'm done, this build has taken up such a big chunk of my life I'll almost be lost without it!

 

Cheers

Jim

[ClumsyDude]

Ok all, some more quality taxi time, so on with another update. This one is the story of the final assembly of the JBD, as well as weathering of the legs. Here goes.

 

This started a long time ago while I was waiting for something to dry or cure (that's been the great thing about this build, there's always so much going on I'm never bored). I began by cleaning up the seam lines on the leg linkages. It was also pretty obvious that the hopeless little press-fit pins on the Skunkmodels parts wouldn't do much of a job holding the legs in alignment. So I drilled them out to accept brass rod - 15mm for the middle linkage and 1mm at the JBD. I would've preferred to go for a consistent size, as the bolts seem to be the same size in reference photos, but there just wasn't enough plastic on the Skunkmodels bits (and the hole already provided on the lower leg was a lot bigger than 1mm).

 

 

Then it was on with white primer. I was quite conveniently able to string the legs along bits of brass rod for painting too.

 

 

Having primed in white I then realised that the upper arm has a heavily greased section between the two square bits. On with the alclad gunmetal.

 

 

Then masked, and all over everything with gunze off white (just ordered my third tin of the stuff from BNA, anticipating lots of use on the deck markings)

 

 

Then I sprayed the legs with my grot mix (heavily thinned mix of mahogany and tire black), and threaded them together around a length of rod.

 

 

When you snip the rod this is what you get:

 

 

Here the all are. Ends of the rod are fixed in with superglue, leaving the lower leg free to rotate. Note that the top two in this photo have been filed back to flat, the remaining ten still haven't been done.

 

 

German grey paint on the bolt (this was actually done by cutting a 1.5mm hole in tape and using it as a mask, I wanted to use lacquer because I was worried enamel wouldn't stick to the brass).

 

 

And here they are after the second and third weathering layers - a wash in enamel black-green, and chipping with German grey using a very fine brush.

 

 

 

More to come in a minute.

[ClumsyDude]

I then wanted to add some rust streaks .... these are not visible at all in most reference photos, but I am resolutely operating on the "one photo equals truth" rule when it comes to references. I found one, and that was good enough.

 

My first crack was with Vallejo acrylics. I initially tried for a mix of thin sand and rust, with the idea of going over the top with some darker rust.

 

 

You can see it looks a bit stark. It was even worse with the darker rust shade, so I wiped it back with a wet finger (gotta love water based acrylics) and finished it off with tamiya "rust" weathering powder.

 

 

Then it was time for the hydraulic bays to get the hydraulic rams inserted, and the chipping/wash treatment.

 

 

Then finally, after months, I glued them in.

 

 

 

Then I attached the upper arms to the back of the JBD. This was a bit of a trial as it turned out that I'd mistakenly used a 0.9mm drill bit to open up the holes, which caused lots of issues when I tried to then insert a 1mm rod. The arms moved grumpily at first, then started to snap. I was able to snatch this photo before I did too much damage.

 

 

So, to forestall any further cracking, I decided to superglue the upper arms in place at the desired angle. I managed, with much effort, to get them all at the same angle, and ...

 

 

... It was a BLOODY DISASTER!!!

 

Plenty of you will spot the error - I have managed to get the arms bent at an angle PAST 180 degrees! A real JBD does not do this, and it wasn't until I saw the photo (with the CA well and truly cured) that I realised the error.

 

Got to go board my flight ... rest of the update to follow later in the day.

 

Jim

[dodgem37]

What a crapper!

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[ClumsyDude]

What a crapper!

 

Sincerely,

Mark

Yep, it was ... I had a minor anxiety attack for the few hours between when I noticed the issue and when I was able to get back to the bench. Fortunately the fix I cooked up more or less worked.

 

I figured that what I needed was to (a) first get one of the legs at the right angle, and then ( get the rest of the legs at the same angle. A bit of experimentation revealed that CA debonder would loosen the glue enough to move the legs around (with, as it turned out, four or five breakages, but these were repaired easily enough). So I made myself a jig. Here it is; I filed a "V" shape into the top to support the leg, and by filing it further down I was able to get to the right angle, with much testing of a single leg in place to make sure that it was straight at the "knee" joint.

 

 

You can see the slots underneath, designed to fit over the ribs of the JBD below the leg attachment. Here it is in situ:

 

 

And here we are with all the upper legs aligned (at least as well as I could get them).

 

 

Much better, at least to my eye.

 

 

 

Here's a closeup. You can see where I have used German grey enamel to simulate grease around the joints, as per nearly all my reference photos; it has taken on a flat appearance (apparently this happens when you use matte paints), and will need to be glossed up.

 

 

I think the upper leg here is possibly too lightly weathered when compared to the JBD behind it ... It's a tough call. Compare with the photo below of a heavily weathered JBD.

 

 

 

What do you think, LSP people? Keen to get people's thoughts on whether it needs a bit more brown.

