GreyGhost Posted October 3, 2022 Share Posted October 3, 2022 Wow ..! Nice job so far on a very intricate scheme ..! -Gregg themongoose 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stokey Pete Posted October 4, 2022 Share Posted October 4, 2022 Wow! I’ve seen some bonkers camouflage schemes attempted in the past, but I reckon this one takes it to a whole different planet. You must have the patience of many saints. Hats off to you sir. GreyGhost and themongoose 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themongoose Posted October 5, 2022 Author Share Posted October 5, 2022 Tonight I finished up the drawing for the vertical stabilizers. I'm getting faster at this. I wonder why I thought you guys might like to see a bit of the process. This 1st pic is what they look like drawn up. I ended up taking a photo of the tail. Imported it to the Designer software and then scaled it to use as a template. you can see it in green. As I go along and complete each color I fill in the blocks so they are easy to see and to do a quick print before sending them to the cutter. One final mock up before cutting. Next up is sending it to the cutter. Doing it in layers I can now select the specific groups that I want to print. I set up a common layer so I can print a trace around each tail section. This way when I place the friskett on the mask to pull up individual pieces I get a part outline as well to help me with alignment. This is costly in terms of masking but as I mentioned earlier it saves so much time and frustration it's worth it in the end. Tons of time saved let me tell you. I experimented with different settings for the cutter. The Kabuki tag is what I set up as my standard. This has been a really great buy for the kind of painting and work I like to do. There's also a growing number of people using one, just like 3D printing, and more people are sharing designs. So I should have more paint to show by the weekend. Loads of fun here! johncrow, daveculp, Fanes and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themongoose Posted October 8, 2022 Author Share Posted October 8, 2022 Working hard to get everything i have masks done for all painted up. The pylons were done up through dark ghost gray and then i got distracted with painting the fuselage. Back on those and the twin tails last night and today. just took the tape off. These will look great once i get the tape adhesive off and sand the tape edges down. I was worried about being able to recreate these because the shapes were so small so I’m really happy with the outcome. 2 major artistic pieces on the tails. 1 success and 1 compromise as it turns out. 1st the compromise, tried drawing the Navy emblem. That part worked out but it is just too small for the cutter. It’s 30mm tall. Think I’ll try decals. Bought some white laser paper and hoping they come out good. now the success. The Flying Eagle of VFM-122 cut out ok using long flowing lines Once i do some fine sanding and the clear coat it’s back to drawing squares and rectangles! Landrotten Highlander, MikeMaben, Fanes and 8 others 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted October 10, 2022 Share Posted October 10, 2022 Impressive stuff there Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themongoose Posted October 16, 2022 Author Share Posted October 16, 2022 A few updates for today. Definitely a LONG build I've been 5 or 6 days working in the evenings on the camo for the fuselage sides and the underside of the wings. Finally finished that up this week. Printed out the light ghost grey masks late last night. Won't be able to apply them tho till later this week as I'm traveling today thru Tuesday. Working on some FOD covers based on a youtube video by FlyingS Models. It's tough o find 1" wide teflon tape finally broke down and ordered it off Amazon. This blue color helped with the paint coverage and may look like creases in the cover if any ends up showing through. And then finally I went ahead and clear coated the tails after finishing up the custom decals. I ran the Eagle and Anchor off on the laser printer. Boy are these brittle. Definitely don't scuff them against anything till you get clear coat over them. Printed on white decal film, then went around the printing very softly with a #11 blade to score the film. I touched up all the white edges with a brush I have that has 3 bristles left lol denders, Greg W, F`s are my favs and 9 others 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 themongoose 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alaninaustria Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 Amazing work mate! Cheers Alan themongoose 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themongoose Posted October 17, 2022 Author Share Posted October 17, 2022 Mika and Alan great to see you guys stop by! Hey everyone, More updates this coming weekend for sure. Hoping to finish “wrapping around” the digi camo for a full 360 view. Jim Barry 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stokey Pete Posted October 18, 2022 Share Posted October 18, 2022 I’m really looking forward to seeing this come together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themongoose Posted November 5, 2022 Author Share Posted November 5, 2022 (edited) Yes progress is being made! It’s taken a month to work the sides and bottom of the fuselage. Lots of family stuff plus the ModelNati competition in between as well. took me about 2 hours to spray the blue. I did a light mist coat and then went back over that and built up the color area by area across the masks. Surprisingly I got great coverage with 2 coats. This method has worked way better for blue. Normally it’s very transparent and i end up with alot of paint on the model when I use a broad spray pattern technique. so now I’m working on the black. For the top i had done masks for the black. For the rest tho I’m thinking there’s alot of pieces and positive masks left over that i can use. So I decided winging it would be a better use if time. Love this digital camo for the fact that you can ad-lib anytime you need to and it always fits the scheme! Seems like I’m always finding masking sticking to my fingers and forearms by tomorrow i should be unmasking and doing some sanding, cleanup and hopefully polishing of the airframe! Edited November 6, 2022 by themongoose Obviouit was to late to type coherently Greg W, LSP_Kevin, Stokey Pete and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themongoose Posted November 6, 2022 Author Share Posted November 6, 2022 Well for once I made major progress when I expected to lol All the aircraft painting is done! I have a few small parts, like the ladder, to paint up yet but I'll do those as I set up for touchups...yeah I know you're disappointed in me but yes, I have to do touch-ups I really like the way the electronics bay pops with the anniversary paint around it. The other sharp element I think is the screens. They seemed to lack some luster against the straight primer but with the digi camo around them they show off well. The tape edges always look huge in these close ups. Those will sand down nicely and she'll be smooth as glass when polished up with the NOVUS. I see a piece of tape I missed lol I wonder how many more I'll find? JeepsGunsTanks, HerculesPA_2, Cheetah11 and 17 others 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandiego Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 Wow. That paint scheme would drive me nuts Dan themongoose 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themongoose Posted November 13, 2022 Author Share Posted November 13, 2022 (edited) Glad you stopped by Dan! I’ve been watching all your Vigilante builds going on. Great kit you put together there! lots of fun here for sure. I have got to see if google knows how long it took to paint the real thing. And just when I’m getting excited about finishing something i realize the 10l year lettering still has to be custom done. Dang! So this week I’m working on touch ups. I must have missed wiping the rear fuselage down when i did the bottom. Having a terrible time with paint lifting. Has to be finger oils The end result is great tho. I’m lov’n these flaps! I figured while i had everything set up and was waiting for the touch ups to dry i might as well finish up some parts in the queue with a gloss coat. Edited November 13, 2022 by themongoose Gazzas, johncrow, LSP_Kevin and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themongoose Posted November 13, 2022 Author Share Posted November 13, 2022 Well, it’s definitely not a problem with cleaning off finger oils. I sanded down to bare plastic, prepped and cleaned the surface, rolled up a piece of blue tape and tapped it across the surface with paint still on it to make sure i got it all, and was rewarded with this… time to watch some football and revisit later in the week LSP_Kevin, Squizzy 78, Gazzas and 3 others 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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