Small Scale Military Headquarters

someone had this good idea. As the tomcats come in, ideas for getting rid of the spots and discussion thereof should be kept in one place.

My best idea so far is to use fine grain wet and dry paper to mute and blend the spots. It would be a couple hours of carefull work but may look much better when done. The underside is easier in that it could be treated to a broad spraying of a darkish grey colour as the underside of these aircraft tended to look pretty bad after some time at sea; plus spots on the underside are going to be less noticable by and large unless the tomcat is hanging.

The ideal solution of course is a mild solvent that will disolve the dark grey paint so the spots can be blended, muted and even wiped away.

You know I’m not sure how this would work but how about trying some pumice based hand cleaner. Its water soluble and should wipe right off. Also you could just test it out by working it in lightly at first. That’s my idea for when she gets here.

I will wait to get mine on hands before developing a repainting strategy. But I am sure my Bagder will be part of it.

phil

exether_mega wrote:I will wait to get mine on hands before developing a repainting strategy. But I am sure my Bagder will be part of it.

phil

Im with Phil Im sure m airbrush will be apart of it

Prolly use a coat of grey to lighten up the spots then a darker coat to hightlight the panel lines

Mask off the areas I dont want covered and all should be well

My best idea so far is to use fine grain wet and dry paper to mute and blend the spots.

The trouble with sanding even with a fine grain sand paper on a surface smooth and hard like plastic is that there is a possibility of leaving small circular scratches on the finish.

Aside from that, when you sand something down, essentially you end up polishing the surface. This will cause the spot that is sandpapered to have a "sheen", (reflection) compared to the rest of the finish, which is matte and non-reflective.

I wonder if anyone can find exactly what type of paint JSI is using on the F-14?

Someone like Vexillarius decals, could make a "repair kit" to sell. (paint included)

Sure airbrushing is great for people that can do it but a lot of folks here aren’t able to do that. I can’t remember the last time I got mine out. It’s probably been a year or so by now. Once she shows up it would be nice to see if there are alternatives to re-spraying. I’m also considering spraying some good dull coat on it and using lighter pastels to lighten the spots up. The dull coat might not be necessary if it has enough tooth to the paint. Can anyone say if it’s a slightly rough finish or completely smooth?

Sure airbrushing is great for people that can do it but a lot of folks here aren’t able to do that.

Indeed, would be interested in non-airbrush solutions as well.

you're going to pretty much have to airbrush the entire plane. That's a lot of airbrushing. The idea behind sanding was to just break up the spots a bit, have the light grey underneath show through a tad and just get rid of the 'regularity' look of the spots, so they look more like weathering and less like, well, spots.

If a sheen develops from the sanding, little bursts of dullcote would take care of that. The yellow on the nose cone is the biggest problem i forsee.

There must be some solvent that could be used to soften the paint enough to just mute it and blend it in better. What about diluted Easy Off?

The type of paint job you can do on the Tomcat will really depend on your airbrush. I wouldn't recommend using spray cans because they can be "iffy" at best especially in cold weather like it is right now in the northwest. I think your best bet is to do as recommended the sanding in combination with a fine line tip on a double action airbrush. That's the route I'm going to take on mine. Once done, I'll probably give it a coat of semi-gloss finish. I don't think I'll have to repaint the whole plane and in the end if the process works I'll still get that nice "weathered" finish we were promised.

Without having one in my hot little hands I can't go into detail. But I intend to do some experimenting first. I hope someone will make some supplemental decals for the first thing I want to do is erase Weekend of Heroes" off of mine.

I would not sand it or anything else like that. I did a light dusting of flat grey and it looks good. Maybe someday I might try using weathering chalks to give it the weathered look.

Welcome corsair bob. Can you post any pictures of your work?

yeah, i need the motivation, post some pics man, and welcome aboard!

Well Tamiya makes the tan color and grey color in their aircraft spray can line.

I wonder if they put a clear coat over the spots? If not maybe you can just wipe them off with alcohol or acetone.

Well, I have been asked a couple times now through PM's and other means if I would fix these spotty birds and I think I might just see about doing it for real.

I am receiving 2 Tomcats this week. 1 electronic version and 1 regular release. I plan to repaint both. I will be painting the electronic version into a high viz black knights scheme with white undersides, elevators, and wing flight control surfaces. I will be "fixing" the Jolly Roger scheme by masking and painting over the entire entire aircraft.

Once I evaluate the time, process and material involved I will determine an appropriate cost / and reasonable margin for myself. If it looks good on paper I will then move into a production mode to fix these Tomcats for those people who are looking for a turn-key solution with great results. My 2 planes will be samples and I will take detail photos of the finished result. for now the plan would be to offer 2 options.

1- fix the VF-84 Jolly Roger scheme with a "factory fresh look". This will be the least expensive and easier to do.

2- repaint the plane into a custom Black Aces bird in the 70's - 80's high viz scheme with the spade and stripes on the tails. This will be a bump in cost above the repair paint to the Jolly Rogers as it will require more work and materials.

I am not 100% certain that I will even offer this service yet until I have had a chance to do mine and see what it really takes as I have yet to even see a Tomcat in person. So for now I guess I am feeling out the interest, knowing that it starts with an already expensive plane and requires essentially that the entire plane be repainted sans markings which need to all be masked off. So it's another investment on a plane that is already an investment. It just is what it is and it's all I can think to do in order to get this thing back to the glory of what it should have been from JSI.

Thoughts?

It's fantastic that you are even considering doing this. Looking forward to your assessment!

GREAT news TKO ! i will wait for your opinion since it's really an investement now !!!!!

You should consider this with your F 16 & F 18 agressors :



Keep the good work (your customs are amazing and i repeat my wish in previous subjects : to see a picture of the lineup of all your models !!!!)

Philippe (French FAN )

You talking about this one?



If so...I am so down!

diegomenendez wrote:You talking about this one?



If so...I am so down!

That is exactly the one I am talking about! I will have mine done this weekend if all goes well. Hope to show everybody the first 1:18 black aces!

tko211 wrote:

diegomenendez wrote:You talking about this one?



If so...I am so down!

That is exactly the one I am talking about! I will have mine done this weekend if all goes well. Hope to show everybody the first 1:18 black aces!

do you do commission

I have not done much commission work in the past. But I am taking steps this week to evaluate what it would cost for me to set up a turn-key solution for folks who what the F-14 fixed (no more spots). I am also going to offer an option to have the plane repainted (no decals) into a Black Aces High Viz scheme as shown in this thread.

I plan to have this researched and have samples made for both options by this time next week. At which point I hope to start production on a limited basis of 15 planes to begin with. If all goes well I will open up production schedules to more people.

Right now, the idea would be that you would either ship your plane to me or have a retailer drop ship your plane to me, and I will repaint the plane in 5-10 business days and ship them back to the owners FedEx or UPS ground with tracking numbers.

The paint process would be the exact same methods I use on my own customs. It's precision masking, Tamyia paints and sealers, and vinyl masking process for painted markings (Black Aces version). And that's the idea. Might not be for everyone, others here have enough skill to do their own fixes. But for those who want a Jolly Roger badly, or want the lighted edition fixed, or might want a Black Aces- but don't want to do it themselves this is an option.

how much?

thatf14guy wrote:how much?

That's my mission this weekend. By doing mine I will have a clear cut picture on my hard costs and time involved. I will get back to everyone this weekend or first of next week with the pricing structure.

I am interested...please PM me. Thank you!

I am really interested as well! When you say no decals for the VF-41...you mean that we will have to make or find our own correct?