RAAF Lockheed F-4 Lightning Photo Recon

Started by Carl Smoot · 59 · 1 month ago
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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    Oh my, that is a lot of paint lifting, Carl @clipper
    It can definitely be corrected but that is not what you were aiming for.
    Upper camouflage looks great.

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    Carl Smoot said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    Okay I got the bottom re-painted and finished up the other painting. Decals have been applied and a satin clear coat applied over this in preparation for the oil paint weathering which comes next.

    Because of the difficulty I had with paint lifting and because I had applied that chipping fluid to the entire model, I was reluctant to use any more masking. For the areas I absolutely had to mask, I used wet tissue paper which works to keep the paint off, but is difficult to work with because the airbrush wants to lift the wet edge.

    I also took a good look at the photos of the bird I am representing and its chipping was not as bad as the USAAF P-38s we usually see. Given that,I am going to limit my chipping to externally applied weathering rather than trying to activate the chipping fluid under the paint. Furthermore, I think in the future, I am going to investigate alternatives to chipping fluid (or at least limit it to areas I know I won't have to mask over).

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    Looking excellent, my friend @clipper! Indeed, masking over chipping fluid proved troublesome, but I am sure you will find a solution in the future.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    Great progress, Carl @clipper
    A very good idea to use wet tissue as masking material, maybe not optimal but way better than having more paint lifting.

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    Carl Smoot said 1 month, 1 week ago:

    Well, I was going to wait until I had completed the model before doing a final posting, but things being what they are, it is taking longer to get to that point than I thought. So I will post an additional in progress comment today.

    The plane has been weathered and mostly completed. There are a few small detail bits to add which I will do after I get the base completed.

    While I feel that the oil paint only weathering approach I used can work, I think going forward I will return to my previous combination of airbrush and oil paint weathering as it has what I consider to be a more pleasing appearance. This is probably because I don't have a lot of experience with this yet and I will continue to experiment on future kits.

    The propellers were installed. As I mentioned before, one propeller will simulate the engine still running while the other will be just at the point where the prop has hit the ground and the engine has stopped. I probably should have bent the prop blades more, but I didn't have confidence enough that I could pull it off correctly.

    I am not entirely positive about the airfield that this aircraft operated out of other than knowing it had somewhat primitive conditions. So I am imagining quickly poured concrete area surrounded by dirt and scrub grass. Dioramas are still new to me, so I am not always sure what I want to do will workout. I've applied the basic paint to the base and gloss coated it in preparation for doing some washes and adding further detail. We'll see how successful I was.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 month, 1 week ago:

    Looking super already, my friend @clipper! Weathering is excellent. The base looks very nice, too!

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    Carl Smoot said 1 month, 1 week ago:

    Thanks Spiros (@fiveten). The part of the weathering that I felt could be better is fading. I was not able to get it to the level I wanted using oils. This is the part I will return to doing using airbrushing.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 month, 1 week ago:

    Progressing nicely, Carl @clipper
    To me the weathering looks perfectly fine.

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    Carl Smoot said 1 month, 1 week ago:

    Thanks John (@johnb). I am hoping that when I do the final photos, that they will turn out better than these camera photos as the weathering in these current photos is difficult to see.

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    capt. R said 1 month, 1 week ago:

    Really cool! Diorama also!

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    Carl Smoot said 1 month ago:

    Thanks Bernard (hope I remembered that correctly) (@lis). I should be posting a build article either today or tomorrow on this project. Just need to do a small amount of detail work and take photos.

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    Carl Smoot said 1 month ago:

    Build is completed and a headline article has been posted. It's been fun. Now on to finishing the FJ-4B Fury.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 month ago:

    Looking awesome at the headlines, my friend @clipper!
    What a great build thread here!

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    Carl Smoot said 1 month ago:

    Thanks Spiros(@fiveten). It was nice to have people dropping in.