The ‘Viper’ pit - A short break to build other stuff.

[jeroen_R90S]

Great work and I admire you being able to build multiples of the same. Whenever I do multiples they have to be really much different or I need to do them at the same time -otherwise there are too many different things to distract me!

On the other hand I like "collections" as well, but I'll have to settle for looking at other people building them

[Stokey Pete]

I have a 10th, and absolutely FINAL one to go into the mix. This one will be a build for my daughter. She will choose the scheme, and I’ll put her name on it. 
 

[themongoose]

Now that will be cool.
 

Did Shirley Muldowney fly F-16’s?

[Stokey Pete]

Well, this got interesting, because I’m using the Academy 2 seater, obviously the decals are from the Tamiya kit. I couldn’t get the red nose band to conform, I tried 2 from 3 sets, and they both shattered. So I traced the red outline and created a mask for it. 
MRP insignia red is as close a match to the decals as I’ve ever seen, so I painted the wingtip stripes too. I’ll also be doing the red section on the tail too.

 

Getting the MRP white to cover up that grey plastic was fun too. 

[Renegade]

Good idea, the paint looks better anyway. I've had similar problems with Tamiya decals. 

[Stokey Pete]

25 minutes ago, Renegade said:

Good idea, the paint looks better anyway. I've had similar problems with Tamiya decals. 

I’ve had the outline of an idea for the underside too. 
rather than use the full decals. I may cut the majority of colour away, leaving just the edges and oi striping, then fill in the cutaway bits with paint. 

[Stokey Pete]

Just about done. Just a case of dotting i’s and crossing t’s (exhaust and metallics). 

For some odd reason, iPhone camera makes the paint look grey. It isn’t I promise. 
How to sum up this one…….I’m not truly happy with the finish on the underside. I knew going in the that decals

for the ‘bird’ were never going to fit properly. But I underestimated the lack of consistency in the decal colours. Some were really dark blue, others were a lot lighter. Add to that, the blue that I used to ‘fill in the blanks’ was a different shad again. So the underside looks a little horrific up close and under lighting. But from a couple of feet, acceptable. I think I managed a nice job of the red on the tail, using a hand cut mask. Name plates aren’t accurate for a 2 seat jet, but had to have something there. A bit of artistic licence for that. I made the ‘Thunderbird 8’ decal on the intake from 2 number 3’s laid on top of each other. I’ve added a thinned down Paynes gray wash to highlight panels, and added a few shadows here and there. 
 

This one goes down in the “it’s done, but not great” category. The main thing was to get a T’bird in the Viper pit, and to try shoehorning a 2 seater in instead of a single. Basically because I want to use the Tamiya kit for another Nellis Aggressor scheme. 
7 down, 3 to go. 

[themongoose]

Yep tail scallops and the striping look good! Had to laugh at your 1st comment as “why is it grey” was my 1st thought lol

if you ever decide you want masks for the underside let me know as i have them and could send you an electronic file for a cutter.

[Stokey Pete]

2 hours ago, themongoose said:

Yep tail scallops and the striping look good! Had to laugh at your 1st comment as “why is it grey” was my 1st thought lol

if you ever decide you want masks for the underside let me know as i have them and could send you an electronic file for a cutter.

Appreciate the offer sir. If I ever consider a single seater to go with this one……you never know. 
The grey baffled me too, I’m assuming it’s an iPhone white balance thing. If I ever get round to photographing the entire line up, it’ll be done with a camera that I can white balance properly. 

[CANicoll]

On 7/6/2022 at 7:42 AM, Stokey Pete said:

It’s got some markings on it, and I used a highly thinned & lightened coat of each base colour to ‘bleach’ the decals a little.

Photo’s of similar examples have shown them to be bleached almost white, and with practically no markings on them apart from national insignia, and a few warnings around the nose. I didn’t want to go that far with the weathering of it. 

 

I love this technique!  Well done and I'll be delighted to copy it.  Looks GREAT.  Chris

[Stokey Pete]

A bit of a break while I build the remaining kits up to the painting process. 
Here’s the current state of play. They’re all on temporary stands, which is a whole other project once I’ve got the building done. 
A Greek duo.

 

Thunderbird 8

A aggressive pairing

IAF and Belgian

 

[matt_1185]

Are All the 2 seater kits the Acadmey F16I SUFA kits ?  

[Stokey Pete]

2 minutes ago, matt_1185 said:

Are All the 2 seater kits the Acadmey F16I SUFA kits ?  

They are indeed built from the Sufa kits. 

[matt_1185]

12 minutes ago, Stokey Pete said:

They are indeed built from the Sufa kits. 

awesome I wasn’t sure!  And all the vipers are looking great! Great motivation for me to start on 1/32 jets as I’m a big 1/35 helo builder haha

[MikeMaben]

Very nice set Pete