Trumpeter 1/32 F-100D

[Bill L2]

Looks great Ben. Coming along nicely

[BenB]

Progress on the Hunzilla. Drop tanks are painted, left side of the fin is repainted slightly, state of Georgia outlines added to the fin, and its up on its gear. I'm going to pop the mains off and shorten them a couple of mm, because the model still sits funny, even though I turned the resin wheels down to the correct diameter. Everything's on hold now, while I learn to use Inkscape, so I can do the artwork for the stencils (and some stuff for several other models). I'll be so glad to get this one over with!


Ben

[BenB]

Got all of the decals I can on the Hunzilla. Can't go any farther until I get the ALPS-printed serial numbers and stencils. After that, all I'll just need toglue the stabs & slats on, spray the burned finish on the titanium section, finish the landing gear and drop tanks, and this thing will be done! Finally!!!!! 




Ben

[BenB]

Thanks for reminding me....


why I use enamels.....   

Yeah, I keep wondering why I ever switched from Xtracolor. Gunze was pretty good, and I guess I'm still on the steep side of the learning curve with Xtracrylics.



"I don't know what you guys' problem is with Trumpeter. It looks like an F-100 to me!"



Ben 

[Ryan K]

I finally figured out why Trumpeter gets things wrong in strange ways.  It has to do with access.  Since Internet access is restricted by the government, as is travel to museums around the world to actually measure things (like Tamiya does), the kit designers at Trumpeter and Hobby Boss have to rely on plans and reference material that they can scrounge up.  As we know, plans can be wrong and making three-dimensional shapes from photographs can be a difficult thing.  Canopies seem to be particularly hard for them to get right, and they often mess up the ejection seat.  They also perpetuate issues from other kits, like copying Monogram's boo-boo with the too short fuel tanks in their 1/48 scale kit.

Lee K

Kinetic said the same thing.

"R&D - yes, we have some people (including me to help) in house to do the research, study. But of course, we don't have the resource of Big T and H to have excessive resource or chance to close up measure the "real" aircraft in most case. Especially those still in active services (because of classify information). Thus, most of our research are done in "paper" photo, line draw and probably some kit from other manufacturer (you may say this is copy, but w/o the access to the real aircraft, this is only place when a small firm start with)."

http://zone-five.net/showthread.php?t=7346

[StanA300BigBrown]

Thanks for reminding me....


why I use enamels.....   

[BenB]

No pics, but a few things I've learned about Xtracrylics while spending four %$#$#^%$ hours trying to get the paint scheme evened out today:

- You can thin the stuff with Acryl thinner, but when you spray it over an earlier coat of paint, it changes the color enough to where you can tell what's the new layer and what's the old one.
- Xtracrylics doesn't adhere nearly as well as Gunze's acrylics.
- When thinned with plain ol' water, Xtracrylics works beautifully.
- Xtracrylics Camouflage Grey turns to something like concrete in your air brush when you thin it with Acryl thinner.
- Carb cleaner will not do anything to Xtracrylics Camouflage Grey paint except soften it for a few seconds so it will work farther down into the guts of your air brush. I can now break down and reassemble my airbrush blindfolded, I've done it so many times today.
- The weight of the paint and primer now equals the weight of the model.

Just a little more touching-up, paint the wheel wells, and it will be ready for decals.

Ben

[BenB]

But hey just think soon you get to decal the Hunzilla

Maybe not. Just heard from the guy I had contacted about printing some serial numbers and stencils for it. He wants four times what the last person who did some ALPS decals for me charged! I may just paint over the yellow tail tip, scrape the serial number off the seat, and get some Eagle Strike Arkansas ANG decals, just to get this pig off of my desk!   

Ben

[Bill L2]

Ben the Hun is looking good. I am glad you were able to recover. I know how frustrating it is to reach the paint stage only to go back two or three times to fix problem areas. But hey just think soon you get to decal the Hunzilla

The A7 also looks nice. The A7 in SEA looks very lean and mean. My Prowler is in the same mode. Strip and repaint. Decal. Strip and repaint. Decal. 

[BenB]

Yeah, that's the Hasegawa kit. What a PITA to build!

The Hun was almost ruined by "dumb paintER." Strictly operator error. I should have known better than to try something new on an expensive model, but I still do it at least once a year. 

I saw that blurb about Polly Scale, too. I'm more broken up able the Gunze acrylics. Those were great.

Ben

[Lee_K]

I've read on various forums that Testors is discontinuing Polly Scale.  Not sure about the truth of that, but I do use Model Master Acryl for my SEA schemes and after lightening the Medium Green and Tan with 10% white, I'm fairly happy with the results.  The Dark Green though doesn't cover very well and requires a lot of back-and-forth to get compete coverage.

Is that the Hasegawa 1/48 A-7D?

Glad to see that the you were able to recover the paint on the Hun.  You have too much invested in that model to have it end up ruined by some dumb paint.

Lee K

[BenB]

I think you're right. I was able to sand down the Xtracrylics and repaint. Now I just have to go back and touch up some spots where I got some overspray, then paint the belly.


I lucked out and got the topside colors on the A-7, too! I love doing SEA camouflage, but I'm not real happy with the choices I have for paints right now.


Ben

[Lee_K]

The surface cracking is caused by layers underneath the top layer drying at different rates.  Gunze is notorious for this when used with Future or other paints.  I'm sure the Xtracrylix/Gunze mix is the culprit.  The question is whether the green needs to be sanded down or can it be simply covered over.

This model seems cursed, doesn't it?   

Lee K

[BenB]

Well, got to rough in the camouflage today. I had all sorts of paint problems, though. I tried Xtracrylix this time, since you can't get Gunze acrylics in the US any more, but had mixed results. The SEA tan, which looks great in the Xtracolor enamel line, turned out more of a brick red. Fortunately, I had an extra bottle of Gunze in my stash.


The two greens sprayed very strangely. They both went on smoothly and covered very well, but as they dried, they seemed to thin out, so you could see the underlying colors in patches. Plus, the medium green dried looking like a dry lake bed. I've had the same problem before when using Polly Scale thinned with alcohol, so most likely, that bottle of green didn't like Acryl thinner. The Gunze tan and Xtracrylics dark green went down just fine. I just need to go back and redo the medium green, fine-tune the edges of the different colors, then paint the belly and add some fading.


I also made Attempt #3 to paint my Hasegawa A-7D. It's already been stripped twice. Hopefully, third time's charm. So far, so good!

I think I'll be able to eventually get the Xtracrylics to work. If not, I'll just go back to their enamel line and wait a day before applying each new color.

Ben

[BenB]

Yup. They just added a 28" plug at the joint where the nose attaches to the body, which is right at the leading edge of the pylon. AMS Resin and Missing Link sell new noses with the plug, but they wont fit the 1/48 Trumpeter kits, because Trump got the tanks too fat. AMS has new noses for the 1/32 kit, too.

Ben