Thought I’d post a coulpe pics of my Tony as it sits ready to go onto a diorama (this is just posed on a “generic base” I keep for initial photographing) that still needs to get started. The model is at 95% complete, with final-final touches (mounting, final fiddly-bits installed, final weathering, etc,) to be done after it’s in-place on its “real”
base.
It was an “almost” S.O.B. build (Straight Outta Box) with only a vac-formed canopy added and the kit gun barrels replaced with stretched Q-tip material (they’re hollow plastic and when stretched like sprue, can be kept hollow down to about hypodermic diameter), and wire for brake lines…
The paint was Krylon Aluminum from a rattle-can and sprayed over a coat of Wal-Mart rattle-can gloss black, exhaust stains are charcoal, with the pilot done in enamels and oils…
Thanks fer lookin’ and feel free to tear it apart… This was a “Take it Easy on the Brain, Stupid” build…
Ja, as long as you keep them to less than a half-inch max length, they won’t curve… They DO need a little work to “re-tube” them after you cut, but a sharp knife-point or drill bit will clean them right up… You can also insert a piece of wire into them to help keep them straight…
Overall, straight from the can to the plastic. I decanted a squirt or two for freehanding the canopy frame, and a little touch-up here & there…
EDIT: I should also mention that when using rattle-cans, especially metallics, I always warm them up for a few minutes in a pan of hot (Tap temp is fine) water… This seems to help atomize the paint better than using a “cold can”… Don’t worry about soaking off the labels… That’s what they make paint markers for, lol…
Nah, I haven’t done a Japanese bird in better than 15 years, other than a Tamiya A6M2 in the generic JA Green a couple months ago… It didn’t last a week before one of the cats got it…
Working a Fujimi D3A Val for the “Scratchbuilder” GB though, and I have another Ki-61 in the stash that’s gonna get the finish depicted below… !(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Aircraft Profiles/Ki-61A-Hein.jpg?t=1280026929)
Lately, I’ve been hunting down Fujimi Japanese kits on Ebay… I got inspired to do some Japanese stuff since getting back into CFS2 a couple months ago and flying a lot of Japanese missions, lol… There’s some REALLY talented guys “painting” aircraft for CFS 2, as you can see from the above.
Nah, you ain’t nit-picking… The various Tonys in a/c profiles showed both the factory-applied red-brown primer and field-applied black… Black seemed to be on about 30% of the NMF ones I dug up, so I split the dif and went with a mix of black spinner and a homemade mix of red-brown for the prop blades… Of course, I usually finish my aircraft with spurious S/Ns and notional unit markings, not tying them to any one location, squadron, or pilot (unless my diorama calls for a specific for the storyline)… That way I don’t get rivet-counters lecturing me that, “EP-437 didn’t have that red stripe until after June of 43, nor did the cross-hatch tread appear on it until May of that year after it was damaged in a landing accident a couple weeks prior to it being assigned to Petty Officer Jo E. Suzu of the 204th Sentai who shot down Captain Wild Bill Kelso of the Umpteenth Fighter Squadron in August of 43…”
Glad to hear you’re knocking out some Japanese birds. I too eyed that Fujimi Val at a recent show, but the instructions were clueless as far as painting. So I got a Hasegawa Val sealed for only $5 more! I was pleased. [B]
Nice work on the Tony! I did not know Fujimi did one in 1/48. And thank you for the idea of using swabs for tube stretching. I will need to add that to my bag of tricks.[t$t]
Thanks fer the props, men… And feel free to try the Q-tip tubing… That’s why I wrote it, lol… (BTW, I already sent it into FSM Reader Tips, heh)
I can’t remember when I first did that with Q-tips… I know it was WAAAYYY back when, back in the days of no hobby shops or model magazines… I think I was just screwing around and stretching different stuff laying around on the bench while waiting for paint to dry one day… That’s the way I learned most of my “old school” stuff, by accident, trial & error, and by Guess & by Golly…
Painting is relatively straightforward… Interior is green with an overwash of metallic blue, light JN grey overall if you go with the box-art (I’m not though, think I’m “going green” with this one), and red scalloped wheel pants and vertical stab, black cowl & AG panel, red/white-striped prop tips. There’s another scheme that appears to be mottled green over the overall grey on the upper surfaces, but I can’t read THAT much Japanese to be sure…
I dont think you need to do the gray under the mottling on your Tony if you go tat route for camo. Most all the schemes I have seen any reference on for the mottled green show it sprayed directly on to the NMF. It is one good looking fighter in those colors to my eye. Very aggresive.
I was refering to the Val… The particular version depicted looks like it was probably a carrier-based bird that was field-mottled with green after being assigned to a land-based unit… The Tonys were indeed green mottling over NMF …
Ok, I went back and re read your post. I missed that about referring to the Val. A mottled one would be neat to see and somewhat rare as well. Those were usally the all gray or solid green over gray. Those Fujimi Vals are nice kits.
