Tamiya 1/48 F-14A VF-84 Fear The Bones

[406 Silverado]

I missed the last couple of updates but I'm back for more now John.

Could you elaborate more on the pastel wash that you're talking about jkim? I've seen you talk about this elsewhere but need a refresher in that process of yours.

[jkim]

Thanks for the comments, John and Johnny!

Aug 20, 2024 4:28:46 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

I missed the last couple of updates but I'm back for more now John.

Could you elaborate more on the pastel wash that you're talking about jkim ? I've seen you talk about this elsewhere but need a refresher in that process of yours.

Do you mean the making of the wash or the application?  I am going to assume that you're asking about application so let me know if this doesn't answer your questions. 

On my aircraft builds, I like to use a pastel wash to fill in the recessed details after painting. This does a couple of things... first, it helps highlight detail but secondly, and more importantly, it helps to "flatten" the surface of the model.  I want my model surface to look like it is comprised of sections of flat surfaces.  I don't want to see physical grooves (panel lines) or little holes (rivets), which, to me anyways, seem to scream "plastic model".  I want to see lines and dots instead.  That's the reasoning behind my panel wash.

Using another build as an illustrative example... the painting is sealed with a gloss coat.  In most cases, you want to apply the panel wash over a gloss finish because it could possibly stain a flat finish.  This is a 1/32 Tamiya Corsair after the gloss coat is applied.



The pastel wash is brushpainted over all of the recessed detail. The color of the wash will determine the contrast and therefore the impact of the effect. I'm learning that subtle is usually better than extreme and I've been dialing my wash colors to try and achieve a more subtle effect. In this case, I used a light brown color.



This is allowed to completely dry. You can tell the wash is dry because it will have a flat finish. A damp (not wet) cloth or paper towel is then used to wipe off the wash, leaving the wash in the recessed details and thereby highlighting them.



The pastel wash is one of many multiple layers of weathering that can be applied to a model after painting.  On the bottom of the Corsair, I applied some airbrush post-shading.



All of the weathering layers hopefully add up to create a more realistic appearance on the model.

[jkim]

The top pre-shading has been completed. I've masked off the black canopy area.

[kyledehart5]

Preshading looks outstanding!! And what a great idea about the pastel washes. Thank you for sharing

[jkim]

Thank you Kyle!

It took me a couple of spray sessions to lay down the white (AK Real Colors RC222 Insignia White). I use a fairly thin mix (1:1 Mr Leveling Thinner:Paint ratio) so that I can slowly build up the paint layer and tailoring the pre-shade effect to my liking.



I prefer a subtle effect, one that I can barely detect. It's difficult to see in photos at this distance.



But once you get closer, you can see the effect. Keep in mind that the pre-shade is simply one layer in the weathering process yet to come. There will be less weathering on this one compared to my WW2 builds but I'd like to dirty it up some.

[keavdog]

White looks great over the preshading. I still tend to lay down too much paint over the shading.
For the canopy/anti-glare mask how do you cut such a nice radius for the nose

[kyledehart5]

That really does look excellent.

[406 Silverado]

Thank you for sharing that technique with everyone John. I've remembered your ideas on going heavier on the bottom of the aircraft and then going a little lighter on the sides and even lighter on the top of the aircraft in regard to the pastel wash. You just use straight up water in the wash right?

Progress on this project here is coming along well bud. I love all of this layering you do to these things.

[jkim]

Aug 20, 2024 19:52:10 GMT -5 keavdog said:

White looks great over the preshading. I still tend to lay down too much paint over the shading.
For the canopy/anti-glare mask how do you cut such a nice radius for the nose

Thank you! For the black areas in front of the windscreen and behind the canopy, I used a scan of the decal sheet to create a custom mask. This was cut from a sheet of yellow Tamiya masking material on my Portrait 2 cutter.

Aug 20, 2024 22:16:34 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

That really does look excellent.

Thank you very much Kyle!

Aug 21, 2024 4:13:30 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Thank you for sharing that technique with everyone John. I've remembered your ideas on going heavier on the bottom of the aircraft and then going a little lighter on the sides and even lighter on the top of the aircraft in regard to the pastel wash. You just use straight up water in the wash right?

Progress on this project here is coming along well bud. I love all of this layering you do to these things.

Thank you Joe! The liquid in the wash is just plain water with a dash of liquid dishwashing soap.

[406 Silverado]

Thank you Joe! The liquid in the wash is just plain water with a dash of liquid dishwashing soap.

Thanks John. +1 karma to ya for helping out yet once again.

[jkim]

After the white bottoms have been painted, it's time to paint the Gull Gray upper surfaces. I've decided to tackle the demarcations using thin rolls of Blue Tack putty and do one section at a time, starting with rear starboard.



I work my way around to the rear port and then the front port and front starboard sides. The demarcation lines will be touched up as I identify places where the spray was incomplete.




After the demarcation areas are done, I flip the model right-side up and complete the Gull Gray on the top. FYI, the gray is Mr Color C222 FS16440 Gray.


Similar to the white bottoms, I use a thin mix (this time 1:2 paint:thinner ratio) to help me modulate the pre-shade effect. And instead of broad, sweeping strokes of the airbrush, I work one panel at a time, starting from the rear and working my way up towards the nose.



The gray is done. There are some areas on the white and gray that need touchups. Things like small scratches or imperfections in the demarcation curve. Those will be cleaned up before I seal the paint job with a clear coat.

[jeaton01]

A nice color base, John.

[kyledehart5]

Really awesome paint work. That looks so good.

[handiabled]

Top notch paint work John! Great job leaving the subtle weathered appearance.

[jkim]

Thanks guys! After the Gull Gray, miscellaneous painting continues. For example, the vents on top of the fuselage are masked off and painted.




