Completed - Desert Storm Air to Air refuelling: KA-6D&A-7E

[Shawn M]

fan-freaking-tastic!

[red Dog]

9 hours ago, Eagle Driver said:

Wicked!

I love it! Maybe you can tell us more about that scratching technique that you use? I know how it works actually and I am interested why you picked that specific one for aircraft modeling.

 

 

Well beside trying out new technique, the idea to use this one was mostly decided by looking at pictures of real weathered intruder

 

the initial idea came from studying the white nose on that picture.

You clearly see that the nose is painted white then a layer of dust changed the colour to smoked white, then some areas where cleaned up randomly according to maintenance or even repainted during corrosion control

 

The tail in the picture above was used as model for my weathering. you clearly see that the dirty area have been cleaned in a non uniform way  (by hand or airflow) and leave hard edges most of the time

 

Another example oin the tail about corrosion control where a dirty area has been repainted, mostly in the jointure of panels (i.e along panel lines for us)

to be able to do that with base colour, then you obviously need to alter the base colour on your model first.  

 

Same here on the nose and the fuselage side, although the fuselage weathering could have been done without the scratching effect

 

the Hairspray technique (made easier with the mig products - at least to me) is the perfect candidate to simulate the crew cleaning local parts of the airplane while maintaining the bird.
I's not Something i can do with the finest airbrush needle i own (.15) it also perfectly simulates the mark crew boots would leave in the intake or close to the walkways.
If you do that with airbrush only, it's too cloudy. the so called Hairspray technique provide much harder edges and smaller marks like very fine line.

 

Beside, this technique is pretty safe to use because:

1. you remove paint rather than adding paint, so ultimately if you remove too much you end up as if you didn't change anything

2. by varying coats  between enamels and acrylics your previous work is very safe

3. if overdone, you can tame it down with a mist of base colour.

4. it is safe to use on decals (considered you applied a good varnish coat obviously)

 

there are some "issues" with this technique :

1. the longer you wait to remove your paint, the harder it is to remove

2. if you wait not long enough you remove it completely and directly (you lose your time)

3. the smoke paint that you use may look very subtle when initially airbrushed but will gain in contrast as your scratch it

 

Basically, it was the best technique to try according to the results to achieve  

 

but above all, i need the training for that:

Edited October 15, 2018 by red Dog

[TorbenD]

Damn that’s fine!

 

Torben

[Starfighter]

Looking forward to seeing this in the flesh in December!

[red Dog]

you sure will, i'm sure it will stand proudly next to your viking

[Starfighter]

So, what about that hose and basket?  Just two and a half weeks left before the show in Putte...  

[red Dog]

It was tedious but it's done, picture as soon as i have a minute home while i still have natural lights

the basket challenge was nothing compared to chosing the colour of the wood base.

 

I have no freaking idea

[Starfighter]

Excellent news - can't wait to see it in the flesh! 

[red Dog]

YEp, nt a chance i'll miss the day

and I can't wait to see your Viking !!

 

I have a small detail bothering me.

I know the KA-6D reel hose is about 50 feet in length and the drogue is about 26 inches.

 

it seems there are kind of distance markers on the hose.

visible as yellowed white on the picture below.

Would any one know how they are spaced?

My best guess is every 10 feet but i have seen some other pictures suggesting otherwise?

 

[Timmy!]

The hose has two sets of stripes. Referenced from the pod to the basket, there are two fat stripes that define the fuel flow range.  The receiver has to plug the basket then push the hose in until the first stripe is inside the pod, fuel will then flow.  If the second stripe get pushed in too, the fuel will stop. When the receiver disconnects, the first white stripe becomes visible, the fuel shuts off and the basket (in theory) pops off the probe.  As for the second set of stripes yes 10 feet is probably right, could be 5 feet.  It was definanately 10 on a KC-130.  Either 3.75 inches or 1.875 inches apart in 1/32nd scale, what ever looks right.  Hope that helps!

 

Lovely work!  AR dioramas are one of my faves!!

 

Timmy!

[red Dog]

Thank you Timmy

that's quite valuable information

 

and knowing that i can see the purpose of these marks

 

no contact and 5 marks visible, the first out of the reel

 

Contact and obviously the closer to the reel is just visible inside

 

one mark every 10 feet seems spot on, so i need to have 4 marks visibles on my setup, the fifth being Inside the reel

Edited November 23, 2018 by red Dog

[Timmy!]

You are very welcome.  Also notice the lights on either side of the hose housing.  There are three.  Red = No contact/Disconnect, Amber = Cleared to contact/No fuel flow and Green Fuel Flow.

[red Dog]

Yep, this I knew.
I wondered how the pilot would see the amber ones though as you can't from dead astern. But them being cleared to contact, it doesn't matter

 

Mine will be green, just need to figure out a bright enough paint. 

[Eagle Driver]

Updates please!

[red Dog]

On 12/20/2018 at 4:28 PM, Eagle Driver said:

Updates please!

I realised I never posted picture of the finished setup. Sorry about that.

 

With both model finished, I needed to make the link between the two.
The basket was done with different parts from the scratch box (rods, guitar wires and photoetch parts initially meant for a EF2000 exhaust fan,...)

The guitar wires are a bit larger than what the real part should be but at least give proper structure to the basket.

 

 

The PE part for structure was then hidden under strips of paper towel washed in PVA glue + water and let to dry and the process was repeated until I was happy with the texture of the basket.

The A-7 probe fits nicely into the basket allowing proper connection between the 2 aircraft.

 

The fuel hose is a metal hanger cut to length and painted black. distance marks were painted light brown every 10 feet scaled down to 1/32

The metal rod is inserted into the KA-6D reel

 

The base is made of black painted MDF. I wanted the base to be sober not to attract too much attention from the eyes of the viewers.

Getting the support transparent rods angle right took a few attempts  

 

The 2 aircraft are offset from each other as clearly seen from the following picture:

 

Pictures of the finished setup:

 

First the final intruder:

 

 

Then the A-7

 

 

And the finished diorama:

 

 

 

 

 

Attempt on a blue background:

 

And a photoshop essay on a sky background

 

Sorry for the time it took to uplaod final pictures, after finishing the model, I discovered dust inside the A6 canopy and had to remove it, clean it and reassemble it in place. It took me quite a while to get there.

 

But this one is finally complete. And it was quite a journey !!

 

Thank you all for looking.