1/48 Kinetic F-5B Freedom Fighter

[JimD]

I'm also interested in this Tanmodel...they claim to be doing a Phantom too...and a 1'48 Sr-71. Will be interesting to see how that all unfolds.

[doogsatx/]

Aug 30, 2015 12:46:10 GMT -5 JimD said:

I don't always paint thing that let me avoid using decals...oh wait...yes I do.

Have you confirmed the orange thing, or just going off the FB claim? (Is that the same guy as before?) Either way I think FICE is good enough for some stripes. YMMV of course, but you seem content. And it looks great.

It's shockingly difficult to get a view of a ghost-schemed Greek A/B that shows the top surfaces of the wings...but the Icarus sheet has orange stripes. Whatever...close enough.

[doogsatx/]

Felt like I was dressing this thing for surgery...





Getting really close to decal fun time now - and still have a few small touch-up things to do (outer surface of part of the nose door, touch-up on tail, need to mask/paint the landing lights). Good news is I got the base coat on the SUU-20 pod. Still trying to sort out what color I'm going to go with - I've got one pic showing it looking more or less just bare metal, then I've got this:

[JimD]

Smokin'

That pod's got some nice weathering. Sound like there's options for painting it, so you can go with whatever you feels adds the most visual interest.

[sabre]

Thanks for the heads up about your airbrushes there Doogs will differently take that on board when and if my health ever improves. I have a Soltar 20/20 which I had for quite a few years now but when I saw a review on the Custom Micron a while back, I thought to myself I must get one of those but I just couldn't justify the price at this stage.

The F-5 is looking great by the way Doogs. 

[doogsatx/]

Little bits of work last night...masked the candy cane wrap on the pitot tube (THAT was fun):



And got the SUU-20 pod painted and chipped:

[JimD]

[Wes]

Wow. Wonderful detail work.

[wbill76]

Nailed the look on that pod. It's always amazing to me to see how mismatched some aircraft can get in service with different countries around the world.

[doogsatx/]

Decal time! 90% of the decals are going to be from the Icarus set, but a few of the stencils up around the cockpit are from the Kinetic set as they include the red patches while the Icarus set leaves them out.

After session one:







Have to say, I'm rather impressed with both the Icarus and Kinetic decals. They go down well and suck into details, but have a certain period of workability to make adjustments. With a mix of Solvaset and Mr. Mark Softer they suck down well, and some overlaps on the tail banner wrapped over and snuggled down with AK's new Decal Adapter stuff. I have no idea what's in it, but it's a completely different smell from the usual setting solutions.

More to come...

[406 Silverado]

This is looking pretty damn sweet.

[TRM]

This is looking pretty sexy Doogs!!

[406 Silverado]

I've been taking mental notes for when I finally get rolling this winter on some wingies, especially my F-86F.

[doogsatx/]

Thanks gents! Got a ways further down the path last night - just lots of little decals though so nothing worth showing til its done.

It's hard to know how many stencils these ghost F-5Bs actually wore. Some pics indicate a lot, others very little. I'm going for "accurate-ish" with this one. Should wrap decals sometime today.

[TRM]

Well then, somewhere in between should be accurate-ish enough! Looking forward to the finish!!

[406 Silverado]

That is the part I hate the most about aircraft decals....waaaay too many small stencil decals, oh, and masking the canopy I hate. Man now I am dying to start my F-86. I'll send it over to you when it's time for the decals..lol

[JimD]

The one downside to jets by far. Looks great though. Really coming to life.

[doogsatx/]

Heh. Nowhere near as bad as a fully stenciled F-4 or MiG-21...and these Icarus decals are near Furball in quality, so at least there's no silvering to worry about.

[doogsatx/]

Decals DONE.

[John Everett]

Despite the problems this kit has given you, I'm really enjoying the build. I think I like all the mismatched components most of all.

[wbill76]

Got to love a modern bird in all its stencil/markings glory. Getting closer to the finish line with this one.

[JimD]

Nope. Nowhere near as bad as an F-4 that's for sure. Getting close

[doogsatx/]

So I think I might have messed everything up trying to shade in the intense weathering the reference photos show on the side/aft. Oh well. Pics later.

[doogsatx/]

So here's the maybe kinda overdone shading on the fuselage sides...



And...the aircraft dirtied up with an overall treatment of Vallejo Gray/Dark Gray wash. The stuff is definitely a blunt weapon, but it's fantastic at creating that somewhat dirtied surface.

[mustang1989]

Man that's lookin' good doogs! Weathering looks fantastic!

[doogsatx/]

Okay. Lots got done last night. Many flavors of Ammo panel wash, followed by a thorough rubdown to remove q-tip lint. Then a happy application of Vallejo Matt Varnish and a start at removing masking (exhausts, wing tank lights, canopy parts).

Tonight I'll start moving aggressively into the home stretch of clear bits, HUD, landing gear and so on.

[mustang1989]

I've been building now on a consistent basis this time around for going on 4 years and this right here is the kind of results that I'm still trying to achieve.  I keep getting closer and closer to these kinds of great looking results. Man you're nailin' it doogs.

[doogsatx/]

Sept 9, 2015 10:21:23 GMT -5 mustang1989 said:

I've been building now on a consistent basis this time around for going on 4 years and this right here is the kind of results that I'm still trying to achieve.  I keep getting closer and closer to these kinds of great looking results. Man you're nailin' it doogs.

Thanks!

I've been back at it for five years, so you've only got a year to go!

[mustang1989]

'Preciate the encouragement doogs. I'm just going to keep pluggin' away.

[doogsatx/]

Sept 9, 2015 11:51:06 GMT -5 mustang1989 said:

'Preciate the encouragement doogs. I'm just going to keep pluggin' away.

Prime in black, lighten your paint, thin the snot out of it, and paint small. Been working well for me lately!