SH Tempest Mk V "Kicked Up A Notch". January 14/21 New eBook!

[turbo]

Nice work Chuck - I do like the idea of using a wash to check for flaws pre-paint!

[alaninaustria]

Wow, really nice mate! Have a safe trip!

Cheers

Alan

[Anthony in NZ]

10 hours ago, chuck540z3 said:

Thanks Guys!

 

I have closed and finished off the front fuselage halves, using my usual technique of using Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color in Black to check for flaws.  After sanding, every panel line was re-scribed and just about every rivet was re-punched, so there's a high chance of slip-ups that could be revealed after the first coat of paint.  By adding a dark wash now, these flaws can be seen and fixed easily, so I now hardly ever have to fix something after painting which can be a real pain.  After sealing up the front fuselage, I found plenty of little slip-ups here and there and for the most part, they are all fixed now.  I notice quite a few other modelers using this method recently, so maybe I started something? 

 

Cheers,

Chuck

Umm, yup.....

I love your tip with the wash, helped me out enormously.  I get to see unevenness in panel lines, scratches, you name it.  Plus I get the satisfaction of looking at all the panel/skin work for some reason!

 

Keep up the great work Look forward to a new update when you are back.

 

Have a safe trip

 

Cheers Anthony

[spyrosjzmichos]

Yup, highlighting panels after partial construction is one of the most practical techniques I picked up from you Chukw! 

[chuck540z3]

On 7/6/2020 at 3:19 AM, Anthony in NZ said:

Umm, yup.....

I love your tip with the wash, helped me out enormously.  I get to see unevenness in panel lines, scratches, you name it.  Plus I get the satisfaction of looking at all the panel/skin work for some reason!

 

Keep up the great work Look forward to a new update when you are back.

 

Have a safe trip

 

Cheers Anthony

 

3 hours ago, spyrosjzmichos said:

Yup, highlighting panels after partial construction is one of the most practical techniques I picked up from you Chukw! 

 

Thanks for that feedback guys.  I just KNEW this method was catching on! 

 

I looked back on my builds and I first started to use it on my Trumpeter A-10C in 2014 quite by accident.  As most of you know, this kit is a turd that needs a lot of polishing and after many modifications to panel lines, many of which were filled with CA glue, I wanted to show what the final result looked like on the nose of the model before paint.  The Tamiya Panel Line Accent (TPLA) washes had just come out and I had bought a variety of them, so I gave the Black a whirl on the bare plastic.  It showed the modifications really clearly, but it also showed a number of slip-ups with my scriber and other flaws that were completely invisible to the naked eye.  Applying the dark wash to other areas, I found many other boo-boos, which were easily fixed for the most part and much easier than they would have been after paint.  I was onto something, so I have used this method ever since.  The TPLA washes are super thin and pigment heavy, so they flow within panel lines via capillary action without the need to use a lot of wash.  After using the Black version on 6 models, I still have 1/2 of a bottle left.

 

Here's another example on my Tamiya F-15C build, where the wing to fuselage join is famous for poor fit.  With a dark wash applied, the new rivet and panel line detail is revealed, while deleted features (with CA glue applied) don't pick up the wash.  If they did (and they do often), I fix them early.  Note the small access door on the right that was deleted, which is correct for F-15E's, but not "C's".

 

 

 

One more, of the heavily modified vertical stabilizers.  90+% of the builds of this kit leave the kit join as is, which is wrong.  You can see the legacy join filled with CA glue, then sanded smooth.  If there were any flaws, the dark wash would pick it up.

 

 

 

Cheers,

Chuck

Edited July 7, 2020 by chuck540z3

[Fvdm]

Using the wash is a very good tip. But what to do before painting? Do you clear the model with a cottonbud to clear everything or do you spray over the wash? 

[chuck540z3]

6 hours ago, Fvdm said:

Using the wash is a very good tip. But what to do before painting? Do you clear the model with a cottonbud to clear everything or do you spray over the wash? 

 

I usually use a scriber down the major panel lines to clean the wash out, but leave the rest as is. It's thin enough, that paint build-up is minimal.  Depending on the cover color, the dark accents often show through, much like pre-shading.

 

Example on my A-10C.  First coat of paint with no subsequent dark wash.

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

Chuck

Edited July 7, 2020 by chuck540z3

[Alex]

7 hours ago, Fvdm said:

Using the wash is a very good tip. But what to do before painting? Do you clear the model with a cottonbud to clear everything or do you spray over the wash? 

 

I've come to believe that this is actually the right time to use panel line wash - before painting.  Putting it under the final color coat provides a much more subtle effect, and the strength of the effect can be adjusted based on how much paint you apply over it.

[FunkyZeit]

Impressive, friend. 

[chuck540z3]

July 20/20

 

I was home for a few days and a few more days of modeling.  Step #19 has you put the front engine halves E7 & E12 together, along with exhaust backings E5 & E6 and Step #20 has part D2 inserted at the top of the front intake.

