Ukrainian Mania - The digital ‘Flanker’ - time to call it done, I think.

[Stokey Pete]

Last update for a bit. I managed to get a bit of paint onto the nose area. There’s a couple of overspray and peels to repair, easy enough. Also, a bit of blending where it appears I have two different batches of the lighter blue. Again, an easy fix, making it look like a paint shops touch up mid service. 
 

All good fun, I think. 

 

[LSP_Kevin]

Wow!

 

Kev

[Brett M]

3 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said:

Wow!

 

Kev

X10. NICE paint work.

[Pete Fleischmann]

That is pretty outstanding!

 

cheers

 

Pete

[Alex]

Beautiful!  Love that digital camo!  I’m very interested to see how and to what degree you will weather / post-shade this...

[Stokey Pete]

Today sees me starting the tedious and very meticulous repair and touch up work. I’m wary of using the masks, or using tape to fix, for fear of lifting more paint up. My method is very simple. I have 4 pieces of vinyl masking film which has been de-tacked on my hands, by laying the pieces around the edges that need fixing, I create the right angles/corners. Then I’m simply spraying using my H&S infinity with a 0.2 needle, with barely enough pressure to get the paint out. 
 

59 minutes ago, Alex said:

Beautiful!  Love that digital camo!  I’m very interested to see how and to what degree you will weather / post-shade this...

Thanks Alex. From looking at a whole raft of photos that show these aircraft, they appear to look quite clean and neat. With that in mind, I won’t be going overboard with making it look too beat up. The only parts that will get extra attention will be the hot metal areas...I’ve got dozens of shades and oils that will be going into that bit. 

[Panzerwomble]

Plus a lot of extra wows from me ! 

[Stokey Pete]

Well, I spent a bit of time (many many hours) working on the repairs and minor touchups. I’m at the point now where if I carry on touching up tiny bits here and there, I’ll be touching up the touchups, taking me in circles. 
So here we have the before...

...and this is the after.

 

Not a bad blank canvas on which to begin weathering and decals. It did cost me the price of a new set of masks so I could complete the camouflage lines.

 

I’ve made a tiny mask that will allow me to spray the metals for the flare dispensers, which I tested out (successfully).

 

Now it’s time to put some shade variations in to start bringing the paint scheme to life. 

[Stokey Pete]

I’ve started thinking about my weathering processes and thought I’d get some thoughts from you all here on what colour wash to use.
I’m leaning towards making a bespoke colour using a mix of Payne’s grey, mixed with a touch of raw umber to make

it look dirty, but retaining the majority of the grey element.

What would you consider? 

[themongoose]

Well it seems anytime they take a picture of the digital flanker it looks really clean. I would say any color of wash that helps you blend the camo together would look good. It doesn’t look like you want anything that would make any color too grey looking or throw off the original shade too much. I see some streaking and some “grayer” areas but not too much. Looking forward to what you decide to do 

Edited June 5, 2021 by themongoose

[Hartmann52]

Superb!

[Alex]

On 5/31/2021 at 7:14 AM, Stokey Pete said:

 

Thanks Alex. From looking at a whole raft of photos that show these aircraft, they appear to look quite clean and neat. With that in mind, I won’t be going overboard with making it look too beat up. The only parts that will get extra attention will be the hot metal areas...I’ve got dozens of shades and oils that will be going into that bit. 

Excellent - that jet exhaust business is something I know nothing about but would love to be able to to do.  So I'm looking forward to seeing how you do it.

[scvrobeson]

I'd definitely go for a blue/grey color like Payne's Grey to tie it all together, but definitely keep it light on this one.  Although, if you're interested in a pre-made wash, the AK Interactive Paneliner for Blue/Grey Camo could be a perfect one.

 

 

 

Matt 

[Marcel111]

Wow that is a huge amount of work but the result just looks spectacular!

 

Marcel

[Stokey Pete]

A bit of spare time has seen me mask and paint some panels, spray some darker shades of the base colours in random places, and start to apply the billions of minute stencils. 
The Foxbot decals have performed admirably with the use of Mr Softer and Mr Setter solutions. My only gripes are that the carrier film is so thin, that through the lighter coloured decals, the paint surface colour bleeds through slightly. The other being the placement instructions. They’re difficult to decipher when the panel lines on the kit bear little resemblance to the panels on the decal instruction profiles. They’re minor gripes to me though. 
 

Ive tested my home made wash over the decals and have found that I can use it directly on them with no dramas, = fewer  coats of varnish to lay down. 

progress so far...