F-18F Hasegawa 1:48

[infideon]

Bah good luck! it looked really good the paintwork was great too bad you had a change in mind in the scheme...but with your exceptional modelling skills i am sure you will salvage this one..

cheers!

[MarkW]

You can try to remove the primer using denatured alcohol--it eats up Gunze lacquer quite nicely. I hope your first attempt isn't heading for the trash can...

[Aigore]

Gutsy move there!

I just hope you remember to have fun while building. I know that the quest for perfection can get in the way of the fun and make the build a choire. Don´t make the same mistakes I´ve done and walk into that trap and end up with a kit without a sense of acomplishment and soul!

[Isaac]

I thing your F-18 looks sick. I just came across this thread. Love the weathering.

[toadwbg]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Oh well, we all hit that wall with a model at sometime.

[Janissary]

Hello, after a break I am back to this project. I have spent some time preparing the surface including rescribing the lines and the rivets (to deepen them). I went simple with the cockpit this time and everything is OOB. The model is almost ready for priming. Hope is goes all well.

[Neo]

I cant belive you scraped it i loved out it looked and those decals and weathering was awesome

you should salvage it !! Or send it over ill try to save it!!

Cheers

Neo

[Janissary]

I have been upset also that I could not salvage it. Well, I have learned a lot, and I hope I can put that experience to good use.

I have been experimenting with canopy tinting and I wanted to document the steps I followed. This is my first time attempting this. I have found the following reference to be very useful:

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/lofive...hp?t163220.html

In the following images, the completed windshield is for visual calibration since the white balance is not the same in all pictures.

- I start with a future dipped canopy that has dried thoroughly [note: I have later found that it is actually 'better to start with cleaned up but bare (no Future) canopy. I will explain later]

- Then, I prepare a mix of Tamiya smoke (5 parts) and Tamiya clear yellow (1 part), and add a little bit of Tamiya acrylic thinner. I carefully airbrush this. However, I over did it.

- I cleaned the canopy with windex/alcohol and started from scratch. This time, I did not pre-dip the canopy in Future. I airbrush the color mix directly to the bare canopy. With more care (light coats, frequent inspection), the result looks better to me. Note the blurry/cloudy finish. That is ok.

- Finally, I dip the canopy in Future and let it dry. The sheen comes back.

I think similar results could be achieved with Tamiya smoke only, or by adding a little bit of Tamiya clear orange. I liked to results I saw in the link I gave above, so I used that recipe. My finding is that you have to add very little yellow (otherwise will be too prominent).

Also, in my second attempt, why I did not dip the canopy in Future originally. I have found that when the color mix is airbrushed onto cured Future, it reacts slightly with Future and creates some unsightly micro-lumps. Starting with bare plastic proved to be better, and saves you the wait.

[Najk]

Nice going with the canopy and windscreen, looks really good! :)

Couldn't you just add some Tamiya Smoke and Clear Yellow in the Future, and then dip the clear parts?

This would save some time, and hopefully be just as good..?

[Janissary]

I have read some bad things about Tamiya paints not mixing well with Future and also the colored Future dip drying non-uniformly (some places too thin in color, others too thick). I think one get a more uniform color with the airbrush. That said, I have not tried your suggestion so I may very well be mistaken.

[twhite80]

That canopy looks great! I will have to give that a try. Thanks for the pics.

[ByronLeal]

For grinding you can use something like this: sandpeper 800 + prism of wood 8x8mm.

Better is, when is the sendpaper wet.

this tip from Honza is a good one, but you should put some foamy between the wood stick and the sandpaper, foamy is a foam material about a 1/16" thick, came in sheets, it's use is in 2D figures for childrens and cards. look for it in crafts stores. just my two cents.

Byron

[Janissary]

Thanks for the suggestion. I agree that a little bit of compliance in the back might help the process.

Small progress but I finally attacked the part that I dread the most: Masking and attaching the canopy/windshield. For the windshield, I used some tamiya tape + parafilm. I tried many ideas but I still cannot figure out the best way to mask the front of the windshield. After masking, I attached the windshield using tamiya liquid cement. Once it dried, I used super glue to fill the seams and applied accelerator. I am hoping superglue did not leak through the tamiya tape. Finally, I rolled up a small piece of sandpaper and carefully wet-sanded the seam while holding the sandpaper with a pair of tweezers.

Next, I sprayed tamiya flat black to the exposed clear parts.

The next step is the primer. Once done, I marked the places that need more sanding/leveling with a blue marker. I now have to fix them.

Edited August 10, 2010 by Janissary

[blunce]

The next step is the primer. Once done, I marked the places that need more sanding/leveling with a blue marker. I now have to fix them.

Be careful using magic marker/Sharpies to mark places to fix, they'll bleed through your paint if you don't completely get rid of them during the fixing. I use pencil to circle things that need fixing.

Looking good. IMO, you shoulda kept going on the first one, I thought it was looking real good! Well at least you gained experience to use on the second one!

[Janissary]

Thank you Blunce, you were right about the see through. I sanded all the places that needed attention and had to re-prime it. I also decided to add some more panel lines around the windshield that was originally missing. I then cleaned the surface with a hard-bristled brush and an old cotton t-shirt. Finally I applied the base colors of GSI 307 and 308:

I decided to go without any preshading. The next step will be to apply some postshading. To me, it is the most exciting part of the project. However, I have a tendency to screw it up, so I hope to take my time with it.

[mario krijan]

Great work!! I like it a lot!

[Janissary]

Thank you Mario. I am also experimenting with a new photo-booth and thought would add some shots from it. Again, there is only the base colors so nothing too interesting.

[speedlimit]

Looking good!

[D_IcarUS_]

Nice job so far, my friend!!

[Janissary]

Thank you all! I did the first shade using Gunze 308 + some white and thinning it more than usual. I will next apply the second shade with a darker color (horizontal stabs have both shades). The current shading is not very visible as it is rather homogeneously applied, but I hope all will become more discernible as I build the layers with different shades.

[Dispatcher]

That's looking very nice.

[Janissary]

Thank you Dispatcher. Sorry all for all the incremental updates but I am at the stage where I want to be more careful. I applied the darker shade:

Does this look about right or shall I work on the shades a little more? As it stands, it looks a little to regular to me but I am not sure how to add more interest. Once the shades are done, I will do the decals, oil wash, and maybe very minimal pastel weathering. Also, for the first time, I will try to apply the decals with no gloss coat (or maybe a very light one) as I think the gloss coat diminishes the shades.

[sharkey]

I really like it, after the decals you can add some grime if you like.

[Janissary]

Thank you Sharkey. I hope to be able to see the end of this one.

After some detail painting and more shading, I finally got the decals on! Following the tips from Honza, for the first time, I did not use any gloss coat under the decals. The paint already has some sheen that also helps. I was able to use Microset and Microsol without any issues. I have found the decals to conform quite well.

I then painted the lights with MM chrome silver as a base, followed by a clear red+smoke mix color. Same for the blue lights.

The red edges of the gear doors are also painted by masking the white with parafilm.

Edited August 31, 2010 by Janissary

[Janissary]

The next step will be the oil wash. I have experimented with the wash on the bare paint (using a small part) and it seemed to work ok. With that, I decided to apply a coat of future only on the decals to protect them during the wash. The rest of the model will have no gloss coat. I am trying to minimize the use of gloss coats as I think they really suppress the effect of shading. I can already see this happening on the clear coated parts of the model. If all goes well, I will do the wash soon. I am also contemplating some salt weathering on the walkways but I could not decide yet.

Edited August 31, 2010 by Janissary