1/48 Hasegawa F-22 Rollout

[Rodney]

Looking real nice. Thanks for the in progress shots. Makes me consider moving the kit up in my build pile.

Rodney

[trekracer20]

Looking good, Janissary--your F-16 turned out so well, I'm looking forward to seeing how this comes out. Love the paint job you're giving it!

[utley]

The F-22 can carry the 9X. It cannot launch them because the F-22 doesnt have off-boresite capabilities. Further upgrades for various aircraft include Blk 3.5, IIRC which will include launching of small diameter bombs and off-boresite capabilities. These aircraft will also be fitted with an IRST type sensor like the F-35 has under the jawbone pictured here.

Edited April 1, 2012 by utley

[Janissary]

Thank you guys. I am glad that painting is right around the corner. However, I could not really decide what exact scheme I want to do. No two raptors seem to have the same primer color. They vary from brown dominant (early) to green dominant (late), and all the variations in between:

Airliners link 1

Airliners link 2

I know I want to use the jade green in my build. So, while I don't know how exactly it is going to be at the end, the base color is kinda set.

Also, even though it won't be realistic, I will apply some shading/weathering to give it a tired look. Otherwise, just the plain colors won't be too exciting I fear. Now, the masking.... :)

[TaiidanTomcat]

My Vote would be the greener the better! Love that Jade

[utley]

Tail codes FF through AK are the jade green colors, AFAIK. I came in when they were being painted this color. The early raptors were painted a dull brown color when the AF switched over from a zinc chromate primer to no chromates whatsoever. They also switched from human painters to mechanical painting methods in the last 40 some odd ships, so not all the aircraft were fully painted before flight testing were finished. The last 3 years or so they would paint the aircraft last before the customer took possession of it. I would do raptor 4195, since there are a lot of public pics released by Lockheed.

Edited April 2, 2012 by utley

[utley]

Old Raptor

New Raptor

[Janissary]

Thank you very much all. I think I am going with something similar to 4195. Thanks for the info. Your pictures and this info has been inspiring:

I have been busy with the base color lately. Unfortunaley, I discovered that NY Jade Green is too dark out of the bottle. I tried 50:50 white:jadegreen and even that was too dark. I have finally decided to use MM Insignia white as the base color, and add a little bit of the Jade green into it (75 white : 25 green). I thin the mixture with Mr. Color levelling thinner. It prevents a dusty finish as it slows down the drying of the solvent.

As I mentioned, there are now many layers of paint, which inevitably creates pebbly/dusty finish at times. Throughout the process, I found myself sanding down the entire surface using MicroMesh 6000 and 12000 under running water. I have found this to really help the subsequent paint layer by resulting in a silky smooth (semi-gloss) surface. Water sure does get inside the masked areas (wheel wells, cockpit, intakes etc.), hopefully there won't be a bad surprise of dried water residue when I remove the masks. Anyway, here are some pictures.

For contrast, I also placed the tomcat wing with the original, out of the bottle jade green. Even with lots of white in the new paint, the difference is minute.

Some work of the tires and the winders.

I now plan to apply some light and dark shading to the green. This won't be too realistic, as the aircraft is brand new, but I guess I want to do that for visual interest.

Edited April 13, 2012 by Janissary

[mario krijan]

Fantastic work so far!! Great!

[JesniF-16]

Can't wait to see more!!! It's a very hypnotizing color for sure... So Janissary, you use parafilm for masking the gear bays and pit... then what is used to seal the edges, poster tack?

As always very nice meticulous work, keep it up

/Jesse

[martin_sam_2000]

This is looking great. I always love the look of aircraft in their primer coat!

I will be following this with interest!!

Sean

[Janissary]

Thank you all. Yes, the masking around the wheel wells is parafilm and blue tack. It is not ideal, but I think it will be sufficient for the build. Over the past few days, I did some post shading, followed by a coat of future for protection. It was a lot of trial and error to get the balance I intended. At the end, it is extremely unrealistic for a roll-out aircraft, but I did not like the way my previous F-15K roll-out turned out (it was too clean for my taste), so I wanted to try this.

I am hoping a few more coats of future will further subdue the effect, but whatever I do, it will still look unrealistic at the end.

Now, the anticipation of what is to come gives me hives. I don't know what I was thinking when I started this, but the masking looks increasingly more impossible (if that is possible :)) The thing is, I will have to mask off all the recessed surfaces that will remain green (mostly, large areas), and expose the higher-sitting feature surfaces for the brown color. I plan to do this with parafilm, but I don't know how I will properly cut the film around these complex patterns.

I could have painted the brown first, mask off those regions, and paint the green color. However, I decided against it early in the build, as I knew the green would take some work and tweaking before I was going to be satisfied. Anyway, I'll see what I can do from this point onward. Thanks for your interest.

[Major Walt]

I have no doubt that you can do this, judging from what you have already done. I like this scheme because it is different. Most of the Raptors I have seen done have been built on the standard production scheme. This is the first one I have seen done like this-- it's original! :)

Keep going. This is already a winner!

[dsahling]

Two thoughts on the masking. The first would be to take some sort of paper, tracing perhaps? Then tape it over the surfaces to hold it in place then, and using a pencil and trace the outline. Finally, use an xacto knife and a ruler or some other straight edge and cut it out. The other might be a little easier, although it would require some extra painting. Spray the inside of the panels whichever color you need then let it cure for a day or so, then lay masking tape to fit between the recessed panels and jagged edges and respray the bluish color.