 

 

 

 

 

Since I’m using the Barracuda resin replacement set (BR 32334) instead, these exact steps are eliminated.  The first task is to carefully cut off the large casting block at the front of the one-piece nose, which like most resin blocks, is tricky to do cleanly when they are so large.  It turns out that I have two of these noses, because I purchased one of the first sets when they came out a few years ago on the right, which was replaced later by Barracuda with the one on the left I’m using.  Apparently the first ones were flawed somehow, but for the life of me I can’t tell the difference between the two, so maybe I didn’t get a flawed one after all?  No matter, cutting the block off with a large razor saw did the trick, with detailed instructions supplied by Barracuda that can be found on-line here:

 

 

Barracuda Instructions in PDF

 

 

 

 

The kit parts have lots of panel line and rivet detail, but they are rough, so filling the top seam and sanding everything down smoothly won’t be easy if you use them.

 

 

 

 

While the quality of the resin is excellent as usual from Barracuda, I was surprised to find that the front did not fit the spinner very well, leaving gaps on the sides and top, while the bottom fit was flush.

 

 

 

 

 

Getting the parts to fit is easy with a little sanding, but you lose a lot of the detail that must be replaced.

 

 

 

 

Later, I will be installing the CMK Resin Exhausts that are an upgrade to the kit and recommended in the kit instructions in Step 46 on Page 11.  I also highly recommend them, because the detail is amazing as you will see much later in this build.  In any case, I will need the resin exhaust backings to replace the kit parts E5 & E6 fairly soon.

 

 

 

 

Like most resin replacements, the Barracuda nose piece utilizes the kit parts for the panel line and rivet detail when it was cast, but the detail is much weaker than the kit parts and, in some cases, you can barely see it at all, even with a dark wash.  Soooo, like the rest of the fuselage, I re-scribed every panel line and re-punched every rivet, which took me about 12 hours in total!  Yes, I can be a bit obsessed, but that’s nothing new.  Here are the results that I’m glad is over with…..

 

 

 

 

You may notice that some of the rivets are a little off alignment, but that’s because the kit part detail is a little off where they came from, which I used as a guide to replace the ones that were faint or missing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fit to the fuselage wasn’t quite plug and play, but after some careful trimming, sanding and even immersing the part in hot water to widen it slightly, the fit is generally excellent.  After gluing these parts together, I will sand everything smooth to eliminate any abrupt steps in the fit.  Now I know that some of you might be thinking that all this rivet detail is overkill, but after paint and weathering, it will become much more subtle, but still very much there in close-up pics which I always like to do.

 

 

 

 

I was initially a little bugged that the horizontal panel line at the top of the exhaust stack didn’t align with the fuselage panel line behind it, but after checking references, it’s not supposed to!  Whew!

 

 

 

 

Here’s a pic of the main differences between the kit parts and the Barracuda replacement.  The front of the kit fuselage nose isn’t tapered very much and the spinner is too big, as is the mouth of the intake.  The Barracuda part looks so much better- and all the internal detail is excellent as well.

 

 

 

 

The “British Brute” as Peter Castle called it, is starting to look the part!

 

 

 

 

Thanks for your continued interest in this very slow project.  As mentioned before I only model every few weeks or so and like most of us, I feel so lucky to have this stay-at-home hobby to help me weather this brutal pandemic that has been so hard on so many.  I am truly one of the lucky ones.

 

 

Cheers,

Chuck

Edited July 20, 2020 by chuck540z3

[zaxos345]

Excellent work as always Chuck!! 

 

John

[Brett M]

Man, your scribing is always so perfect and depth even everywhere. Any particular tools you like using?

[chrish]

Fantastic work!

[Anthony in NZ]

Sensational Chuck!

As the guy who did the nose and radiator correction (Roy replaced the surface detail and Kerry did the prop and spinner) it warms my heart to see you using it.  Not sure why the spinner and cowl aren't a perfect match...sorry about that .

 

The only thing correct about the kit nose was the thrust line.  The correction was done with original factory lofts.  There was a lot of changes to correct that part, some easily seen , others probably never noticed.  But  looking at the comparison photo of the front it is quite noticeable. It literally took months of obsession until I was happy with the shapes. You cant just make the opening and spinner dia smaller and 'presto'.  That completely changed the 'look and feel' of all the contours behind it (I called them the cheeks behind the mouth). Then the rest looked terrible, so everything back needed completely reworking

 

Great work!  Loving each update

 

Cheers Anthony

Edited July 20, 2020 by Anthony in NZ

[chuck540z3]

Thanks Guys!

 

1 hour ago, Anthony in NZ said:

Sensational Chuck!

As the guy who did the nose and radiator correction (Roy replaced the surface detail and Kerry did the prop and spinner) it warms my heart to see you using it.  Not sure why the spinner and cowl aren't a perfect match...sorry about that .

 

Cheers Anthony

 

 

So you're the guy!  Thank you for creating such a beautiful shape!  As for the spinner/cowl fit, the fix is easy and I think I'll sand mine a bit more to make it more flush.

 

Do you know what the problem was with the first batch of noses?  Like I said, my original and the one a got later from Roy look identical to me.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by chuck540z3