Ya know, I thought about using the enamel gloss coat before I used the Future but I opted to try the Future just to see how well it worked. But in the back of my mind I thought it would be a good idea to use something that was different than the base coat. Now whatever I use to remove the Future will remove the acryllic paint, as well. I kinda screwed myself.
We’ll see how it turns out. I should be finished by tomorrow (Friday).
Finally got to stop by a 'Net cafe this morning where I could see these. Excellent work thus far! Can’t wait to see this one finished. I think your modifications are going to make this one really stand out from the others.[tup]
Thank you.
I washed the rear weapons pods today and applied a little dullcoat to the front fuselage just to see how it would look. The dullcoat really diminished the grainy Future so it should look pretty good after I do the entire model. I took some pics but I’m not at home right now so I’ll post 'em later.
The “wash” in the pods was my first real attempt at a wash. It adds quite a bit of depth and I think it turned out pretty good. I used Black and Burnt Umber oil paint thinned with turpentine. The cockpit wash was kind of experimental so I wouldn’t count it as my first real attempt.
Some of the decals silvered a little bit so I’ll have to fit that as well.
Ok, here’s the Dropship with the pods washed and dullcoat applied. I had to touch up the wash after these pics were taken. It might be a little hard to see in the pics but the dullcoat pretty much fixed the Future:
Here are some before and after shots showing the grainy Future then the dullcoat:
One thing I’ve noticed here is that the flash on the camera really brings out any flaws in the decals/paint. Some of the errors I see in the pictures are hardly noticable in normal light.
I suspect your Future problem came from holding the airbrush too far from the model. The Future dries on the way to the model, resulting in the grainy appearance.
I never thin Future. I have the best luck applying it at a very low PSI, just enough to get it to spray. I apply lots of thin, light coats. This way the Future builds up slowly and the layers flow out more evenly.
Hope this helps!
Matt @ FSM
It does Matt, thanks. I thin the Future, but I use a minor ratio of thinner to Future, something around 20:80 or even less.
After using Future for a long time, I believe I will go back to enamel gloss coats thinned to the same ratio’s, but with a “hot” thinner like laquer thinner. Using a wide tip on the A/B, with light coats, I expect to get a smooth, thinly lain gloss.
Oh, and dont forget to use a “dust booth” when applying gloss coats. I used to use a plastic dry cleaning bag - or nowadays a large, clear trash bag. Drape this over a 24" frame and suspend it, then paint and allow the gloss to cure inside it… to minimize dust building up on your models.
Well here it is. For all intents and purposes its done. But as I was glueing in the landing light lense covers I realized they don’t fit at all. It won’t be a hard fix but I have to go to work tonight and I’ll be gone for a few days. The weathering doesn’t show up very well in the pics…but its there.
Ah man, I just noticed I forgot to put the little minigun barrel on the end of the gun under the nose. That should be easy, though.
Superbly executed sir![tup]
THat is VERRRRRRY nice. THe hitng looks lethal and insect-like.
Now comes the best part - watching the movie and adding the weathering! As I recall, the ship in the movie was weathered and battered. I mean, dropping in from low orbit must be tough on the thing.
Even modern aircraft, with all their high tech features, can look a little tired after a few years in service.
So haul out the DVD and pop some corn - it’s time to review the references (this may be the best part of Sci-Fi modeling…the references are movies or story books!)
Ok, here’s the official “I’m done” pics. I finally put on the light lenses and did some additional weathering:
Not perfect, of course, but I think I did ok considering this was my first build in 14 years. I’m glad its over, though. I was ready to move on to something else.
This should be the link for the entire album. I posted about 120 pics in there:
http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k206/Fly-n-hi/Aliens%20Dropship/?start=all