Custom painted 1:18 Aircraft TKO UPDATED 1/02 F-14 Vandy 1

hworth18 · Post by **hworth18** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 5:26 pm

Awesome Z! So, I forgot to ask.. Just where do you keep all these beauties?

tko211 · Post by **tko211** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 11:47 pm

I found another Viper scheme I like very much. I am seriously thinking about doing another F-16 custom here. Just need to find someone on ebay who wants to free one from a collection! I am thinking Aggressor. (As opposed to "I thinking Arbys").

For Harry- Where do I keep all these planes. As my wife would say this weekend... "not in the kitchen, not in the front room, and not anywhere that is going to ruin the nice holiday feeling / mood that she is trying hard to create for our family!

Translation: Take these planes to your office and store them in your extra garage along with the black Mustang and all your other stuff that clutters up our lovely home! i have to admit i can see her point. On Friday I had the 262 complete and on the kitchen table along with the russian Spit. The UPS guy delivered a package from Bad Cat on Wed so I had a Zero and a Hellcat in the front room in boxes, and UPS had just delivered the new F-16 in Wolf Pack colors. I had something like 15 cans of paint 6 rolls of tape, exacto knives, vinyl stencils, ,my airbrush and compressor all in the kitchen. It looked like an XD custom chop shop. So my lovely wife was justified in her complaint I guess.

The office currently houses close to 80 planes in 1:18. My house plays host to another 35 at least perhaps more. Problem i that my hunger for customs is not dying here. I feel like I have awaken some deep rooted hunger inside to manifest schemes that would have never been considered in the past for many different reasons. I would never see BBI doing an IAF scheme on a F-16. Not so sure that 21C would have ever considered a russian Spitfire or flight test center F-104. I used to think I was making these just for me but i have found that I love to share them with you guys just as much.

Hope you don't mind me hijacking my own thread here! I am just having so much fun doing these things and It's really rewarding to find that from time to time a particular scheme might appeal to you as well. It completes the process for me and I can then move onto another plane.

Light.Inf.Scout · Post by **Light.Inf.Scout** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 6:45 am

Awesome job. I wish I had those skills.

hworth18 · Post by **hworth18** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 7:17 am

I get that from my wife all the time. I have two areas inside the house for "me" and anywhere else is verboten!
You know you're going to have to take pics of the office now, don't you?

Black_Dragon_One · Post by **Black_Dragon_One** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 10:21 am

those look great... would you do custom paint for board member and what the cost would be?

olifant · Post by **olifant** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 10:57 am

TKO, I am absolutely speechless. Can I come over and play?

acisne · Post by **acisne** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 11:16 am

WOW!

Great work! Thanks for sharing it with us.

Light.Inf.Scout · Post by **Light.Inf.Scout** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 11:29 am

Black_Dragon_One wrote:those look great... would you do custom paint for board member and what the cost would be?

Yeah...you lookin to make some extra $$$? I have to say, I think the Israeli F 16 is my favorite of all your schemes...maybe tied with the Spit.

Tambo · Post by **Tambo** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 3:21 pm

Wow! that Falcon rocks...now I wish I had my extra F-16 that I just sold toLight.Inf.Scout. Naaaa I could never paint a bird that good.

Sabrefan · Post by **Sabrefan** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 3:29 pm

WOW TKO, that F-16 is beautiful. Please keep em coming!

Quixote511 · Post by **Quixote511** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 5:26 pm

Awesome--this is some quality work.

Coreyeagle48 · Post by **Coreyeagle48** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 7:14 pm

TKO

I agree I would happily buy a bird to keep you going on your hobby if you ever did custom orders. That Israeli F-16 looks fantastic, I really like that one.

You're just making me mad as I can't figure out why BBI is holding up my Thunderbirds F-16!

Keep up the good work, just don't accidentially paint your nice black Mustang!

Corey

King O' Fools · Post by **King O' Fools** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:32 am

You're an airbrush virtuoso, TKO.

Dauntless · Post by **Dauntless** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 3:00 pm

So TKO did you finish your Avenger yet?

Nice work btw.

tko211 · Post by **tko211** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 1:35 pm

The Avenger is KILLING me! It was a difficult scheme at first, I got that all squared away. Then it took me forever to get the vinyl masks made for the markings, did that then I screwed one of them up. I now have to get new vinyl cut again... Hopefully soon!

My Razorback P-47 is DONE!
F-86 is super stalled out (needs major vinyl masks made)
Fw-190D-9 needs a replacement landing gear to be all finished.

The following are masked off and ready to start to get base paint:

F-18 Hornet
Zero (another new one)

VMF115 · Post by **VMF115** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 1:59 pm

Why are they not done yet???????????

tko211 · Post by **tko211** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 7:20 pm

Here is the P-47 Razorback. I spent all weekend on my F-18 project so I was late getting around to posting this one up. I actually was glad to see this one finished. I always liked this scheme but somewhere along the way I got really sick of painting this jug. Not much else to say about this one... Usual method of using vinyl cut masks to do the markings. The nose art SUCKED to do big time. Especially on the silver paint. Some of the yellow pulled up of the smooth metallic finish. Oh well... Still like this scheme.

tko211 · Post by **tko211** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 7:30 pm

F-18 I think might be the next one that I post up. That or the Avenger. Both just need a few final markings and they will be all set to go. Here is the update on what is left in terms of the goal of painting a custom for each aircraft type in 1:18.

F-86 Saber (still in progress)
Fw-190D-9 (complete. minus new gear)
Avenger (sooo close)
F-18 (very close)
Bf-109 (needs final markings)

P-38
P-47 Bubbletop
Hellcat
Fw-190A
Me-163 Komet
P-51C
Hurricane

Der Kommandant · Post by **Der Kommandant** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 8:02 pm

That is truly fantastic work.

VMF115 · Post by **VMF115** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 8:35 pm

looks good

Sabrefan · Post by **Sabrefan** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 8:45 pm

Great looking Thunderbolt. Come on TKO, show me an F-86!

hworth18 · Post by **hworth18** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 9:00 pm

Sabrefan wrote:Great looking Thunderbolt. Come on TKO, show me and F-86!

Yeah! and the Fw-190 and the Bf-109! Come'on Tko, You're slacking!

Sabrefan · Post by **Sabrefan** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 9:01 pm

Dauntless · Post by **Dauntless** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 12:09 am

Nice T-Bolt!

I once used a vinyl cutting machine at an art supply store to make templates for painted on letters on a company van.
Is this the same sort of machine you are using only smaller?
Which brand or type of vinyl cut mask machine do you recommend? If ya don't mind me asking?

Thanks

tko211 · Post by **tko211** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:08 am

I am not sure off had what the name or type of the machine is. I will find out from my sister and get back to you. As for the vinyl, I can tell you that about 20% of the vinyl out there is too aggressive in terms of how sticky it is. I will try to find out what brands / colors work the best. There is also a low tack vinyl but it's almost not sticky enough so I have found that the majority of regular vinyl works the best.

The small machines seem to work just fine as the markings for these planes never really exceed 12" So almost any vinyl cutter / plotter should do the trick. I will try to remember to take some pictures of the process next time so that everyone can see exactly how I do it.