Small Scale Military Headquarters

I wanted to wait until these were completly finished but, at this rate who knows when that will be. I managed to get the base color on the nozzels, a mix of Alclad Pale Burnt Metal and Duraluminum. First time working with Alclad, very nice stuff.




After quite a while of masking I've got them ready for the darker color, not quite sure which color I'm gonna use for this ??




And while I was at it I decided to mask off the other set of nozzels. I'll hold on to them just in case there is another JSI Tomcat release or try to sell them on Ebay.




Anyhow, a little update for those of you who are still interested in this project. Thanks for checking in and for your continued interest, til the next update.


Steve

Nice paint work on the nozzles. I have a set of these nozzles as well as the original Skyworks versions, I'm trying to decide which one I like more.

I also have a set of the Skyworks nozzels. They are the wrong color and their diameter is larger than the jet, at least on mine. The diameter of the outside should measure 1 9/16".

Steve

Perheaps a small detail, but I like the FLIR pod... could be used on other planes! Would you make a little serie for sale???

I don't do resin Granch, I'd have to talk to my buddy and see if it would be possible ??


Steve

YES ! i am in too for the flir POD i think it will look good on my F 18 !

keep the good work !

Philippe

... And for my F/A-18, both FLIR and ECM pod (ALQ-131? 165?) as member wolf8564 just showed one under his F-16m http://www.warbird-photos.com/gpxd/view ... =1&t=31667: Both pods would be logical loads together with smart bombs...

Steve,

Wild masking job there man. I know that took time and patience. I really like what youre doing here and I know how long it takes to get things done. If you need some help with resin parts, drop a note, happy to help.

Hope all is well...

Geoff

Thanks Geo, very kind of you.

Good morning everyone, hope you all are enjoying your extended weekend, I know I am !

While progress on the Big Cat has been very slow, my OCD has gone into high gear and I finally broke down and took a break from modeling to build myself a paint rack. It's made from 3/4" red oak, stained and finished with a semi-gloss clear poly ( 3 coats of clear with 2 sandings between coats ) and, 4 adjustable shelves. This is the beginning of my hobby room makeover and I will add things as time and money allow. The next step is new custom counters with an oak edge.

I hope no one minds that I posted this here but, it's kinda related to my build. I am a neat freak and feel that having a more organized space will help me be a more productive builder. Thanks for checking in.

Steve

Very cool !!

Well, good afternoon all. I FINALLY got in some time on the Big Cat yesterday and now have something worth an update. Finished masking off the "closed nozzels" and got both sets painted. I am going to wait on weathering the insides of the "open nozzels" because of my change in plans on how I am going to display her. Originally I was going to pose her, and my VF-154 jet, in level flight but, I've decided to put clear acrylic rods into the exhausts and display her going vertical. I will paint the acrylic rods to represent the afterburner plume. The 154 jet will be displayed in level flight.
The "closed nozzels" I will hang on to for now. If there ever is another JSI Tomcat released, maybe they will get used for that jet. Otherwise I'll put them on Ebay and see how they sell.
I want to thank everyone who is still checking in on this project. Time to work on her gets harder and harder to find but I assure you that I WILL FINISH HER !! Hopefully sooner than later, until next time.

Steve

If somebody can tell me in what condition exhausts are open or closed... I thought it is open when full thrust (with or without afterburner) is given, closed with less thrust like ground moving or so, but I've also seen pics with plane grounded and exhausts full opened.

A-10 Loader, are you going to use coloured clear polyuretane to make the afterburner flame? Over the acylic rod, or are you going to dig into the tube the edge of the flame???

I plan on spraying the acrylic rods with Tamiya clear blue then spray some shock rings with Tamiya white. I always wanted to try this on a build. I actually got the idea from Phil Flory, he did this on his 1/32nd Tomcat build and I liked the way it turned out. Simple yet effective.

Steve

Time for a little update. I've been looking at the RIO's glare shield and wasn't happy leaving both sides tan, I wanted to make the one side that worn purplish color. I decided to try some craft paint from the local craft store ( A.C. Moore ). I figured at $0.59 cents a bottle, 1 bottle of Plum and 1 bottle of white, I couldn't go wrong. I added some Poly-scale grimy black to the mix and this is what I came up with. I plan to do some drybrushing and maybe even a Flory white wash to knock down the color even more. Thoughts, comments welcomed.








I also tried my hand at doing some weathering on the tails, with my airbrush. This is a first for me, I usually do my weathering with washes and pastels. I've always been jealous of guys who can do this sort of thing with the airbrush so, I figured what the heck, NO GUTS, NO GLORY right ? IMO I think it came out well, I'm very happy with the results. The darker areas are where the squadron painted out their " MUTHA " and their " SAFTEY S " awards. The marks on the insides of the tails are corrision control spots. Still trying to decide if I want to do more with another lighter color or leave well enough alone. I want to do a wash but black and dirt won't show up that well and I think white would be too drastic. We'll see.
Thanks for your continued support and for keeping interest in this project, til next time.

Steve

Surprising colour...
I thought it could be flat black as seen here, if you don't like OD green canvas:
http://www.aviation-militaire.com/Galer ... 15_06P.jpg

Well, looked again at this pic, it is more dark brown than black...

Here's what I am trying to replecate. I'm thinking a black wash should do the trick.

Steve

A lot of our black material stuff that's exposed and sits out in the sun and heat, turns a purplish gray white color. It basically looks just like those covers.

OK, now I understand the purple colour, thank you!

Yeah, those covers are anywhere from Tan to OD Green to Black, often faded into some sun bleached shade of whatever color it once was.

Here's the glareshield after a black wash, I think it looks better. What say you ?

Steve

Yes, you got it!

This is turning out REALLY awesome, you want to do my F-18 next?

The_Helicopter_Pilot wrote:This is turning out REALLY awesome, you want to do my F-18 next?

Thanks for the compliments, much appreciated. As far as the Hornet goes I'm not a fan of the F-18 so no thanks. After this large project it's back to my 1/48th scale kits. I've got an A-6E TRAM ( REVELL kit ) that I started @ 10 years ago and I want to finish it.


Steve

Time to update this thread, I picked up my 2" acrylic rods after work on Friday and they came out perfect. I have an extra one so I can test out my painting technique. Hopefully things will go as planned and I'll get the desired effect I'm looking for.





The clear rods are 20" long with a 2 1/4" piece of 1 5/8" rod glued on top. They fit into the Tomcats exhaust perfectly and are more than adequate to support this beast.





I'm hoping to get some time tomorrow to work on the Big Cat, hopefully I'll get the rods painted and I'm working on an idea to attach the forward fuselage to the main body. This seam needs to be strong and has to dissappear when finished because there is no panel line here on the real aircraft. Thanks for your continued support and interest in this project and enjoy the rest of your weekend.


Steve