John1 Posted December 24, 2023 Share Posted December 24, 2023 Haven’t posted lately but have been following all your updates. This is a truly magnificent build. I’ve learned a great deal on modeling techniques and the actual jet. Keep up the great work. Derek B and Anthony in NZ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted December 24, 2023 Author Share Posted December 24, 2023 20 hours ago, John1 said: Haven’t posted lately but have been following all your updates. This is a truly magnificent build. I’ve learned a great deal on modeling techniques and the actual jet. Keep up the great work. Hi John, thanks very much! Yes I am doing a lot of learning as I go too... Look Ma I can stand on my own two feet! Well only just and a little wobbly! I've been test fitting the main gear for alignment, making sure the airframe sits level spanwise etc. Once I was happy I removed the legs and finished them off. A bit more plumbing, some placards and a light wash. I didnt want to go too heavy on the staining on these, as a well maintained and cared for jet I am sure (no matter how scruffy the paint gets) is regularly wiped down for inspection and leaks, hence the original gloss finish white paint. Anyway now I have said that everyone will show me photos of filthy u/c legs LOL. I realised you have to be careful looking at static display airframes (especially ones outside) as they tend to get rust stains and other things that you wouldn't see in a regular maintenance schedule. Anyhoo right or wrong, thats my reasoning Should be all good when epoxied in place later on Should be all good when epoxied in place later on And now attention turns to underwing tanks, from @Jet Passion the front and (to a lesser degree) the rear were a lighter grade alloy and tend to get quite dinged up. So here I am starting that process, but more on this later. Who would have thought making dents look natural would be so difficult LOL Did I say these printed tanks are awesome!? Seems a shame to put dents in them Cheers Anthony vvwse4, IainM, Marcel111 and 18 others 21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted December 25, 2023 Share Posted December 25, 2023 Derek Anthony in NZ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel111 Posted December 27, 2023 Share Posted December 27, 2023 In the words of Steve Irwin: Isn't she a beauty! Those inside pylons are looking great also! I like how the gray paint on the leading edge is fading off, very cool little touch that I may try to do on mine. Cheers, Marcel Anthony in NZ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted December 31, 2023 Author Share Posted December 31, 2023 On 12/25/2023 at 9:30 PM, Derek B said: Derek Thank you sir! On 12/28/2023 at 5:16 AM, Marcel111 said: In the words of Steve Irwin: Isn't she a beauty! Those inside pylons are looking great also! I like how the gray paint on the leading edge is fading off, very cool little touch that I may try to do on mine. Cheers, Marcel Thanks Marcel, I really appreciate that! As you know it's all about naturalness and not looking overdone, less is definitely more, I struggle with that sometimes Just preparing a new update, talk soon Anthony Derek B 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted December 31, 2023 Author Share Posted December 31, 2023 OK fuel tanks and dents.... Hmmm I didnt realize doing dents would be more difficult than I imagined, well at least for me either. Thankfully I have some great photos of the tanks XV571 worre mostly in the late 80's (so much stuff seemed to chop and change, it makes me wonder if ordinance etc might have been shared between 43 and 111 sqn's as one of the fuel tanks often worn on 43 Sqn XV571 even appears on XV574 if 111 Sqn at one stage. If anyone has an answer I would be interested to hear it??) Anyway, my first advice is NOT to try and match every single dint and scratch on the tank you're looking at, it just looks plain wrong. Just do the main ones, the final result will be much better. Prime the surface with Mr Surfacer and then you can see what size and shape and angle your dents, flat spots and scrapes are and you are happy with the position of them. I used a couple of different shaped curves scalpel blades to make the initial dent. Then using emery paper rounded, I blended it in to smooth it out. Some dents are soft (meaning there isnt really a defined edge, yet some are and sometimes have an almost creased edge. Experiment is pest, but it is actually a lot of fun and I think (hopefully will make a nice natural appearance to the final look) you will enjoy it. I am particularly looking forward to denting my Paragon 100Gal underwing tanks on my 1/24 Mossie when I eventually get back to it. Carry on sanding and priming untill you are happy. Oh by the way these are the @Jet Passion tanks so the wall thickness may be more than the kit ones. One final thing to be mindful of is that if your Phantom has the strengthening belly strap then your pylons are going to sit slightly off the surface (this is normal even on the real airframe), so you will have to add the rubber sealing strip between the two You can even see here there is fresh air above the inboard one, note the rubber seal on the outboard one? And my version Off to the paintshop..... Now I have had real issues trying to find the correct greys for this model. I have brought all sorts of paint brands and nothing has satisfied me very much at all. Of course I have never seen a Phantom in my life so I have to go off photo's and take into account lighting etc etc. Anyway this is where I am at. I know some will possibly balk at what I am doing, but this is the best I can come up with, I am as always open to advice. My main 'Base color'is Mr Color 73 Äircraft Gray" which is just a tad too dark on its own for Camouflage Grey BS626 (the main overall uppersurface colour) and all the other greys for the undersurface look a little 'çold' for the Light Aircraft Grey. So what I did here as an experiment was spray the overall tank '73' (this was my base) then I lightly randomly sprayed white over the top for the underside and pore so for the pylon as these are actually white. Then I added a dash of 73 into my white and softened the white and full tone blotchy finish underneath. This evened things out and oddly enough the dents took on their own shadows! Then I masked the demarcation lines and sprayed 73, but lightened with a touch of white, blotching it in areas with the base colour. The lower tank in the pic above had a slightly newer rear end section added and was lighter and the grey demarcation was feathered not hard edged. The upper tank has a Green white rear end apparently taken from their spares inventory which is in a US green and white. This is what I ended up with Then I used oil paints and added some filters and then Burnt Umber and black