Edited November 25, 2015 by ClumsyDude

[ClumsyDude]

In all the panic over the misaligned legs, I hadn't taken the time to paint the bolts (although, to be fair, there's not a lot of point painting when you're about to use Zap CA debonder, as it has a tendency to stain everything red). So, I painted them first with black Surfacer, then dirtied up with some black-green grease, and topped the grease with gloss clear to make it look like shiny grease. I did the same at the knee joints.

 

 

Here's a few final glamour shots ... after three months of work to finish the JBD, I took a bit of time to admire it. Many of you guys complete entire, beautiful models in three months! Anyhow, here goes.

 

 

 

 

And here we are, all masked up and ready - finally! - for some colour on the deck.

 

 

Thanks all for following!

 

Jim

Edited November 25, 2015 by ClumsyDude

[dodgem37]

Piece of cake.  Lots of parts production.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[ClumsyDude]

Piece of cake. Lots of parts production.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

Haha thanks Mark!

[Cat_baloo]

That there's some mad-crazy stuff.

 

Totally converted to deck dios now. I'll have to give it a go for my 1:48 -B model.

Love your whole process, incl. the snafus.

Failure is the best teacher.

 

Regards

Edited November 25, 2015 by Cat_baloo

[Lothar]

I'm truly impressed with your work - and I think colorwise you've nailed it  :thumbsup:

 

Lothar

Edited November 26, 2015 by Lothar

[geedubelyer]

Lovely work Jim.

 

All of the elements look good on my monitor. The graphite grease is a nice touch and helps define the joints on the knuckles.

It's all looking swellegant.

 

I'm eager to see what you do with the flightdeck proper. This promises to be a blast.

 

Cheers.

[Guest Peterpools]

Jim

Outstanding! Simply amazed at your alignment jig and the results are perfect to my eyes. 

Same here when it comes to paints, as I've been slowly switching over to both Model Air and Lifecolor, with no problems at all. I do use their own thinner's but that's the only concession I made.

My Spit is nearly through the paint shop now (update in a few days) and it's all Model Air for the very first time using nothing but Vallejo.

Keep 'em coming

Peter

[andromeda673]

bloody absurd, cracking work 

[Guest]

GREAT !!.....Harv

[ClumsyDude]

That there's some mad-crazy stuff.

 

Totally converted to deck dios now. I'll have to give it a go for my 1:48 -B model.

Love your whole process, incl. the snafus.

Failure is the best teacher.

 

Regards

 

 

Thanks Cat, appreciate it. If failure is the best teacher then I think I've given myself a blue chip education over the years ... which is what it's all about right?

 

 

I'm truly impressed with your work - and I think colorwise you've nailed it  :thumbsup:

 

Lothar

  

 

Thanks Lothar. I'm still tossing up some subtle pastel weathering on the arms but to be honest, I think my heart is now in figuring out the colour on the deck.

 

Lovely work Jim.

 

All of the elements look good on my monitor. The graphite grease is a nice touch and helps define the joints on the knuckles.

It's all looking swellegant.

 

I'm eager to see what you do with the flightdeck proper. This promises to be a blast.

 

Cheers.

  

 

Thanks Guy. I agree the flight deck is going to be really interesting. In my reference photos the colour variance is enormous across a flight deck ... much as the sky is only rarely pure blue, a carrier deck is never an even grey. Right now I have no idea how I'm going to achieve the look I want, there will be much experimentation on my scrap deck ahead of a bulk order of paint from BNA.

 

And ... I have to ask ... how's your big tomcat coming along? I am such a fan

 

Jim

Outstanding! Simply amazed at your alignment jig and the results are perfect to my eyes. 

Same here when it comes to paints, as I've been slowly switching over to both Model Air and Lifecolor, with no problems at all. I do use their own thinner's but that's the only concession I made.

My Spit is nearly through the paint shop now (update in a few days) and it's all Model Air for the very first time using nothing but Vallejo.

Keep 'em coming

Peter

  

 

Thanks Peter. I've yet to airbrush the Vallejo but it brushes beautifully for acrylic. If I weren't so heavily invested in tamiya enamels ...

 

Jim,

 

 

Having seen your latest work and updates which by the way is EXEMPLARY, I

 

now understand what you meant in your post # 263...  

 

Sorry about the glitch you had and anxious moments but seeing your work now, it is , as Peter said aligned SUPERBLY..

 

Keep up the good work, and when its done , maybe you could go for a 1.24 Tigercat ! 

 

... that should make you tear  your hair out, what might be left after this epic build and  you can    start entertaining US ALL-  all over again....

 

KUDOS :bow:

  

 

Haha Maru this is why we love you ... thanks for the good vibes. Still thinking about my next project but it is probably quite a few months away yet. First project is to sort out a display case for this baby!

 

bloody absurd, cracking work

 

  

 

Thanks Andromeda!

 

GREAT !!.....Harv

Thanks Harv, appreciate it.

 

Cheers

Jim