The chaff/flare dispenser under the beaver tail has been painted.



The walkway on port side was masked and painted dark gray.




The masking from the anti-glare paneling has been removed.




A bit more complicated masking was needed for the exhaust areas.


A mixture of different metallic shades were used here.




Always interesting to see what your paint work looks like after the masking is removed.



The exhaust area after painting with the nozzles mounted.

[kyledehart5]

You are doing some exceptional paint work on this. It all is looking fantastic. Well done.

[keavdog]

Metal finishes look great. Always wondered why one can was in afterburner and one wasn't - I understand that's the shut-down mode, just curious why.

[brandonk]

Fantastic work. The painting is top notch.

[jkim]

Thanks guys! Still a bit of small painting jobs to do before I seal her with a clear coat. The bases for the twin tail fins were masked off and painted black.



Another interim check with some painted components slid into place temporarily.



Since I had a viable formula for the slime light color, I decided to paint the remaining ones instead of using decals. I also masked off the lights on the leading edge of the wing gloves.






The muzzle blast panel was also masked off and painted Mr Metal Color Iron.




It sprays as a flat, almost dusty finish but once dry, you can buff it shiny using a cotton swab or soft cloth.



I got a little bit of paint lift from this mask job. Par for the course for me to get a few paint lifts on each build. Also I got some weird paint smear from the metallic edges of the small exhaust ports below the gun position.



The problem areas were rubbed down with 6000# Micromesh and then "primed" with Tamiya Neutral Gray. For light colors like white, you don't want to spray white directly on white because the repair will stand out. Neutral Gray base helps blend the repair.



The Insignia White is sprayed over the Neutral Gray repair areas. There is a little bit of overspray on the muzzle panel that I'll need to touch up.

[kyledehart5]

This is going together beautiful. Remarkable work.

[406 Silverado]

Progress is looking great on this one John. Good tip on the application of a Neutral Gray to blend repairs involving white color coats and makes perfect sense when you explain the process. I love all of this in-depth foundation work that you bring to the table on your painting processes. Every build you do seems to look the part when it's all said and done.

[jkim]

Thanks for the comments!

Painting is approaching the end. Here is the gun muzzle area all finished.



During this painting stage, I've gotten a lot of handling scratches that need to be fixed.



The last thing to paint is the red line around the rear fuselage. Decals are supplied but I thought it would look better painted. In order to do that, I have to fit the inflatable bags that seal the folding wings. Tamiya supplies two versions of the wing gloves and bags: wing open and wing closed.



I don't like the idea of snapping these parts in and out depending on the pose. I've verified that the wings can be posed open and closed with the CLOSED versions of the gloves and bags, so that I what I am going with primarily.




The bags have been painted dark gray and weathered and snapped into place.



It's a bit of a chore trying to mask a thin line that goes around an irregular shape so to ensure uniformity, I marked the position of the stripe using a thin strip of tape the same width as the stripe. Strips of Tamiya tape are then butted up against the stripe on both sides, forming a uniform stripe mask.



After the red is sprayed and tape removed, there are little bits of overspray and some small paint lifts.



The paint lift got worse during the paint repair phase and I had to bite the bullet and go after this aggressively using tape to lift the paint purposefully to find all of the weak areas in this area. After this pic, I sanded the area using 600# sandpaper and buffed it with 6000 Micromesh and gave it a coat of Mr Primer Surfacer 1000. This was sanded with 1000# sandpaper and then re-sprayed with Neutral Gray before applying the Insignia White again.



After a bunch of small paint repairs and one big one, the red stripes are getting close to finished.




Here is the big repair area. After the Insignia White is dry, I'll add the red stripe and we'll be (hopefully) moving on to the decal stage.

[handiabled]

Your paintwork is so intricate. Your undetectable recovery from paint peels is stupendous!

[jkim]

Aug 25, 2024 3:17:37 GMT -5 handiabled said:

Your paintwork is so intricate. Your undetectable recovery from paint peels is stupendous!

Thank you sir!  Sad to say but my proficiency at paint repair is directly correlated to how many times paint lift seems to affect my builds.  You do something enough times, you're bound to get better at it right?


The final red stripe has been masked off and painted.




Oh, I almost forgot about the painted details on the end of the AIM-54 pallets that were masked prior to painting. This is what compromise looks like as I was unwilling to fork over the money for resin replacements for this added detail.




The model has been given a gloss coat. I use Alclad Aqua Gloss thinned with Mr Leveling Thinner for most of my gloss coat needs.

[jkim]

I finally got around to painting the Detail & Wonder main gear legs.









Here are the painted D&W gear legs temporarily mounted in the Mini Craft Collection wheel wells.

[keavdog]

I may have to get those landing gear - the look fantastic.
Great progress John and nice recover on the paint pulling up. Getting close now!

[406 Silverado]

Man those main landing gear struts are all THAT!! Heck I would've picked up a set for this bad boy of an aircraft as well after seeing all the detail on them. WOW!!

[kyledehart5]

Couldn’t agree more with you gents. Absurdly nice gear. That looks truly jaw droppingly amazing.

[handiabled]

Your paintwork and light weathering highlights the outstand and crisp detail of the gears and gear bays John.

[jkim]

Thanks guys!  Appreciate the positive comments!  The 3D-printed stuff from D&W and MCC is amazingly complex in detail.  So much so that I have to work up the nerve to try and apply paint to it.


I've finally started the decaling process.  Lots of decals for these modern jets so this will take multiple sessions and I will tackle it one section at a time. The VF-84 specific markings are from Hungarian Aero Decals and the generic maintenance stencils are from Furball Aero Design. I'm using the typical Microset/Microsol solutions and a sharp knife to make sure the decals settle down into all of the panel lines.