Best of luck!

Da

[josh767]

hi , about the masking you can try using liquid masking stuff you can pour it onto the "lower" surfaces and it should stay there pretty easily.

Good luck!

[FAR148]

Now, the anticipation of what is to come gives me hives. I don't know what I was thinking when I started this, but the masking looks increasingly more impossible (if that is possible ) The thing is, I will have to mask off all the recessed surfaces that will remain green (mostly, large areas), and expose the higher-sitting feature surfaces for the brown color. I plan to do this with parafilm, but I don't know how I will properly cut the film around these complex patterns

.

What about a little patience and your favorite tape? It's not going to be easy. It's really no different from what you did here.... http://s362974870.onlinehome.us/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=236818

Steven L

Edited April 21, 2012 by FAR148

[Janissary]

Thank you all for the ideas. After some thinking, I decided to try masking with parafilm, and cutting around the raised edges.

Unfortunately, the results are not as crisp as I would have preferred them to be. Stretching parafilm and laying it down is not a problem. The problem is cutting the film cleanly along the edges with a fresh hobby knife. Sometimes I have to make multiple passes. Even for this simple area, the results are not that good. After thinking about this, other sections look even more challenging.

Anyway, I will be travelling for a month starting next week, so I will be taking a break. My plan is to shelve this one for a while, and move onto another project I have been planning for a long time now. On the other hand, I have invested quite a bit of effort into this, so I would like to see it finished. But I don't want to get into a sloppy mode for the sake of finishing it. I haven't made up my mind yet about what to do, so this break will be good for a cool down.

Thanks for your support and interest thus far.

[Honza K.]

Hi bro...

I don´t thing that is good idea cutting masks on the model. Cut the strips of masking tape out of model can be more laborious, but final result be better.

And secont thing, where you saw shading on base color on real plane? I don´t thing that this is good way. You can maybe add some dirt after be camo done,

but this doesn´t look good.

Keep the good work and I am curious for next progress.

Honza

[Janissary]

Hi Honza, thank you for the ideas. I may indeed end up doing more masking tape than parafilm like you and others have suggested. We'll see. I have been planning for a 1/48 Hase F-14A and an F-4E for a while now (got the kits and all the goodies), and they look soo tempting. Hard to focus on this one :)

You are right about shading, it is very unrealistic, but I chose to go down that way for visual interest. I was thinking of a reality inspired what-if. This break will let me think about it though. I may end up lightly sanding down the whole thing with micromesh, and then repaint. Decisions decisions decisions....

How is everything with you? I miss my daily fix of Honza-builds... Your builds were like medication to me. Any chance you will continue with your latest Phantom?

[Honza K.]

OK OK, I understand you... sometimes it´s really good make something only for fun.

About me? New work, still build a new house and have baby (small modeller) on the way :-))))

maybe I will be back for some time... But now I have new priorities.

So, good luck and have fun with this plane.

H

Edited April 26, 2012 by Honza K.

[Janissary]

Hello again. During the break of more than a month, I thought about this build. I have come to the conclusion that this masking is just going to be too difficult for me to be satisfied. That coupled with some recent fantastic F-22 builds I see here at ARC, I have decided to convert mine to an operational raptor.

Light sanded the entire body and started to prime it again. I am using a cocktail of surfacer and MM enamel grays, all thinned with My. Hobby levelling thinner. Between the coats, I frequently need to light sand it with an old tshirt, paper towel and steel wool, which create static electricity. I have found a dryer sheet to really minimize this static. I just rub it all over the surface, which neutralizes quite a bit of charge (hence less dusting).

For the base gray, I have decided to use Gunze H307 (36320). I know this is not the exact color, but I guess it should be ok.

I just ordered a bottle of Citadel metallic. I plan to mix this with Gunze 307 to obtain a thin layer of tinted gray. I will apply that to get the raptor sheen. I will share with you the results of that experiment.

Edited June 15, 2012 by Janissary

[Janissary]

Hello, a small update. I had been searching for an acrylic paint for the raptor sheen. Tamiya metallics are too flaky. There was the Raptor sheen from Hawkeye's, but I wanted something I could use for some other builds also. I finally settled on Citadel. I mix H307 with Citadel (about 60:40) and thin the mixture with Tamiya X-20A. They mix well :) However, perhaps the metallic part may still be considered a little grainy. Perhaps a few coats of future will help with the outcome.

I am now planning the following steps. First thing is the darker, Gunship gray-like color. After that, I would like some tonal variation and weathering. Not sure how exactly I am going to achieve that, but I plan to spend some time on this phase of the build. Hopefully all goes well.

[twhite80]

Good looking Raptor. The sheen looks pretty darn good. Did you have any trouble thinning the Citadel paint?

Edited June 21, 2012 by twhite80

[Janissary]

Thank you. I had no trouble thinning Citadel using Tamiya X-20A. I have found it to mix well Gunze acrylics also. My only concern is that it still looks grainy, but it may be my inability to adjust the airbrush distance/pressure all that well. I believe some future, followed by micro mesh polishing may result in a more convincing finish though. I don't plan to do that polishing (I indeed plan to whether it quite a bit).

[twhite80]

I would be interested to see if a nice coat of future (or maybe 2) would help even it out a bit. Its always tough to tell from pictures but the sheen looks appropriate. Keep it up! I look forward to seeing more pics.