mix was used to simulate the centre main tank section which often got quite dirty underneath Hard to see I know, sorry Desperately trying to go with the 'less is more' theory which is hard I hope you guys approve, as this is all a bit new for me this type of weathering. As always your ideas, tips and input is appreciated for those of you who know how to do this properly Again my mix of Greys is home made to how. I feel looks right and maybe it looks wrong to those who have actually seen a Phantom, I appreciate any feedback as I am flying blind here. Thanks again chaps, and I super appreciate all of your help and encouragement along the way this year as its been a tough one. Lets hope we can get this sucker finished in 24!!! Cheers Anthony geedubelyer, Marcel111, Shoggz and 21 others 23 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geedubelyer Posted December 31, 2023 Share Posted December 31, 2023 Lovely stuff Anthony. Very much admire your attention to detail and accuracy with the dents and intentionally mismatched cammo demarcation lines between elements. Uber realistic and exactly my cup of tea. It demonstrates courage. Keep it up Anthony in NZ and Derek B 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted December 31, 2023 Author Share Posted December 31, 2023 4 minutes ago, geedubelyer said: Lovely stuff Anthony. Very much admire your attention to detail and accuracy with the dents and intentionally mismatched cammo demarcation lines between elements. Uber realistic and exactly my cup of tea. It demonstrates courage. Keep it up Thanks buddy! That means a lot. Glad you noticed the mismatched demarcation lines. Seems these front and rear sections got replaced and repainted often Derek B and geedubelyer 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony T Posted December 31, 2023 Share Posted December 31, 2023 Modelling the F-4 has come such a long way over the past fifty years, and you certainly take it to the extreme! Tony Derek B and Anthony in NZ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted December 31, 2023 Author Share Posted December 31, 2023 1 minute ago, Tony T said: Modelling the F-4 has come such a long way over the past fifty years, and you certainly take it to the extreme! Tony LOL it sure has, I will take that as a compliment! It is these master class guys who come out and show us what can be done and it pushes us to do better. When I think of my models of the 70's I realise how far we've come. But those days of modelling back then I would never trade for anything, I had so much fun MikeC, scvrobeson, Greg W and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scvrobeson Posted January 1 Share Posted January 1 (edited) Awesome attention to even the smallest of details on the pylons. Is the Gunze 332 Light Aircraft Grey not a good shade to use? Matt Edited January 1 by scvrobeson Derek B and Anthony in NZ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted January 1 Author Share Posted January 1 4 hours ago, scvrobeson said: Awesome attention to even the smallest of details on the pylons. Is the Gunze 332 Light Aircraft Grey not a good shade to use? Matt Hi Matt Thanks very much! 332 is reeeeaaaaallly really close.The reason I didnt go with it is because I felt it was slightly on the 'warm'side which is technically correct. And I think it would look better on a cammo bird. For some reason to me all the photo's in books and on my screen, the greys seem 'çooler' in the overall grey schemes. But when I added the raw and burnt umber tones it brought it back to the warmer tone of the original 332. I think if I had started with 332 then after the filters then it would have looked too brown in the grey. Does that make sense? I'm not sure, to my eye I am happier with this tone. Maybe if you arent using oils then it will be fine. As I say it is really close as it is, but might depend on what you are going to do with the paint after its laid down? HTH, and I could be quite wrong, go with what feels right to you like I did.....great question! Cheers Anthony Derek B, geedubelyer, scvrobeson and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted January 1 Share Posted January 1 Happy new year Anthony. Great work on that tank! Aircraft/Camouflage grey (or, in its original iteration, Barley grey) is a notoriously difficult colour to match - the original hue was a mixture from standard colours anyway used for experimentation back in the early 80's, so 'productionising' it to a later specific BS standard took some doing and the current colour is not quite the same as the original. Add to this the way that the this colour (and all other grey colours) fade and weather differently (even from the same batches), then you are really down to interpretation by whatever means you can. To me, the usual rule of thumb applies here; if it looks right, then you are very close to the correct colour! Derek Greg W, scvrobeson, geedubelyer and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel111 Posted January 1 Share Posted January 1 Wow those tanks have turned into little pieces of art! The denting looks very convincing, I can’t wait to try that some time on a phuture Phantom build. The color and weathering also look excellent! Happy 2024! Marcel Derek B, geedubelyer and Anthony in NZ 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted January 3 Author Share Posted January 3 On 1/1/2024 at 10:58 PM, Derek B said: Happy new year Anthony. Great work on that tank! Aircraft/Camouflage grey (or, in its original iteration, Barley grey) is a notoriously difficult colour to match - the original hue was a mixture from standard colours anyway used for experimentation back in the early 80's, so 'productionising' it to a later specific BS standard took some doing and the current colour is not quite the same as the original. Add to this the way that the this colour (and all other grey colours) fade and weather differently (even from the same batches), then you are really down to interpretation by whatever means you can. To me, the usual rule of thumb applies here; if it looks right, then you are very close to the correct colour! Derek Thanks Derek, and it almost seems like anything goes (within reason) when they were getting close to retirement, as far as finish goes...although still well cared for On 1/2/2024 at 12:14 AM, Marcel111 said: Wow those tanks have turned into little pieces of art! The denting looks very convincing, I can’t wait to try that some time on a phuture Phantom build. The color and weathering also look excellent! Happy 2024! Marcel Thanks mate, really appreciate that, yup give it a go! Tanks finished I think.... Whoa that last one is a bit close! Ok, onto something else now.... Cheers Anthony F`s are my favs, Shoggz, LSP_Kevin and 20 others 22 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now