A-10LOADER Posted December 23, 2016 Author Share Posted December 23, 2016 Greetings all, The "panel fastener" detailing continues. This shot of my VF-154 jet shows the lack of "panel fastener" details on the forward fuselage, especially around the gun bay doors and the muzzle blast fairing. This shot, of the VF-103 jet, shows the added "panel fastener" details. I think these little subtle details make a big difference and look a lot better IMO. This brings us up to July 24, 2013. More to come when time allows. Thanks guys for the interest. Steve Menelaos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-10LOADER Posted December 23, 2016 Author Share Posted December 23, 2016 Here is the GPS dome which was added to the Tomcats @ 2000, sorry for the quality of the picture it is a pic off the computer screen. I needed to add this to my Cat. This is what I used to recreate the GPS dome. It's an old toy missile from my sons toy. I keep a lot of stuff like this in my spares box, you never know when something like this will come in handy. I used my jewelers saw to cut off the very top of the part circled in red. And here is the result, looks pretty good to me. I still need to add some "panel fastener" detail to the area and once everything is painted I think it will look just fine. Menelaos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-10LOADER Posted December 23, 2016 Author Share Posted December 23, 2016 Got some time in on the Cat today laying out the "panel fastener" details around the wing walkways, navigation light panels, the ECS exhausts and, the bypass air spill ducts. I mark the screw holes with a mechanical pencil and then go back with my #78 drill bit in the pin vise. The RH side is all marked out and started the LH side, hopefully I'm not wasting my time. This is the first time I've ever tried to do this "panel fastener" detail. Close up shot of the areas where the "panel fastener" details were added. My QA Inspector Salem checking in on the "panel fastener" process. The front RH side is finished, ALL 785 fasteners !! Can't wait to get started on the other side, like I said, all or nothing. Finished up the "panel fastener" details to the topside of the forward fuselage. After the wing glove vanes are puttied and sanded, I will add the remaining fasteners. Moving on to the back half of the jet for more fastener detail work and some panel lines to be rescribed. Thanks for looking. Steve Menelaos and F`s are my favs 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-10LOADER Posted December 23, 2016 Author Share Posted December 23, 2016 Today's update, Started laying out the panel lines I want to add to the aft end of the Cat. Once these are scribed the "panel fastener" detail will be added as well. Thanks to all who are still showing interest in this project. Steve F`s are my favs 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F`s are my favs Posted December 23, 2016 Share Posted December 23, 2016 omg, i was always wondering where is that "cat" thing from the nickname of the plane... now i see that the wings are actually something like a cat`s ears. Nice A-10LOADER 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-10LOADER Posted December 23, 2016 Author Share Posted December 23, 2016 Things have been moving slow on the Big Cat recently. I decided to take a break from the "panel fastener" detailing and do some work on the AIM-9's and bomb racks. Applied some paint to the rollerons and seeker head of the AIM-9's and painted the swaybraces on the aft bombrack pallets, the front pallets are drying. Once they are dry I will paint the swaypads on them as well. Still need to paint the yellow and brown bands on the missles and install the MV lens seeker heads as well. I also got the tailhook painted too. Not a BIG update but, at least I got another step finished up. Steve Menelaos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-10LOADER Posted December 23, 2016 Author Share Posted December 23, 2016 Today's update, weathered the exhaust nozzles with some pastels. It's been about 13 years since I did this last so it took a while to get the hang of it again. I wanted to represent engines that were recently changed so, the nozzles shouldn't be that dirty yet. Not sure if I'm happy with the results just yet. I'll give them a few days and see if I change my mind and go dirtier before I flat coat them. Thanks for looking. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-10LOADER Posted December 24, 2016 Author Share Posted December 24, 2016 I decided to give the nozzles another try so I took off all the pastel and mixed up some Polly Scale Panzer Dark Grey. I think I should have left them alone, I like the results from yesterday. I'll let the paint dry overnight and hit them with the pastels tomorrow and see how they come out. The aft pallets got a wash as well. This shot shows the BEFORE (front pallet) and AFTER effects of the wash. I wanted to go a little dirtier with these two because the aft underside of the Cats were usually grimier. Time to get back to my parts and use up the rest of the wash for tonight. Thanks for looking. Steve Menelaos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-10LOADER Posted December 24, 2016 Author Share Posted December 24, 2016 OK last night I decided to tackle those nozzles again. Here's what I used to weather them, I also added some brown to this mix as well. I'm gonna call these done, except for the flat coat. I think once I shoot the outside with MM Titanium buffing metalizer they should look good. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-10LOADER Posted December 24, 2016 Author Share Posted December 24, 2016 Today's update, Weathered up some of the other parts as well like the ventral fins, the TCS pod, the wing glove pylons, tailhook and, the BOL rails. All these items got the Polly Scale "wash" the night before. After a flat coat these items will be finished and ready to install after the jet gets finished. Thanks for following this build. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-10LOADER Posted December 24, 2016 Author Share Posted December 24, 2016 I decided to redo the ventral fins, the black just didn't look right to me today. I mixed some red and brown pastels together to create the hydraulic fluid color. I think they look a lot better this way. I weathered up the pallets as well. This shot shows some of the little details added to the back of the pallets, ( all 4 got the same details added. ) I closed up most of the large U shaped opening in the back end, drilled the small hole and, added the equipment data plates using sheet plastic. Thanks for looking. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-10LOADER Posted December 24, 2016 Author Share Posted December 24, 2016 Greetings all, Another small update for today, I did a little more work on the AIM-9's. I painted the 3 steel bands on the main missile body, painted the small steel band where the seeker head meets the warhead and, put some black paint in the Influence fuze windows. I will put a few drops of Microscale Kristal Klear in them to create the windows. Also added the argon bottle door to the warhead section as well. I also got the GBU-16's ready for some paint work as well. The forward fins are moveable and just pulled right off. This makes life ALOT easier to paint the brown section of the CCG. These will get painted at the same time I do the brown bands on the AIM-9's. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-10LOADER Posted December 24, 2016 Author Share Posted December 24, 2016 Today's small update, got the radome of the AIM-7 painted and masked out for the brown bands on the AIM-7 and 9's. Hoping to get the brown and yellow bands shot on these guys this week as well as getting the brown on the forward section of the CCG on the GBU's. Thanks for checking in on the build. Steve Menelaos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-10LOADER Posted December 24, 2016 Author Share Posted December 24, 2016 Small update for today, Brown and yellow bands painted on the AIM-9's and AIM-7 and got the brown painted on the CCG's of the GBU-16's. Next up a gloss coating, some minor weathering and, flat coat. I still have to paint the fins on the AIM-7 and add the proximity fuses to the missiles forward section plus some other small paint work prior to gloss coating them all. Steve HerculesPA_2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-10LOADER Posted December 24, 2016 Author Share Posted December 24, 2016 Weathered, flat coated, Parafilm masking removed, some Tamiya clear red added to the light and, added the antenna to the TCS pod. I made this out of some extra brass sheet from my stash box. Now it's finished, I'm really happy how it came out. Thanks for looking. Steve DesTROYer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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